But I did not want to shoot the elephant. I watched him beating his bunch of…
2025
But I did not want to shoot the elephant. I watched him beating his bunch of grass against his knees, with the preoccupied grandmotherly air that elephants have. It seemed to me that it would be murder to shoot him. I had never shot an elephant and never wanted to. (Somehow it always seems worse to kill a large animal.) Besides, there was the beast's owner to be considered. But I had got to act quickly. I turned to some experienced-looking Burmans who had been there when we arrived, and asked them how the elephant had been behaving. They all said the same thing; he took no notice of you if you left him alone, but he might charge if you went too close to him.
What does the expression, ‘grandmotherly air’ refer to from the passage given?
- A.
Being carefree
- B.
Being unconcerned about the surroundings
- C.
pretending to have a loftier attitude
- D.
Being calm and warm with affection
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Concept
In a vocabulary-in-context question, a descriptive phrase is interpreted through its connotation - the feeling or association a word carries - rather than a bare dictionary definition. ‘Grandmotherly’ borrows the typical image of a grandmother: gentle, unhurried, and warmly affectionate, so the phrase points to that tone rather than to indifference, carelessness, or pretense.
Application
The passage describes the elephant ‘beating his bunch of grass against his knees, with the preoccupied grandmotherly air that elephants have.’ The repetitive, unhurried gesture, paired with the word ‘grandmotherly,’ builds the image of a creature absorbed in a small, familiar task the way an elderly, affectionate relative might be - calm and warm rather than alert, careless, or performative.
Cross-check / Contrast
Being carefree - describes freedom from worry, not the specific warmth ‘grandmotherly’ evokes; a carefree creature could just as easily be reckless.
Being unconcerned about the surroundings - captures obliviousness, but strips out the affectionate, nurturing quality that is central to a grandmotherly image.
Pretending to have a loftier attitude - implies a deliberate act of superiority, which contradicts the natural, unselfconscious motion the passage describes; there is no hint of pretense.
Being calm and warm with affection - matches the tender, unhurried, nurturing picture that ‘grandmotherly’ is built to evoke, directly answering the connotation the phrase carries.
Result
The expression ‘grandmotherly air’ refers to the elephant being calm and warm with affection - the gentle, nurturing demeanor a grandmother is associated with.