English(Beehive) Class 9 : Lesson 3 - The Little Girl
Lesson:3The
Little GirlKatherine
Mansfield
I. Answer the following questions in one or two sentences:
1. Why
was Kezia afraid of her father?
Ans: Kezia was afraid of her father because he was very strict and always used to give commands to every body else in the house.He never played with her.He had big hands and heavy face specially his mouth when he yawned were big and she was especially terrified with the manner in which he looked at her over his spectacles.
2. Who
were the people in Kezia's family?
Ans: Kezia's family consisted of her father,mother,grandmother and herself.
3. What
was Kezia's father's routine (i)before going to his office? (ii)after coming
back from his office? (iii)on Sundays?
Ans: (i) Before going to his office, Kezia's father
usually went in to her room to give her a casual kiss.
(ii) After coming back from his office,he ordered
for tea to bring into the drawing room.He also asked his mother to bring him
the newspaper and his slippers,and Kezia to pull off his boots.
(iii) On Sunday,Kezia's father would stretch out on the sofa.He would cover his face with his handkerchief,put his feet on one of the cushions and sleep soundly.
4. In
what ways did Kezia's grandmother encourage her to get to know her father
better?
Ans: Kezia's grandmother encouraged her to get to know her father better by sending her to the drawing room to talk to her parents on Sundays.She also suggested Kezia to make a pin-cushion out of a beautiful piece of yellow silk as a gift for her father's birthday.
II.Discuss these questions in class with your teacher and then write down your answers in two or three paragraphs each.
1. Kezia's efforts to please her father resulted in displeasing him very much.How did this happen?
Ans: Kezia was always afraid of her father.She always stuttered before him.She tried to please her father on various occasions but her efforts resulted in displeasing him very much.When he asked her to take off his shoes,he would ask her if she had been a good girl.The moment she stuttered,her father got irritated and called her 'a little brown owl'.Kezia wanted to please her father by making a pin-cushion.She did so but she used her father's important papers as scrap to fill in the pin-cushion.It displeased her father and she was punished for it.
2. Kezia decides that there are “different kinds of fathers".What kind of father was Mr. Macdonald,and how was he different from Kezia's father?
Ans: Kezia compared her father with Mr. Macdonald.She found Mr. Macdonald to be a different kind of father.He was a nice man.He played with his children.He put baby Mao on his shoulder and his daughters hung on to his coat's pockets.They ran round and round the flower-beds laughing.Kezia's father was just opposite to Mr. Macdonald.He never played with Kezia.He was very strict and harsh with her.This made Kezia decide that there are different kinds of fathers.
3. How
does Kezia begin to see her father as a human being who needs her sympathy?
Ans: One night,Kezia was alone in the house.She
had a nightmare and started crying.She saw a butcher with a knife and a rope.Her
father heard her crying.He took her to his bedroom and made her comfortable.This
changed her feelings for him.She realised that her father was not so cruel as she
thought.She understood how he got tired after day's work.She began to see him
as a human being who needed her sympathy.
Extra Questions
1. How did the little girl start understanding her father?
Ans: Kezia was a little girl. She was very afraid of her father. To her, he looked like a giant. He spoke very loudly in the house. So she always avoided him. One day she tore up an important speech written by her father. He became very angry and beat her with a stick. Kezia started weeping. She wondered why God had made fathers.
One day Kezia’s mother was ill. She was taken to the hospital. Kezia was alone in the house. At night she had a bad dream. She cried with fear. Her father took her to his own bed. She lay beside him. Then she realised that her father was not bad. lie had to work hard. lie had no time to play with her. It was her fault to tear up the speech. Now Kezia felt that her father was large-hearted
2. Kezia slept one night with her father and changed her opinion about him. What was her opinion about her father before? What change did take place?
Ans: Earlier Kezia thought that her father was a cruel man. She always avoided him. She saw that her neighbour Mr Macdonald loved her children. But her father never cared for her. One day Kezia’s mother Was taken to a hospital. Kezia was alone in her room. At night she had a nightmare. She cried with fear. Her father took her to his bed. She slept with him. Her father asked her to rub her feet against his legs to make them warm. She felt sorry for her father. He worked hard. the lie was so tired that he had no time to play with her She realised that it was her fault to tear up the sheets. Now it appeared to her that her father was not a hard-hearted man
3 Relate in your own words the pin-cushion incident.
Ans: The little girl wanted to gift a pin-cushion to her father on his birthday. She took a piece of yellow silk and stitched its three sides. She left the fourth side for filling. But she did not know’ what to fill it with. She found some sheets of paper. She tore them into pieces. She stuffed the cushion with them. She then stitched the fourth side also. Unfortunately, those papers contained a very important speech. It was written by her father. When he came to know that Kezia had torn the papers, he was very angry. He took a ruler and hit Kezia on her hands.
4. Write a short character-sketch of Kezia’s father.
Ans: Kezia’s father has big hands, neck and mouth. In the beginning, he appears to be a very cruel person. He never talks to his daughter kindly. He never plays with her. Once Kezia tears up his speech. He beats her badly. But in fact. he is not cruel. He is very good at heart. One day Kezia cries out at night. She has a nightmare. Her father comes and carries her to his room. He puts her by his side. Now Kezia feels how her father loves her. In fact, he has to work very hard. He becomes too tired to play with his daughter. But the little girl thinks her father does not love her. At last, she does come to know how dearly her father loves her
5. Write a short note on the relationship between Kezia and her father.
Ans: The relationship between Kezia and her father was a delicate one. He was a conventional disciplinarian and as the head of the family, he asserted his authority over everyone, including his little girl. He often scolded her for her sad looks and for stuttering. She was made to take off his shoes and put them outside when he returned home from the office in the evening. He even punished her when she mistakenly tore his important papers. He did not give her even one chance to explain herself and failed to see her loving intention behind the mistake. As a consequence of her father’s overly strict behaviour, Kezia developed a strong fear for him. She preferred to stay out of his sight and was relaxed only during his absence from the house. She compared him to be a giant – a dreadful creature for little children. After being beaten by him with a ruler, she even questioned the purpose of God in making fathers.
However, this dry relationship undergoes a drastic change towards the end of the story. Father displays his soft corner when Kezia is alone and gets scared by her nightmare. He carries her in his arms to his room, tucks her comfortably in his bed, lies down close to her and gives her the assurance that children seek from parents. This protective, caring and considerate side of her father arouses her sympathy for him. She realises that he has a big heart which is full of love for her.
6. How did Kezia once earn her father’s wrath? What punishment did she get for her mistake? Was it justified? What light does this incident throw on her father’s character?
Ans: Kezia once earned her father’s wrath for tearing his speech for the Port Authority to stuff a pin-cushion she was making for him as a birthday present. When he discovered that Kezia was the culprit, he punished her by beating her little pink palms with a ruler to teach her not to touch what did not belong to her.
I think it was a very harsh punishment for an innocent mistake of a fond little daughter. It is true that the papers were extremely important for him and their loss must have caused him a lot of inconveniences but he should have understood and appreciated the fact that Kezia was making a birthday present for him. Gentle but firm words would have sufficed to teach the sensitive Kezia that she should not touch things that do not belong to her. But Father instead chose to beat her little pink palms with a ruler. That was much too cruel on his part.
This incident shows that he was a very cruel and insensitive father who demanded a very high standard of discipline from his daughter and could not tolerate any disobedience.
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