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

Short Answer Type Questions

Question. What was the basic tale or plot of stories told by Jack
Answer: Every story told by Jack had a small creature usually named Roger. He had some problem and went with it to the wise old owl. The owl would tell him to go to the wizard. The wizard solved the problem with some magic spell. However, he charged some pennies for it.

Question. Why did Roger Skunk go to the owl? What advice did he get?
Answer: Roger Skunk smelled very bad. Whenever he went out to play, all other little animals would run away from him. He would then fell very sad and humiliated. In order to find a way out of his problem, he decided to go to the wise old owl. The owl advised Roger Skunk to go to the wizard.

Question. When would Jack tell her daughter, Jo, a story? When had this custom begun?
Answer: Jo’s father Jack used to tell her a story in the evenings and for Saturday naps. This custom began when Jo was two but now she was four years old. Thus, he had been telling her the stories for the last two years.

Question. How did the wizard solve the skunk’s problem?
Answer: The wizard asked the skunk what he wanted to smell like. At this the skunk told her that he wanted to smell like roses. The wizard took his magic wand and chanted a spell. Soon, the whole inside of the wizard’s house was filled with the fragrance of roses.

Question. What impression do you form of Jack as a father in the story, ‘Should Wizard Hit Mommy?’
Answer: Jack is portrayed as a loving father, who loves telling stories to his four-year-old daughter, Jo. He brings in the dramatic element in his otherwise lame and boring story by using a lot of gestures and dramatic voices. This thrills his daughter, which eventually thrills him. Everything is fine till one day his daughter starts questioning his stories. She views each statement that her father makes with a critical eye and has a lot of questions. Instead of pacifying her by answering her questions, Jack tried to enforce his views on her. Therefore, we can say that Jack is loving and responsible but slightly an immature father.

Question. Do you think the father in the story is, more or less, an alter ego of the author, as far as the childhood is concerned?
Answer: John Updike’s childhood was tortured by ‘psoriasis’ and stammering and he had to suffer humiliation and ridicule at the hands of his classmates on account of this. Like him, Jo’s father too recalls certain moments of ‘humiliation of his own childhood. ”Thus the father more or less, was an alter ego of the author.”

Question. Why did the woodland creatures avoid Roger Skunk ? How did their behaviour affect Roger ?
Answer: The woodland creatures avoided Roger Skunk because of his awful smell. As soon as they saw him coming they would cry “Uh-oh, here comes Roger Stinky Skunk and they would run away. Roger Skunk would stand there all alone and weep silently.

Question. This was a new phase, just this last month. ‘What new phase is referred to here in the story “Should Wizard Hit Mommy”?
Answer: Children’s physical and mental growth is very speedy. Earlier Jo used to accept father’s word about magic etc, but now she has started having apprehensions about such spells. She has become more inquisitive and less credulous.

Question. How did the woodland creatures react to the Skunk’s new smell? What did Skunk feel about the new change ?
Answer: The woodland creatures found Roger Skunk’s new smell to be ”so good”. They gladly took him in their fold as a friend and played with him many games. Naturally, Roger was happy to have been accepted by others as their friend Moreover, his inferiority complex had disappeared.

Question. Why in you opinion is the smell of roses obnoxious for the Skunk mother “or How did Skunk’s mother react to his new smell ?
Answer: Nature keeps its own balance and has its own way. The Skunk’s smell is obnoxious for other creatures, but certainly not for other Skunks. Skunks are born with this particular smell and any deviation is violation of Nature. So the mother Skunk does not like the rose smell of Roger Skunk.. She believes that what is natural is not disgraceful.

Question. Why did Jo not approve of Skunk’s mother scolding him for his new smell ?
Answer: Jo was very happy to hear that Skunk had got rid of his awful smell and had been accepted by the woodland creatures. She did not like Skunk’s mother scolding him for his new smell because Jo thought it was a pleasant smell and the one that had won Skunk so many friends. Skunk’s mother, she thought, was wrong in scolding him for his new smell.

Question. Why does mother Skunk hug and pat her son as he prepares to sleep ?
Answer: The obedience shown by Roger Skunk impresses the mother and she pats and hugs him as he prepares himself for sleep. The idea behind her action is that obedient children will always be loved and patted by mothers. The mother’s gesture is also an expression of her satisfaction at her little one getting back his Skunk smell.

Long Answer Type Questions

Question. What is the moral issue that the story raises ?
Answer: Although “Should Wizard Hit Mommy?” reads like a typical bed time story elders tell little children, it does raise a moral question – Should parents always decide what is best for their children and should children always obey their parents unquestioningly ?
Roger Skunk is a very obedient child but he feels very sad and upset because he smells so awful that nobody wants to befriend him and play with him. One day he gets a change to get his bad smell replaced with the smell of roses. He feels excited about the change for everyone likes his new smell and readily agrees to play with him. However Roger’s mother does not like the change. For her, Roger was better off with his original smell. So, she makes the wizard restore Skunk’s original smell. Roger meekly accepts his mother’s decision and other children get used to Roger’s awful smell and don’t complain about in any more.
But the narrow world view of the little girl, Jo likes to spell out the slogan of equality for all. She believes in the axiom “Tit for Tat”. She feels that mothers is wrong in getting her son’s original smell back and wants her to be spanked by the wizard for her mistake. Her father, who has modeled Skunk’s story on his own story, strongly defends the mother Skunk’s decision.
Thus, the author through this story raises a moral question of how much authority parents should exercise in teaching their children what is wrong, what is right, what they should do and what not. Since, there is no single correct answer to the question, he leaves it for the readers to answer it on the basis of their beliefs, cultures and values.