Amanda! - By Robin Klein

Amanda !

By ROBIN KLEIN

Lesson - 4

1. Choose the meaning of the italics words in the following sentences from the alternatives given in brackets:-

i) Life in a tower is tranquil and rare. (disturbed/quiet/transparent)

ii) Stop that sulking at once, Amanda! (bad tempered / growing angry / unmindful)

iii) There is a languid, emerald sea. (blue / vast / relaxed)

Answer: i) tranquil - quiet, ii) sulking - bad tempered, iii) languid - relaxed

2. Q. Is Amanda actually nagged by her parents?

Answer: Yes, Amanda is nagged by her parents.

3. Q. What could Ananda do if she were a mermaid?

Answer: If Amanda were a mermaid she would be drifting in the vast sea.

4. Q. What does Amanda yearn for?

Answer: Amanda yearns for freedom of living her life in her own way.

5. Q. Who is the poet of the poem “Amanda”?

Answer: Robin Klein is the poet of the poem Amanda.

6. Q. Why is Amanda asked not to eat “the chocolate”?

Answer: Amanda was asked not to eat chocolate because she has had acne already.

7. Q. What do you think when Amanda says that she is an orphan?

Answer: The meaning for an orphan doesn't apply to Amanda in reality. Amanda thinks beyond any limitation. She thinks and works extremely with a sense of her unobstructed liberty.

8. Q. “There is a languid, emerald sea,

Where the sole inhabitant is meー”

1. Who is the “sole inhabitant”?

2. Why are these lines spoken?

Answer: a) The “sole inhabitant” is Amanda who imagines herself to be a mermaid in the emerald sea.

b) Amanda is fed up of being controlled and instructed by her parents, in her day to day life. She wishes to escape from this. Therefore, these lines are spoken.

9. Q. Is Amanda an orphan? Why does she say so?

Answer: same as question no. 7 above.

10.Q. Do you know the story of Rapunzel? Why does Amanda want to be Rapunzel?

Answer: Rapunzel is a golden haired fairy who lived alone peacefully in a tower.

    Amanda wanted to be like Rapunzel because she wants to live life peacefully away from the restrictions imposed on her by her parents.

11.Q. What were the three things that the speaker asked Amanda to do as a school going girl?

Answer: The speaker asked Amandaー(i) to finish her homework, (ii) to tidy her room, (iii) to clean her shoes. These are three things which are expected of a school going girl.

12.Q. How old do you think Amanda is? How do you know this?

Answer: Amanda is around 12 or 13 years old, actually she is a teenage girl. It is clear from her acne which is common among teenagers.