CBSE Class 8 English Literature Fight Manju Fight Sigrun Srivastava

Sigrun Srivastav is an Indian author of German origin. She is a multi-faceted artist, a writer, a sculptor and an illustrator. As a writer she has written over 25 books for children of all ages. Her interests as an illustrator and a writer come together in her picture books for pre-school children. Her stories for 12 to 14 year olds display a rare sensitivity towards the feelings, dreams, joys and fears of children of that age. One of her most popular books is A Moment of Truth in which she has brought together true-life stories from all over the world. Sigrun's writing are distinguished by a strong social consciousness as is evident from her concern about ecological problems, the plight of the differently abled and poverty. Sigrun has also written scripts for children's films for both television and cinema. She lives in Delhi.

SUMMARY

It is a story about  Manjula’s deformity, she has claw-like malformed fingers and clumsy feet and  Manjula’s love for painting. Her considerate mother gives money from her secret savings to buy paints. Father appreciates casually. On Manjula’s thirteenth birthday her  mother presents a set of artist’s water colours and father presents a book on painting. Her brother  hands over a big packet, tightly wrapped and knotted which is difficult to open. It was actually a present of three water-colour brushes hidden under a pillow. Father was worried about ever increasing expenditure and wants his daughter to learn cooking or stitching instead. Manjula overhears the conversation and feels very upset.

She tears her painting into bits-and decides to stop painting, she starts learning cooking from her mother. Her brother wants Manjula sister to participate in ‘on-the-spot painting competition’ and is sure that Manjula will win the first prize if she participates. Manjula sees a newspaper cutting and is surprised to find a newspaper cutting in her room ,it read, ‘Playing soccer with artificial feet!’About Rich Belanger who lost feet in a train accident. Manjula feels encouraged; vows to fight  takes out painting material from the cupboard On the day of on-the-spot painting competition Amol goes off to school to help in the painting competition arrangements. Manjula tells of her decision to participate talks about Rich Belanger and  refuses to give in.

MESSAGE:-“WHERE THERE IS A WILL, THERE IS A WAY.”

EXERCISES

I. Answer with reference to context:

a)  “ Do you think I could have some extra money tomorrow?”

(i) Identify the lesson and author.

(ii) Who is the speaker and addressee?

(iii) What did he/she need the money for? 

b)  “Why, that is beautiful. I didn’t know you were this good.”

(i) Identify the speaker and addressee.

(ii) What does ‘that’ refer to here?

(iii) What does it tell you about the speaker?

c)  “Look for the next clue under the pillow.”

(i) Identify the lesson and author.

(ii) Identify the speaker and addressee.

(iii) What  was kept under the pillow

II. Answer the following questions briefly:

a) What were the problems faced by Manju in her desire to paint?

b) Did her family encourage her? Who was the most encouraging?

c) Why does her mother say “Fight Manju, fight!”?

d) Who do you think left the newspaper in her room with a sentence underlined in red?

e) Who was Rich Belanger?

f) “You have to learn to face obstacles” What were the obstacles faced by Manju?

g) How did Manju feel when someone noticed her handicap?

III. Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

a) Manjula knew that she could never paint like Hussain because

(i) She was not so talented

(ii) She was a girl

(iii) Her fingers were malformed

(iv) She could not afford to buy paints

b) Manjula tore up all her paintings as

(i) She started hating painting

(ii) She was upset by her father’s words

(iii) She thought she was good for nothing

(iv) Her mother asked to take up cooking

c) Rich Belanger inspired Manjula to

(i) Play football

(ii) Go to school

(iii) Go against her parents

(iv)  Overcome the obstacles in her life.