NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English Chapter 8 The Hack Driver

NCERT Solutions for CBSE Class 10 English Footprints Without Feet Chapter 8 The Hack Driver are provided here. This story is written by Sinclair Lewis and includes many questions that are important for exams. We have solved all the NCERT questions of the lesson with a detailed explanation that help students to complete their assignments & homework. We have provided NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English Footprints Without Feet Chapter 8 The Hack Driver in PDF format so that you can download them for offline use.

Class 10 English Footprints Without Feet Chapter 2 NCERT Questions and Answers

Read and Find Out (Page No. 47)

Question 1. Why is the lawyer sent to New Mullion? What does he first think about the place?

Answer: The lawyer is sent to New Mullion to serve summons on a man called Oliver Lutkins. Lutkins was needed as a witness in a law case and he had ignored all letters from the law firm. He thinks that New Mullion would be a sweet and simple country village.

Question 2. Who befriends lawyer? Where does he take him?

Answer: The lawyer was befriended by a delivery man who introduced himself as Bill. He told him that he knew Lutkins and would help the lawyer in finding him. He took him to all the places where Lutkins was seen or was known to hang out. He took the lawyer to Fritz’s shop, where Lutkins played a lot of poker; to Gustaff’s barber shop and then to Gray’s barber shop; to the poolroom and several other places before finally taking him to Oliver’s mother’s farm. However, Oliver Lutkins was not found.

Question 3. What does Bill say about Lutkins?

Answer: He says that Lutkins is a hard fellow to catch and is always up to something or the other. Lutkins owed a lot of money to people and never pays them back. Lutkins plays a lot of poker game. Bill also tells the lawyer that Lutkins is very good at deceiving people.

Read and Find Out (Page No. 50)

Question 1. What more does Bill say about Lutkins and his family?

Answer: Bill told the lawyer that he knew mother of Lutkins’. He said that she was a terror. He narrated an incident when he took a trunk to her once and she almost took his skin off because he did not carry it carefully. He also said that she was very tall and bulky. She was very quick and could talk a lot. He said that Lutkins must have heard that somebody was chasing him and consequently would have gone into hiding at his mother’s place.

Question 2. Does the narrator serve the summons that day?

Answer: No, the narrator did not serve the summons that day.

Question 3. Who is Lutkins?

Answer: The hack driver himself is Lutkins but pretends to be Bill Magnuson. He tricks the lawyer to avoid the summons to be a witness in a case.

Think About It

Question 1. When the lawyer reached New Mullion, did ‘Bill’ know that he was looking for Lutkins? When do you think ‘Bill’ came up with his plan for fooling the lawyer?

Answer: When the lawyer reached New Mullion, ‘Bill’ did not know that he was looking for Lutkins. He found it by talking to the lawyer and taking him into his confidence.

Bill came up with his plan for fooling the lawyer as soon as he got to know that the lawyer was looking out for Lutkins and he does not know Lutkins by face.

Question 2. Lutkins openly takes the lawyer all over the village. How is that no one lets out the secret? (Hint : Notice that the hack driver asks the lawyer to keep out of sight behind him when they go into Fritz’s.) Can you find other such subtle ways in which Lutkins manipulates the tour?

Answer: Lutkins was always the first to enter the places where he took the lawyer. He prevented the lawyer from directly talking with the people at these places. In this manner he would take them into his confidence. This is probably the reason why no one let out the secret. After they did not find Lutkins at Fritz’s, they went to Gustaff’s barber shop, where again he went in first and the lawyer lingered at the door. Before going to Lutkins’ mother’s house, he gave a terrifying description of Lutkins’ mother and urged the lawyer to let him try and talk to her.

Again, Lutkins was the one who went up to her first. The lawyer was only standing back and listening. He told her everything about the lawyer and why he had come, which was a sufficient clue for her to understand what was going on. It should also be noted that at the station, he had asked the lawyer if he was in a hurry to find Lutkins. The lawyer told him that he had to catch the afternoon train back to the city. This perhaps helped him concretise his plan to take the lawyer around the town till it was time for him to catch the train back to the city. In this way, he always kept ahead of the lawyer and managed to manipulate the entire tour.

Question 3. Why do you think Lufkin’s neighbours were anxious to meet the lawyer?

Answer: Almost the entire village had enjoyer Lutkins making a fool of the lawyer. Only Lutkins’ neighbours had not seen the lawyer but had come to know what happened. They wanted to see the gullible man who Lutkins had taken for a ride. That is why tin y wanted to meet him.

Question 4. After his first day’s experience with the hack driver the lawyer thinks of returning to New Mullion to practice law. Do you think he would have reconsidered this idea after his second visit?

Answer: After his first day’s experience with the hack driver, the lawyer had considered returning to New Mullion to practise law. However, he realised during his second visit that he had been literally taken for a ride by the hack driver (who himself was Lutkins). In this, Lutkins was helped by the townspeople. After becoming the laughing stock of the town, it is most likely that the lawyer would have reconsidered his initial idea of working there.

Question 5. Do you think the lawyer was gullible? How could he have avoided being taken for a ride?

Answer: Yes, the lawyer was a gullible and an inexperienced man. There are mutliple things that he could have done to avoid being taken for a ride and made fun of. He could have tried to find out how the witness he was going in search of i.e. Lutkins looks. He could have spoken to other people at the station and interrogated about Lutkins rather than believing one person who appeared to be overly friendly being a total stranger to the lawyer. Also, he should have been the one to interrogate about the whereabouts of Lutkins while visiting the places Lutkins mostly hangs out at.

Talk About It

Question 1. Do we come across persons like Lutkins only in fiction or do we encounter them in real life as well? You can give examples from fiction, or narrate an incident that you have read in the newspaper, or an incident from real life.

Answer: Persons like Lutkins are found in real life as well. They do not just appear in stories. They are very much real. Newspapers are full of reports of such tricksters. There is this famous con man in ‘David Copperfield’ written by Charles Dickens. His name is Uriah Heep. He traps a gullible, rich old man. The old man depends on him entirely. He takes advantage of his trust and takes all his money. He makes the old man an addict to alcohol. Then he forces the old man to marry his daughter to him.

Question 2. Who is a ‘con man’, or a confidence trickster?

Answer:  A ‘con man’ or a confidence trickster is a person who makes a fool out of other people. He wins their trust first and then, he gets from them whatever he wants.