CBSE Class 12 English Vistas Should Wizard Hit Mommy John Updike Assignment

CBSE Class 12 English Vistas Should Wizard Hit Mommy John Updike Assignment. Students are advised to refer to the attached assignments and practice them regularly. This will help them to identify their weak areas and will help them to score better in examination. Parents should download and give the assignments to their children for practice.

Gist of the Lesson: • The chapter captures a very sensitive reaction of a small girl to an important aspect of the story that her father narrates to her. • The story reveals the worldview of a little child to a difficult moral question that shows her mental or psychological richness. • Jo is a little girl of four years. She is engaged in a story session with her father. • Jack, the father used to tell her a story every evening and especially for Saturday naps. • Jo feels herself involved with the characters and the happenings. • The story always had an animal with a problem. The old owl advises him to visit the wizard who would solve the problem. • Skunk’s problem‐ he smelt bad, visited the wizard who changed it to the smell of roses. • Skunk’s mother was unhappy with it and took him back to the wizard. She hit the wizard and asked him to restore the original smell. She wanted her son to keep his identity of a skunk and wanted his friends to accept him for himself. So the wizard changes him back to smell like a skunk. • After hearing the story of Roger Skunk Jo was not happy with the ending. • She wants her father to change the ending. She wants the wizard to hit the mother back and let Roger be which her father was not ready to do to establish his authority. This raises a difficult moral question whether parents possess the right to impose their will on their children. • Her father finds it difficult to answer her question.

Solved questions: Short Answer Questions:

Question. How did the wizard help Roger Skunk?
Answer: The wizard was moved by Roger Skunk’s story. On finding his magic wand ‐ chanted some magic words & granted that Roger should smell like roses.

Question. What made Jo feel that the story was over?
Answer: She wanted a happy ending to the story. All stories that Jack told used to end happily. So when Roger smelt like roses and other animals played with him Jo thought the story was over.

Question. What part of the story did Jack himself enjoy the most and why?
Answer: Jack enjoyed being the wizard most. He used to change his voice .He believed that being an old man suited him the most.

Question. How did Jo want the wizard to behave when Mommy Skunk approached him?
Answer: Joe was very sympathetic towards Roger Skunk---She wanted wizard to hit mommy.
Roger Skunk hit the wizard, the latter also got annoyed with the smell, changed him into rose- smell – Joe liked it - wizard had done a noble thing.

Question. How did Roger Skunk’s Mommy react when he went home smelling of roses?
Answer: Roger Skunk began to smell like roses. Mommy asked about the smell ‐ Roger Skunk replied that the wizard had made him smell like that mother did not like that and asked Roger to come with her.

Question. How did the Skunk’s mother get him his old smell back?
Answer: Mother was furious to learn about the wizard who changed the original smell. She immediately visited the wizard and hit him on his head and asked him to restore the original smell.

Question. Who is Jo? How has she changed in the past two years? How did Jo behave in ‘reality phase’?
Answer: Jo is Jack’s 4 year old daughter. She was no more a patient listener. She did not take things for granted and tried to see things in her own way.

Question. How does Jo want the story to end and why?
Answer: Jo understood Roger Skunk’s need to enjoy the company of his friends; therefore wanted that the wizard should take Roger’s side.

Question. Do you think Jack and Jo could identify with Roger skunk as a victim of the hatred of other creatures?
Answer: Jack brought the story to life when he narrated the tale remembering certain humiliations of his own 

Question. What makes Jack feel caught in an ugly middle position?
Answer: Jack wanted to convey to his daughter the truth about the world. It’s an unequal
and cruel world. One should stick on to one’s identity and not change according to the whims and fancies of the world. He knows that he is absolutely right but is not able to convince his daughter.
Jack is black. His wife is fair. The family is ‘half old ivory and half old tan’. When he told the story of the skunk he actually told about the humiliations that he faced in his childhood because of his race. So when he meets his wife, he is unable to bond with her.
He loves her dearly but there is a momentary resentment.
Jack believes that Parents know what is right for their child. His mother helped him to overcome all discriminations. But his daughter is not ready to listen to his advice.
Jack believes that the child has the freedom to choose the characters in the story and knows that Joanne is right if you approached the story from a child’s perspective. But the chauvinist in him is not ready to accept the ending given to his story by his daughter.
Jack was not able to put his daughter to sleep .Nor could he help his wife.

Important Questions NCERT Class 12 English Vistas "Should Wizard hit Mommy?"

Question. Why does Jack insist that it was the wizard that was hit and not the mother?
Answer: Jack insists that it was the wizard that was hit and not the mother because he wanted to teach a moral lesson to Jo that parents know what is best for their children. Jack also wanted, Jo to understand that one should be content with the way one is born and not change just because the society does not accept him/her the way he/she is.

Question. Why did Jo think Roger Skunk was better off with the new smell?
Answer: Jo was not convinced that the little animals eventually got used to the way the little skunk was and smelt. Moreover, Jo felt that Mommy Skunk was being unfair to Roger Skunk by not allowing wizard to make him smell like roses. She wanted Roger Skunk to be accepted by his peers and thus, be happy.

Question. How does Jo want the story to end and why?
Answer: As the end of the story did not appeal to Jo, she wanted the wizard to hit Mommy Skunk and make Roger Skunk continue to smell like roses. It is evident that the story violated Jo’s sense of fairness for why should Roger Skunk not smell of roses and thus, have more friends.

Question. Why does Jo call the Skunk’s Mommy stupid?
Answer: Jo calls the skunk’s mommy stupid because mommy had hit the wizard and made him give Roger Skunk his real stink back. Jo thought Mommy skunk was so stupid that she did not understand Roger Skunk’s problem.

Question. How did Jo want the Roger Skunk story to end?
Answer: Jo wanted the story to have a happy ending i.e., Roger Skunk to smell like roses forever. Also, Jo wanted the wizard to hit mother skunk back because she had no right to interfere in the matter.

Question. Why did Roger Skunk go to see the old owl?
Answer: Roger Skunk went to see the old owl because he was upset that all the other animals refused to come near him or play with him because of his bad smell. Roger needed advice on how to get rid of his stink.

Question. Why did Jo disapprove of Jack’s ending of the story of Roger Skunk ? How did she want it to end?
Answer: In Jack’s version of the story, Roger Skunk’s mommy hits the wizard on his head with her umbrella, and told him to cast a reverse spell on Roger skunk and give him his original smell back. However, Jo did not agree with this ending and suggested an alternate end for the story. According to her, the wizard should have hit mommy back and not change Roger Skunk.
To Jo, the wizard was a good person who helps ‘Roger skunk’ when he was in trouble and seeking a way out. Witnessing Mommy Skunk’s actions, Jo felt that ‘stupid Mommy’ should have been punished for her unkind behaviour towards the kind wizard. She believed that Mommy Skunk was imposing her will both on Roger Skunk and the wizard without considering her son’s fear of not getting accepted by his peers. Jo also thought that Roger Skunk should be allowed to choose his own life even if it meant to get rid of the stink.

Please click the link below to download CBSE Class 12 English Vistas Should Wizard Hit Mommy John Updike Assignment