DSC material - THE REFUND

About the Author :

1. Fritz Karinthy was born on 25 June 1887 and died on 29 August 19382. He is a Hungarian author well known for his novels and scholarly essays and translation works.

3. He is adept carving his characters with deep insight which peripherally seems ridiculous.

4. His popular works are ; Professor, Please ( 1916), Journey Round My skull (1939), Refund ( 1938)

5. American playwright Percival Wilde (1887-1953) adopted Karinty’s play Refund for general audience.

6. He was the first proponent of the six degrees of separation concept, in his 1929 short story, Chains

7.Other Important writings,: Voyage to Faremido is an early examination of artificial intelligence, while Capillaria is a polished and darkly humorous satire on the 'battle of the sexes'.

8. Karinthy said that he is influenced by  Jonathan Swift .

Abouth the Drama :

1.  Wasserkopf is the protagonist in the play, he was an old student of a school.

2. He comes to school to demand his once paid fees as the education which he had received from the school was of no use to him.

3. Principal is in a fix he does not know what to do.

4. The principal and lecturers ask Wasserkopf to appear for a test, so that if he fails in the test he would be given refund.

5. Wasserkopf decides to fail in the test at any cost, and teachers on the other hand equally determined to pass Wasserkopf in all tests.

6. History teacher is the first person to pose a question. He asks what is the duration of the 30 years war, Wasserkopf answers it 7 meters.  But answer, according to the history teacher,  becomes a right one when the theory of relativity is applied to that answer.

7. Next question is posed by physics teacher who asks if clocks in church steeples really become smaller as one walks away from them, or they merely become smaller due to optical illusion.  Wasserkopf replies that objects become larger as one goes away from them and comments that teacher is an ass.  Teacher exclaims that the answer is right as asses are subjected to optical illusion.

8. The geography teacher asks the city of the same name which is the capital of the German province of Brunswick. Wasserkopf says ‘same’ and the teacher accepts as it is correct answer.

9. Finally mathematics teacher makes a twist in the play.  He asks two questions one easy and one difficult, even for easy ( it is the hardest question indeed ) question Wasserkopf could give the right answer and consequently maths teacher declares that he has failed in the examination.  Everyone was shocked as they all trying to prevent it, but at last mathematics teacher asks him to calculate the total amount of Refund. 

10 Wasserkopf calculates the amount correctly.  The mathematics teacher congratulates upon his success as he correctly answered the difficult question which is related to the calculation of his refund.

11. At last Wasserkopf passes every test even though he is reluctant to pass them, and gets thrown away from the school.

12. Presence of mind and adept handling of the situation with calm composure led teachers and the principal to the successful end of the problem.

13. This is a one-Act play; it does not have any sub plots or scenes.

Antonyms and synonyms

1.  Absurd; unreasonable, irrational, perverse, awkward, (Antonyms ; logical, rational, reasonable, sound)

2. Incompetent; useless, inept, clumsy ( Antonyms : useful, valuable, worthy)

3. Chuckling: laughing quietly, giggle, titter, snigger, ( Antonyms : bemoan, lament, regret, grieve)

4. Sly: clever in a secretive, dishonest way, crafty, cunning, devious ( Antonyms : honest, candid, frank, sincere )

5. by hook or by crook : by any possible method, at any cost,

6. Checkmate: attacking without giving a chance to escape.

7. at their wit’s end : becoming disperate when knowing nothing what to do.

8. incessant ; continuously, ceaseless, nonstop, perpetual, unending, (antonyms : intermittent , irregular, broken, jagged )

9. Siesta: After noon sleep ( nap) after lunch.

10. Illusion: not original, delusion, fantasy, mirage, hallucination,  (Antonyms : concrete, actual, real, tangible, genuine )

11. Relativity; theory of physics that establishes the relation between space, time and energy.

12. Flying colors : Remarkable success,

13. Polyhedron: a solid shape with four or more flat surfaces.

14. Crown: A coin that is no longer in use, cap, tiara, coronet

15. Heller: a currency used in Germany

16. Magnificent: Great, exalted, glorious, brilliant, wonderful (Antonyms: lowly, ordinary, common, average)