CBSE Class 12 English Aunt Jennifers Tiger Assignment Set B

About the Poet

Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929-2012) was an American poet, essayist and radical feminist. She was called “one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century”, and was credited with bringing into the fore, the oppression of women.

Theme

The theme of the poem “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” by Adrienne Rich is how the power of the patriarchy controls women’s forms but not their minds. The poem makes this point by presenting the wild, interesting, powerful tigers embroidered by Aunt Jennifer and contrasting them with Aunt Jennifer, the oppressed wife.

Background

Freedom has always been an important value in the United States that most people are not willing to give up. Ralph Waldo Emerson, a writer who lived in the 1800s, reminded Americans of their right to liberty at a time when many people started to conform to established norms. He voiced his opinions about the loss of freedom and invited society to realize that they were relinquishing their rights. Years later, his views still had an impact on the citizens. Adrienne Rich, a poet of the mid-1900s, also found her autonomy a necessity in life. She wrote a poem in 1951 called “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers,” which exhibited her opinions about living a life of reliance on others.

Justification of the Title

The title is appropriate as the poem is about a woman, Aunt Jennifer, who is trapped in an unhappy marriage. She embroiders a picture of prancing tigers. This represents her desire as she pines for the qualities that she has endowed to the tigers.

Message

“Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” is a statement of conflict in women, specifically between the impulse to freedom and imagination. Aunt Jennifer wants a life that she embroiders on the panel. She wants a colourful vibrant life which every woman should have the power to create.

Summary

In the poem, the poet Adrienne Rich addresses the constraints of married life experienced by women, especially her Aunt Jennifer who is shown to be a victim of a male dominated world. Aunt Jennifer’s embroidered tigers prance (dance about) across the screen on the panel. The tigers are bright yellow. They are the residents (denizens) or inhabitants of a green world (green forest). Their spirit is free and they are not afraid of the men shown beneath the tree. They walk about fearlesly with confidence and with free movements, unperturbed or undisturbed by anything around them.

Aunt Jennifer is making an effort to embroider. Her fluttering fingers signify that there is a lack of confidence and that she faces difficulty in pulling out the ivory needles. This depicts her frightened and timid nature because she has suffered at the hands of her husband. The wedding band that she wears on her finger appears to be heavy metaphorically speaking, depicting the ordeals and sufferings that she has been subjected to. Such is the trauma of Jennifer’s life that it may continue to haunt her even after her death. Her hands will still depict the ring (bowed down) which symbolizes the ordeals that suppressed her during her lifetime. On the other hand, her creative expression will continue to live in the form of the tigers that she has created in her panel. The tigers depict a free-spirited being who will continue to prance proud and unafraid.

Poetic Devices

1. Symbols
• Wedding band symbolises oppression in an unhappy marriage.
• tigers symbolise untamed free spirit.
• embroidery symbolises creative expression

2. Metaphor
• bright topaz denizens—use of ‘topaz’ to describe the yellow colour of tigers.

3. Alliteration
• finger fluttering
• prancing proud

4. Hyperbole
• the massive weight of Unlce’s wedding band.

5. Transferred Epithet
• terrified finger

6. Irony
• a weak and sumbissive woman weaving a picture of tigers that are strong and fearless
• the tiger will continue to pace freely, while Aunt will remain terrified even after death.

7. Personification
• ‘chivalric’ used for knights in medieval times. But here, it is used for tigers.

POEM IN A NUTSHELL

The poem depicts:
1. Aunt Jennifer’s desires and her dream.
2. The real picture of Aunt Jennifer’s life.

Symbols in the poem
1. Aunt Jennifer represents women all over the world wedged under the tyrannical hand of a patriarchal society.
2. Aunt Jennifer’s tigers symbolize her dreams and desires of being powerful, fearless, decisive and liberated.
3. The wedding band signifies the patriarchal society where command is defined as masculine.
4. Uncle denotes the oppressor. 5. Aunt Jennifer’s hands represent the reality of her life.

Words help us to understand the tiger’s attitude
1. pace and prance suggest strength and energy, and movement in blithe.
2. bright topaz colour gives the tigers the attention to their prominent presence.
3. denizens mean occupants. Tigers are grand and fearless in their natural surroundings.
4. chivalric certainty represents the power and virtue with confidence and conviction.

Contrast in the poem:
Aunt Jennifer is an oppressed woman dominated by male superiority, victimized, fearful, indecisive, weak, timid, feeble, shivering in fear, stifled and weighed upon by the marriage, whereas the tigers she weaves are chivalric, confident, fearless, assertive, strong and energetic.

The future of Aunt Jennifer:
Being subservient Aunt Jennifer doesn’t win. First she loses her identity, (only termed as ‘Aunt’ in the last stanza) and then loses herself to death, and even in death she must obey the rules of the patriarchal society.

Aunt Jennifer’s hands be ringed with ordeals after her death?
Aunt Jennifer represents the oppressed women of the patriarchal society. It conotes that
1. Aunt is troubled by her marriage to the burdensome husband.
2. With the death of one oppressed woman, oppression will not vanish from the face of this Earth.

Significance of the last two lines of the poem
1. The mortal Aunt Jennifer created the immortal tigers.
2. Even if the woman with the desire, dies, it does not end the desire of freedom in the other women. In this patriarchal society–the poet imparts a ray of hope to liberate women from the bondage of the oppressed men.

Multiple Choice Questions

Question. The poem ‘Aunt Jennifer’ is written by
(a) Elizabeth Arden
(b) Adrienne Rich
(c) Kamla Das
(d) Sarojini Naidu

Answer: B

Question. What do her ‘fluttering fingers’ find hard?
(a) to pull the ivory needle
(b) to roll the ball of wall
(c) to thread the needle
(d) to draw the sketch of tigers

Answer: A

Question. The poet describes the colour of the tigers as
(a) brown
(b) light brown
(c) dark brown
(d) topaz coloured

Answer: D

Question. ‘Massive’ means
(a) high
(b) huge
(c) minimum
(d) small

Answer: B

Question. The rhyme scheme in stanza one is
(a) aabb
(b) abab
(c) abca
(d) abba

Answer: A

Question. The word ‘prance’ in the poem means
(a) to jump ahead
(b) to dance
(c) to eat
(d) to prowl

Answer: A

Question. ‘Ordeals’ refers to
(a) happy times
(b) hardships
(c) joy and splendour
(d) party time

Answer: B

Question. ‘Fingers fluttering through her wool’. The poetic device used here is
(a) simile
(b) metaphor
(c) alliteration
(d) personification

Answer: A

Question​​​​​​​. The massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band is a subtle reference to
(a) male oppression
(b) suppression at the hands of her husband 
(c) the heavy gold ring
(d) the huge gold wedding band makes her uncomfortable

Answer: B

Question​​​​​​​. What do the tigers do on the screen? They
(a) sing
(b) sleep
(c) catch the prey
(d) prance

Answer: D

Question​​​​​​​. ‘Denizens’ in the poem means
(a) resting place
(b) forest
(c) residents
(d) slum areas

Answer: C

Question​​​​​​​. ‘Sleek chivalric certainty’ of the tigers means
(a) totally free movement of the tigers
(b) unsure tiger in the cage
(c) tiger moving in his cage
(d) tiger trying to be chivalrous

Answer: A

Question​​​​​​​. ‘Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer’s hand.’ This line means that
(a) Aunt Jennifer is a sufferer in a male dominated society
(b) is a heavy object
(c) hard to carry
(d) cannot lift it at all

Answer: A

Question​​​​​​​. What is Aunt Jennifer doing with wool?
(a) she is embroidering a wall panel
(b) she is knitting a scarf
(c) she is making a ball of wool
(d) she is knitting a cap

Answer: A

Question​​​​​​​. ‘Terrified hands’ of Aunt Jennifer means
(a) hard and bitter experience of married life
(b) scared hands
(c) un-manicured hands
(d) soft and nice hands

Answer: A

Question​​​​​​​. ‘Proud’ and ‘unafraid’. These two adjectives have been used for
(a) the uncle
(b) the males in the society
(c) the tigers in the forest
(d) the tigers on the panel

Answer: D

Question​​​​​​​. The poem ‘Aunt Jennifer’s tigers’ uses ‘wedding bands’, ‘tigers’, ‘terrified hands’ etc as
(a) symbols
(b) poetic devices
(c) alliteration
(d) metaphor

Answer: A

Question​​​​​​​. The word ‘chivalric’ in the context means
(a) timid
(b) arrogant
(c) honourable and brave
(d) malicious

Answer: C

Question​​​​​​​. ‘She was mastered by’ is a reference made to
(a) the hardships and difficulties that Aunt Jennifer faced during her lifetime.
(b) Aunt Jennifer considered a slave.
(c) the rude master she had.
(d) her teacher who taught her nothing.

Answer: A

Question​​​​​​​. The attitude of the poet towards Aunt Jennifer is that of
(a) hatred
(b) love
(c) sympathy
(d) casual

Answer: C

Question​​​​​​​. Aunt Jennifer’s family consists of
(a) she and her husband
(b) she and her tigers
(c) she and her kids
(d) she and her servants

Answer: A

Question​​​​​​​. ‘They pace’ is referred to
(a) the human beings
(b) Jennifer’s family members
(c) the tigers
(d) the lions

Answer: C

Question​​​​​​​. What was lying heavily?
(a) her wedding band
(b) the tigers on the screen
(c) uncle of the poet
(d) Aunt Jennifer’s cat

Answer: A

Question​​​​​​​. The beautiful and lifelike tigers on the panel, show Aunt Jennifer’s
(a) hatred for life
(b) hatred for men
(c) creativity
(d) suffering

Answer: C

Question​​​​​​​. ‘The tigers in the panel that she made’ means
(a) the tigers she sent to the zoo
(b) the tigers embroidered by Jennifer
(c) the tigers that do tricks
(d) the tigers that killed her husband

Answer: B

Question​​​​​​​. ‘Denizens’ of a world of green means
(a) residents of forests
(b) residents of green buildings
(c) live in green cages
(d) live in green grasslands

Answer: A

Question​​​​​​​. ‘Still ringed’ means
(a) oppression will continue
(b) too many rings on her fingers
(c) ring of the bell
(d) quiet and peaceful

Answer: A

Question​​​​​​​. ‘Will go on prancing’ means the
(a) spirit of freedom of the tigers will continue to exist
(b) tigers will dance
(c) tigers will kill
(d) tigers will show tricks

Answer: A

Read the extracts given below and attempt the questions that follow.

1. Aunt Jennifer’s tigers prance across a screen,
Bright topaz denizens of a world of green.
They do not fear the men beneath the tree:
They pace in sleek chivalric certainty.

Questions

(i) Name the poem and the poet of these lines.
Answer: The poem is ‘Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers’ and the poet is Adrienne Rich

(ii) What are Aunt Jennifer’s tigers doing? How do they look like?
Answer: The tigers are seen prancing on the screen. They are yellow like topaz (a precious stone).

(iii) Where do they live? Who are they not afraid of?
Answer: They live in green forests. They are fearless and are not afraid of the men beneath the tree.

(iv) Why are the tigers called Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers?
Answer: Aunt Jennifer has created these tigers. She made a tapestry for the screen on which she had embroidered tigers prancing across the screen

(v) What does the word ‘chivalric’ mean in the context of the poem?
(a) creative
(b) curel and ferrocious
(c) honourable and brave
(d) elegant and proud

Answer: C

(vi) The word ‘prance’ in the poem means _____
(a) jump ahead
(b) glare
(c) dance
(d) glide

Answer: A

2. Aunt Jennifer’s fingers fluttering through her wool
Find even the ivory needle hard to pull.
The massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band
Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer’s hand.

Questions

(i) What were Aunt Jennifer’s fingers fluttering through?
Answer: Her fingers were fluttering through her wool

(ii) How was she pulling the needle?
Answer: She was pulling the needle with a lot of difficulty.

(iii) What was the problem with that object on her finger?
Answer: Aunt Jennifer had her husband’s wedding band on her finger. The problem was that his band lay heavily on her hand because it was a symbol of the difficulties and hardships that she had borne in her married life.

(iv) The figure of speech in ‘fingers fluttering’ is
(a) simile
(b) metaphor
(c) pun
(d) alliteration

Answer: D

(v) What does Aunt Jennifer have on her ‘hand’?
(a) wedding band
(b) bangle
(c) ivory needle
(d) panel

Answer: D

(vi) ‘Wedding band sits heavily’ is a subtle reference to
(a) trapped in an unhappy marriage
(b) a thick heavy ring
(c) ring obstructing embroidery
(d) Aunt Jennifer’s weak fingers

Answer: A

3. When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie
Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by.
The tigers in the panel that she made
Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid.

Questions

(i) Why are Aunt Jennifer’s hands called ‘terrified’?
Answer: Aunt Jennifer has led a very suppressed life and probably has faced a lot of hardships and difficulties. Her hands are terrified due to the fear generated in her life by the dominating males.

(ii) What are they still ringed with?
Answer: They still seem to carry the burden of hardships and difficult times which troubled her when she was alive.

(iii) What will happen to the tigers after her death?
Answer: Even after Aunt’s death, the tigers will continue to jump about, feeling proud and unafraid.

(iv) ‘Pranching proud’ is a/an
(a) simile
(b) metaphor
(c) irony
(d) alliteration

Answer: D

(v) What are the qualities of the tigers mentioned in the extract?
Answer: ​​​​​​​The tigers are prancing. They are proud and unafraid.

(vi) ‘Ordeals’ refers to
(a) odd hours
(b) hardships
(c) embroidery
(d) elegance

Answer: B

4. Aunt Jennifer’s tigers prance across a screen,
Bright topaz denizens of a world of green.
They do not fear the men beneath the tree:
They pace in sleek chivalric certainty.

Questions

(i) Why are the tigers called Aunt Jennifer’s tigers?
Answer: Since aunt Jennifer is embroidering the motif of the tigers on a panel, they are referred to as hers.

(ii) How are they described here?
Answer: They are described as having topaz coloured skin. They are sleek, brave, faearless and confident.

(iii) How are they different from Aunt Jennifer?
Answer: While Aunt Jennifer is timid, weak, burdened and overpowered by her marital ordeals, the tigers are sleek, brave, faearless and confident.

(iv) What does the word’ chivalric’ mean?
(a) brave
(b) elegant
(c) timid
(d) cruel

Answer: A

(v) Who are the tigers not afraid of?
Answer: The tigers are not afraid of the hunters sitting beneath the trees.

(vi) The figure of speech in ‘topaz’ is
(a) simile
(b) metaphor
(c) pun
(d) irony

Answer: B

5. Aunt Jennifer’s fingers fluttering through her wool
Find even the ivory needle hard to pull.
The massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band
Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer’s hand.

Questions

(i) What is Aunt Jennifer doing with her wool?
Answer: Aunt Jennifer is embroidering tigers with wool on a panel.

(ii) Why does she find it difficult to pull her ivory needle?
Answer: She is unhappy in her married life. She is fearful and has lost confidence in herself.

(iii) What does ‘wedding band’ stand for?
Answer: The wedding band stands for the oppressive control of her husband over her which has taken away her freedom and independence.

(iv) Describe the irony in the third line.
Answer: The wedding band is a symbol of conjugal happiness but ironically, for Aunt Jennifer, it has become a burden

(v) The expression ‘massive weight’ stands for–
(a) bond of marriage
(b) freedom from marriage
(c) fear of marriage
(d) honourable marriage

Answer: A

(vi) Aunt Jennifer’s fingers are fluttering due to
(a) happiness
(b) fear
(c) kindness
(d) contidence

Answer: B

Short Answer Type Questions

Question​​​​​​​. What are the characteristics of the tiger that lend a contrast to the Aunt?
Answer: The tigers are fearless, chivalric and they are confident. They enjoy their freedom. On the other hand, Aunt Jennifer is oppressed and a victim of a male dominated society. The tigers are fearless and are not afraid of men.

Question​​​​​​​. Describe the tigers on the panel.
Answer: The tigers embroidered on the panel are of bright topaz colour. They are described as the residents of a green world (forest). They are fearless, confident, sure of their movements and do not feel frightened of the men shown beneath the tree. They move freely and are symbolic of ‘free spirit’.

Question​​​​​​​. Why do you think Aunt Jennifer created animals that are so different from her own character? What might the poet be suggesting through this difference?
Answer: ​​​​​​​Aunt Jennifer created animals who were free spirited, fearless, proud and happily prancing about. On the other hand, Aunt Jennifer’s life is symbolic of the fear, the suppression and the victimization of a woman in a male dominated society. The poet suggests that art may be an instrument to metaphorically release women like the Aunt, who is trapped in an oppressive marriage.

Question​​​​​​​. Do you sympathize with Aunt Jennifer? What is the attitude of the speaker towards Aunt Jennifer?
Answer: Yes, I do sympathize with Aunt Jennifer. The attitude of the speaker towards Aunt Jennifer appears to be pessimistic because it is suggested that Aunt Jennifer, even after her death will continue to be weighed down heavily by the burdens of her life. There will be no respite for her even after her death. Only her tigers will continue to live happily in the form of her artistic creation.

Question​​​​​​​. Why do you think Aunt Jennifer’s hands are ‘fluttering through her wool’ in the second stanza? Why is she finding the needle so hard to pull?
Answer: Aunt Jennifer’s hands are fluttering because they are a reflection of her dominated and suppressed spirit. She is physically and emotionally drained and finds it hard to pull the needle. Her hands are heavy with the weight of the wedding ring which symbolizes the hardships and difficulties of her life.

Question​​​​​​​. What is suggested by the image ‘massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band’?
Answer: The image suggests that not only is Aunt bowed down by the emotional and physical pressures of her married life but she is also suppressed by the weight of the wedding band meaning that male dominated society has put her under a lot of stress and has curbed her freedom and happiness.

Question​​​​​​​. What does the poet suggest by saying that the tigers that she has embroidered will forever go on prancing proudly?
Answer: When Aunt Jennifer is no more, her tigers will continue to live on the panel. A work of art will continue to be an expression of Aunt Jennifer’s creativity and the tigers will forever be seen, prancing about, fearless and free spirited.

Question​​​​​​​. What does Aunt Jennifer’s creation of the tigers symbolize?
Answer: The tigers symbolize Aunt Jennifer’s desires. She expresses herself through the creation of her tigers whom she embroiders with a needle on a panel. The tigers are free and symbolize Jennifer’s own longing to be free and powerful.

Question​​​​​​​. What are the ‘ordeals’ Aunt Jennifer is surrounded by? Why is it significant that the poet uses the word ‘ringed’? What are the meanings of the word ‘ringed’ in the poem?
Answer: The ‘ordeals’ that surround Aunt Jennifer are the hardships and the oppression in a male dominated society. The poet uses the word ‘ringed’ to signify that after her death also, Aunt Jennifer’s hands will still be affected by the dominance of a male, perhaps her husband. While the tigers will be free, she would never be free; her only hope for freedom is through her artistic creation or the tigers on the screen. Through them she can depict the courage and confidence that she lacked in her own life.

Question​​​​​​​. What is the theme of the poem?
Answer: The poet subtly brings out the contrast between the wonderful freedom of the work of art created by Aunt Jennifer and the constraints of her married life. The Aunt has been subjected to suppression at the hands of her dominating husband and it is only in the embroidery that she seems free and gives expression to her creativity.

Question​​​​​​​. What do the tigers embroidered by Aunt Jennifer on the panel signify?
Answer: The tigers on the panel signify their free movement, lack of fear and their self-assurance as compared to Aunt Jennifer who is a victim of a male dominated society. The tigers are depicted in sharp contrast to Aunt’s own predicament.

Question​​​​​​​. What are the examples in the poem that suggest that Aunt Jennifer found her life a great challenge?
Answer: The poem suggests that Aunt’s life was full of hardships and difficulties. She was a victim of male oppression and seemed to have suffered a lot at uncle’s hands. Uncle is a symbol of a male dominated society. The reference to ‘fluttering fingers’, ‘needle hard to pull’ massive weight of ‘ordeals’ suggest her challenges.

Long Answer Type Questions

Question​​​​​​​. Steeped in feminism, Rich presents a vivid criticism of a male dominated societal set up. Comment.
Answer: ​​​​​​​The first few lines of the poem bring out the patriarchal attitude and discrimination against the women. Aunt Jennifer has been reduced to a meek, terrified woman who weaves a world of her own. Aunt Jennifer is unhappy because of the patriarchal system that confines all the women. The poem really wants us to condemn the system, not an individual. Aunt Jennifer, the protagonist, is symbolic of women all over the world who are trapped in an unhappy marriage. She is so weak that her fluttering fingers can’t pull the ivony needle. The aunt create tigers who are a symbol of strength and fearlessness. The poet presents a contrast between the timid woman and her fearless creation.