CLASS 12 CHAPTER - MY MOTHER AT SIXTY-SIX

 

CLASS 12 CHAPTER - MY MOTHER  AT SIXTY-SIX

1. “Driving from my parent’s home to Cochin last Friday
Morning, I saw my mother, beside me, doze,
open mouthed, her face ashen like that
Of a corpse and realized with pain
That she thought away.”

a) Where was the poet coming from? Where was she going?
The poet had gone to her parents’ home to visit them. She was now going to Cochin airport.

b) How does the poet describe her mother?
The poet describes her mother as old, pale, cold and senile. As she dozed off beside her, the mother looked almost like a corpse, for her face was colorless and seemed to have lost the fervor of life.

d) Who does ‘she’ refer to in the last line? What thoughts had she driven away?
‘She’ here refers to the poet. The thought of her mother’s approaching death which she wanted to put it away.

2. “ and looked but soon
put that thought away, and looked out at young
trees sprinting, the merry children spilling
out of their homes.”

a) What was the poet ‘looking’ at? What did she notice?
The poet was looking at her mother. She noticed the mother’s ashen and almost lifeless face distraught with pain.

b) What thought did she try to drive away?
She tried to drive away the thought of her mother’s approaching death.

c) Why did the poet start ’looking out’? What does her gesture suggest?
The poet started looking out of the window because she wanted to drive away the pain and agony she experienced on seeing her aged mother. She wanted to drive away her helplessness in the wake of her mother’s ageing and approaching death.

d) What did the poet see from the window of the car?
The poet saw young trees running past her car and merry children sprinting out of their homes to play.

e) What did the images of ‘young trees’ and ‘merry children’ symbolize?
Trees and children symbolized the spring of life, its strength, vigour and happiness which contrasts with the lifelessness and helplessness that sets in with age.

3. “ but after the airport’s
security check, standing a few yards
away, I looked again at her, wan, pale
as a late winter’s moon”

a) Where was the poet standing?
The poet was at the Cochin airport waiting to board the plane after the security check.

b) Who does ‘her’ here to? How did she look like?
’Her’ here refers to the poet’s mother. She was an aged lady and hence looked pale, cold like a corpse and colourless.

c) Why does the narrator ‘look at her again’?

The narrator looked at her mother once again for the last time before she left to reassure herself about the well being of her mother. She had tried to drive away the pain she had felt on seeing her weak and aged mother. One last time she looked at her to wish her goodbye.

d) Explain: ’wan, pale as a late winter’s moon’.

In this simile, the poet compares the mother’s pale and withered face with the winter’s moon. The moon seems to lose its brightness in the winter season as it is veiled behind fog and mist. The mother’s face also seemed to have lost its radiance which was now misted by age. Winter symbolizes death and the waning moon
symbolizes decay.

4. “ and felt that old
familiar ache, my childhood’s fear,
but all I said was, see you soon, Amma,
all I did was smile and smile and smile.”

a) What ‘familiar ache’ did the poet feel?
The ‘familiar ache’ refers to the poet’s fear of losing her mother and the realization that she has not cared and cannot care for her ageing mother. It is an ache of helplessness. It is also a fear of separation from the mother or the mother’s death.

b) What could have been the poet’s childhood fears?
I think the poet’s childhood fear was that she would lose her mother or be separated from her and that death would consume her mother.

c) Did the poet share her thoughts with her mother?
The poet did not share her fears and agony with her mother. She only bid good bye to her with the hope of seeing her soon.

d) Why do you think, the poet did not share her thoughts with her mother?
I think the poet did not share her thoughts with her mother because they were caused by her fear of the unknown. Sharing them with the mother would have worried the frail old woman to death.

e) Why did the poet only ‘smile’?
The poet only smiled to hide her guilt, anxiety and fear of the unknown. Also, she wanted to bid a cheerful farewell to her mother before boarding the flight.

QUESTION AND ANSWERS

 

1. What is the kind of pain and ache that the poet feels?
When the poet looks at her mother’s face she found that it had become pale and withered. She realized that her mother was at the edge of her life and her end was near. The thought that her mother would be soon separated form her caused unbearable pain and ache in the poet’s heart.

2 What does the poet do to shrug off the painful thought of her mother’s approaching end?
To get rid of painful thought her mother‘s nearing the poet looked out to see the sprinting tree and the happy children, bursting out of their house.

3. Why does the poet draw the image of sprinting trees and merry children?
Sprinting trees and merry children bursting out from the doors suggest fresh life and warm energy. The poet draws this image to strikes a scene of contrast with the pale, dull and withered face of the mother. Here the curtain is falling and the life coming to
an end and there the curtain is rising and fresh life is beginning and bubbling with energy and vitality.

4. Why have the trees been described as sprinting?
The poet was driving in a car along with her mother. Her movement created the visionary, illusion of the trees outside appeared to be sprinting past.

5. Why has the mother been compared to the late winter’s moon?
The late winter moon lacks luster. The mothers face was pale and withered. Moreover, the late winter moon suggests the end of season and mother too is nearing the end of her life, therefore the poet compares her with the late winter’s moon.

6. What is the ‘familiar ache’?
The fear of losing her mother has tortured the poet from her very childhood because she had been intimately bound up with her. Therefore this ache is familiar to her; it is known to her.

7. What do the parting words of the poet and her smile signify?
The parting words of the poet reflect the poet’s pain. But she puts on a smile on her face to mask her pain and to give hope, happiness and reassurance to her mother.