English Project Power Point

The portrait of the lady
Paavai vidhyashram
By
D JEEVAN RAAJ
INDEX
About the author
Summary
Analysis of character
Analysis of theme
Title justification
Message
Values highlighted
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Khushwant Singh (born Khushal Singh, 2 February 1915 – 20 March 2014) was an
Indian author, lawyer, diplomat, journalist and politician. His experience in the 1947
Partition of India inspired him to write Train to Pakistan in 1956 (made into film in
1998), which became his most well-known novel.
Born in Punjab, Khushwant Singh was educated in Modern School, New Delhi, St.
Stephen's College, and graduated from Government College, Lahore. He studied at
King's College London and was awarded an LL.B. from University of London. He
was called to the bar at the London Inner Temple. After working as a lawyer in
Lahore High Court for eight years, he joined the Indian Foreign Service upon the
Independence of India from British Empire in 1947
SUMMARY
The Portrait of a Lady summary is a real story of the writer’s
grandmother. The name of the writer is Kushwant Singh. His
grandmother was an old lady. The writer tells us the story of
the childhood that he had spent with his grandmother. The
writer has explained his relationship with his grandmother
over the years. He thinks about her daily activities and how
she grew as a character over time. He mentions her
appearance, which assists in creating a mental impression of
her in the reader’s mind.
ANALYSIS OF CHARACTER
Grandmother – This is the only character in the story as this

whole story revolves around the author’s grandmother. She
is old yet graceful. The author’s grandmother is short,
feeble, fat and always bent due to her age. He describes her
as old and feels she must have been old for a long time. The
author denies the fact that she was young once and would
have played games as children do since he had never seen
her that way.
She seems to be so old that she couldn’t grow older but
should remain the same forever. The old lady accepts the
changes of life and has her way of dealing with it. She loves
to feed birds and spend time praising the Lord. She enjoys
her solace and had accepted the busy lives of her children
and grandchildren.
ANALYSIS OF THEME
In The Portrait of a Lady by Khushwant Singh, we have the
theme of innocence, friendship, love, connection, kindness,
selflessness, respect and acceptance. The image of the
grandmother emerges from the portrait of a lady is very
religious. She believes in teaching scriptures and about God
in school. She had tremendous mental stability, and that's
why she accepted the separation. The Portrait of a Lady is
the story of the author. He describes his relationship with his
grandmother over the years.
He pens down her daily activities and how she evolved as a
character as time passed by. He explains her appearance,
which helps create an image in the reader's mind. After the
return of the author, the grandmother celebrated his
homecoming for an entire night and consequently fell ill.
However, she could not recover from her illness, and she
died chanting the name of God, with the rosary in her hand
TITLE JUSTIFICATION
The Portrait of a Lady is a very appropriate title for the story as in the
complete story, the author keeps on talking about his grandmother.
Whether the start, where she is dressing the author and singing prayers
or at the near end when the lady started feeding the birds in the
balcony.
Every branch of the plot in the story highlights the attribute of the old
lady. Moreover, we can notice that not once did the writer trace
anything other than the life of his grandmother. So, more easily, we can
state that the whole story is like some drawing of the writer's
grandmother.
MESSAGE
In 'The Portrait of The Lady' by Kushwant Singh, when the

author Kushwant and his grandmother move to the city the
turning point occurs in their lives. As a child, he was
completely dependent upon his grandmother but when they
move to a city, the grandmother no longer accompanied the
narrator till the school and she was unable to help him with
his studies.
The story is the author's grandmother's pen portrait. It
determines the fact that a person who is truly religious stays
composed and calm, generous and kind-hearted.
Grandmother was a truly religious person and had
compassion for all.
The author through grandmother hits at the generation gap

as referred by the grandmother. She opposed the idea of no
teaching of scriptures and to the music she had her particular
antipathy.
VALUES HIGHLIGHTED
We learn a number of values of life from this lesson. The

grandmother of the author teaches us many lessons. First of
all, there should be a great and firm belief in God. We
should not forget that Godliness brings happiness in the
family. Benevolence is another value we learn. We should
always feed the animals and birds and love them. The
grandmother’s love and care for her grandson tell us how
our grandparents love us.
She is disturbed to know that the English school did not
teach children about God and scriptures. In her opinion,
every child should be taught about them. The behaviour of
the sparrows on the death of the grandmother shows us that
if we love and care for animals and birds, in return, they also
‘love us and show their feelings. In all the grandmother is
seen as a very religious and down-to-earth lady who believes
in values of life.
THANK YOU !

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The portrait of the lady

Grandmother – This is the only character in the story as this

In 'The Portrait of The Lady' by Kushwant Singh, when the

The author through grandmother hits at the generation gap

We learn a number of values of life from this lesson. The

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