41.My mother at Sixty-six(25)(GE/HS 2nd Yr)

1. Who is the poet of My mother at Sixty-Six?

Ans: Kamala Das is the poet/poetess of My mother at Sixty-Six.

2. Where was the poet driving to?

Ans:- The poet was driving from her parent's home to Cochin airport.

3. Who was sitting beside the poet in the car?

Ans:- The poet's mother was sitting beside her in the car.

4. What did the poet notice about her mother?

Ans:- The poet noticed that her mother was dozing with her mouth open. It looked pale, faded and lifeless like a dead body because she had grown old.

5. Why was her mother's face looked like that of a corpse?

Ans:- The poet's mother's face looked like that of a corpse because she had grown old. Due to old age and life's effects her face looked pale, faded and lifeless like a dead body.

6. What are the meanings of corpse, doze and felt?

Ans:- The meanings of corpse, doze and felt are dead body, sleep lightly and realize respectively.

7. What did the poet realize?

Ans:- The poet realized that her mother was lost somewhere else in thoughts.

8. What did the poet do after security check?

Ans:- After the security check, the poet stood a few yards away from her mother and looked at her face again.

9. Why are the young trees described as 'sprinting'?

Ans:- The poet Kamala Das was driving to the Cochin airport from her parents' home. When she looked outside the young trees seemed to be running past them. The speed of the trees seemed so fast that they looked running or sprinting.

10. What is the meaning of sprinting?

Ans:- The meaning of sprinting is running.

11. As per your understanding what is the poet trying to say about mothers?

Ans:- From the poem about her own mother the poet Kamala Das is showing how the lives of the mothers remain unnoticed.  The women after marriage become mothers and they become exhausted from lifelong's non-stop duties towards family and children are hardly cared. They are not just unpaid for their services, they are undervalued and unnoticed till old ages and deaths. The mothers live subjugated lives forever. Only a close look at their old faces by sensitive people like the poet can bring some light to the condition of mothers all around us.

12. What is matrocentric studies? 

Ans:- In feminist psychoanalysis,  matrocentric describes the bond between the mother and child in the presence Oedipal or Semiotic stage which the adult daughter attempts to duplicate later. 

13. Is the poem 'matrocentric'? How? 

Ans:- Yes, the poem 'My Mother at Sixty-Six' partially  belongs to the matrocentric genre. The poem is centered on the mother.  In matrocentric societies mothers are valued and invested with socio-economic authority. Matrocentric describes the bond between the mother and child in Oedipal or Semiotic stage which the adult daughter attempts to duplicate later. In this poem we find how Kamala Das as an adult  daughter tries to re-establish her relation with her mother. But there is no evidence of her mother being the actual leader of the family.

14. What did the poet do after looking at her mother?

Ans:- The poet/poetess withdrew her thoughts from her mother and looked outside.

15. What did she notice in the world outside?

Ans:- The poet noticed the young trees growing outside went past as if they were sprinting. There were happy children coming out of their houses.

16. Why did the poet compare her mother's face to a late winter's moon?

Ans:- The late winter moon lacks brightness as well as strength. The pale and colourless face of the mother resembles the late winter's moon.

17. What is her fear?

Ans:- The witnessing of her mother's ageing and ultimate death of her mother and separation from her is the poet's fear.

18. How do the parting words of the poet and her smile present a contrast to her real feelings?

Ans:- The poetess's parting words are of assurance and her smiles present a stark contrast to the old familiar pain of separation from parents. Her words and smiles are a deliberate attempt to hide what is going on or outside.

19. Why are the young trees sprinting?

Ans:- The poet is driving to Cochin airport along with her mother. When she looks outside from the moving car, the young trees seem to run very fast passing behind them. This fast running is called sprinting of the young trees. Sprinting can also be compared to the running of sportspersons in some competitions.

20. Explain the image of children 'spilling out of their homes'?

Ans:- The poet Kamala Das has brought in the image of merry children 'spilling out of their homes' to present a contrast to the old age of her mother. The children are filled with happiness and spontaneous overflow of energy. This is sharp contrast to the poet's 'dozing' mother whose 'ashen' face is filled with tiredness and inactivity like a 'corpse.' The contrast is brought to enhance poetic effect and deepen the meanings of life and death, young and old age.

21. Who is compared to 'late winter's moon' and why?

Ans:- The poet's mother is sixty-six years old. Her 'ashen' coloured face resembles a corpse. She has lost or finished her young age of vigour and activity. The moon in late winters also looks hazy and unclear due to the foggy atmosphere in the cold season. This can be compared to the lost beauty of a woman which is never reacquirable in old age. The sight of a clear moon of other seasons is also absent in winter.

22. "See you soon, Amma." What is the significance of these parting words?

Ans:- The poet's parting words to her mother "See you soon, Amma" is significant in the poem. It is a mark of assurance to her mother that they will surely meet each other again. At the same time it is not known to the poet if they will really see each other again because her mother has reached quite an old age. And death at this age comes any moment.

23. Why does the poet 'put that thought away' and look outside?

Ans:- Inside the car, the poet observes her mother's faded face. It looked lifeless like a corpse. The poet is surely filled with pain and helplessness at her mother's sight. She is unable to bear it. To distract herself from pain she looks outside the car.

24. What is the poet's familiar ache and why does it return?

Ans:- The poet feels tremendous pain at the sight and realization of her ageing mother. This sight of the 'ashen' and 'corpse' like face of her mother triggers "that old familiar ache" in her heart. This known ache is her childhood fear of losing her mother. The fear of losing one's mother is deeply intense in any child. This fear and pain of losing our mothers remains in us all throughout lives. This is the "familiar ache" that the poet is talking about.

25. Which are the most striking poetic devices used in the poem?

Ans:- Imagery, comparisons, contrasts and similies are strikingly used in the poem. The face of the poet's old mother is described as 'ashen.' This ashen face is 'like that of a corpse' which is a similie. The 'wan, pale' face of the mother is compared to 'a late winter's moon.' The aged 'dozing' mother devoid of energy, seated Inside the car is contrasted with the young trees 'sprinting' and 'merry children' filled with life and energy. All these together bring out the themes of the poem in best possible ways.