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Question 1:
How old do
you think Amanda is? How do you know this?
Answer:
Amanda is
a school going girl, who must be about 9−10 years old. The
things that her mother scolds her for are all typical instructions
given to a 9 or10 year old girl.
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Question 2:
Who do you
think is speaking to her?
Answer:
Her mother
is speaking to her.
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Question 3:
Why are
Stanzas 2, 4 and 6 given in parenthesis?
Answer:
Stanzas 2,
4 and 6 are given in parenthesis because they are the thoughts of the
child in between the instructions that she is being given by her
mother, which are given in stanzas 1, 3 and 5. The scolding by the
mother and the child’s thoughts are placed in alternate stanzas
by the poet.
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Question 4:
Who is the
speaker in stanzas 2, 4 and 6? Do you think this speaker is listening
to the speaker in stanzas 1, 3, 5 and 7?
Answer:
In stanzas
2, 4 and 6, the speaker is the child. No, she is not listening to her
mother who is the speaker in stanzas 1, 3 and 5. She is lost in her
thoughts and she is clearly not listening to her mother.
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Question 5:
What could
Amanda do if she were a mermaid?
Answer:
If Amanda
were a mermaid, then she would drift slowly on a languid emerald sea.
She would be the sole inhabitant of the relaxed green sea and would
move slowly on it.
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Question 6:
Is Amanda
an orphan? Why does she say so?
Answer:
No, Amanda
is not an orphan. She says so because she wants to be alone. She
wants to roam around in the street alone and pattern dust wit her
bare feet. She finds silence ‘golden’ and freedom
‘sweet’. It is for this reason that she calls herself an
orphan.
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Question 7:
Do you
know the story of Rapunzel? Why does she want to be Rapunzel?
Answer:
She wants
to be Rapunzel because she wants to live alone. Rapunzel lived alone
in a tall tower and had long, beautiful hair. She was held captive by
her grandmother, who came up the tower by climbing her long hair. The
girl also wants to live alone in a tower as she would not have to
care about anything as life in a tower would be tranquil, peaceful
and rare. However, she also decided that she would never throw down
her hair for anyone to come up as she wanted to live alone always.
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Question 8:
What does
the girl yearn for? What does this poem tell you about Amanda?
Answer:
The girl
yearns for solitude and peace. In all the things she dreams of, she
wants to stay alone. If she were a mermaid, then she wanted to drift
slowly on a calm sea where she would be the only inhabitant. She even
goes on to imagine if she were an orphan. In that case, she would
roam about the street in silence and freedom. She also wishes to be
Rapunzel though she would not let her hair down for anybody to climb
up. This shows that she is fed up of the continuous scolding she
receives from her mother. She wants to go away from her home to some
place where she would not be constantly nagged and would be able to
live peacefully.
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Question 9:
Read the last stanza. Do you think Amanda is sulking and is moody?
Answer:
It does
not seem that she is sulking, though she could be moody. She is
completely lost in her thoughts and is not even listening to her
mother. Her mother perceives her to be sulking as she does not react
to her instructions at all. As Amanda does not listen to her, she
concludes that she is very moody and continues to nag her.
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