The Luncheon Class 11 NCERT Solutions 2026-27

Concept used. Revenge in this story is comic, not cruel. The narrator feels amused because the guest who preached eating lightly has become very overweight.

1. The lady had ordered costly salmon, caviare, champagne, asparagus, ice-cream, coffee and a peach.
2. All through the lunch, she kept saying that she never ate more than one thing.
3. Her appetite emptied the young author's pocket and left him without money for the month.
4. Twenty years later, he sees that she has become twenty one stone.
5. This turns her old advice into a joke because her own body contradicts it.
6. The narrator calls this revenge because time itself has exposed her greed and self-deception.

The author feels avenged because the woman who ruined his budget while claiming to eat lightly has become twenty one stone. Her present size becomes comic justice.

Concept used. These expressions show financial anxiety. The narrator is polite outside but terrified inside because every extra order threatens his small monthly budget.

1. The narrator has only eighty francs to last the rest of the month.
2. He expects a modest lunch to cost about fifteen francs.
3. The restaurant is Foyot's, a costly place beyond his normal means.
4. The guest orders expensive items while pretending that she hardly eats.
5. Caviare, champagne, asparagus and peaches make the bill rise quickly.
6. His heart sinks and panic seizes him because he fears he may not have enough money to pay.

The expressions show the author's fear that the lunch bill will exceed his eighty francs. His outward politeness hides panic about money.

Concept used. Irony appears when words or situations mean the opposite of what they seem. The Luncheon is built on the lady's false restraint and the author's silent suffering.

1. The lady says she never eats anything for luncheon, yet she orders a long list of costly items.
2. She criticises the narrator for eating a heavy mutton chop while she eats salmon, caviare and asparagus.
3. She says she never drinks anything at lunch except champagne.
4. She advises him to follow her example and eat lightly after making him pay a huge bill.
5. She calls him a humorist when he says he will eat nothing for dinner.
6. The final irony is that she later weighs twenty one stone.

The main ironies are her claim of eating little, her criticism of the author's modest meal, her champagne exception, her advice to eat lightly and her later weight.

Concept used. A foible is a small weakness or odd habit in character. The lady's foible is greedy self-indulgence hidden under self-satisfied talk of moderation.

1. The lady believes she eats very little and repeatedly announces it.
2. She orders rich, expensive food while still describing herself as a light eater.
3. She does not notice the young author's financial discomfort.
4. She lectures him about heavy food although his meal is the cheapest dish.
5. Her foible is not only appetite but also complacency about her own habits.
6. The story suggests that people often excuse their weaknesses while seeing faults in others.

The lady is unaware of her foible. She sees herself as moderate, but her choices show greed, vanity and lack of sensitivity.

Concept used. Pretence here means social performance. The author continues to act as a gracious host while secretly fearing the bill.

1. The author invites the lady because he is flattered and too young to refuse.
2. At the restaurant, he remains polite even when prices shock him.
3. He orders salmon, caviare, champagne and asparagus because he cannot admit poverty.
4. He chooses a cheap mutton chop for himself and later worries about every extra item.
5. He imagines excuses such as claiming his pocket has been picked.
6. Even at the end, he replies with humour instead of showing anger.

The author keeps up friendliness through politeness, ordering what she wants and hiding his panic. His mind, however, stays fixed on the rising bill.

Concept used. Humour in the story comes from understatement, self-mockery and ironic contrast. The author presents his humiliation without self-pity.

1. The story reflects humour through the contrast between the lady's words and appetite.
2. The narrator also makes fun of his younger self for being flattered and unable to say no.
3. He describes his fear about the bill in exaggerated comic detail.
4. The lady calls him a humorist when he says he will eat nothing for dinner that night.
5. He laughs at himself when he recalls his tiny income, nervous generosity and possible excuses for not paying.
6. The final sentence about her weight gives the story a neat comic revenge.

The story shows Maugham's humour through irony, self-mockery and comic timing. The lady calls him a humorist after his dinner remark, while he laughs at his own youthful vanity and poverty.

Concept used. First person narrative lets the reader enter the narrator's private mind. In this story, that closeness creates irony, suspense and comic sympathy.

1. The story is told by the man who suffered through the expensive lunch.
2. Because he speaks in first person, the reader hears his private fear about money.
3. The lady sees only politeness, but the reader knows about his panic.
4. This gap heightens irony because her words become funnier and crueller.
5. The first person voice also allows self-mockery about his youth and vanity.
6. The ending feels satisfying because the same narrator calmly reports the final reversal.

First person narration heightens the story by giving direct access to the author's fear, self-mockery and comic judgement. It makes the irony more intimate.

Concept used. Vocabulary evidence means quoting or naming textual details that prove a point. Here the point is the author's limited money.

1. He says he had a tiny apartment in the Latin quarter overlooking a cemetery.
2. He was earning barely enough money to keep the body and soul together.
3. He had eighty francs to last him the rest of the month.
4. He thinks he can manage only by cutting out coffee for two weeks.
5. He chooses the cheapest dish on the menu, a mutton chop.
6. After paying the bill, he has the whole month before him and not a penny in his pocket.

Key phrases are tiny apartment, barely enough money, eighty francs, cut out coffee, cheapest dish and not a penny in my pocket.