Literature Chapter 7 - The Adventure

This article will help you to learn about the summary, characters and themes in chapter 7, NCERT Class 11 English Hornbill – The Adventure. It will help you to understand the gist of the story and important phases in this story.

Synopsis

The story ‘The Adventure’ is a science fiction and is based on the conflicting thoughts of a historian. Professor Gaitonde is on a journey like never before, his experiences make him feel that history is different from reality. He finds himself in an odd situation where the history he read is different from reality. Also, he tries to figure out the mystery behind this conflicting history. He goes to a library to look for answers; and eventually, he finds a new turn to history and how things can be seen from different perceptions.

Character List

• Professor Gaitonde – Historian. He is a great orator and has delivered many speeches. He leaves no stone unturned to find the truth behind the battle of Panipat and the conflicting thoughts about it. He is patient enough to listen to others version of history and understands things from every possible angle.

• Rajendra Deshpande- A good friend of Professor Gaitonde. He tries to solve the confusion of Professor Gaitonde by taking practical examples of Quantum Theory and Catastrophe Theory.

Theme

This chapter ‘The Adventure’ deals with the doubts of a historian regarding the facts and reality. Professor Gaitonde is a historian with great experience in public speaking. He is on his way from Bombay to Pune. The story dates back to Pre-Independence Era, he finds East India Company there, whereas, according to historical evidence the East India Company was wound up. His car collided with a truck and he slips into a coma. He experiences a parallel world in his unconscious state where he finds the history to be different from reality.

Gaitonde feels that history would have taken a different turn in the Battle of Panipat. The bullet just missed the target and the Maratha leader Vishwasrao was saved. But according to history, the bullet killed the Maratha leader causing the defeat.

His friend, Rajendra Deshpande, tries to rationalise the strange experience of Professor Gaitonde by bringing in Catastrophe Theory and Lack of determinism in Quantum Theory. According to him, the Catastrophe Theory states that a small change in the circumstance, can bring sudden shift in the behaviour. He relates this to the Battle of Panipat, where the bullet missed the leader but the army thought their leader was dead and this lowered their morale and ultimately resulted in defeat. He feels that a small change in the situation could have changed the course of the war and the result could be favouring the Marathas.

Professor Gaitonde made a transition from the world we live in and the parallel world in which the history was different according to him. He neither travelled to the past nor the future; he was in the present but was experiencing a different world. Just before the accident, he was thinking about the Catastrophe Theory and its implications on the Battle of Panipat. Thus, his subconscious mind took him to a parallel world.

To know more on NCERT Solutions for Chapter 7 Hornbill Class 11, and for ‘The Adventure’ Solutions, refer to NCERT Solutions for Class 11 Hornbill Chapter 7 PDF.

Click on the links below to English Chapter 7- The Adventure Class 11 extra question and answers.