Flamingo Aunt Jennifers Tigers - Test Papers

 CBSE TEST PAPER - 01

Class – 12 English Core (Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers)

General Instruction:

  • Question No. 1 to 3 carry four marks each.
  • Question No. 4 to 10 carry three marks each.
  1. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
    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. What does prancing tigers symbolize?
    2. Why are they referred to as ‘denizens of a world of green’?
    3. What qualities of the ‘tigers’ are highlighted here?
    4. What are her tigers symbolic of?
  2. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:

    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. Why do Aunt Jennifer’s fingers flutter through her wool?
    2. Why does she find it hard to pull the ivory needle?
    3. Explain: ‘massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band’.
    4. Give the meaning of 'Fluttering'.
  3. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:

    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. What is Aunt Jennifer’s death symbolic of?
    2. Explain: “terrific hands”.
    3. What does ‘ringed with ordeals’ imply?
    4. How are Aunt Jennifer’s tigers different from her?
  4. How do the tigers made by Aunt Jennifer look like?
  5. What do the tigers made by the Aunt symbolize?
  6. Explain -“They pace in sleek chivalric certainty”.
  7. How is Aunt Jennifer affected by the ‘weight of matrimony’?
  8. Why do you think Aunt Jennifer’s hands are fluttering through her wool? Why is she finding the needle so hard to pull?
  9. What do you understand by “massive weight of uncle’s wedding band”?
  10. Explain -‘her terrified hands will lie; still ringed with the ordeals she was mastered by’.

CBSE TEST PAPER - 01
Class – 12 English Core (Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers)
Answers

    1. Prancing tigers are a symbol of the spirit of freedom within Aunt Jennifer which remains subdued.
    2. The tigers are the dwellers of the green forest so they are referred to as denizens of a world of green.
    3. Fearlessness and ferocity of the tigers are highlighted here. Aunt Jennifer’s nervousness and timidity are in sharp contrast to wild ferocity of the tigers that are not afraid of hunting men. Unlike Aunt Jennifer, the tigers fear nothing.
    4. Her tigers are symbolic of Aunt Jennifer’s desire for freedom. They are also symbols of strength and self-confidence.
    1. Aunt Jennifer lives in constant fear of her husband. She feels so nervous and terrified that her hands shake and flutter when she sits down to knit.
    2. She finds it hard to pull the ivory needle more because of mental suppression than because of physical weakness. Due to constant fear that she confronts she has become a nervous wreck.
    3. The expression is symbolic of male authority and power. Matrimony binds the woman physically as well as mentally. Likewise, Aunt Jennifer is trapped in gender oppression and feels herself burdened by the authority of her husband. Hence, she is fettered with the massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band.
    4. 'Fluttering' means to move in quick, irregular motions as if being agitated.
    1. Aunt Jennifer’s death is symbolic of her complete submission to her suppression.
    2. Aunt Jennifer is terrified by her bitter experience of married life. He has a dominating husband and hence her hands are shivering.
    3. Aunt Jennifer has been so victimized throughout her life that even after death she remains trapped. We find her a victim of gender discrimination, injustice and oppression.
    4. Aunt Jennifer’s tigers provide a striking contrast to her. The old lady is weak and scared of men, whereas the tigers symbolise strength, power and fearlessness.
  4. The tigers, made by Aunt Jennifer on the screen, are jumping and playing about without any fear of the men beneath the tree. They walk in elegance and style displaying the spirit of courage, fearlessness, strength and confidence.
  5. The tigers made by Aunt Jennifer symbolize the spirit of courage, strength and fearlessness Aunt Jennifer, a victim of male oppression, expresses her crushed feelings in the form of art. So, the tigers are symbolic of the fear of male domination with which Aunt Jennifer suffers.
  6. The movement of the tigers are sleek, stealthy, sure, majestic and elegant. They are sure of their purpose. Gallant and confident, they move ahead fearlessly undeterred by any obstacles or hindrances.
  7. Aunt Jennifer cannot do things freely. She tries to come up to the expectation of her husband. She seems to have lost her identity. The freedom that she dreams of through her art is itself symbolic of her oppressed self.
  8. Aunt Jennifer is victimized by the overbearing and dominant nature of her husband. Her life has become a torture due to her suppression by her atrocious husband. The fear of her authoritative husband has gone so deep into her being that she seems to have lost all strength and energy. Thus, her hands shake and flutter so much that she is not even able to pull the needle through the tapestry.
  9. Generally ‘wedding band’ is a symbol of joy and happiness. But in case of Aunt Jennifer, it has become a symbol of torture and oppression. Her relationship with her authoritative husband has become a painful burden to carry. Her ‘wedding band’ has brought her a world of pain, misery and torture. She has lost her freedom and entered a world of humiliation and oppression.
  10. These lines convey Aunt’s complete submission to the oppressive authority of her husband. The fear of her husband has gone so deep into her being that even death cannot liberate her from the chains of her mental suppression. Memories of her husband’s tortures and atrocities which bent her into a humiliating slavery will continue to haunt her even after her death.