The Big Friendly Giant by Roald Dahl: ICSE Class V English Literature

The Big Friendly Giant by Roald Dahl is a chapter in English Literature for Class V ICSE students. Find study notes, questions and answers.

The Big Friendly Giant (or The BFG) is a story by Roald Dahl and one of his best-loved characters.

Question and Answers

Quick Answers:

1. Here are some sentences that tell us how The BFG makes dreams. Put them in the right sequence by numbering them.

• a. He blows in the powder through a blowpipe. [4]
• b. The children breathe in the powder that floats around the room. [5]
• c. He finds a room with a sleeping child. [2]
• d. The BFG goes to houses where children are asleep. [1]
• e. He opens his suitcase and selects a powder. [3]

Question: Authors build characters by describing them to us. Fill in the blanks to complete the description of The BFG.

• a. very tall: three times as tall as an ordinary man, tall enough to reach windows that are one or even two flights up.
• b. very large: hands as large as wheelbarrows.
• c. home: lives in an underground cavern close to the filling station.
• d. usually goes out only when it was dark.
• e. always carries his suitcase and a blowpipe.

Reference to context:

“But he was a marvelous storyteller. He used to make a bedtime story for me every single night and the best one turned into serials and went on for many nights running.”

a. Describe the way in which Danny’s father told stories.

Answer: Danny’s father would stride up and down, waving his arms and waggling his fingers occasionally when he told his stories. But mostly he would sit close to him on the edge of his bunk and spoke very softly.

b. In your own words, describe what a ‘serial’ is? Why do you think Danny liked the serials the best?

Answer: A ‘serial’ is a story which is being told in short segments (episodes) daily for a long period of time.

Danny is a child like and every child wants to listen to bedtime stories. We don’t know when we fall asleep and the story remains incomplete. So, if we listen the story every night in parts, it will get completed some day.

c. Name and describe the character from one of the best serial stories told by Denny’s father.

Answer: The name of the character from one of the best serial stories told by Denny’s father is ‘The Big Friendly Giant’ or ‘The BFG’ for short.

The BFG was three times as taller as an ordinary man and his hands were as big as wheelbarrows. He lived in a vast underground Cavern not far from the filling station near the author’s house and he only came out into the open when it was dark.

“Ah yes, my darling there is a whole world of sounds around us that we can not hear because our eyes are simply not sensitive enough.”

a. List the sounds that The BFG could hear.

Answer: The BFG could hear the tread of a ladybird’s footsteps as she walks across a leaf, the whispering of ants as they carry around in the soil talking to one another, and the sudden shrill cry of pain a tree gives out when a woodman cuts into it with an axe.

b. How did The BFG store the dreams that he caught?

Answer: The BFG imprisoned the dreams in glass bottles and screws the tops down tight.

c. What did The BFG do with the bad dreams?

Answer: The BFG exploded the bad dreams.

Read, reflect and write:

Question: Why does The BFG carry a suitcase and a blowpipe?

Answer: The BFG carries a suitcase for keeping the powders in it and the blow pipe to poof the powders into the room’s through the open window.

Question: According to Denny’s father, what happens when the magic powder really takes over?

Answer: According to the Denny’s father, when the magic powder really takes over, the dream does not remain a dream any longer, but a real happening. And the child does not sleep in bed he becomes fully awake and is actually in the place of dream and is taking part in the whole thing in real life.

Question: Danny’s father is a marvelous storyteller. Why do you think it is important for children to read and listen to stories? Give an example of how a story (or many stories) have helped you.

answer: It is important for children to read and listen to stories because it helps them to stay calm and composed. It widens and their horizon of imagination. They understand their duties and responsibilities through the timeline of these stories.

The story ‘The Girl Who Hated Books’ by Manjusha Pawagi has helped me understand the importance of reading. I now have developed a liking for reading and it now my passion.

Question: What do you think Danny’s father told him the following night? Write a paragraph to continue his story.

Answer: I think, on the following night, his father told him about how The BFG dreamt of a poor boy becoming rich, and then the powder really took over and the dream turned into reality. The boy indeed became rich in his real life.

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