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Class 12 - English Core

Vistas Memories of Childhood Test 05

1. Read the text carefully and answer the questions:

I cried aloud, shaking my head all the while until I felt the cold blades of the scissors against my neck, and heard them
gnaw off one of my thick braids. Then I lost my spirit. Since the day I was taken from my mother I had suffered extreme
indignities. People had stared at me. I had been tossed about in the air like a wooden puppet. And now my long hair was
shingled like a coward's! In my anguish I moaned for my mother, but no one came to comfort me. Not a soul reasoned
quietly with me, as my own mother used to do; for now I was only one of many little animals driven by a herder.
i. Then I lost my spirit. Choose the option that DOES NOT refer to spirit.
1. resolve
2. energy
3. determination
4. indifference
5. enthusiasm
6. will power
a. 1, 2 and 5
b. 2, 4 and 6
c. 1, 3 and 6
d. 3, 4 and 6
ii. Choose the correct option with reference to the two statements given below.
Statement 1 The author had been subjected to humiliation when she was separated from her mother.
Statement 2 Nobody was able to ease her distress and empathise with her.
a. Statement 1 is true but Statement 2 is false.
b. Statement 1 is false but Statement 2 is true.
c. Both Statement 1 and Statement 2 cannot be inferred from the passage.
d. Both Statement 1 and Statement 2 can be inferred from the passage.
iii. What is the tone of the given extract?
iv. Complete the sentence appropriately, with reference to the extract.
In her community, ________ hair was worn by mourners and cowards wore ________ .
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2. Why did Bama take thirty minutes walking home from school when she could have covered the distance in ten minutes?
3. Why did Zitkala-Sa start crying instead of eating?
4. What comic incident did Bama narrate to her brother? Why was he not amused?
5. What were Zitkala-Sa’s experiences on her first day in the land of apples?
6. Describe how Zitkala-Sa tried in vain to save her hair from being cut. Why did she want to save her hair?

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Class 12 - English Core

Vistas Memories of Childhood Test 05

Solution

1. i. 1, 3 and 6
ii. Both Statement 1 and Statement 2 can be inferred from the passage.
iii. Dismal/gloomy/depressing/sombre
iv. Short; Shingled
2. On her way back from school, Bama got attracted by the little trivialities and ordinary insignificant scenes on the street. The
buzzing market, the snake charmers, the lemurs in cages etc. all caught her attention. Thus, it took Bama a lot of time to
cover the trivial distance that could be easily covered in just ten minutes.
3. Zitkala-Sa was ignorant of the method to be adhered to when a person was taking his/ her meals. She was confused and sat
down when others stood up and vice versa. She could sense that the matron was angry with her and was constantly staring at
her, making her more uncomfortable. Being a new-entrant she felt out of place and started crying.
4. Bama narrated the incident to her brother about seeing an elder of her street walking towards a landlord, carrying a food
packet by its strings without touching it. The manner in which he walked and carried the packet amused her. Bama's brother,
Annan was not pleased hearing this and did not find the incident humorous as he knew that the elder's behaviour was owing
to him being untouchable. He knew that if he touched the packet, its contents will not be consumed by the landlord.
To practice more questions & prepare well for exams, download myCBSEguide App. It provides complete study material
for CBSE, NCERT, JEE (main), NEET-UG and NDA exams. Teachers can use Examin8 App to create similar papers with
their own name and logo.
5. The first day in the land of apples was bitterly cold. Zitkala-Sa felt that the caretakers of the place were as cold as the
weather in the land of apples. The pale face woman, as well as, the man who was watching the children both were hostile.
She missed the warmth of her mother. She felt completely out of place there. As soon as the bell rang for breakfast, there
was an annoying clatter of shoes which gave her no sense of peace. She was placed in a line with the Indian girls and
marched to the dining room. All the girls were rather immodestly dressed in tight fitting clothes. Everyone had to eat in a
''formula manner''. This really was a bad experience for her. She felt uncomfortable in following such mannerism. As
Zitkala-Sa sat down, she observed that she was being keenly watched by a strange pale faced woman. Later her friend
Judewin gave her a terrible warning that she had heard the teachers discussing cutting her long, heavy hair. Zitkala-Sa crept
into a room and crawled under a bed and huddled herself in the dark corner so that she could avoid her hair being cut. But
women and girls entered the room and dragged her out. She resisted by kicking and scratching wildly. In spite of her
resistance, she was carried downstairs, tied fast in a chair and her long hair was cut. She felt like an animal as no one
bothered to know what she wanted. She missed her mother as nobody came to console her. She lost her hair as well as her
self esteem.
6. Zitkala-Sa's friend Judewin warned her that her hair was going to be cut. Judewin knew a few English words and had
overheard the pale face woman talking about cutting the native Indian girl's long hair. This news shocked Zitkala-Sa. Her
friend told her to accept her fate but she was not ready to submit and decided to fight against this oppression. She
disappeared unnoticed and went into a room where she crawled and hid under a bed, cuddling herself in a dark corner. But
she was caught and dragged out. She then resisted by kicking and scratching wildly as she was carried down and tied fast to
a chair. As they gnawed at her long hair, she kept shaking her head. When she heard them remove one of her thick braids,
she lost her spirit. She had suffered utmost insult there. First, she was tossed in the air like a wooden puppet and then her
long hair were shingled like a coward’s. In her anguish, she moaned for her mother. She felt herself as one of the many little
animals driven by a herder. No one came to rescue her. Zitkala-Sa was desperate to save her hair because among her people
short hair were kept by mourners and shingled hair was a sign of cowardice. So she did not want her long hair to be cut.

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