CBSE Class 12 English My Mother at Sixty Six Worksheet Set C

Question. Kamala Das was a
(a) Bengali
(b) Punjabi
(c) Keralite
(d) Gujarati

Answer: C

Question. Kamala Das realized that her mother was very
(a) young
(b) energetic
(c) old
(d) ill

Answer: C

Question. ‘Winter’s moon’ is a reference to the mother’s
(a) old age
(b) illness
(c) colour of skin
(d) young age

Answer: A

Question. What was the narrator’s expression?
(a) smiling face
(b) angry look
(c) sarcastic expression
(d) frowning face

Answer: A

Question. Kamala Das has successfully drawn comparisons between the
(a) children and her mother
(b) father and mother
(c) uncle and aunt
(d) nephew and niece

Answer: A

Question. Theme of the poem is
(a) separation from friends
(b) separation from relatives
(c) fear of separation from mother
(d) love and hatred

Answer: C

Question. When the narrator looked at her mother again she felt a pang of
(a) a familiar ache
(b) guilt
(c) heartache
(d) headache

Answer: A

Question. Out of the car window, she saw
(a) cows and buffaloes’
(b) pigs and goats
(c) trees sprinting
(d) people digging

Answer: C

Question. The poet was driving towards the
(a) railway station
(b) bus-stand
(c) airport
(d) metro station

Answer: C

Question. The narrator says her mother looked pale like a
(a) corpse
(b) ghost
(c) malnourished child
(d) anaemic person

Answer: A

Question. ‘Trees sprinting’ is a poetic device. It is
(a) personification
(b) alliteration
(c) repetition
(d) simile

Answer: A

Question. The narrator also saw children running out of
(a) their homes
(b) the schools
(c) the parks
(d) the football ground

Answer: A

Question. The narrator again compared her mother to the
(a) summer’s sun
(b) rain clouds
(c) late winter’s moon
(d) trees and plants

Answer: C

Question. She said to her mother
(a) goodbye
(b) au revoir
(c) good morning
(d) see you soon, Amma

Answer: D

Question. The narrator is only using her smile to
(a) cover up her pain
(b) make herself happy
(c) make her mother happy
(d) make her father happy

Answer: A

Question. The image of merry children has been brought out to
(a) show energy and exuberance of young children
(b) show the children playing
(c) show the children playing pranks
(d) compare with herself

Answer: A

Question. The mother’s old age and lack of energy is a depiction of
(a) the poet’s helplessness in old age
(b) joy and fun of old age
(c) bonding of mother with family members
(d) sickness and ill-health

Answer: A

Question. ‘Children spilling out’ is a
(a) simile
(b) metaphor
(c) personification
(d) transferred epithet

Answer: B

Question. She soon put that thought out of her mind and
(a) smiled
(b) laughed heartily
(c) cried bitterly
(d) looked out of the window

Answer: D

Question. The person in the car, beside the narrator was,
(a) her aunt
(b) her niece
(c) her uncle
(d) her mother

Answer: D

Question. The poet was leaving the house of
(a) her parents
(b) her aunt
(c) her in-laws
(d) her nephew

Answer: A

Question. The narrator looked at her mother again after
(a) the security check
(b) the green signal
(c) after they left the car parking
(d) after the luggage check-in

Answer: A

Question. ‘Sprinting’ means
(a) short fast race
(b) rowing a boat
(c) playing tricks
(d) running around trees

Answer: A

Question. ‘Trees sprinting’ and ‘merry children spilling’ is an attempt by the poet to create
(a) suspense
(b) laughter
(c) visual imagery
(d) chaos

Answer: C

Question. ‘Smile and smile and smile’ is an example of
(a) alliteration
(b) repetition
(c) simile
(d) metaphor

Answer: B

Question. The childhood fear was the fear of
(a) separation from mother
(b) exams
(c) medical check-up
(d) dental treatment

Answer: A

Question. The mother of the poetess was
(a) smiling
(b) laughing
(c) crying
(d) dozing off

Answer: D

Question. She was going to
(a) Goa
(b) Mumbai
(c) Cochin
(d) Kolkata

Answer: C

Question. The mood in the last two lines is that of
(a) regret
(b) guilt
(c) acceptance of reality
(d) anger

Answer: C

Question. The poem is made up of
(a) twenty lines
(b) a single sentence
(c) ten stanzas
(d) five stanzas

Answer: B

Short Answer Type Questions

Question. Ageing is a natural process; have you ever thought what our elderly parents expect from us?
Answer: Aged people usually undergo pangs of loneliness and need companionship. The pessimistic approach they develop towards life can be shunned only if we provide them with abundant love, care, importance and empathy. They expect their children to sit calmly and talk to them about the happenings of their lives and to take their suggestions for making significant decisions. Their lost vitality can thus be easily rejuvenated. This happiness will encourage them to live life enthusiastically.

Question. What is the kind of pain and ache that the poet feels?
Answer: The poet, while leaving her parent's home, observes her mother's pallid face. For the poet, the 'ashen' face of her mother, lost of all vitality and colour, bears resemblance to a corpse. She realises, with pain, that her mother has grown old and is nearing her death. Such thoughts make her recollect her childhood fear and anxiety of losing her mother. The idea of getting separated from her mother distresses her. Even her smiles are an expression of her helplessness at the face of what is inevitable.

Question. Why are the young trees described as 'sprinting'?
Answer: While driving to the airport, in an effort to distract herself from the thoughts of her ageing mother, the poet looks at the young trees 'sprinting'. The trees seem to be running past the moving car. The sprinting of the trees symbolises the rapidly passing years of human's life from childhood to old age. This image, which shows activity and strength, is contrasted with that of her old and weak mother who seems dormant, sleeping in the car. The 'young' trees represent life in contrast to her mother's approaching death.

Question. Why has the poet brought in the image of the merry children 'spilling out of their homes'?
Answer: In the poem, the poet has shown contrasting images of life and death. She has incorporated the image of the merry children, running out of their houses to play, in order to signify liveliness, vigor, health, beauty and happiness. This image is a sharp contrast to that of her mother who is nearing her death and has become old, inactive, weak and withered. The poet has juxtaposed the two images to indicate the contrasts between them. Childhood marks the beginning of life whereas old age marks its end.

Question. Why has the mother been compared to the 'late winter's moon'?
Answer: With the growing age, the poet's mother has started losing all her vitality and radiance. The poet uses the simile of 'late winter's moon' for her mother to indicate her approaching death. Winter, being the last season of the year, is synonymous with lifelessness and dormancy. And, a winter's moon is also pale-white in colour bearing close resemblance with her mother who, having lost all her strength and beauty, looks 'wan' and 'pale' to the poet. Her mother, too, is in the last phase of her life.

Question. What do the parting words of the poet and her smile signify?
Answer: The poet's parting words, "see you soon, Amma," signify both her farewell to her mother and an effort to leave her with optimism and cheer. They also enable the poet to empathise with the sense of isolation faced by her mother in the old age.
Her smiles signify her helplessness at the face of her mother's inevitable death. They express her love and concern for her mother along with the underlying pain and struggle that she undergoes in coming to terms with this bitter realisation.

Question. What were Kamala Das’ fears as a child? Why do the fears surface when she is going to the airport?
Answer: Kamala Das fears that her mother would leave her alone and go away. These fears surface now as she looks at her old mother doze with her mouth open in the car.

Question. How can suspension of activities help?
Answer: The poet wants to prove that there can be life under apparent stillness. The poet invokes the earth as a living symbol to prove his point. The earth never attains total inactivity. Nature remains at work even under apparent stillness.

Q, 1 “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 but soon put that thought far away,...

Question. Where is the poet at present?
Answer: The poet is on her way to Cochin Airport from her ancestral home. She is travelling in a car with her mother sitting beside her.

Question. How does she describe her mother?
Answer: Kamala Das describes her mother as old, pale and senile. As she was asleep, the poet noticed that her mother looked as pale and colourless as a dead body. She seemed to have lost the vitality of life.

Question. What thoughts had she given away?
Answer: The poet has put away the haunting thoughts of losing her mother.

Question. Mention the poetic device used here?
Answer: Simile e.g. face ashen like that of a corpse.

Q, 2 “… but after the airport’s security check, standing a few yards away, I looked again at her, wan, pale as a late winter’s moon…”

Question. Who is ‘her’ here? Why does the poet look at her again?
Answer: ‘Her’ is the poetess Kamala Das’ sixty-six year old mother. The poetess looked at her again for the last time to reassure herself that her mother is well. She drove away her thoughts of pain and fear which had surfaced on seeing her mother. It was a look of reassurance to meet her again.

Question. Explain ‘pale as a late winter’s moon.’
Answer: This is an example of a simile. The poet has compared her mother’s face to a winter’s moon. Winter symbolises death and a waning moon symbolises decay. Just like winter loses its magnificence and beauty when covered with fog and mist, similarly the poet’s mother has lost her youth and vitality and has become inactive and withered.

Question. Why did the poet promise her mother of a meeting in the near future?
Answer: The poet was doubtful of seeing her mother again. She knew that the mother was also aware of the same. Yet, to encourage her mother, to leave a hope in her mind, to make herself strong, the poet promised a futile reunion in the future.

Question. The poet’s repeated smile seems out of the place in a way. In which way is that appropriate?
Answer: The poet had no reason to smile at the time of separation from her aged mother. She was deeply distressed and pained to separate from her mother when she was so old. Yet, to make the mother feel ‘there is nothing to worry,’ the poet attempted to be glad, cheerful and reassured her by her extended smile.