A Triumph of Surgery

 

James Alfred Wight

The story "A Triumph of Surgery" is about a dog named Tricki. The theme of the story is about the blind love which we possess for the one whom we love the most. Mrs. Pumphrey had no idea that her blind and extreme love for her dog Tricki took him to trouble.

Summary

James Alfred Wight is popular as James Herriot, and He was a British veterinary surgeon and writer too. He has written this story A triumph of Surgery. The story starts when Mrs Pumphrey, a rich lady takes her dog Tricky for a walk outside. A nearby veterinary doctor saw the dog and is in a shock as the dog looks like a bloated sausage having leg at each end. Then He advised her to stop giving him diet. But Mrs Pumphrey is not able to refuse the dog. Soon Tricky fell sick and the doctor was called. The narrator, Mr. Herriot somehow takes Tricki to his hospital for treatment, even knowing the fact that Mrs. Pumphrey will never leave the dog. He took the dog along and puts a bed for him in his surgery. For two days dog did not move much and also did not eat anything. On the third day he wanted to go outside and there he started playing with the bigger dogs. He also licked the bowls of other dogs to eat the remaining food. Read more English Chapter Summaries here His condition started improving rapidly. Also, he started fighting for his meals with other dogs. After hearing this news Mrs. Pumphrey started sending eggs to the hospital as she thought that Tricki needed energy foods after recovery. But Mr. Herriot and his partners started eating those eggs as morning breakfast. Also, for improving Trick’s blood, Mrs. Pumphrey started sending wine in bottles. But again, Mr. Herriot consumed those. Not only this, when she started sending brandy in bottles they consumed that also. After few days Doctor took a wise decision and called up Mrs. Pumphrey as she was much worried, for taking Tricki back home. Tricki was very happy to see his mistress and jumped into the car. Then Mrs. Pumphrey said that she won’t be able to ever thank him for all this wonder. And she said that his surgery had been successful as Tricki was now cured.

 

Read and Find Out

1. Why is Mrs Pumphrey worried about Tricki?

Ans: Mrs Pumphrey is worried and distraught because Tricki would not eat anything. He even is not ready to eat his favorite dishes. Tricki has bouts of vomiting and spends all his time lying on the rug and panting. Tricki does not even want to go for walks or do anything.

 

2. What does she do to help him? Is she wise in this?

Ans: She calls the doctor to help Tricki. Yes, her decision is wise. The doctor suggests that Tricki should be hospitalized. She gets upset and wails, but lets the dog go with the doctor.

 

3. Who does 'I' refer to in this story?

Ans: In this story, 'I' refers to the veterinary surgeon, Mr Herriot.

 

Read and Find out

1. Is the narrator as rich as Tricki's mistress?

Ans: Though not clearly stated, there are instances in the story which suggest that the narrator is not as rich as Tricki’s mistress, Mrs Pumphrey.The narrator is able to provide Tricki with a warm loose box as a bed whereas at Mrs Pumphrey’s house, Tricki has a day bed, a night bed, cushions, toys, rubber rings, a breakfast bowl, a lunch bowl, a supper bowl, a whole wardrobe of tweed coats and perhaps many more things. When he arrives to take the dog with him, Mrs Pumphrey has her entire staff at her disposal to transfer all of Tricki’s belongings to the doctor’s car. Secondly,on hearing from the doctor about Tricki’s gradual recovery, Mrs Pumphrey sends along two dozen eggs at a time, along with bottles of wine and brandy—all in order to help in Tricki’s speedy recovery. Finally, when she calls upon the narrator to take her recovered dog back home, she comes in a chauffeur-driven “thirty feet of gleaming black metal” (an obvious reference to a limousine). All these instances point to the fact that Mrs Pumphrey lived a luxurious life.

 

2. How does he treat the dog?

Ans: The doctor knew that Tricki was not ill but just overweight and restless due to Mrs Pumphrey's overindulgence in taking his care. So he decided not to give any food to Tricky, but plenty of water for two days. Slowly, the dog started showing interest in his surroundings and began mixing with the other dogs at the surgery. On the third day, the doctor saw Tricki licking the empty supper bowls of the other dogs. Next day, a separate bowl was kept for him and the doctor was pleased to note that Tricki had run to eat its food with enthusiasm. From that day onwards, his progress was rapid. He did not require any medical treatment and recovered quite well at the end.

 

3. Why is he tempted to keep Tricki on as a permanent guest?

Ans: Mrs Pumphrey had started bringing around eggs to build Tricki’s strength. Later, even bottles of wine and brandy began to arrive. The narrator and his partners started enjoying the eggs, wine and brandy meant for Tricki. According to the narrator, those were the days of deep content for him and his staff starting with an extra egg in the morning, then the midday wine, and finally finishing off the day with brandy. This is the reason why the narrator is tempted to keep Tricki on as a permanent guest.

 

4. Why does Mrs Pumphrey think the dog’s recovery is “a triumph of surgery”?

Ans: Mrs Pumphrey thinks that the dog’s recovery is “a triumph of surgery” because in two weeks, Tricki had recovered completely and had been transformed into a hard-muscled animal. When Tricki saw her, he leaped into her lap and licked her face. She was so excited that tears started rolling out of her eyes. She declared Tricki’s recovery as a triumph of surgery to express her happiness and gratitude towards the doctor.

 

Think about It

1. What kind of a person do you think the narrator, a veterinary surgeon, is? Would you say he is tactful as well as full of common sense?

Ans: I think the narrator; a veterinary surgeon, seems to be a practical and tactful person. He knows how to deal with people. He adjusts himself well to the circumstances. He immediately understands Tricki’s problem. Tricki doesn't suffer from any sort of illness. The main cause of his illness is overfeeding. He takes the dog to his surgery. There the doctor keeps him on water diet and makes him physically active and treats without any medicine. The dog gets well under his supervision and natural environment of surgery.

 

2. Do you think Tricki was happy to go home? What do you think will happen now?

Ans: Yes, Tricki was very happy to go home. When the dog was brought into the surgery,he was ill. But in spite of that the dog got cured in two days without any medication. The doctor provided proper diet to Tricki and regular exercise also helped a lot in his speedy recovery. The dog regained his best health and was no longer restless. Now, I think Mrs. Pumphrey may again go back to her old ways of treating Tricki with love and care or learning a lesson from what she experienced, she may mend her ways and make him an agile and healthier dog.

 

3. Do you think this is a real-life episode, or mere fiction? Or is it a mixture of both?

Ans: This story could be a mixture of both: real life episode and a mere fiction. Mrs. Pumphrey is a rich lady and has a pet dog. It is because of her overindulgence that she overfeeds her dog which results in his being overweight and restless. Although her intention was not wrong but excess of everything is bad. This episode can be treated as a fiction for those who do not take things seriously. At the same time It can be called a real life episode for the people who take excessive care of their children and thus spoil their habits.

 

Talk about It

1. This episode describes the silly behavior of a rich woman who is foolishly indulgent, perhaps because she is lonely. Do you think such people are merely silly, or can their action cause harm to others?

Ans: These sort of people has enough disposable money but are ignorant about results of their actions. They show their excessive love and affection without knowing its consequences to others. Undoubtedly, their intentions are good and don’t have any sort of ill-will, these actions do more harm than good to the object of affection. 2. Do you think there are also parents like Mrs. Pumphrey?

Ans: Yes, there are parents who are too much possessive about their kids. Their sense of overindulgence can go either way. There are examples of parents spoiling their children by protecting them in each and every way, thus creating hardships for them later in their life. Also there are examples of parents who are strict and want their child to be disciplined and so unnecessarily put pressure on them to study hard and always follow a standard behavioral pattern.

 

Moral

The story signifies that the parents should not be indulgent which may harm their children.

 

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