CBSE Class 12 English Aunt Jennifers Tigers Worksheet Set D

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. honourable and brave

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

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.  alliteration

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

(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. trapped in an unhappy marriage
 

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.  alliteration

(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. hardships

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. brave

(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. metaphor

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. bond of marriage

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

Question. 1. 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. 2. 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. 3. 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. 4. 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. 5. 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. 6. 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. 7. 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. 8. 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. 9. 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. 10. 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. 11. 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.

Question. 12. 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. 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.