A TRIUMPH OF SURGERY

JUSTIFICATION OF THE TITLE: The title is justified as the entire story revolved around the
dog, Tricki, and his illness. The small dog was very much pampered by his mistress, Mrs.
Pumphrey. She often overfed him and this led to some serious illness. Mr. Herriot, the
veterinary surgeon, helped Triki by giving him plenty of water and no medicines and no food.
At last, Triki recovered and was back with Mrs. Pumphrey. She was very happy and in her
excitement said that it was a triumph of surgery as the dog was recovered without surgery

Theme of the Story: The lesson “Triumph of Surgery” describes the James Herriot’s great
experiences of curing pet dogs and cats as a vet. He has given a very interesting and touching
expression of his experiences. In this lesson, he has given the description of a dog’s disease.
Mrs Pumphrey’s dog Tricki was seriously ill. James Herriot treated the dog without medicine
of surgery. Mr Herriott understands the dog's lethargy and treats it at his clinic by giving it
proper exercise and monitoring his food habits. The dog becomes active and is returned to its
mistress. The theme of the story is taking care of your pets in the proper way and not
pampering them.

Question Answer:

1.“You must harden your heart and help him on a strict diet.” Why does Mr. Herriot
suggest this to Mrs. Pumphrey?
Ans: Throughout the story Dr. Herriot knew that the real and primary cause of Tricki’s
problem and illness was Mrs. Pumphrey’s overindulgence in feeding and pampering Tricki.
Tricki’s only fault was his greed for food. Thus, Dr. Harriot asked Mrs. Pumphrey to harden
her heart and help him on a strict diet, which later did not prove any helpful since Tricki’s
health deteriorated further to the point that Dr.Herriot had to hospitalize him.

2.Why is Mrs Pumphrey worried about Tricki?

Answer
Mrs Pumphrey was worried and distraught because Tricki would not eat anything. It even
refused its favourite dishes. It had bouts of vomiting. It spent all its time lying on the rug and
panting. It did not want to go for walks or do anything.

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

Answer
She called the doctor to help Tricki. Yes, her decision was wise. The doctor suggested that
Tricki should be hospitalised. She swooned and wailed, but let the dog go with the doctor.
Ultimately, the doctor was successful in curing Tricki.

4. Who does ‘I’ refer to in this story?

Answer
In this story, ‘I’ refers to the veterinary surgeon, Mr Herriot.

5. Is the narrator as rich as Tricki’s mistress?

Answer: 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.
While the narrator is able to provide Tricki with a warm loose box as a bed, 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.
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 chauffer-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.

6. How does he treat the dog?

Answer

The doctor gave Tricki no food, 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 it and the doctor was pleased to note that Tricki had run to
eat its food with enthusiasm. From that day onwards, its progress was rapid. It did not require
medicinal treatment of any kind and recovered quite well at the end.

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

Answer

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

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

Answer

Mrs Pumphrey thought that the dog’s recovery was “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,it 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.

9. Excess of everything is bad. Comment in the wake of Mrs Pumphrey’s love for Tricki.
Answer:
Mrs Pumphrey was a rich woman who loved her dog very much. She loved to live a
comfortable and lavish life and also wanted her dog to spend a similar one. She had
maintained a wardrobe full of fancy fur coats, dresses, beds etc for Tricki. Apart from this,
she used to overfeed Tricki out of her love and concern. She used to serve him cod-liver oil
and malt between the main meals and Horlicks after dinner to give him strength. She never
realised that Tricki was a greedy dog and this would spoil his health. She could not even
refuse to answer Tricki drooling for cream cakes and chocolates. Her overfeeding worsened
Tricki’s condition. This made the dog lazy, inactive and obese. He used to lie on his rug and
pant all day long. Mrs Pumphrey fed him excessively, spoiling Tricki’s health to such an
extent that he had to be hospitalised. Even in the hospital she continued to convey Tricki her
love through eggs, wine and brandy. Her fondness and care for Tricki proved that excess of
everything made him fall sick.

10. Pen down incidences in support of values one should inculcate from Mr James
Herriot.
Answer:
Mr Herriot was a capable veterinary surgeon who treated Tricki. He was a very
compassionate doctor and a wise and sympathetic human being. He showed his capabilities
almost immediately when he advised Mrs Pumphrey to put Tricki on a strict diet after
understanding his symptoms. He can also be said to be an understanding and tactful person as
he knew exactly how to free Tricki from the spoiling love of Mrs Pumphrey for his
betterment. He does not operate upon the poor dog unnecessarily and adopts a practical
approach to treat him. Mr James was a caring and polite individual as he successfully allays
Mrs Pumphrey’s anxiety about Tricki’s recovery patiently. He was in all a good human being
and a successful professional.

11. Herriot seems to be a duty-bound doctor who values others ’emotions’ than his
personal interests. Elucidate the above statement. Mention those values of Herriot
which you would like to emulate in yourself also and give reasons for the same.
Ans: Herriot was definitely a duty-bound doctor. This can be seen in instances such as when
he used to visit Mrs. Pumphrey’s house regularly for Tricki’s check-up. He was also a doctor
who worried immensely about his patient’s health, like his worry for Tricki’s health. Since he
knew that the dog was over cared for by his owner, he advised Mrs. Pumphrey to harden her
heart and check his diet strictly. However, when his health deteriorated further, he without
any hesitation decided to take the dog away from the owner and even lied to her by telling her
that the dog needed surgery. Herriot then cut down on Tricki’s diet, made him exercise more,
eat healthy and let him mingle with other dogs. He knew that Mrs. Pumphrey was rich and
attached to Tricki and still he did not take any advantage of it and just performed his duties as
a veterinary doctor,therefore giving some values that one should emulate in oneself.
12.The chapter shows the silly and negligent behavior of rich people like Mrs.
Pumphrey who may harm their near and dear ones by their extra caring nature.
Tricki’s declining health was the outcome of Mrs. Pumphrey’s over-caring nature. Do
you think such people’s actions can prove to be fatal for the health of their kind? What
values would you suggest to such people to emulate in themselves and why?
Ans:: It is indeed true that Mrs. Pumphrey was a wealthy woman who with her extra care and
love for her pet dog Tricki, neglected the health of him and led him to become obese and ill.
Tricki; the dog was pampered with all kinds of comforts that were not required for his
survival. He had many coats which were worn according to the weather, had different
cushions to sit on and had various dishes to eat. Extra meals were common for him, which
included stuff like malt, cod-liver oil, and a bowl of Horlicks. ALong with this, he was also
given cakes and chocolates since Mrs. Pumphrey just could not refuse him such things.
All these habits imbibed by Mrs. Pumphrey and Tricki made him obese, lethargic, listless
with no energy to even walk around. Her actions thus proved to be fatal for his health. It is
thus important that we do not over care for individuals or our pets. Give our pets proper and
healthy meals, take them for walks, help them exercise so as to keep them in good health.

HOME ASSIGNMENT

I tried to sound severe: “Now I really mean this. If you don’t cut his food right down and give
him more exercise he is going to be really ill. You must harden your heart and keep him on a
very strict diet.”
(a) Who is ‘I’ referred to; and how does he sound?
(b) What was his advice?
(c) Who is talking to whom? Why?
(d) How can he be healthy? What are the suggestions?

I had made my plans in advance. The only way was to get Tricky out of the house for a period.
I suggested that he be hospitalized for about a fortnight to be kept under observation.
(a) Identify ‘I’ in the above extract.
(b) What was his concern?
(c) Who did the speaker suggest to?
(d) What kind of a person do you think the narrator is?