The NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English Chapter 8 – “The Hack Driver” provide detailed and thoughtful answers to all the questions in the chapter. Written by Sinclair Lewis, this humorous story is about a young lawyer who is sent to a small town to serve a summons to a man named Oliver Lutkins. The lawyer meets a friendly hack driver who offers to help him find Lutkins. As the story unfolds, the lawyer realizes too late that the hack driver is actually Lutkins himself, who has been cleverly tricking him the entire time.
Here Are The NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English Chapter 8 – The Hack Driver here
Question 1. Why is the lawyer sent to New Mullion? What does he first think about the place?
Answer: The lawyer is sent to New Mullion to serve a summons on a man called Oliver Lutkins. Lutkins was needed as a witness in a law case, but he had ignored all letters from the law firm.
He thinks that New Mullion would be a sweet and simple country village.
NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English Chapter 8 – The Hack Driver here
Question 2. Who befriends him? Where does he take him?
Answer: Bill Magnuson, who claims to be a delivery man at the station, befriends the lawyer. Bill warns him that Lutkins is a difficult man to catch. Then he offers to assist him by accompanying him to the locations where Lutkins frequently hangs out. He takes him to Fritz’s store, where Lutkins is known to play poker, then to Gustaf’s shop, Gray’s business, the poolroom, and a variety of other locations before eventually transporting him to Lutkins’ mother’s property.
Question 3. What does he say about Lutkins?
Answer: He says that Lutkins is a hard fellow to catch and is always up to something or the other. Lutkins owed a lot of money to people and never paid them back. Lutkins plays poker a lot. Bill also tells the lawyer that Lutkins is very good at deceiving people.
NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English Chapter 8 – The Hack Driver here
Read and Find Out
Question 1. What more does Bill say about Lutkins and his family?
Answer: Bill claims that he knows Lutkins’ mother. He claims she’s a terror. He described an occasion in which he went to her farm to deliver a trunk, and she nearly ripped his flesh off because he did not carry it as carefully as a box of eggs. He stated that she was around nine feet tall and four feet thick. She was quite fast and could say a lot.
He also stated that Lutkins must have heard that they were pursuing him and would have come to hide beneath his mother’s skirt.
NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English Chapter 8 – The Hack Driver here
Question 2. Does the narrator serve the summons that day?
Answer: No, the narrator is not able to serve the summons that day.
Question 3. Who is Lutkins?
Answer: The hack driver, Bill Magnuson, himself is Lutkins. He deceives the lawyer the entire day so as to avoid receiving the summons from him to be a witness.
NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English Chapter 8 – The Hack Driver here
Think About It
Question 1. When the lawyer reached New Mullion, did ‘Bill’ know that he was looking for Lutkins? When do you think Bill came up with his plan for fooling the lawyer?
Answer: When the lawyer arrived in New Mullion, ‘Bill’ was unaware that he was seeking for Lutkins. He discovered it by speaking with the lawyer and drawing him into his confidence.
Bill devised his strategy to deceive the lawyer as soon as he discovered that the lawyer was watching out for Lutkins, despite the fact that he did not know Lutkins by face.
Question 2. Lutkins openly takes the lawyer all over the village. How is it that no one lets out the secret? (Hint: Notice that the hack driver asks the lawyer to keep out of sight behind him when they go into Fritz’s.) Can you find other such subtle ways in which Lutkins manipulates the tour?
Answer: Lutkins brazenly transports the lawyer across the hamlet, but no one discovers the secret. He first refuses to allow the lawyer to speak with the local residents. He always approaches them. He repeatedly tells the lawyer how deceitful Lutkins is and reminds him of Lutkins’ mother. The villagers and Lutkins’ mother also assist him in fooling the lawyer.
Question 3. Why do you think Lutkins’ neighbours were anxious to meet the lawyer?
Answer: Lutkins’ neighbors were eager to see the lawyer since they were the only ones who had not had the opportunity to meet the lawyer, who had been duped by Lutkins for the entire day. Everyone else in the hamlet had watched Lutkins cheat the lawyer.
NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English Chapter 8 – The Hack Driver here
Question 4. After his first day’s experience with the hack driver, the lawyer thinks of returning to New Mullion to practise law. Do you think he would have reconsidered this idea after his second visit?
Answer:No, I do not believe he would have contemplated this concept after his second visit. After his initial visit, he was quite pleased about the inhabitants of New Mullion. He believed Bill was quite kind and helpful to a stranger, as would the rest of the locals.
On his second visit to New Mullion, he finds that ‘Bill’ had fooled him for a full day. He continued hunting for Lutkins with Lutkins himself. The villagers were now making fun of him. He never considered returning to New Mullions.
Question 5. Do you think the lawyer was gullible? How could he have avoided being taken for a ride?
Answer: Yes, the lawyer was gullible and inexperienced. There were several things he might have done to prevent being taken advantage of and mocked. He could have asked how the witness he was looking for, Lutkins, looked. He might have spoken to other persons at the station and questioned them about Lutkins instead of believing one guy who seemed unduly pleasant and was a complete unknown to the lawyer. Also, he should have been the one to question Lutkins’ whereabouts when visiting the sites where he frequently hangs out.