English Language (Comprehension) (UPSC)

11. The passage attempts to describe : [2011-II]

1. (a) the general conditions of the country's jails.
2. (b) the prisoner's capacity to notice the minute details of his surroundings.
3. (c) the prisoner's conscious efforts to overcome the loneliness.
4. (d) the prisoner's ability to live happily with other creatures.

Correct Answer: (c) the prisoner's conscious efforts to overcome the loneliness.
Note:
The impression that comes across through the narrator's description is his untiring efforts to adjust to extreme loneliness. It is quite obvious that he was very lonely and that he was making friends with various types of insects, flowers, etc. to retain his sanity.(a) The general condition of the country jails is revealed in the passage but this is not the central idea of this passage. The same is true of options (b) and (d).