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Ch 15Birth — Class 11 English (Core), concept-first.

A. J. Cronin (1896–1981) was a Scottish novelist who trained and practised as a doctor before turning to full-time writing. His years as a physician — including work among the coal-mining communities of South Wales — gave his fiction its close, authentic feeling for medicine and for ordinary working people.

17

Q&A

4

Concepts

31m

Section weightage

Section C · Literature Textbooks (Hornbill & Snapshots) · across all 16 lessons

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Key concepts

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Character Emotional Turmoil

Think of the last time you had to make a genuinely hard choice — one where every option cost you something you cared about. Maybe you had to choose between telling a friend a painful truth and keeping their trust.

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Chapter contents

The NCERT structure, section by section. Open a section to see its questions, then read the concept-first solution.

About the Author and the Text

A. J. Cronin (1896–1981) was a Scottish novelist who trained and practised as a doctor before turning to full-time writing.

1.1

Summary of the Lesson

It is nearly midnight when Andrew Manson reaches his lodgings at Bryngower, dull and low after an unhappy evening with Christine.

1.2

Themes

The dedication and responsibility of a doctor The story is, above all, a portrait of what it means to be a true doctor.

1.3

Character Sketches

The excerpt turns on a small cast gathered in one poor bedroom on a single night. The central figure is the young doctor, Andrew Manson; around him are Susan Morgan, the mother longed-for a child for…

1.3.1

Dr Andrew Manson

Andrew is a young, newly qualified doctor at the start of his career in Blaenelly. When we meet him he is tired, dull and preoccupied — low after an unhappy evening with Christine and brooding on love…

1.3.2

Susan Morgan (the mother)

Susan Morgan is Joe's wife and Andrew's patient. Married for nearly twenty years, she is at last expecting her first child, which makes the birth intensely precious to the whole household.

1.3.3

Joe Morgan (the father)

Joe Morgan is a burly driller, a working man of the mining town and Susan's devoted husband. He is the anxious father-to-be who has paced up and down outside for an hour waiting for the doctor, and wh…

1.3.4

Minor Characters: the Grandmother, the Midwife and the Nurse

The grandmother (Susan's mother) A tall, grey-haired woman of nearly seventy, she is wise from long experience.

1.4

Title and Message

The short, plain title Birth names both the literal event of the story and its deeper meaning — and the excerpt as a whole carries a clear message about medicine, duty and the value of human life.

1.4.1

Significance of the Title

The title Birth is simple but rich in meaning.

1.4.2

Message of the Lesson

The lesson carries several linked messages.

Summary

- Context: An excerpt from A. J. Cronin's novel The Citadel. Andrew Manson, a young doctor newly practising in the Welsh mining town of Blaenelly, is called out near midnight to a difficult childbirth…

Questions

+Questionsi3 questions
  1. Q1“I have done something; oh, God! I've done something real at last.” Why does Andrew say this? What does it mean?Free
  2. Q2There lies a great difference between textbook medicine and the world of a practising physician. Discuss.Preview
  3. Q3Do you know of any incident when someone has been brought back to life from the brink of death through medical help. Discuss medical procedu…Preview

Additional Practice

Extra exam-style practice questions written by us on this lesson — beyond the NCERT textbook's own exercises — for more CBSE board-exam preparation.

+Additional Practicei14 questions
  1. Q1Why is Andrew Manson in a troubled, despondent state of mind when he returns to Bryngower near midnight? (Answer in 30–40 words.)Free
  2. Q2Who is waiting for Andrew outside the surgery, and why is this childbirth so momentous for the Morgan family? (Answer in 30–40 words.)Free
  3. Q3Why does Andrew decide to remain at the Morgans' house even though the delivery is still hours away? (Answer in 30–40 words.)Free
  4. Q4What thoughts about love and marriage trouble Andrew as he sits waiting downstairs over his cup of tea? (Answer in 30–40 words.)Preview
  5. Q5What double calamity confronts Andrew after the delivery, and which patient does he turn to first? (Answer in 30–40 words.)Preview
  6. Q6How does Andrew bring the collapsing Susan Morgan back from the brink? (Answer in 30–40 words.)Preview
  7. Q7In what condition does Andrew find the newborn child, and where had the midwife placed it? (Answer in 30–40 words.)Preview
  8. Q8Which case from the Samaritan hospital flashes through Andrew's mind, and how does it decide his treatment of the baby? (Answer in 30–40 wor…Preview
  9. Q9How does Andrew feel as he walks out into the dawn, and what does he tell himself about the night's work? (Answer in 30–40 words.)Preview
  10. Q10Draw a character sketch of Dr Andrew Manson as revealed by his conduct through the long night at the Morgans' house. (Answer in 120–150 word…Preview
  11. Q11'Birth' shows that medical science succeeds only when it is joined to a refusal to give up. Discuss with close reference to the resuscitatio…Preview
  12. Q12Justify the title 'Birth'. In how many different senses does a birth take place in this extract from The Citadel? (Answer in 120–150 words.)Preview
  13. Q13Write a note on Joe and Susan Morgan as a portrait of patient hope, quiet courage and speechless gratitude. (Answer in 120–150 words.)Preview
  14. Q14Andrew's private unhappiness dissolves in a night of service. Discuss how the extract presents quiet heroism in an ordinary mining town. (An…Preview