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

Short Answer Questions

Question. What is the kind of pain that the narrator feels?
Answer : The emotional pain that the narrator feels is the realization that her mother has grown old and is frail and pale like a corpse.

Question. Why are the young trees described as sprinting?
Answer : The young trees are personified in the poem. They seem to be running in the opposite direction when seen through the window of the moving car. The movement is juxtaposed with the expression on the mother’s face i.e. ashen like a corpse.

Question. Why has the narrator brought in the image of the merry children ‘spilling out of their homes’?
Answer : The narrator highlights the helplessness and frailty of old age with the help of contrasts. The listless mother dozes off open-mouthed, whereas the children spill out of their homes signifying movement and energy, which the old people are bereft of. The image of the children spilling out of their homes and trees sprinting provides a contrast to the lack of vitality in the mother.

Question. Why has the mother been compared to ‘late winter’s moon’?
Answer : The mother has been compared to the late winter’s moon which is dull and shrouded. It symbolizes the ebbing away of life. The moon brings to the narrator’s mind, the night or the approaching end of life.

Question. What do the parting words of the narrator and her smile signify?
Answer : The parting words ‘see you soon, Amma’ are used by the narrator to reassure the mother and to infuse optimism in the narrator herself. She accepts the reality of her mother’s approaching death, yet keeps up the façade of a smiling, happy face in order to put up a brave front. It requires a lot of effort and hence the poet has used the poetic device of repetition to emphasize this.

Question. What childhood fears do you think the narrator is referring to in the poem ‘My Mother at Sixty Six’?
Answer : The narrator refers to the fears a child has of losing a parent or getting lost somewhere and thus getting separated from them or even one’s own process of ageing. The narrator felt this kind of fear while looking at her mother’s aged and pale face. She was afraid that she might never see her alive again.

Question. What does the narrator mean by ‘all I did was smile and smile and smile…’?
Answer : The narrator realizes the pain she would feel on leaving her mother. It was her childhood fear that she was experiencing once again. She was trying to hide her true emotions from her mother by smiling and smiling.

Question. What does the narrator’s mother look like? What kind of images have been used to signify her ageing ?
Answer :The narrator’s mother is sixty-six years old, looks pale like a corpse. The imagery of lack of energy and vitality has been created by this comparison.

Question. What were the activities that the narrator saw outside the car window?
Answer : The narrator saw young trees speeding past which seemed as if they were sprinting or running fast. Happy, enthusiastic and energetic children could be seen running out of their homes. They present an image of youth and energy in contrast to the lack of energy of the narrator’s mother.

Question. Why does the narrator look outside? What does she perceive?
Answer : The very thought of separation from her mother upsets and depresses the narrator. She experiences the fear that she may never meet her mother again. In order to drive away such negative thoughts, she looks out of the window and her mind gets diverted when she sees trees moving rapidly and children playing merrily.

Question. What does the narrator do after the security check-up? What does she notice?
Answer : Immediately after the security check-up at the airport, and standing a few yards away from her mother, the narrator observes her mother once again and compares her to the pale, colourless winter’s moon, marking the last phase of her life, i.e. her old age. She is pained to see her in such a condition and the fear of separation returns in her, once again.

Question. What is the narrator’s familiar ache and why does it return?
Answer : The narrator is pained to see her mother old and pale. This arouses the ‘familiar ache’ in her heart which she used to experience in her childhood.

Question. Why does the narrator smile and what does she say while bidding goodbye to her mother?
Answer : The narrator smiles in order to put up a brave front so that her mother does not observe her pained and frightened look. She smiles in order to reassure her mother and says that she would see her again soon.

Question. What poetic devices has the poet used in ‘My Mother at Sixty-six’?
Answer : The poem is rich in imagery. Devices of comparisons and contrasts are also used by the poet to draw out the difference between youth and old age. She describes the mother’s face using similes ‘ashen like a corpse’, and ‘late winter’s moon’. The merry children playing happily are contrasted with the old, weak and pale mother and the trees are personified as sprinting.

Question. What kind of pain does Kamala Das feel in ‘My Mother at Sixty Six’? 
Answer : The pain that Kamala Das feels is the pain of separation from her mother by death. She had also felt it in her childhood.

Question. Why are the youngsters described as spilling?
Answer : The narrator is in the car on her way to the Cochin airport. She looks outside. Some children were running about and playing. The poet seems to contrast her aging mother with this image.

Question. Why does Kamala Das compare her mother to ‘a late winter’s moon’? 
Answer : The late winter’s moon is calm and hazy with a dim lustre; it loses its vitality and power. So the poet compares her mother’s calm, colourless and withered face to the late winter’s moon. She has become weak and wan due to her age of sixty six.

Question. Having looked at her mother, why does Kamala Das look at the young children?
Answer : While driving her car, the mother was sitting with her. She was dozing with her mouth open. Her face was pale and ashen. She looked like a corpse. She was deeply depressed and pain started troubling her mind. In order to put these troubled thoughts away, she looked at the outside world which was full of life, activity and energy. This distraction made her feel happy.

Question. What was Kamala Das’s childhood fear?
Answer : After seeing her ageing mother her childhood fear of separation from her mother, returns. She is deeply pained lest she should not find her mother alive on her return. This thought is painful and distressing to her.

Question. In the last line of the poem, ‘My Mother at Sixty-six’, why does the poet use the word ‘smile’ repeatedly? 
Answer : In the last line the poet repeats the word ‘smile’. This repetition brings out the poet’s need to hide her pain from the mother and pretends that all was well and they would meet again. The smile heightens the contrast between her inner pain and outward behavior.

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.

Question. “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.

Question.“… 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.

Long Answer Question

Question. The poem, ‘My Mother At Sixty Six’, brings home the theme that ageing is a natural process and is going to envelop one and all. Comment.
Answer : The narrator sees her mother dozing and looking pale like a corpse. The mother’s pale face arouses the narrator’s childhood fears of losing her mother but she cannot stay on.
She accepts her mother’s ageing as a natural process. She hides her pain and guilt under a smile. The narrator delves on the complexities of life in which we have to strike a balance and sometimes part with our dear ones as we have other commitments. Ageing is the law of nature. Every child goes through the fear of losing the parents. When the narrator sees her mother dozing, her childhood fear is revived. The daughter is disturbed by the fact that her mother is growing old and looks out of the car to distract herself. The images outside the car of movement and energy, highlight the weakness of the mother. The poet has brought out the emotions of a daughter. When she bids farewell to her mother. The pain of the narrator is brought out when she talks of her childhood fears. The relationship of the mother and daughter is explored and the concern is portrayed in a sensitive manner. The daughter smiles to hide her pain and also to reassure herself that everything will be alright.