Bholi: Self-Respect or Disobedience?
A 5-mark question on 'Bholi' asks: 'Bholi's refusal to marry Bishamber is an act of self-respect, not disobedience.' Do you agree? Support your answer with two details from the text.' Candidate A writes 92 words, citing Bishamber's limp, the dowry of five hundred rupees, and Bholi's stammer; she concludes that Bholi refused because she did not want to be 'bought'. Candidate B writes 55 words: 'Yes, I agree. Bholi was brave. She did not want to marry an old man. She wanted to study and become a teacher. So she refused.' Candidate C writes 110 words arguing that Bholi was disobedient because her father had arranged the marriage and she humiliated him in public. The marking scheme requires a clear position, two textual details, and a comment on Bholi's change. A marker has given A 4/5, B 3/5 and C 2/5. Another marker says B should get 4 because it mentions study and teaching.
1. Review the three awards. Which mark would you change, and why, using the marking scheme's three requirements?
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Candidate A: 4/5. Clear position, two textual details (Bishamber's limp and the five-hundred-rupee dowry), and a comment on change implied by the stammer. The fifth mark is withheld because the comment on change is not explicit.
Candidate B: 2/5, not 3/5 or 4/5. It has a position and one relevant detail (study and teaching), but it does not supply two details about the marriage and does not comment on Bholi's change. 'Brave' is an assertion, not textual evidence.
Candidate C: 1/5 or 2/5. It takes a position, but it treats 'disobedience' as the whole answer and does not weigh the evidence about Bishamber's age, limp or dowry. 'Humiliated him in public' is a judgement, not a textual detail.
The second marker is wrong: mentioning study and teaching is one detail, not two, and it does not satisfy the change requirement.
2. Write the 5-mark model answer in 100-120 words.
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Bholi's refusal is primarily an act of self-respect. She had been neglected and mocked, and education gave her a voice. Bishamber was much older, limped, and demanded five hundred rupees, so the marriage would have treated her as a transaction. Her public 'no' defied custom, but it protected her dignity. It also marked a change: the stammering girl who once could not speak now spoke before the village. Disobedience is a useful label only if the father's authority was legitimate; here the arrangement would have harmed her. The act was socially disruptive, but self-respect is the better description of her motive.
3. A student asks: 'If Bholi's father arranged the marriage, wasn't refusal disobedience?' Write a 60-80 word response that distinguishes the two concepts without dismissing the father's position.
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Disobedience means breaking a command; self-respect means refusing treatment that denies your worth. Bholi's father may have acted protectively, but his intention does not make the match right: Bishamber was much older, limped, and demanded a dowry. Her refusal can be disobedient in form and self-respecting in substance. The question asks which is primary, and the text supports self-respect because the marriage would have reduced her to a price.