NCERT Solutions For Class 12 Flamingo English
Poem 6 Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers
QUESTIONS FROM TEXTBOOK SOLVED
Q1. How do ‘denizens’ and ‘chivalric’ add to our understanding of the tiger’s attitudes?
Ans: Like all beasts of prey, the tigers are the denizens of the forest. They live far away from human settlements. They are called ‘chivalric.’ This indicates the majestic and honourable position that they occupy in the world of animals. So, the use of the words ‘denizens’ and ‘chivalric’ adds to our understanding of the tiger’s attitudes.
Q2. 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?
Ans: Aunt Jennifer is weaving tigers on the panel. Her hands are moving about her wool. She is finding the needle quite hard to pull. The weight of years of her married life is lying heavy on her hand. This makes the pulling of the needle so hard.
Q3. What is suggested by the image ‘massive weight of uncle’s wedding band’?
Ans: It suggests the weight of the harsh and tough experience of Aunt Jennifer’s married life. The image is quite suggestive. The wedding band is symbolic. It represents the unbreakable bond of marriage between the husband and the wife.
Q4. Of what or who is Aunt Jennifer terrified in the third stanza?
Ans: In the third stanza, the poet refers to Aunt Jennifer’s ‘terrified hands’. The old unhappy memories are still fresh in her mind. She had passed through many testing and horrible times during her married life. These ordeals crushed and suppressed her. Their effect is still visible. So, she is still ringed with those ordeals that dominated her life.
Q5. What are the ‘ordeals’ Aunt Jennifer is surrounded by? Why is it significant that the” poet uses the word ‘ringed”! What are the different meanings of ‘ringed’ in the poem?
Ans: The poem addresses the experiences of marriage in the midst of constrictions. The word ‘ringed’ is significant. It suggests that the vicious grip of her unhappy married life is still holding her tightly. The word ‘ringed’ has been used in two ways. First is the conventional
use. Here the ring is a symbol of the sacred bond of marriage. The other is the figurative use of ‘ringed’. It means encircled or surrounded.
Q6. 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?
Ans: The tigers are ‘prancing’. The pace in ‘sleek chivalric certainty. They ‘do not fear the men beneath the tree. Thus, they are symbols of strength, fierceness, and beauty. Aunt Jennifer, on the other hand, is weak and terrified. Her hands are finding it difficult to pull through her wool. The massive weight of the wedding band sits heavily on her hand. Her terrified hands are still ringed by the ordeals of married life. The contrast heightens the intensity.
Q7. Interpret the symbols found in this poem.
Ans: Adrienne Rich’s ‘Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers, is rich in symbolism. ‘The massive weight of wedding band’ symbolises ordeals, hardships, and worries of married life. ‘Terrified hands’, and ‘ringed with ordeals’ also indicate those unpleasant experiences that are still clinging to Aunt Jennifer physically and mentally. ,
Q8. Do you sympathize with Aunt Jennifer? What is the attitude of the speaker towards Aunt Jennifer?
Ans: Yes, we do sympathize with Aunt Jennifer. She has experienced hardships and ordeals during her married life. The attitude of the speaker towards Aunt Jennifer is equally sympathetic. The poet gives many suggestive images and symbols to present an old lady who has passed through painful experiences as well as unpleasant and terrifying periods during her married life.
Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers Extra Questions and Answers
Short Answer Questions
Question 1. What are the characteristics of the tigers?
Answer: The tigers have a striking appearance as they are described as “bright topaz”. They are energetic and prance about. They enjoy their freedom and hence run across the screen. The majestic tigers are not dictated by the whims of others. They are fearless and chivalrous. The elegant tigers are confident of themselves.
Question 2. What do you learn about Aunt Jennifer?
Answer: Aunt Jennifer was a weak woman with fluttering fingers. She was terrified of Uncle and found it difficult to maneuver the needle. Thus, implying that she was oppressed by a burdensome marriage where she was subjugated by Uncle.
Question 3. What does Aunt Jennifer’s creation of the tigers symbolize?
Answer: Aunt Jennifer’s creation of the tigers symbolizes her desires. Her fingers flutter to create the beautiful image of the tigers. By creating those tigers, she lets loose her inner aspirations. The wedding band sits “heavily” on her hand and keeps her from the only sense of expression she has—her needlepoint.
Question 4. What does Aunt Jennifer’s death signify?
Answer: In the last stanza of the poem, the poet gives us a surprisingly truthful look at the reality and the end of Aunt Jennifer and women in her position all over the world. Aunt Jennifer is subjugated even in death; she must conform to the norms of the patriarchal society. The ring around her finger symbolizes the weight she must bear dead or alive.
Question 5. What is the theme of the poem?
Answer: “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” clearly reflects the gender struggle that women across the world are subject to. It is a feminist poem in which the poet criticizes the male-dominated world. Aunt Jennifer has left no option than to create an alternate world of freedom. Aunt Jennifer is a woman trapped by the social and cultural expectations and demands of her time.
Question 6. Who do you think is the speaker of the poem? Why do you say so?
Answer: The speaker of the poem is the niece; the word “Aunt” shows her relationship with the speaker. The point of view here would seem to be that of a woman, indicating that the speaker is the niece of Aunt Jennifer. The niece voices a woman’s struggles with expression, rebellion, and a society where power is defined as masculine. The poem deals with a woman’s representation of Aunt Jennifer’s dreams, reality, and the future.
Question 7. Interpret the following symbols found in this poem.
(a) tigers
(b) Aunt
(c) embroidery
(a) The tigers symbolize the freedom of spirit which Jennifer dreams of attaining but never achieves except in her dreams and her art.
(b) Aunt Jennifer is symbolic of women as a whole rather than one individual.
(c) Aunt Jennifer’s embroidery may exist forever as the work that she leaves behind; in life, she was nothing like the tigers in her embroidery.
Aunt Jennifer's tigers' stanza wise questions
Read the stanzas given below and answer the questions that follow each:
1. 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:
The pace in sleek chivalric certainty.
Questions
(a) Name the poem and the poet of these lines.
(b) What are Aunt Jennifer’s tigers doing? How do they look like?
(c) Where do they live? Are they fearless? Give an example.
(d) How do they pace?
Answers:
(а) The poem is Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers. The poet is Adrienne Rich.
(b) They are jumping across a screen or a wall. They look like shining yellow topaz.
(c) They live in green forests. They are fearless. They don’t fear the men under the tree.
(d) They run with well-groomed, honourable confidence.
2. 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
(a)What were Aunt Jennifer’s fingers fluttering through?
(b)How was she pulling the needle?
(c)What was lying heavily? Where?
(d)What was upon Aunt Jennifer’s hand? How did it sit there?
Answers:
(a) Aunt Jennifer’s fingers were fluttering through her wool.
(b) She was finding even the ivory needle hard to pull.
(c) The weight of Uncle’s wedding band was lying heavily on her hand.
(d) There was uncle’s wedding band upon Aunt Jennifer’s hand. It sat heavily there.
3. 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
(a) Why are Aunt Jennifer’s hands called ‘terrified’’?
(b) What are they still ringed with?
(c) Where did she make the tigers?
(d) What will happen to her tigers after her death?
Answers:
(а) Her hands are called terrified because they passed through the very hard and bitter experience of married life.
(b) They are still ringed with those hard and testing difficulties which possessed her dining her life.
(c) She made the tigers in the panel.
(d) Her tigers will go on jumping ahead, proud and unafraid even after her death.
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