Plan of Attack by Saki Question and Answers | Notes B.Com English - The Learning Art 

Q.1: Describe the dominating qualities of Mrs. Heasant’s character.

Throw light on the salient features of Mrs. Heasant’s character in the story ‘Plan of Attack’.

Discuss the character of Mrs. Heasant in the story ‘Plan of Attack’.

Write a brief character sketch of Mrs. Heasant.

Ans: Mrs. Heasant was Bertie’s mother, who was an empty minded woman and had a bad habit of opening all the private letters of everyone that would come into her home. Mrs. Heasant was one of those women to whom other people’s affairs were continually interesting. After reading the letters, she used to become mad in anger without confirming or investigating the matter.

Same happened with her when Bertie’s friend Clovis played a trick with her and wrote letters with a fake name of Clotilde and made her fool to teach her a lesson. And at the end of the story she realized her mistake as well.

Q.2: What kind of a person was Mrs. Heasant? Did she learn the lesson in the end?

Ans: Mrs. Heasant was Bertie’s mother, who was an empty minded woman and had a bad habit of reading all the private letters addressed to anyone in her home.

Yes, she learnt a lesson in the end, when Bertie’s friend Clovis sent letters in her home addressed to Bertie with an unknown name of Clotilde. He wrote such fake stories in the letter which were apparently like robbery of jewellery and murder of a girl, which made Mrs. Heasant almost mad and she made too much noise in her home after reading the letters.

But in the last letter Clovis cleared the matter by sending the letter with his own name and telling that he sent all the letters to teach a lesson to someone who opens all letters in Bertie’s home. Then she realized her mistake and learnt a lesson.

Q.3: Why did Bertie’s mother read all the letters in the story ‘Plan of Attack’?

Ans: Bertie’s mother had a bad habit of opening all letters addressed to anyone in her home to find out any private and interesting matters related to others. She was one of those empty-minded women to whom other people’s affairs were continually interesting, that is why she used to read all the letters coming to her home.

Q.4: What role did Clovis play in resolving Bertie’s problem? How successful was his plan?

How did Clovis solve Bertie’s problem?

Discuss the role played by Clovis to resolve Bertie’s problem.

Ans: Bertie’s friend Clovis sent letters in her home with an unknown name of Clotilde. He wrote such fake stories in the letter which were apparently like robbery of jewellery and murder of a girl, which made Mrs. Heasant almost mad and she made too much noise in her home after reading the letters. 

But in the last letter Clovis cleared the matter by sending the letter with his own name and telling that he sent all the letters to teach a lesson to someone who opens all letters in Bertie’s home. The trick played by Clovis was a successful one and he taught a lesson to Mrs. Heasant.

Q.5: What was Bertie’s problem in the story ‘Plan of Attack’? How was the problem solved?

Ans: Bertie’s problem was that Ella McCarthy couldn’t write a letter of thank you to Bertie because Bertie’s mother had a bad habit of opening all the letters that used to come into her home.

Clovis, Bertie’s friend, solved the problem of Bertie by sending the fake letters at his home. Clovis sent letters in his home with an unknown name of Clotilde. He wrote such fake stories in the letter which were apparently like robbery of jewellery and murder of a girl, which made Mrs. Heasant almost mad and she made too much noise in her home after reading the letters. But in the last letter Clovis cleared the matter by sending the letter with his own name and telling that he sent all the letters to teach a lesson to someone who opens all letters in Bertie’s home. The trick played by Clovis was a successful one and he taught a lesson to Mrs. Heasant.