The importance of each question is different. So, it is very hard to find which questions are most important. To help you with that, these are a few important questions with answers from the chapter “My Mother at Sixty-Six” of the class 12 English book of SEBA. These questions from the chapter will be very helpful for the AHSEC examination.
English Chapter My Mother At Sixty-Six Important Questions With Answers For AHSEC Examination
There are two sections of the extra English questions for Class 12. The first sections have questions asked from an extract from the chapter My Mother at Sixty-Six. The second section contains the Short and Long-Answer Type questions from this chapter. Both of these sections contain the previous year’s questions which came in the AHSEC examination of English.
Read the Following Extracts and Answer the Questions – Class 12 English
These are some important questions for the Class 12 English AHSEC examination for Chapter 1. Some questions were asked in the previous examination. These Questions are based on extracts from the chapter “My Mother at Sixty Six”
Question 1: ‘Driving from my parent’s home……….
…………………her face ashen like that of a corpse …’ (2012)
(a). Where was the poet driving to?
Answer: The poet Kamala Das was driving to Cochin airport with her mother from her parent’s home last Friday morning.
(b). What did she notice when her mother sat beside her?
Answer: The poet noticed that her mother was sitting beside her dozed open-mouthed and her face looked pale and faded grey like ash.
(c). Find the words from the passage that mean ‘sleep lightly’ and ‘dead body’.
Answer: The word ‘sleep lightly’ means ‘doze’. On the other hand ‘dead body’ means ‘corpse’.
(d). Why was her mother’s face like that of a corpse?
Answer: Kamala Das’s mother was growing old up to the age of sixty-six and presently she lost all her charm and strength. While she was dozing beside the poet, the poet realized with pain that her mother’s face was pale like ash and she seemed to be a dead body.
Question 2: “But after airport’s security check………… smile and smile and simile… (2014)
(a). What did the speaker do after the security check?
Answer: After the security check, the speaker stood a few yards away and looked again at her mother’s pale and colorless face.
(b). Why did the poet compare her mother’s face to a late winter’s moon?
Answer: The poet, Kamala Das’s mother was growing old at the age of sixty-six and lost all her beauty and charm as well as physical strength. Her mother looked colorless, lifeless, and pale like a late winter’s moon as it too lost its shine and brightness during the winter season. Hence, here the mother is compared to the late winter’s moon.
(c). What was the poet’s childhood fear?
Answer: The poet loved her mother very much since her childhood and was afraid to lose her. However, the poet’s fear is the fear of death and decay of her mother which she has been bearing in her heart since her childhood days.
Question 3: “But soon
put that thought away and….. ‘
out their homes.” (2014)
(a). Who looked at the young trees?
Answer: The poet, Kamala Das looked out at the young trees running back of the car.
(b). Which thought did the speaker put away?
Answer: The thought of her mother’s old face and her approaching death the poet put away while she was driving to Cochin airport from her parent’s home.
(c). What do sprinting trees signify?
Answer: The term ‘sprinting trees’ is symbolically significant in this poem. It shows the pace of the poet’s mind back into her past memories as the car moves fast trees run backward and the poet herself sink deep into her old happy days when she was a child and felt comfortable in her young and beautiful mother’s company. On the other hand, the same symbolizes the fast life one lives. We need to accept life happily as it comes instead of all its sadness.
(d). What did the poet see the children doing?
Answer: The poet saw those children happily running out of their homes and playing.
Question 4: ‘And felt that old… All I did was smile and smile and smile…’ (2015)
(a). What was the childhood fear that now troubled the poet?
Answer: The poet, Kamala Das afraid of her mother’s death and decay which she has carried in her heart since her childhood now troubles her much.
(b). What do the poet’s parting words suggest?
Answer: The parting words of the poet to her mother suggest the deep emotional formality when two persons depart. It shows the positive aspects of the poet’s mind to meet her mother again. On the other hand, the same is a self-assurance to overcome her melancholic state of mind. The poet is very much optimistic about her life and mother.
(c). Why did the poet smile and smile?
Answer: The poet wanted to overcome her pains and during the separation, she smiled at her mother for self-satisfaction that she would meet her mother again. Her smile symbolizes her optimistic attitude as well as her emotional sensuality to hide her melancholic state of mind.
Question 5: ‘…I looked again at her wan, old…
………………………. smile and smile…
(a). How does the poet describe her mother’s face?
Answer: The poet describes her mother’s face as pale, colourless and late winter’s moon.
(b). What did she recall at that moment?
Answer: The poet recalled her old familiar ache, her childhood’s fear of her mother’s death and decay at that moment.
(c). What did she tell her mother then?
Answer: She told her mother with a scattering smile on her face that she would meet her again.
(d). Why did she only smile?
Answer: She smiled only to look normal and conceal her pains.
My Mother at Sixty-Six Important and Previous Questions For AHSEC Class 12
(a). Why has the mother been compared to ‘late winter’s moon’? (HS 2012, 2014, 2015)
Answer: The poet’s mother is growing old. She is now at the age of sixty-six and lost her beauty and charm as well as physical stamina. Literally, she is compared to a ‘late winter’s moon’ as the moon in the winter season appears faded and dim on a foggy winter night losing its brightness and clarity, so here in the poem Mother too lost her charm and grace due to her old age. The old age of the mother is symbolically compared to the winter season.
(b). Why has the poet brought in the image of the merry children “spilling out of their homes”? (2013)
Answer: The image of merry children ‘spilling out of their homes’ creates a poetic effect. The poet’s mother who is sitting beside her is dozing. She looks lifeless, pale like a corpse. She is an image of age, frailty, and decay; and this juxtaposition brings the painful realization to the poet. On the other hand, the children Julling out of their homes are gay and joyous. Therefore, the poet has brought this symbolic image of life, vitality, and joyousness to remove the pains of her mind.
(c) What is the kind of pain and ache that the poet feels? (2014)
Answer: The poet, Kamala Das feels the familiar ache, her childhood’s fear of her mother’s death and decay. Her mother symbolizes an image of age, frailty, and decay which brings the painful realization in her mind that one day she will lose her mother.
(d) Explain the statement: “I saw my mother…her face ashen like that of a corpse.” (2014)
Answer: The poet saw her mother sitting beside her dozed open-mouthed while driving from her parent’s home to Cochin airport last Friday. Her face looked pale and lifeless like a corpse. The sight of the poet’s mother brings the painful realization of the death and decay of her sixty-six-year-old mother
(e) Why are young trees described as sprinting?
Answer: The term ‘sprinting trees’ is symbolically significant in this poem. It is a common phenomenon that motionless objects appear to move when we are traveling at a high speed. The poet was in the car and looked out of the window. Since the car was moving in a particular direction, the trees at the side seemed to move fast in the opposite direction. On the other hand, the same symbolizes the fast life one lives. We need to accept life happily as it comes instead of all its sadness.
(f) What do the parting words of the poet and her smile signify?
Answer: The parting words and smile of the poet to her mother signify the grave emotional bond between them. She smiles at her age-old mother to conceal her fear. Moreover, it is an assurance she gives her mother as well as to herself that she will meet her again. The parting words ‘see you soon, Amma’ and ‘Smile’ signify hope and positivity of the poet’s mind.
(g). Describe the face of the poet’s mother. Why is it compared to a corpse?
Ans: The face of the poet’s mother due to her old age looks frail and decayed. It has lost its charm and grace and has been compared to the ‘late winter’s moon’. On the other hand, when the poet was driving to Cochin airport she saw her mother beside dozed open-mouthed, colorless, and lifeless like a corpse. Hence, her face is compared to the face of a corpse.
(h) Where is the poet going and who is with her?
Answer: The poet Kamala Das is going to Cochin airport from her parent’s home accompanying her old mother in the car.
(i) What does the poet see happening outside while she is driving?
Answer: The poet saw young trees sprinting at the back of the car and some merry children spilling out of their homes and playing joyously while she was driving to Cochin airport and looked out of the window for a while.