The day the dam broke - Questions

Questions Answers

Q.1 How does the panic appear to have started in Ohio?

Ans. James Thurber relates the broken-dam rumor in his essay ‘The Day the Dam Broke’. He does not mention an explicit cause, rather a probable one, as to how the rumor started in Columbus, Ohio. Business activities were in full swing on High Street, which was the main channel of trade. Some people were making proud, some little boasts. Suddenly somebody began to run and, in just ten minutes, two thousand people were abruptly running like hell, shouting “Go east! Go east! Go east!” The fear of the broken dam might have been put into words by an old lady in an electric, or by a traffic cop, or by a small boy, but Thurber says that no one knew who spread the rumor.

Q.2 How did Thurber’s mother cope with the situation?

Ans. In his essay ‘The Day the Dam Broke’ James Thurber tells that unlike the other people, who ran out leaving fires burning and food cooking and doors wide open, his mother turned out all the fires. She planned to take refuge somewhere in the top of Memorial Hall, so she took with her a dozen eggs and two loaves of bread as a precaution against hunger during the refuge. However, she could not reach Memorial Hall as the flood of people, who were shouting “God east”, drew her along and the rest of her family members with her.

Q.3 How long did the panic last and how was order restored?

Ans. The broken-dam rumor, as James Thurber mentions in his essay ‘The Day the Dam Broke’, did not last more than two hours. The tangled evacuation of the city ended as abruptly as it began, and all the people silently went to their home, leaving the streets peaceful and deserted. The order was restored by the militiamen. However, their bellowing through the megaphone initially added to the confusion and increased the panic because people thought they were saying “The dam has now broken” rather than “The dam has not broken.”

Q.4 Why did Dr. Mallory think that flood waters were about to engulf (drown) him?

Ans. Dr. Mallory passed the writer’s aunt and in his panic said, “It got us!” He was sure that the flood waters were going to sweep him away. He actually mistook the swishing sound of the skates for the rushing water. So, while running to save his life, he fell. He kept lying flat on his face, as he was sure that the flood waters would engulf him. Soon, the boy on the skates rushed past him and only then he realized, what he had been running from.

Q.5 Why did the citizens of Columbus not care to talk about the events of the March 1913?

Ans. The citizens of Columbus were so ashamed of their conduct the previous day, that nobody had the courage to talk about the event of 12th March 1913. It was only after two years or more than the people plucked courage, to talk about the broken darn rumor, jokingly. But there are a few people like Dr. Mallory; who, even after twenty years, would shut their mouths, tightly, because they were terribly ashamed of their conduct on the 12th March 1913.

Q.6 Thurber’s sardonic but affectionate view in “The Day the Dam Broke”.

Ans. The author, James Thurber is one of the leading. American humorists of the modern times. The Day the Dam Broke is an extremely amusing and a humorous essay.

The author pokes fun at the panic-stricken people of Ohio, who thought that their lives were in danger because the dam had given way.

The writer laughs at the mob psychology, and how it works in a given situation. A person in a mob does not think or rationalize. He merely follows the dictates of others.

The author also suggests that man by nature is very timid. He wants to save his life under all circumstances particularly if he is faced with danger.

So, while the author criticizes the crowd for not using their brains and behaving stupidly, yet he sympathizes with them, for the suffering they underwent. This is his affectionate view of the crowd.

Q.7 How does the panic start and how did it end, in “The Day The Dam Broke”?

Ans. The author, James Thurber, is not sure, as to how the panic began in The Day the Dam Broke. He feels perhaps it began some such manner. At about moon of 12th March 1913, on High Street, suddenly somebody began to run. Maybe, he was late for an appointment to meet his wife. Whatever it was, he ran east. He was followed by a fat gentleman of affairs, he walked at a trot.

Within ten minutes, everybody on High Street was running in panic. While running, they were shouting, “the dam has broken”, “go east, to safety”. This is how the panic started.

The panic ended as abruptly, as it began. It lasted for two hours when finally order was restored by militiamen, announcing over megaphones that, “the dam has not broken”, but the people in their confusion heard that, “the dam has now broken”. Thus, the people with renewed strength started to run. At last, the mob was brought under control.