AUNT JENNIFER’S TIGERS

ASSIGNMENT
Q1. Read the extracts below and answer the
questions that follow:

I. 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;
they pace in sleek chivalric certainty.

1. Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers are actually:

a. Bengal tigers
b. Assam tigers
c. Embroidered tigers
d. White tigers
2. The poet describes the colour of the tigers as:
a. brown
b. white
c. orange
d. topaz
3. ‘Denizens of a world of green’ means:
a. residents of green buildings
b. residents of forests
c. residents of green cages
d. residents of deserts
4. The tigers are not afraid of:
a. the elephants
b. the lions
c. the men
d. none of the above
II. 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.

1. What is Aunt Jennifer doing with the wool?

a. knitting a scarf
b. making a ball of wool
c. knitting a cap
d. embroidering a wall panel
2. What do her ‘fluttering fingers’ find hard to do?
a. to pull he ivory needle
b. to make a wool roll
c. thread the needle
d. to draw the sketch of tigers
3. The massive weight of uncle’s wedding band is a
subtle reference to:
a. the heavy gold ring
b. oversized wedding band
c. suppression at the hands of her husband
d. none of the above
4. The literary device used in ‘fingers fluttering’ is:
a. metaphor
b. assonance
c. alliteration
d. simile

III. 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.

1. ‘Ordeals’ refer to:

a. happy times
b. hardships

c. joy

d. offerings

2. ‘Still ringed’ means:

a. oppression will continue

b. too many rings on her fingers

c. quiet and peaceful

d. happily married

3. ‘Proud and unafraid’ are the adjectives used for:

a. the uncle

b. the males in the society

c. the tigers in the forest

d. the tigers on the panel

4. ‘Will go on prancing’ means:

a. the tigers will dance

b. the spirit of freedom of the tigers will continue to

exist

c. the tigers will kill

d. the tigers will show tricks

Q2. Answer the following questions in 30-40

words:

1. What do the following symbolize in the poem?

a. The Tree

ANS.______________________________________
__________________________________________
b. Tigers

ANS.______________________________________
__________________________________________

c. The Wedding Band

ANS.______________________________________
__________________________________________

2. Why do you think Aunt Jennifer created animals

that are so different from her own character ?

ANS.______________________________________
__________________________________________

3. Aunt Jennifer’s efforts to get rid of her fear

proved to be futile. Comment.

ANS.______________________________________
__________________________________________
4. Why did Aunt Jennifer find the needle so hard to
pull ?

ANS.______________________________________
__________________________________________

5. What is suggested by the image ‘massive weight

of Uncle’s wedding band’ ?

ANS.______________________________________
__________________________________________

6. What is the predominant theme in the poem

‘Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers’?

ANS.______________________________________
__________________________________________

7. What will happen to Aunt Jennifer’s tigers when

she is dead ?
ANS.______________________________________
__________________________________________