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NEB ENGLISH ALL NOTES [C.ENG | M. ENG] CLASS 11
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Refund by Fritz Karinthy: Summary | Play | Class 11 English
Refund by Fritz Karinthy
MAIN SUMMARY
Refund by Fritz Karinthy
The main character of this play, Wasserkopf, is a behaviour-less person who often uses abusive words while talking. He is not getting any employment. Even if he manages to get the job, he may not keep it for long. Wherever he goes to ask for a job, people tell him that he is of no use and that he hasn't learned anything good in school. One day, he meets his old classmate Leaderer in the street. When the leader talks with him about investing in forex and the Hungarian currency, Wasserkopf expresses his inability to understand such things. He starts asking questions about forex. The leader says that if he doesn't know about such a minor thing, then nothing has been learned by him in his school. He advises him to go back to his school and get his tuition fee back.
Wasserkopf, being unemployed and penniless, considers it a good idea and beneficial to him. So, he comes back to his old school after eighteen years and asks for his tuition fees back. He claims that he has not learned anything in the school and that the teachers have not taught him anything. The principal is thoroughly shocked to hear such an absurd demand. Wasserkopf also threatens to go to the education minister if justice is not served to him. He demands the exam again and says that if he fails it, he will have to get his money back. The principal gets quite confused, finds himself in an awkward position, and asks for an immediate meeting of all the masters. They decide to conduct a re-examination of him and agree to prove all the answers given by him to be correct.
They realise that Wasserkopf will deliberately try to fail the test by giving wrong answers and withdrawing his refund from the school. So, all the employees decide to outsmart him and help each other unite. Wasserkopf uses derogatory terms for each of the masters with the intention of being expelled from the school. But the masters beat him by proving him to be excellent in manners, physical culture, alertness, perseverance, logic, and ambition.
The history teacher politely asks him to take a seat, but he annoys the teacher with his answer. The master is patient and begins his question. The first question he asks him is: How many years did the 'Thirty Years War' last? The physics master whispers the answer aloud, and the geography master shows his ten fingers three times. Even though the answer is within the question, Wasserkopf is eager to give the wrong answer and says that the battle lasted seven metres. All the teachers became paralyzed. When the Master of History is unable to justify his wrong answer, the Master of Mathematics helps him.
He argues that according to Einstein's theory of relativity, years can be represented as metres and that the actual war was only for seven years. Because the war took place in the only daytime (twelve hours), which means 15 years. Between 15 and 20 years, the master cuts three hours each day for fighters to eat, which reduces 15 to 12 years. He again deducts the various hours for activities such as the afternoon siesta, peaceful diversion, and non-combat. He finally reaches the age of seven and wipes his brow. So, the answer of seven metres given by the candidate is correct in Einstein's equivalence of seven metres.
After this, the master of physics asks him about the clocks in the towers of the churches. He asks him the reason why the church clock gets smaller if one moves away from it, or is it because of an optical illusion? Wasserkopf responds by calling the master an ass. But the answer is accepted by the master as correct. The reason given is that the ass has no imagination power because it is a sad creature. Master says that it must be an optical illusion, and Wasserkopf has answered with a metaphorical answer.
Subsequently, he is asked by a geography teacher to name the capital of Brunswick, a German province of the same name. But Wasserkopf gives the answer as 'Same'. Master justifies his answer, claiming that the city also has another name, 'Same'. According to a legend, once Emperor Barbarossa was riding in the city and met a peasant girl. He asked her to name the city after wishing him 'God bless you'. The girl replied, 'Same to you, sir, while chewing the bun in her mouth. But the emperor mistook the name of the city as 'Same'. Thus, the master considers Wasserkopf to be excellent in geography.
Finally, the math master comes forward to ask him his question. He announces that he is going to ask Wasserkopf two questions: an easy question and a difficult one. First, he asks a simple question on the circumference of a 109-sided polyhedron with irrelevant data for calculation. Wasserkopf gives the wrong answer. The math teacher gets angry and announces that his answer is wrong. So he states that Wasserkopf deserves a refund of tuition fees. Then, he asks for the exact amount that he has to receive. Wasserkopf gives them the exact total amount of 5682 crowns and 38 hellers and the total amount of 6450 crowns and 50 hellers without realising the teachers' trap. At this moment, the math master declares his answer correct to his difficult question. All the teachers justify all his answers. All the teachers justify all his answers as being correct and logical. They mark him as distinguished in all his subjects and finally throw him out of school.
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