FROM MOTHER WITH LOVE (1. How Is the theme of the story a universal theme present in literature across all tterature? The theme of "From Mother...with Love" is indeed a universal theme present in literature across oh cultures. The theme of maternal love is conspicuous in the story. It deals with unconditional love of ai mother for her family and portrays a sense of irreversible loss, fear of loneliness and permanent vol Without her. Similar themes do exist in every literature from different parts of the world, Mother is a ne universal symbol of love. Mothers are caring and loving in all cultures. The relationship between is and her daughter is universal in which the magnitude of love is unanimous and infinite. Furthermore, the chapter deals with the universal theme that death is imminent, In the unit Minta Hawley goes through a lonesome and bereft time after she is told about her mother's fatal ilness and her few months to live. After her mother’s death, she is overcome by agony and grief but after knowing her mother’s bravery and her optimistic approach to life and death, she faces reality and becomes mature and responsible. Similarly the author wants the readers to know that death is our common destiny and although it brings unimaginable Stief and sorrow, itis a law of nature that one has to eventually part with his loved ones. We should move on to prove ourselves loyal to the values, likes and dislikes we shared with the ones we've lost. We must live on and be faithful to everything they meant to us. For instance, as soon as Minta recalls her mother saying “You know perfectly well that you're exactly like me”, she snaps on the lamp, turns on the T.V, takes up responsibilities of household chores and asks her dad to start thinking about christmas as she Sees the light in a christmas wreath which revresents eternity and unending cycle of life and symbolises growth and eternal life, Q 2: Comment on the plot of the story "From Mother...With Love." The plot of a story is the series of events connected to ‘one another on the basis of the principle of ‘cause. and effect’. The story has a well-knit olot with > Proper beginning, middle and end. It is filled to the brim with poignance, suspense, thrill, and tragedy. The events are in chronological order starting with the revelation of the sickness of Minta’s mother. The middle of the plot deals with the conflict that Minta faces about keeping the sickness of her mother a secret and her inability to do so. The climax comes in the form of the death of the mother. The conflict is finaily resolved when Marta takes over the role of her mother and sits in her blue chair. The plot also affects Minta's character as ‘she grows mature in the course of events. Exposition by the narrator directly takes the readers to that symbolic day that changes Minla Hawley psychologically and emotionally. The rising action builds curiosity in the readers as Minta and her father share a strange silence that is not companionable during their Journey to the beach. The conflict is also introduced with a gradual pace, allowing “ve reador to understand the gravity ofthe situation ofthe family, particularly Minta's state. Climax catches the breaths of the-reader as it reveals that Minta's mother knew in her ailing days that she would soon die, Faling action wraps up the story, giving a realistic touch and resolution resolves the story with a lesson that life goes on. Q 3: Identify the narrator or speaker of the story “From Mother..With Love," The narrator is the one who narrates the stor’ through a certain perspective. In the story, he is an extradiegeiheterodiogstic ee cists 1s fst ve ofthe native and isnt taking pats the sto as a character respectively. The narrator's perspective plays a pivotal role in Portraying the story of Minta. Hawey and her state ofthe avaren ss that) 2 wou Soon lee her mother who eleven From the very begining, te naratr’sF2rpoct sands a a sult the naatve It posers ea symbolic day began that changed Minta psychologically and emotionally followed by what she thought Scanned with CamScanneruse. about her father's strange silence while they drove to the beach and what actually was the ca! Subsequently, the narrator's voice remains til the end of the story. or is The narrator of the story is Minta Hawley. Minta isa teenage oi, the only daughter of et et @ loving and lively child who willingly helps her mother in performing household chores. Like a be ter student, she has future plans for her studies, away from home. These plans seem to be molvals Py ‘ desire to be more independent She suddenly discovers her mother's serious illness and her short left in this world. She ie deeply concemed by the ilness of her mother and one night she simply breaks down under the pressure of what will happen when the mother dies. Minta is also a brave gi who ears the loss of her mother courageously. In the course of events she discovers herself, her mother and her unimaginable strong bond with her mother which leads to a drastic transition in Minta's personality from a carefree and immature girl to a mature and responsible daughter Q4: Analyze and comment on the character of Minta. Minta Hawley, the protagonist of the story, is a round character who undergoes transformation mother’s sudden death. In the beginning, Minta is a cheerful and carefree girl who enjoys accompanying her father to the beach. She is keen to go to MaryHil for the coming academic term and have fun while living in the dormitory. A sudden change is observed in her character when her father reveals the secret of her mother's fatal illness and that she may die soon. Although she faces an internal conflict and is deeply distressed yet she composes herself in no time and tries to behave normally observing every move of her mother with sighs. Her character evolves after her mother's death. The realization that her mother was aware of her illness and her strong, resilient, and optimistic approach to life makes her mature enough to accept household responsibility. A significant growth is seen in her when she steps into her mother’s shoes by sitting in her mother’s blue chair, thereby accepting the fact that life has to go on and she has to live it to the fullest. Hence the writer has taught a beautiful lesson of moving on through a well-developed character of Minta Hawley after her Q5: What is the conflict in the story? How is it resolved? Keeping things to herself increases her anxiety level and one night she breaks down.The conflict at the next level is the main conflict ie. when Minta and her father had to pretend before Mary, Minta's mother, that she was perfectly healthy and there was no shadow of impending death lurking over her. Inwardly, Minta suffered a lot as she used to lie sleepless in her room because of the heart-rending truth. Once she has let out the pent up emotions, she feels relieved and is quite composed at the time of her mother’s death. This struggle to hide the truth by pretence is the main conflict that can be expressed as pretence vs reality or secret vs truth. It gets resolved when there was no no need for pretence i.e. when Minta's mother died. The final part of the story, where Minta sits in the blue chair and assumes the role of her mother, thus taking up responsibilities of the household and living her fe to the fullest, indicates the final resolution of the conflict. Another conflict is ignorance vs awareness. Minta and her father believed that Mary did not know anything about her deteriorated health It was when Minta saw Christmas gifts with name tags in her mother's two pieces of luggage that she came to know that her mother already knew about her upcoming death and this is how it gets resolved. Furthermore, another confict in the story is the existence of two opposing forces going against each other. In "From Mother...ith Love "there is a confct between the inner world and outer world of characters. Such confit exists at various levels. The first evel is when Minta Hawley was expecting her father to talk sasit her going o Mary Hil. Contrary to ths, he talked about the anticipated death of Minta's mother. This conflict that gets resolved when Minta came to know the real reason for going hows expectation vs reality H fo the beach ie. when Mints father told her about the condition of her mother. Scanned with CamScanner6: Where does Minta's Minta's father takes her to clams. In fact, he wants to the beach away from the « not going to survive long giving up on MaryHiil, father take her to discuss her mother's illness? the beach for a little while saying that the tide Is low and they may get a few be alone with his daughter this time for some peculiar reason. While walking on Towd, he tells her the heartbreaking news of her mothers illness and that she is 'nd asks for her support in accompanying her mother in her last few months and Q7: Which approach would you have preferred, deception or honesty If you had to deal with similar circumstances like Minta's mother? Giv2 reasons for your choice. Ans: | would have adopted an appro: similar to {vat of Minta and her father, i, the approach of deception. | would have hicden the truth of my moiner's impending death from her so that she lives her ‘ast few days without any srief and melancholy of separation from loved ones. | would not want to spoil her days with the heart-rending truth.l believe a sick person is already a depressed soul and needs a word of ‘encouragement, To let him know in blunt words that he is terminally sick and that there are no chances for his survival, tantamount to pronouncing his death sentence. Hiding sickness from a patient means to ease him before his final hour. itis definitely a good turn to comfort a terminally ill patient. Q 8: How did the vitamin pills becom» the ©ymhol of responsibility? Minta's mother, on her deatlibec!, tr | inta to encure that-her-father would take his vitamin pills on time as he was careless in tha! maiter. Sir ‘mplies) thai now it was Minta's turn to take care of her father in particular and the househr Id chores 11 sener=I. She expected her to acquire a caring and responsible attitude like her mother. Ai.er her m:‘"2"'s deh. | hnta took vitamin pills from the reftigerator and put them on the windowsill wirere she v/culd be sure to see them in the moming, It suggests that she had decoded her mother’s words embracing the responsibilty assigned to her by her mother. Thus, vitamin pills serve as a symbol of responsit:!y which 's tr-nsferred to Minta after her mother’s death. In addition tot, they are a symbol of “esponsibility ‘or Minto's ‘ather as well as he had to take care of Minta, his daughter, and the home. “or (ie.,! ade! tt provided through his need of vitamin pills. Q 9: How did Minta change over ths course of the story Minta, the protagonist, in {6 b2gin 1, was.» cer. (ree and cheerful girl who wantad to go to MaryHill and live there in the dormitorics. When <° © came “» know about her mother's illness, she became serious, thinking all the time how she would behave normally with her mother in such a situation but somehow she managed to behave sensibly. She 'so realiz« that going away to MaryHill school while her mother was seriously sick was not av: sc choice ic that cite ad to put her priorities in order. Initially she was subject to be taken care of by her 92: n's."" ~r she «ously filled the vacuum caused by the death of her mother and resolved to te)¢ car 0 ‘athe: ver woth s optimistic approach to life. She became realistic when she told herfather ! mos ation 9) upeoming Christma. Hence she transitioned from a carefree teenager to are onsivie « vik Q 10: Why was the blue hair sis ‘Ans: the color blue in liter: ture sign Peace and experience. The blue chair is significant because it symbolizes ca". °r0" ‘on and charge (authority), It belonged to Minta’s mother who used to sit in | Ly tho! » feel relaxed. Now after her death when Minta finally accepted the reality of he © otver ‘4 des to take the responsibility. After a momentary hesitation, she sat down © 192 Ulu ___ like her mother as if it belonged to her. It signifies that she had developed a sen: 01 1s 1s ready to take care of her father and the household. Scanned with CamScannerShe remembered her mother saying that Minta was just ike her from inside. Her sitting in the blue chat proves that she agreed with her mother and that she had decided to adopt a positive and mature attitude towards life. a eee! how Minta knows that her mother accepted death. Why is that knowledge comforting 0 het Ans: The neatly packed Christmas gifts with bright-red ribhon and nicely written wish cards, stacked in the closet of the mother much before the Christmas eve revesied to Minta that her Mother knew all along of her grave sickness and imminent death, The past behavior of the mother related to purchasing and packing of Christmas gifts indicated that she always indulged in procrastination and delaying things until the arrival of Christmas. Thus, sickness and fear of death had made the mother act much in advance. Minta comes to know that her mother not only knew about her illness and impending death but also had accepted it bravely and gracefully. This knowledge comforted her a lot because she realised that her mother was a mature and realistic woman who lived her life to the fullest till the very end and that there would be no more sense of guilt troubling Minta for hiding facts from the mother about her health.This was a lesson for Minta that mourning does not change the harsh reality so we must live to the fullest and fulfil our responsibilities till death takes us away from this world, Scanned with CamScanner