Evans Tries an O Level Summary | Colin Dexter | Chapter 7 | Vistas | English |

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Evans Tries an O Level Summary | Class 12, Chapter 7, Vistas, English

Summary of Evans Tries an O level

Evans Tries an O-Level revolves around a kleptomaniac prisoner namely Evans who manages to outwit the authorities of HM Prison, Oxford and escape for the forth consecutive time in a row. He is also called ‘Evans the Break’ by the prison staff for his ability of breaking the prison the time and again.

The story begins with an unusual request made by a prisoner (Evans) of appearing in German O-Level Examination. The Governor of H.M Prison, who is well known to the tendency of Evans, accedes to his request after having deliberations with the Secretary of the board of exams.

To keep a hawk eye on Evans, who has already escaped multiple times, two officers are deployed in his cell namely Jackson (Senior Officer) and Stephens (Newly Recruited). Even his cell is bugged and all the sharp objects are taken out such as; nail scissors, paper knife etc. lest he should try to escape again. Moreover, an invigilator is hired from a technical college to invigilate and conduct his exam under his supervision.

The exam gets delayed by 10 minutes when a request is made by Evans of calling Stephens out of cell for he is unable to concentrate on his exam in his presence.

Governor is distracted by a couple of calls (Call from Magistrate Court and Board of Examination) during the exams made by Evans’s accomplices to get him freed. Calls related to correction slip and Magistrate Court completely baffle him and make him unable to understand what is happening around him. Besides, the soft corner shown by Jackson to Evans adds icing to the cake and helps him escape again.

Evans manages to escape with the help of McLeery (His friend who came as an Invigilator) getting clothes and address from him. But unfortunately. Evans address is decoded and he is caught in the end by the Governor. When asked about such a well-laid plan, he narrates each and everything from scratch how he was assisted by his German teacher who was, in reality, his friend not a real German teacher and fake McLeery who had brought Pig’s blood in a semi-inflated rubber ring. Besides, he tells him about his tricky hair operation performed a night before the exam with his hair and how he managed to change his clothes even though he was being watched carefully by Stephens throughout the exam.

Having been impressed, Governor names him Mr. Clever Clever Evans and orders his policemen to handcuff him and to shift him to one of the strictest jails of London. Evans even ridicules him before they all leave. Having troubled for few hundred meters, the van wherein Evans was being carried to jail, takes a different turn. Evans is, thereupon, unhandcuffed by the policemen (His accomplices) and freed from there. Eventually, Evans has a last laugh in the end despite the hard efforts put in by the Governor. 

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Short Answer Type Questions of Evans Tries an O level

Q1. Who was Evans? Why was Evans called ‘Evans the Break’?

Evans was a prisoner who was kept behind bars for his kleptomania. He was called ‘Evans the Break’ for he had escaped from the prisons thrice outwitting the prison officials with the help of his accomplices. Seeing his ability to deceive the prison officers, everybody called him by that name.

Q2. What was the unusual request made by Evans to the Governor of Oxford Prison?

Evans was an consistent offender who would love to escape from the prisons in the presence of prison officials. He was planning to flee away again for he made a request of appearing in O-Level German Examination despite having any interest in the aforesaid language. Having a long deliberation with the Secretary of Board of Examination, the Governor acceded to his request for appearing in the exam.

Q3. What confusion did the Secretary of Board Examination have in his mind? How was it cleared?

The Secretary, before permitting the Governor to conduct the exam, was keen to know about what kind of prisoner Evans was. Therefore, he put up a lot of questions from the Governor to make sure the right candidate was being given the due opportunity. In Evans’s defense, the Governor told him that he was a pleasant sort of fellow, a mimic and a star of Christmas concert.

Q4. Why was Evans put behind the bars?

Evans was put behind the bars for he was a congenital kleptomaniac and used to stealing in the absence of an economic motive. Though he did not have any serious charges against him yet he was kept in custody under the supervision of the Governor of HM Prison.

Q5. Who were the two visitors that came to Evans’s cell in the morning? What did they want to do?

The two visitors that came to Evans’s cell were Jackson and Stephens. Jackson was a senior officer where Stephens was newly recruited to the profession. They wanted to take all the sharp objects out of Evans’s cell for he could take the undue advantage of them blackmailing the invigilator during his exam.

Q6. Why do you think Jackson did not take Evans’s hat off? Was it the turning point of the story?

When Jackson asked Evans to take his filthy hat off, the latter requested Jackson that he should be allowed to put on that hat stating it was his lucky charm. Jackson knew that Evans was neither a dreaded criminal nor had any serious charges against him. Therefore, he allowed Evans to keep wearing that. Yes, it was the turning point because he had hidden his cropped hair to outwit the officials.

Q7. Who was Mc Leery? Where had he come from?

Mc Leery was a parson who was hired for invigilating Evans’s exam being held latter’s own cell. He had come from St. Mary Mags along with a briefcase in his hand which contained a sealed envelope, a paper knife, The Bible, The Church Times.

Q8. What had Mc Leery brought in his briefcase? What was the objectionable thing found in his briefcase?

Mc Leery had brought a briefcase which contained The Church Times, The Bible, a sealed envelope containing question paper and answer sheet, a paper cutter along with a semi inflated rubber ring. That object that puzzled Jackson was a semi-inflated rubber ring. When interrogated, Mc Leery told him that he had Piles therefore he had carried that rubber ring with him.

Q9. Why did Evans want Stephens to go out of the cell? Did the Governor accede to his request?

When Evans saw that Stephens had kept his chair beside his bench in the cell. He made an excuse that it was difficult for him to concentrate on the exam. As a matter of fact, he knew that if Stephens stayed and kept on sitting there, he could not execute his well-laid plan. When the Governor heard all that, he acceded to his request.

Q10. Why was the correction slip sent to Evans? What doubt did the Governor have about that call?

The motive of sending the correction slip was to convey further plan to Evans and to mislead the authorities. It was actually sent by Evans’s friends immediately after the second call that Governor had received. Having received two calls in a row, the Governor thought that it might be a fake call to divert his attention from Evans.

Q11. How did the Governor make sure that the call was genuine and had come from the board?

The Governor was baffled after receiving couple of calls in a row. He was doubtful whether it was a real or fake call. To authenticate it, he dialed the numbers of Secretary of Board Examination but found the numbers busy. Having tried the numbers again and again, he thought that the call was genuine.

Q12. What was special about the second call that the Governor received from the Magistrate?

The second call came from the Magistrate Court wherein the called asked for a van along with few policemen for a serious remand case. Having checked the authenticity of the first call, the Governor did not bother himself to recheck its legitimacy and provided them with all what they had demanded.

Q13. Why did Evans want a blanket to be draped around his shoulders?

Evans was provided with the clothes by impersonating McLeery. He needed to change it as soon as possible to execute his plan. Therefore, he made an excuse that his cell was the coldest so he needed a blanket to be draped. The Governor thought for a while but finally agreed to permit him to drape a blanket.

Q14. Who called up Stephens five minutes before the exam was over? Why?

Stephens was on his regular inspection and keeping an eye on Evans when he got a call from the impersonating Governor. During the call, he was ordered to drop Mc Leery respectfully at the main gate after the completion of Exam.

Q15.  What did Stephens notice while peeping through the hole?

Having dropped McLeery at the main door of HM Prison, Stephens, through the peep hole,  saw that Mc Leery was lying injured in the cell on the ground. Moreover the man was bleeding as if somebody had hit him with a sharp object on his head. He was wobbling too on his knees and not able to balance himself.

Q16. Who was Carter? What did the Governor ask him to do?

Evans had managed to outwit the Governor escaping from HM Prison. To protect his image, the Governor called Carter, a detective, to investigate the escape of Evans. Governor asked him to follow Evans with the help of impersonating Mc Leery who was bleeding profusely. 

Q17. What did the Governor get to know on calling Redcliffe?

The Governor had sent the injured McLeery with Carter to follow Evans. On the way, the man impersonating McLeery was dropped at Elsfield Way by Carter after calling an ambulance there. When the Governor tried to get in touch with the injured man, he got to know that there was nobody by the name of Mc Leery. 

Q18. What did the Governor figure out on reaching McLeery’s home?

When the Governor failed to contact the injured McLeery, he picked up his car and rushed to McLeery’s bachelor flat. Having reached there, he found that Mc Leery was tied and gagged in a chair. When untied, the parson told him that two fellows came to his home, tied in a chair and took away all his belongings kept in the briefcase. He further added that he had been tied there since 8 o’clock in the morning.

Q19. How did the Governor figure our where Evans was?

The Governor was baffled and failing to calculate where Evans was. Soon, he held the question paper which Evans had left in his cell. He went through it and calculated Evans’s new location with the help of Index and Center Number(313 and 271) written on the top of the question paper which made up six figures. Moreover, he knew little bit of German. He read the corrected phrase ‘Zum Goldenen Lowen’ time and again which gave him a clue that he was staying at Golden Lion Hotel in Chipping Norton.

Q20. How did Evans expose his entire plan in front of the Governor?

When Evans was caught at Golden Lion hotel by the Governor, the former told him about the German teacher who had been coming for the last month, was not his teacher but his friend. Apart from that he told him about correction slip, the fake calls which were not made by authorities but by his friends and the blood he had brought in semi-inflated rubber ring.

Q21. How did Evans manage to have a last laugh?

The Governor had caught Evans in Golden Lion Hotel and ordered the policemen to carry him to the prison by their van. Therefore, he was arrested and seated in the van under the custody of policemen. Bu soon he was unhandcuffed for the policemen sitting inside the van were his friends. 

RELATED

Long Answer Type Questions of Evans Tries an O Level

Q1. “I may surprise everybody” said Evans to his German teacher. Do you think he proved this statement right? Substantiate your answer.

Evans was a congenital kleptomaniac and a professional escapist. He was known for his ability of escaping the prison which he had displayed thrice. In fact, he had hatched a plan to escape from HM Prison on the pretext of learning German Language for the fourth consecutive time.

The German teacher who had been appointed for teaching him could neither reach HM Prison nor teach him. Rather, one of his friends, impersonated himself as his German teacher and made a perfect plan with him. Apart from that, the invigilator who had come to invigilate him was also one of his friends who not only availed him clothes but other necessary things which were required for his final escape. In fact, he cheated the Governor in the end.

His friends, impersonating policemen, had come to release him from the grip of the Governor at Golden Lion Hotel. The fake calls from the Board of Examination and the Magistrate court by his friends also show that he was a master of all trades who executed his plans efficiently with the help of his trustworthy friend. So, on the whole we can say that the statement delivered by him came true and he surprised everybody in the end with his escape.

Q2. “The Governor was good for a giggle.” Do you think he really deserved Evans smile?

The Governor thought that he had taken all the precautions in to fail Evans’s plan. For that, he had appointed two of his most trustworthy employees to keep a hawk eye on him. Moreover, bugging of Evans’s cell was also a great initiative to listen to the conversation between Mc Leery and Evans. But, all his effort ceased when Evans managed to escape in front him in the end.

There were many mistakes committed by the Governor and his team throughout the day. Firstly, they never cross checked the teacher whether he was the one who had been appointed or not. Secondly, he allowed the impersonating Mc Leery to carry a semi-inflated rubber ring which contained pig’s blood in it. More importantly, he did not check in the end whether the policemen, who came to arrest Evans, were real or fake. Those mistakes of the Governor failed him in his mission. In nutshell, we can say that he was really a good for giggle and deserved nothing but Evans’s smile in the end. 

# Evans Tries an O Level Summary

# Evans Tries an O Level Summary & Notes

# Evans Tries an O Level Summary & Questions Answers

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