Goodbye, Mr.

Chips by James Hilton (Important Questions)

Characters:

• Chips/Mr. Chips/Mr. Chippings (ch 1)— the main character, a former professor at Brookfield/
• Mrs. Wicketts (ch 1)— the landlady
• Dr. Merivale (ch 1)— Mr. Chips' doctor.
• Wetherby (ch 1)— the Head of Brookfield, who is hired by Mr. Chips.
• Major Collingwood (ch 3)— a student.
• Rowden (ch 4)— a colleague of Mr. Chips.
• Katherine Bridges/Kathie (ch 4)— Mr. Chips' wife.
• Gribble (ch 6)— the former school butler.
• Rushton (ch 7)— a student.
• Ogilvie (ch 7)— a student.
• Dunster (ch 7)— a student.
• Faulkner (ch 8)— a student.
• Naylor (ch 9)— a student.
• Lloyd George/L.G. (ch 9)— a student.
• Cricklade (ch 10)— a student.
• Meldrum (ch 10)— the successor of Wetherby.
• Ralston (ch 10)— the successor of Meldrum.
• Mr. Jones (ch 10)— the striker.
• Grayson (ch 10)— a student whose father was rescued on the Titanic.
• Chatteris (ch 12)— the successor of Ralston.
• Blades (ch 13)— the Head of School House.
• Herr Staefel (ch 12)— the German master at Brookfield, allows Mr. Chips to lodge with him.
• Blades (ch 13)— replaced by Ralston as Head.
• Max Staefiel (ch 14)— a student who was killed in combat.
• Maynard (ch 15)— a student.
• Gregson (ch 16)— a student.
• Linford (ch 17)— the new student who seeks advice from Mr. Chips.
• Cartwright (ch 18)— the successor of Chatteris.

Chapter Summaries

1. Description of the life of Mr. Chips from his boyhood to the beginning of his teaching career at Brookfield,
a private boys school.
2. Mr. Chips reminisces teaching and the effect of the school on his life.
3. Description of how Mr. Chips invites the new students at the boarding school for tea at the start of each
year. Everyone presumes Mr. Chips is a bachelor and was never married, which disturbs him.
 4. Mr. Chips becomes the housemaster. While on a trip to the Lake District, Chips meets Katherine by
chance after Rowden leaves him. Mr. Chips and Katherine court and marry.
5. Katherine is the first to call him by "Mr. Chips" the night before they wed.
6. Mr. Chips develops a new sense of personality after his marriage and becomes more popular. Katherine
convinces him to organize a soccer game against East End.
7. Katherine advises Mr. Chips on punishing students. He tries to sort out his memories and wants to write
a book about his life at Brookfield.
8. Mr. Chips receives an unusual amount of mail. As he opens the envelopes, he discovers they are all blank.
The mail was sent by students as an April Fool's Day joke. Katherine dies during childbirth the same day.
9. Mr. Chips returns to his mellow bachelor life and has aged much since Katherine's death.
10. Meldrum dies from pneumonia. Therefore, Mr. Chips steps in as the Acting Head of Brookfield. Ralston
becomes the Head. King Edward dies. Mr. Chips takes the boys to meet Mr. Jones.
11. Ralston asks Mr. Chips if he has ever considered retiring and accuses him of being too old-fashioned. Mr.
Chips's former students rally behind him and request that he stay.
12. Ralston resigns to "better himself" and is replaced by Chatteris. Chips gets bronchitis and resigns after
forty-two years of teaching. He gives a well received and funny farewell speech.
13. World War I begins. Chatteris asks Mr. Chips to return to Brookfield.
14. Mr. Chips returns to the school and feels like he is needed for the first time in his life. He becomes Acting
Head when Chatteris dies. He agrees to maintain this position as long as his not officially appointed as Head.
He becomes a kinder, gentler person.
15. Mr. Chips continues teaching despite the war occurring outside the school. World War I ends. Mr. Chips
resigns again without fanfare at his request.
16. Fifteen years later, Mr. Chips assesses how the world and Brookfield have changed. He does not leave
his home anymore for fear of becoming sick and fatigued. He creates his will.
17. Mr. Chips thinks about all the things he has done and accomplished in his life. He also thinks of the things
he never will have the chance to do in his final years. He talks with Linford who says "Good-bye, Mr. Chips."
18. Mrs. Wickett finds Mr. Chips on the floor after he had fainted. Mr. Chips awakes to find himself in bed
tired and weak. He hears Cartwright say that he must have lived a lonely life. On the verge of death, Mr. Chips
wakes long enough to say that his life was filled with many remarkable boys who meant as much to him as
any child he would have had of his own. He dies naming all the students he ever had.

LESSON NO: 1

Q 1: When did Mr. Chips join Brookfield?

Ans: Mr. Chips joined Brookfield in 1870.

Q 2: Who was the head master of the school when Mr. Chips joined it?
Ans: Wetherby was the head master of the school when Mr. Chips joined it.

Q 3: What advice did Mr. Wetherby give to Mr. Chips?

Ans: Mr. Wetherby advised Mr. Chips to take firm attitude from the beginning in the class and not
to let anyone play tricks with him.
Q 4: Why did he leave Melbury School?
Ans: Mr. Chips was ragged there by the students. He could not maintain discipline in his class. So
he had to leave that school.

Q 5: What happened when Mr. Chips took his first class at Brookfield?
Ans: When Mr. Chips entered the class he found five (500) wanton boys ready to rag him. There
was complete silence in the class. Then someone dropped the lid of the desk. Fortunately he saw the
boy who had made this mischief. He gave him punishment of writing hundred lines. Then no boy dared
tease him.

Q 6: Who was Colley? What interesting joke was attached to him?

Ans: Colley was the boy who dropped desk lid during the first class of Mr. Chips. After many years
his son and then his grandson became Mr. Chips’ students. Mr. Chips used to ridicule his grandson by
saying that both his father and grandfather were stupid but he believe that he was “the biggest fool of
the lot”.

Q 7: Where was Mr. Chips settled after retirements?

Ans: Mr. Chips lived at Mr. Wicket’s’ after retirements just across the road from the school. He had
been there for more than a decade.

Q 8: What was the quality of Mr. Chips’ voice?

Ans: The voice of Mr. Chips’ was jerky and high pitched having sprightliness.

Q 9: What was Mr. Chips’ routine before going to bed?

Ans: Mr. Chips always wound up the clock after the last bell. He put the wire guard in front of the
fire and carried a detective novel to bed.

LESSON NO: 2

Q 1: When was Brookfield established and when was it reconstructed?

Ans: Brook filed was established in the region of Queen Elizabeth as a grammar school. Its main
structure was rebuilt in the region of George.

Q 2: What type of school was Brookfield? What type of person did it supply?
Ans: Brookfield was a good school of second rank. It was not as famous as Harrow or Elton.
However, it produced many history making men of the age including judges, members of parliament,
colonial administrator, peers and bishops and number of merchants and professionals

Q 3: What were the qualifications of Mr. Chips?

Ans: Mr. Chips was an ordinary teacher with inadequate qualifications. He was simple graduate
from Cambridge. His degree was not good.

Q 4: What was Mr. Chips given at the time of requirements?

Ans: Mr. Chips was retired in 1913, at the age of 65. He was presented with cheque, a writing desk
and a clock.
Q 5: Was Mr. Chips an ambitious person?
Ans: Mr. Chips was ambitious when he was young. His dream was to get a head ship or a senior
mastership in a first rank school. But with the passage of time he realized that his qualifications were
not good enough to materialize his dream.

LESSON NO: 3

Q 1: Give a brief description of Mr. Chips’ room at Mrs. Wickett’?

Ans: The room of Mr. Chips at Mrs. Wicketts was small but comfortable and sunny. It was furnished
simply. There were a few bookshelves, sporting trophies, a mantel piece crowded with fixture-cards
and signed photographs of boys and men, a worn Turkey carpet, easy chairs, some pictures on the wall
and a number of classical books and detective novels.

Q 2: How does Mr. Chips remember Collingwood?

Ans: Mr. Chips remember Collingwood very well. He once thrashed him for climbing on to the
gymnasium roof to get a ball out of the gutter. He had become a major in the army.

Q 3: What were his tastes in reading?

Ans: His collection was chiefly classical. There were, however, a few books of history and belles
letters’ there were also a number of cheap editions of detective novels.

Q 4: Who was Mrs. Wicketts?

Ans: Mrs. Wicketts was a kind lady. Mr. Chips after retirement lives at Mrs. Wicketts as a paying
guest. She had been in charge of the linen room at Brookfield.

LESSON NO: 4 and 5

Q 1: Where and when did Mr. Chips met Katherine?

Ans: In the summer of 1896, Mr. Chips went to the district lake to enjoy vacations. One day, climbing
on Great Gable, he noticed a girl standing on a dangerous point and waving excitedly. Mr. Chips rushed
to save the girl but slipped and wrenched his ankle. The girl was Katherine who was good climber and
waving her friend. Katherine, with the help of her friend, took Mr. Chips to his farmhouse at Wasddale
where he was staying.

Q 2: When were they married?

Ans: Katherine used to visit Chips. Within weeks they were head over heels in love. They married in
Landon a week before the beginning of autumn term. At the time of marriage Chips was 48 while
Katherine was 25.

Q 3: What was Katherine’s appearance?

Ans: Katherine was 25, young enough to be Chips’ daughter. She had blue flashing eyes, freckled
cheeks and smooth straw colored hair.

Q 4: What were the views of Katherine?

Ans: Katherine had radical socialistic views. She liked writers having radical socialistic inclination.
She loved reading Ibsen, Bernard Shaw and William Morris. She believed that women ought to be
admitted to universities they ought to have a right to vote.

Q 5: Describe Mr. Chips’ views about women?

Ans: Mr. Chips was a conservative man who lived too much in the past. He did not like modern
women who were bold, fashionable and had radical view. He thought nice women were weak, timid and
delicate.

Q 6: Why did Katherine like Mr. Chips?

Ans: Katherine liked Mr. Chips because he had gentle and quiet manners, because his ideas were
noble in-spite of being old and because his eyes were brown and he looked charming when he smiled.

Q 7: Which were the professions disliked by Katherine?

Ans: Katherine liked the profession of Chips’. She thanked God that Mr. Chips was a teacher and
not a solicitor, a stock broker, a dentist or a business in Manchester.

Q 8: How did Katherine address Mr. Chips on the night before the wedding?
Ans: Katherine said that it was their last farewell. She felt rather like a new boy beginning his first
term with him. Then she said Mr. Chips good bye—–Good bye Mr. Chips.

LESSON NO: 6, 7 and 8

Q 1: What were the changes that came in the life of Chips after marriage?
Ans: Mr. Chips had been a dry and neutral sort of person before marriage. Katherine brought a
positive change in his life. His eyes gained sparkle and his mind became adventurous. His sense of
humour sharpened. He became more popular after marriage.

Q 2: What advice did Katherine give to Mr. Chips about the boys?
Ans: Katherine always advised Chips to be kind and lenient to his students. But she also told him to
be a strict when it was necessary.

Q 3: Did Mr. Chips want to make a collection of his recollection?

Ans: Mr. Chips wanted to make a collection of his recollections. He used to remember thousands
of his students and scores of incidence that took place during school years. He tried to make notes in
an exercise book. But he soon got tired. Moreover while writing, the memories lost their charm.

Q 4: Write down some of memories of Chips?

Ans: His memories were mainly about Katherine and Brookfield school. Chips remembered the
matter of Archer’s resignation; matter about the rat that Dunster put in the organ loft, lute old ogilvie
was taking choir practice.
Q 5: What was Chips mental conditions after Katherine’s death?
Ans: After Katherine’s death he was mentally normal. He did not find any interest in school affairs.
Young Faulkner met in the lane. He wished to have the afternoon off. Chips was so disturbed that he
said “you can go to Blaze”.

LESSON NO: 9 and 10

Q 1: Who were Boers and what his views about them?
Ans: The Boers were the Dutch South African. Mr. Chips was not a pro-Boer but he was also not in
the favour of people who condemned them bitterly.

Q 2: Why did Mr. Chips think to give up his house mastership?

Ans: After Katherine’s death Mr. Chips was so cast down that he thought of giving up his house
mastership but the head convinced him not to do that. Later he felt glad as this work kept him pretty
engaged.

Q 3: Who succeeded Mr. Wetherby?

Ans: Mr. Meldrum succeeded Mr. Wetherby in 1870, and acted till his death in 1900.

Q 4: How long did Wetherby served Brookfield?

Ans: Mr. Wetherby served Brookfield for three decades. He joined Brookfield in 1840 and served up
till 1870.

Q 5: Who became the acting head Mr. Meldrum?

Ans: Mr. Chips was appointed as acting head before the appointment of a successor of Mr.
Meldrum.

Q 6: When and how did Mr. Meldrum die?

Ans: Mr. Meldrum died of Pneumonia in 1900.

Q 7: What type of person was Mr. Ralston?

Ans: Mr. Ralston was a young man of 37, “glittering with firsts and blues”. He was on efficient
person. He had an impressive personality. But at the same time he was very ambitious and ruthless
person.

Q 8: Why didn’t Mr. Chips like Mr. Ralston?

Ans: Mr. Chips didn’t like Mr. Ralston because their temperament was quite different. Chips was an
old conservative person while Ralston was young, modern and ambitious. Mr. Chips was a soft and
mild man while Ralston was harsh and ferocious.

LESSON NO: 11and12

Q 1: What was the cause of row between Chips and Ralston?

Ans: Mr. Chips and Ralston never liked each other. Mr. Ralston asked Mr. Chips to think of
retirement. He also objected to his dress, his slovenly habits, his old method of teaching and his
pronunciation. So in 1908, there was a row between the two.

Q 2: How did the news of row spread?

Ans: A small boy, waiting to see Ralston, listened their exchange of hot words. Naturally he told his
friends. Some of these told their parents. In this way the news of row spread all around in no time. The
people, the school boys and staff planned to protest against Ralston.

Q 3: How was this row resolved?

Ans: Sir John Rivers, chairman of the board of Governors, visited Brookfield. He ignored Ralston
and went straight to Mr. Chips. He favored Chips and told him that Governors did not want him to resign.
He could stay there till he was a hundred.
Q 4: When did Ralston leave Brookfield?
Ans: In 1911, Ralston left Brookfield “to better himself”. He was offered the Headship of greater
public school.

Q 5: Who was the successor of Ralston?

Ans: Ralston’s successor was Mr. Chatter is whom Chips liked. He was younger than Ralston.

Q 6: Why and when did Mr. Chips resign?

Ans: In 1913, Chips had to resign on the account of Bronchitis. He was 65 at that time. He realized
that it would not be fair to hang on if he could not do his job properly.

Q 7: What was the feather of his speech at the farewell party?

Ans: He made a memorable speech at farewell party. It was studded with Jokers, Latin proverbs
and recollections of the past.

Q 8: Give the reference of the captain of the school in Chips’ speech?

Ans: In his speech he gave a reference to the captain of the school who exaggerated in speaking of
Chips’ services to Brookfield. Mr. Chips said that the boy belonged to an exaggerating family. His father
had exaggerated one mark into seven.

Q 9: What was his routine at him after retirement?

Ans: He was making a record of his recollections. He took on the preparation and editing of a new
Brookfield Directory. He accepted presidency of the old boy club and went to dinners in London. He
contributed to the Brookfield terminal magazine. He also entertained the boys.

Q 10: Who was Max Staefel?

Ans: In august 1913, Chips went for treatment to Wiesbaden. There he stayed at the home of the
German master at Brookfield field, Max Staefel. He became friendly with him.

LESSON NO: 13, 14 and 15

Q 1: What was condition during war days?

Ans: During the world War-1, there were military camps near Brookfield. In the play ground of the
school military exercise could be seen. Most of the young masters joined the army. There were
constant air raids. On Sunday the head master read out the names of the boys killed in the war.

Q 2: Why did Chatteries visit Mr. Chips?

Ans: At the end of the July 1916, Chatteries visited Mrs. Wicketts to talk to Mr. Chips. He was over
worked and looked ill. He requested Chips to help him in discipline and administrative matters of the
school.

Q 3: What is abhorrendum?
Ans: There was a mysterious kind of rissole. It was a dish of mince-balls. I began to appear on the
school menus on every Monday and Chips called it humorously abhorrendum which means abhorred.

Q 4: When was Chips once again made the acting head?

Ans: During the winter of 1917, Chips became once again the acting head due to the death of Mr.
Chatteris.

Q 5: Why was the death of Max Staefel not denounced?

Ans: Max Staefel was German. He was a teacher at Brookfield before the World War-1. He was killed
in the war, fighting on the side of the Germans. But his death was not denounced rather Mr. Chips read
out his name with the other Brookfieldians who were killed in the war.

Q 6: When did Chips give his resignation?

Ans: After the World War-1, on November 11, 1918, Chips finally gave his resignation.

LESSON NO: 16+17+18

Q 1: When did Chips make his will?

Ans: Chips made his will in 1930. Except for legacies to the mission and to Mrs. Wickett, he left all
he had for an open scholarship for Brookfield boys.

Q 2: What were the things he had never done?

Ans: Chips had never been to a cinema and had never traveled by air.

Q 3: Who was the last visitor of Mr. Chips?

Ans: It was a foggy day when Linford visited him. Chips did not know him. Chips entertained him
with tea. The boy before leaving bade him “good bye, Mr. Chips”.

Q 4: What was his reaction when Cartwright expressed his regret at Chips being issueless?
Ans: Just before Chips’ death Cartwright expressed that Chips was issueless. But Mr. Chips opened
his eyes and answered, “I thousand of children; all the Brookfield boys are my children”.

Q 5: Describe the death scene of Mr. Chips?

Ans: Mr. Wickett had gone to some relatives. Mr. Cartwright and Dr. Merivale were there. They
advised Mr. Chips to sleep and the same night he died.

Q 6: When did Mr. Chips die?

Ans: Mr. Chips died at a November night 1933. He died because of respiratory failure.

Q 7: A decent career decently ended. Discuss.

Ans: Mr. Chips served Brookfield for quite a long time. He had become a legend. He was honoured
and loved by the students as well as staff members. He served the school in a dignified manner and
his career came to an end in a dignified way.