CBSE Class 12 English My Mother at Sixty-six VBQs Set 03

ABOUT THE POET

Kamala Das (31 March 1934-31 May 2009) was an Indian English poet and at the same time a leading Malayalam author from Kerala, India. Kamala Das received many awards for her literary contributions like ‘Asian Poetry Prize’, ‘Kent Award for English Writing from Asian Countries’ and many more.

SUMMARY

The poet recalls a trip back to Cochin from her holiday at her parents’ house. It was a Friday morning and that morning she was driving with her mother next to her on the front seat. She was observing her mother who had fallen asleep on the front seat with her mouth slightly open. She could see her mother’s face which was pale and resembled to the nearly white face of a dead body. She realises that her mother is no longer younger and she has started looking very old. This became very hard for her to accept so she was determined to shift her focus to something else. So, she turned her face away from her aged mother and started looking outside the window of the car. She started looking at the trees they crossed while driving. It seemed to her that the trees were running at full speed past her because of the moving car. It seemed that those trees would have been young if they could move at such a fast pace. She also saw children coming out of their house with their face gleaming with excitement. After crossing these sights they reached airport. Till now, her mind was busy and distracted due to those sights. But now, when they were going through the security check, she was standing a short distance away from her mother and saw her old mother. Again her mind was filled with the same thoughts. She could see her mother appeared extremely pale and lacking vigor. The poet compared her mother’s face with the winter’s moon which is slightly faded on winter’s night. She recalled her childhood fear of losing her mother one day, that her mother would die. This fear afflicted her many times before and again this thought was tormenting her. However, she did not let that fear show itself on her face. She smiled and waved a goodbye to her mother. She gave the assurance that they would soon meet again and throughout the conversation she put a brave face even though she was agonised within.

Question. How does Kamala Das try to put away the thoughts of her aging mother?
Answer: Troubled by the thoughts of her aging mother, Kamala Das tries to distract herself by not looking at her mother’s old, ashen face. Instead, she looks out of the car window at young trees sprinting and happy children running out of the their homes.

Question. What was the poet’s childhood fear? 
Answer: Poet Kamala Das, in her poem, ‘My Mother at Sixty-six’ says that since childhood, she feared separation from her mother. The thought of losing her mother has been making her uncomfortable ever since she was a little girl.

Question. Why has the poet’s mother been compared to the ‘late winter’s moon’? 
Answer: The poet’s mother looks pale and worn out, devoid of the energy and enthusiasm of youth. In the twilight of her life, she appears as lackluster as the winter moon.

Question. Why are the young trees described as ‘sprinting’? 
Answer: The poet is in a car on her way to the Cochin airport. She looks outside from the moving car and feels the young trees seem to be running along with them. By describing the young trees as ‘sprinting’ the poet wants to show a striking contrast between their liveliness and her mother’s fading youth.

Question. What were the poet’s feelings at the airport? How did she hide them? 
Answer: At the airport, the poet feels worried about her aging mother. She is anxious that soon she is going to lose her mother; final separation (by death) from her mother scared her. To hide her fear and anxiety, she smiles and calls out ‘see you soon Amma’. A cheerful farewell allows her not to show her pain.

Question. What were Kamala Das’ fears as a child? Why do they surface when she is going to the airport? 
Answer: As a child, Kamala Das feared losing her mother. When she is going to the airport, the fear resurfaces while she gazes at her mother. She realises that her mother is growing old and frail and nearing death.

Question. Why are the young trees described as ‘sprinting’? 
Answer: The young trees are described as ‘sprinting’ because the poet wants to show a contrast between the young trees and her old mother.

Question. What is the significance of the parting words of the poet and her smile, in ‘My Mother at Sixty-six’?
Answer: The poet’s parting words of assurance and her smile are a deliberate attempt to hide her anxiety and fear of loss and separation. Alternatively, they are also significant because they reflect poet’s hope to see her mother again, reassuring her mother at the same time.

Question. Why are the youngsters described as springing? 
Answer: The youngsters in the poem, ‘My Mother at Sixty-six’ are described as springing because they are symbolic of youth, liveliness and joy. In contrast to the poet’s frail and aging mother the children appear to be young and spirited.

Question. What were the poet’s feelings as she drove to Cochin airport? 
Answer: As she drove to Cochin airport, the thought that her mother looked old and withered, disturbed the poet. Her childhood fears haunted her again.

Question. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
Old
Familiar ache, my childhood’s fear,
but all I said was, see you soon,
Amma,
all I did was smile and smile and
smile... ... ...
(a) What does the phrase, ‘familiar ache’ mean?
(b) What was the poet’s childhood fear?
(c) What do the first two lines tell us about the poet’s feelings for her mother?
(d) What does the repeated use of the word, ‘smile’ mean? 
Answer: (a) The pain that her mother was growing old and the fear of separation.
(b) The poet’s childhood fear was that of her mother growing old and final separation.
(c) The poet loves her mother a lot and she feared losing her.
(d) The word ‘smile’ was repeatedly used as the poet hid her feeling from her mother by smiling and reassuring herself.

Question. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
I saw my mother
beside me,
doze, open mouthed, her face
ashen like that
of a corpse and realised with
pain ……
(a) Who is ‘I’?
(b) What did ‘I’ realise with pain?
(c) Why was the realisation painful?
(d) Identify and name the figure of speech used in these lines. 
Answer: (a) ‘I’ in the above extract is the poet narrating the incident from a daughter’s point of view.
(b) The poet realised with pain that her mother is nearing old age.
(c) The poet is pained by the realisation because her mother now looked as old as she was, her bodily infirmities that have come, show that she was approaching her death and it was a hard fact to accept for the poet.
(d) The figure of speech used is simile and the line is, ‘ashen like that of a corps’.

Question. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
I saw my mother,
beside me,
doze, open mouthed, her face
ashen like that
of a corpse and realised with
pain
that she was as old as she
looked but soon
put that thought away, ....
(a) What worried the poet when she looked at her mother?
(b) Why was there pain in her realisation ?
(c) Why did she put that thought away ?
(d) Identify the figure of speech used in these lines. 
Answer: (a) The poet was worried about her mother’s advancing age and she feared final separation from her mother.
(b) There was pain in the poet’s realisation because her mother now looked as old as she was, her bodily infirmities that comes with old age were visible on her face. The poet was having a hard time accepting the thought of finally losing her mother.
(c) The poet put that thought away because she was going away from her mother and the thought of separation was too painful for her to bear. The realisation that old age was quickly approaching her mother filled her mind with unpleasant thoughts about losing her, which saddened and scared her deeply.
(d) The figure of speech used is a simile- “Like that of a corpse”.

Question. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
looked out at young
Trees sprinting, the merry children spilling
out of their homes, but after the airport’s
security, I looked again at her, wan, pale
as a late winter’s moon and felt that old
familiar ache, ... ... ...
(a) How can the trees sprint?
(b) Why did the poet look at her mother again?
(c) What did she observe?
(d) Identify the figure of speech used in these lines.
Answer: (a) The trees seem to sprint because as the car moves ahead, the movement of the trees is backward.
(b) The poet’s feeling of anxiety and fear for her mother’s health made her look again at her mother.
(c) She observed her mother’s pale appearance, resembling the late winter moon.
(d) Simile – Pale as a late winter’s moon

Question. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
I looked again at her, wan, pale
as a late winter’s moon and felt that
old
familiar ache, my childhood’s fear,
... ... ...
(a) Who is ‘her’?
(b) Why did the poet look at ‘her’ again?
(c) What was the poet’s childhood fear?
(d) Identify the figure of speech used in these lines. 
Answer: (a) ‘Her’ is poet’s mother.
(b) The poet looked at her mother again due to anxiety and worry.
(c) The poet’s childhood fear was that of losing her mother, the pain of ultimate separation.
(d) Simile – pale as a late winter’s moon.

Question. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
... ... ... ... and felt that old
familiar ache, my childhood’s fear,
but all I said was, see you soon, Amma
All I did was smile and smile and smile...
(a) Name the poem.
(b) What was the poet’s childhood fear?
(c) What does her smile signify?
(d) What does the word ‘ache mean’. 
Answer: (a) The name of the poem is ‘My Mother at Sixty-six’.
(b) Since childhood, the poet feared her ultimate separation from her mother.
(c) She smiles in order to hide her true feelings, fear and anxiety.
(d) The word ache means pain.

Question. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
Driving from my parent’s
home to Cochin last Friday
morning, I saw my mother, beside me,
doze, open mouthed, her face ashen like that
of a corpse and realised with pain
that she was as old as she looked...
(a) Where was the poet driving to?
(b) Why was her mother’s face looking like that of a corpse?
(c) What did the poet notice about her mother?
Answer: (a) The poet was driving from her parents’ home to the Cochin airport.
(b) Her mother’s face was looking like that of a corpse because she had aged quite a lot, was weak and had lost her youthful energy and enthusiasm.
(c) The poet noticed that her mother was sleeping with her mouth open, her face had become ashen, lacking the youthful glow. This made the poet realise that her mother was “as old as she looked”.

Question. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
... but soon
put that thought away, and
looked out at young
trees sprinting, the merry children spilling
out of their homes,...
(a) What thought did the poet drive away from her mind?
(b) What did she see when she looked out of the car?
(c) What did she see that the joyful scene did not help her drive away the painful thought from her mind? 
Answer: (a) The poet drove away from her mind the thought of her mother’s impending death.
(b) When the poet looked out of car, she saw sprinting trees, happy children coming out of their homes to enjoy themselves.
(c) The poet looked at her mother’s face once again and experienced the old familiar ache, the childhood fear of losing her mother. She gazed at her mother’s pale appearance the joyful scene did not help her drive away the painful thoughts from her mind.

Question. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
……… but soon
put that thought away and
looked out at young
trees sprinting, the merry children spilling
out of their homes,
(a) Which thought did the poet put away?
(b) What do the ‘sprinting trees’ signify?
(c) What are ‘the merry children spilling out of their homes’, symbolic of?
Answer: (a) The poet put away the thought of her aging mother and her gradual declining health. It pained her to think about losing her mother to death soon and the invertible final separation.
(b) ‘Sprinting trees’ signify energy, youth and activity. The poet wants to contrast young trees with her old mother.
(c) The merry children spilling out of their homes’ is symbolic of happiness, energy and playfulness. It can also be symbolic of poet’s sad thoughts being contrasted with ‘merry children’.

Question. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
...and felt that old
familiar ache, my childhood’s fear,
but all I said was, see you soon, Amma,
all I did was smile and smile and smile...
(a) What was the childhood fear that now troubled the poet?
(b) What do the poet’s parting words suggest?
(c) Why did the poet smile and smile?
Answer: (a) Since her childhood the poet feared that one day she would lose her mother. Now, looking at her aging mother’s ashen face and fragile body the old fear came back to trouble her.
(b) The poet’s parting words suggest that she hopes to see her mother again even though she fears she might lose her sooner than later.
(c) The poet smiled and smiled because it was a deliberate attempt to hide her fear and anxiety of loss and separation from her mother.

Question. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
……… but soon
put that thought away, and
looked out at young
trees sprinting, the merry children spilling
out of their homes.
(a) Who looked out at young trees?
(b) Which thought did she put away?
(c) What do young sprinting trees signify? 
Answer: (a) The poet looked out at the young trees.
(b) She put away the sad thought of her mother’s impending death.
(c) The young sprinting trees signify youthfulness, energy and life.

Short answer type questions

Question. What is the kind of pain and ache that the poet feels?
Answer: The poet feels the pain and ache of separation from her mother. Her mother is old 66 years of age and she is looking pale and colourless. She realises that her mother is ageing. The fear of separation from mother overcomes her.

Question. Why has the mother been compared to the late winter's moon?
Answer: The mother has been compared to the late winter's moon because she looks pale due to her old age.The winter moon does not look bright. It looks pale due to fog.

Question. What do the parting words of the poet and her smile signify?
Answer: The parting words of the poet signifies her hope and positivity.She is very sad due to the old age of her mother but she wants to hide her feelings from her mother. So she smiles and covers her pain under the smile. She says “see you soon Amma” which means that she hopes to see her again.

Question. Why are the young trees describedas sprinting?
Answer: The young trees are described as sprinting because they symbolise youth, energy and movement. The poet uses this image to contrast her old and weak mother.

Question. Why does the poet smile when she says goodbye to her mother?
Answer: The poet smiles to hide her sad feelings from her mother. She covers her sadness under her smile. She does not want to upset her mother.

Poetic Devices

Simile

• Her face ashen like that of a corpse
• I looked again at her, wan, pale as a late winter's moon

Repetition

• All I did was smile and smile

Transferred Epithet and Personification

• Young trees sprinting

Rhyming scheme

• No rhyme scheme. The whole poem is written in one long sentence.