If I Were You Summary & Notes – CBSE Class 9 English Beehive

According to the CBSE Syllabus 2023-24, this chapter has been renumbered as Chapter 9.

Summary of If I Were You

The Class 9 English textbook ‘Beehive’ has a prose piece named If I Were You. It starts with the dramatist Gerrard, who is on his way to leave home in order to attend a rehearsal. He lives alone in his cottage, and suddenly an intruder enters his house with the intention of murdering Gerrard. So, is the intruder successful? Class 9 students can read the prose summary of CBSE Class 9 English Prose Notes – If I Were You in CBSE English Notes Class 9 format here to find out what happens in the chapter. We hope this summary will help students when they refer to it while revising for their exams.

CBSE Class 9 English If I Were You Summary

If I Were You is a play written by Douglas James. It begins with the telephonic conversation of a dramatist, Gerrard, who was preparing to leave his house in order to attend a rehearsal. After hanging up the phone call, he starts packing his travel bag. While he is engaged in his work, he suddenly notices an intruder who has silently entered from his right side. Gerrard notices that the unknown man resembles him quite a bit and is holding a revolver in his hand. The intruder, without wasting any time, asks Gerrard to raise his hands up in the air. Gerrard, on the other hand, is surprisingly relaxed and does not panic at gunpoint. He starts chatting with the intruder and asks his name pleasantly.

The intruder starts interrogating Gerrard about his details. Gerrard requests him to talk in a comfortable position, so the intruder asks him to sit down on a chair. As they start talking again, he asks Gerrard if he stays alone and owns a car. To this, the dramatist replies that he often travels due to the nature of his work. One of his bags is always kept packed as there are days when he needs to travel out for some urgent work. Besides, Gerrard also tells the intruder that he often talks on the telephone without meeting his tradesmen in person.

Meanwhile, Gerrard also enquires about the intruder’s whereabouts, and the latter tells him that he is a criminal who mainly robs jewellery. Further, he also killed a policeman, and he wishes to take Gerrard’s identity by killing him so that he can evade his arrest completely. Hearing this, Gerrard realises that the intruder is not as smart as he had assumed him to be. So, he manipulates the intruder wittingly to believe him. Gerrard quickly makes up a story and states that he has a mysterious life of his own. He convinces him to believe his words and tells the intruder that the police are also after Gerrard for a murder. Now if the intruder kills him, the police would anyway catch him on account of Gerrard’s misdeeds.

Interestingly, the intruder believes Gerrard’s story when the latter asks him to go to the garage and flee from the house through that route. So, Gerrard opens the garage door and pushes the intruder inside, which is actually a cupboard and locks him up. Soon after, he informs the police about the criminal’s whereabouts and hands him over to them. Thus, we see that Gerrard’s presence of mind and alertness saved him from a life-threatening situation.

Conclusion of If I Were You

The Chapter – If I Were You teaches the lesson to students that they must not be over-confident and remain vigilant about their surroundings so that even in tough circumstances, they maintain cool-headedness and are able to handle critical situations with ease. Here, we have provided the CBSE Class 9 English Beehive Prose Summary of If I Were You that will guide students to get a complete insight into the chapter.