Good Bye Mr.

Chips:
Important Dates & Events:
Events Years
Chips was Born 1848
Graduate from Cambridge University (21*) 1869
Join Melbury Public School (21*) 1869
Left M.P.S. & joined Brookfield Public School (22*) 1870
Meet & Married “Katherine Bridges” (48*) 1896
Mrs. Chips passed away (27 age of Chips Wife) 1st April, 1898
Became acting head master 1st time (52*) 1900
Row with Ralston (60*) 1908
Retire 1st time (65*) July, 1913
Rejoin Brookfield (68*) 1916
Became acting head master 2nd time (69*) 1917
Retire 2nd & Final time (70*) 11th November, 1918
Prepared his will (82*) 1930
Dead of Mr. Chips (85*) 1933
*Means Age of Mr. Chips

Heads of Brookfield:
Head Masters of Brookfield
1. Mr. Wetherby (30 years service) (1840- 1870)
2. Mr. Meldrum (30 years service) (1870- 1900)
3. Mr. Chips (Acting head) (1900)
4. Mr. Ralston (In just 37 age) (1900- 1911)
5. Mr. Chatteris (In just 34 age) (1911- April 1917)
6. Mr. Chips (Acting head) (April 1917 – 11 November 1918)
7. Mr. Cartwright (1919- 1933 continue)
CHP 1&2

1. How did Mr. Chips and Mrs. Wickett measure time?

Mr. Chips and Mrs. Wickett measured time by the signals of the past just like a sea
captain. Both followed the Brookfield time- table instead of the Greenwich Time. He would sit by
the fire and listened to the school bells sounding dinner, call-over, prep and lights out.

2. Who was Merivale? What did he say about Mr. Chips?

Merivale was Mr. Chips’ family doctor. He used to visit Mr. Chips after every
fortnight. He was envious of Mr. Chips’ health and said, “You are fitter than I am,
you’ve past the age when people get horrible diseases.” He told Mr. Chips that he
would die a natural death.

3. Who was Wetherby? What did he advise to Mr. Chips?

Wetherby was the head of the Brookfield. It was he who interviewed Mr. Chips in
1870. He was kind, sympathetic and courteous man. He advised Mr. Chips to be
strict with students and take up a firm attitude from the beginning. He died during
summer vacation.

4. Write a few lines on Brookfield?

Brookfield was established in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It was rebuilt and large
additions were made during the period of the first George. The main structure was
situated in the centre and “there were acres of playing fields beyond”.

5. What type of school was Brookfield

Brookfield was the school of 2nd rank. “Its luck, however, had been not so good;
the school went up and down, dwindling almost to non existence at one time, and
became almost illustrious at another”.

6. How did Mr. Chips win the first round at Brookfield? (or) Who was the
first boy punished by Mr. Chips at Brookfield?
Chips’ first assignment was to take prep; there were five hundred lusty barbarians
sitting in the hall. Colley, a red haired boy, made a mischief by dropping the desk
lid. Chips identified the boy and punished him by giving hundred lines to write.
“No trouble at all after that. He had won the first round”.
 7. What happens when one gets on in years?
“The hours seem to pass like lazy cattle moving across a landscape” when one gets
on in years. One gets sleepy at times. Their days and nights are full of dreams. One
suffers from nostalgia when one gets old.

8. What were Chips’ ambitions in the beginning? Did he achieve them?

Mr. Chips wanted to b the headmaster of the 2nd rank school or the senior master of
the 1st rank school like Harrow. As the time passed by he realized that “the odds
were heavily against him being able to better himself by moving elsewhere.”
Therefore, he gave up his ambitions and was contented with his life.

CHP 3

9. How did Mr. Chips treat and serve his guests?

Mr. Chips was the man of courtesy. He treated his guests well and served them
with Walnut cake and tea. In the winter term “there were Crumpets too- a little pile
of them in front of the fire, soaked in butter”. It was interesting to watch him
“mixing careful spoonfuls from different caddies”.

10. Who was Collingwood? Why did Mr. Chips thrash him?
Collingwood was the student of Mr. Chips. Once he was punished by Mr. Chips
when he was climbing onto the gymnasium’s roof to get a ball out of the gutter. He
might have broken his neck. Later on, he became major and was killed in Egypt
during the war.

11. How was Mr Chips’ room decorated at Mrs. Wickett? (Or) give an account
of Mr. Chip’s room at the Mrs. Wickett?
Mr. Chips’ room was decorated “simply and with school-masterly taste”. There
were a few bookshelves, sporting trophies, a crowded mantelpiece, a worn out
Turkey carpet, big easy chair and the pictures of the Acropolis and the Forum.
“There was also a bottom shelf piled up with cheap editions of detective novels”.

CHP 4
 12. Describe the most interesting scene of novel? (Or) how did Mr. Chips
encounter with Katherine?
One day Mr. Chips was climbing onto the Great Gable. “He noticed a girl waving
excitedly from a dangerous looking edge”. He started moving fast to help her.
However, in his effort, he slipped on the rock and, thus, injured his foot. Later, he
found that she was not in difficulty at all and was only “signalling to a friend
farther down the mountain”.

13. What were Mr. .chips’ views about women? (Or) why did Mr. .Chips hate
modern women?
Mr. Chips was conservative person. He did not like modern women. He disliked
those women who were liberal minded, who rode bicycle and lack modesty. He did
not feel at home with the New Women of the Nineties. He considered them
monstrous creature. He conceived women as weak, timid and delicate.

CHP 5&6
14. Was Mr. Chips satisfied with his qualification? (Or) why did Mr. Chips
depreciate himself?
Mr. Chips was not satisfied with his attainments. He told Katherine about his
mediocre degree, his difficulties in controlling boys and his ineligibility to marry a
young and ambitious girl. He was certain that “he would never get promotion”.
Because of these reasons he had been depreciating himself for some years.

15. What did Katherine Bridges say to Mr. .chips before wedding night?
Katherine asked Mr. .chips if she would call him “sir” or “Mr. .chips”. She said to him that Mr.
Chips would be a right name for him. She told him that she was feeling like a new boy beginning
his first term with him and she said, “Good bye, Mr. Chips.”

16. Discuss Mr. .Chips’ life before marriage.

Mr. Chips was a dry, neutral and isolated type of person before marriage. He was
liked and respected in general. He wanted to be respected, obeyed and loved. “He
worked well; he was conscientious; he was a fixture that gave services, satisfaction,
and confidence, everything except inspiration”.

17. Discuss Mr. Chips’ life after marriage. (Or) discuss Katherine’s influence
on Mr. Chips?
Katherine had a great influence on Mr. Chips. He turned into a new man. His eyes
gained sparkle. His humor “blossomed into a sudden richness to which his years
lent maturity”. His discipline improved a lot. He became popular among the
students and they began to love him.

18. Why did Chips and other masters oppose Katherine’s suggestion of
arranging a match? (Or) Why did Katherine’s idea of arranging a match
between Brookfield and mission school meet with “frosty reception?”.
Katherine was socialist in her views. She wanted to see all sections of society equal
in all respect. On the other hand, Chips and other masters were orthodox. They
considered the poplar boys hooligans and rejected Katherine’s suggestion
altogether. Katherine persisted and finally they had to give up.

19. From where Katherine was married?

Katherine had no parents. This is why she was married from the house of an aunt in
Ealing. On the night before the wedding, when Chips left the house to return to his
hotel, she called it an occasion, when she felt like a new boy beginning his first
term with Mr. Chips.

20. Why did Katherine persist on arrange a match?

Katherine persisted on arranging a match. She said that they were wrong and she
was right. She claimed that she was looking to the future while he was looking
back to the past. She further said that England could not be divided into officers
and other ranks. According to her, those boys were as important for England as
people of Brookfield were.