Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers
Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers (Solution And Central Idea)

Think It Out

Q1. How do ‘denizens’ and ‘chivalric’ add to our understanding of the tiger’s attitudes?

Ans: Like the beasts of prey, the denizens of the forest are the tigers. They lead their lives far from the human settlements and are known as ‘chivalric’. This highlights the honourable and majestic position they occupy in the animal world. So, the usage of the words ‘chivalric’ and ‘denizens’ adds to our knowledge of the attitude of the tiger.

Q2. Why do you think Aunt Jennifer’s hands are ‘fluttering through her wool’ in the second stanza? Why is she finding the needle so hard to pull?

Ans: Aunt Jennifer is weaving the tigers on a panel. With her hands moving about the wool, she is finding it difficult to pull the needle. The heaviness of years of married life is lying on her hand, which makes it hard to pull the needle.

Q3. What is suggested by the image ‘massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band’?

Ans: The image of ‘massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band’ suggests the weight of the tough and harsh experience of the married life of Aunt Jennifer. The image is suggestive, and the wedding band is symbolic. It indicates the marriage bond which is unbreakable between the wife and the husband.

Q4. Of what or of whom is Aunt Jennifer terrified in the third stanza?

Ans: The poet refers to the ‘terrified hands’ of Aunt Jennifer in the third stanza. The unhappy memories which are old remain fresh in her mind. During her married life, she has gone through many horrible times and tests. These ordeals suppressed and crushed her, the effect of which is still visible. She is stuck with the ordeals which dominated her life.

Q5. What are the ‘ordeals’ Aunt Jennifer is surrounded by? Why is it significant that the poet uses the word ‘ringed’? What are the meanings of the word ‘ringed’ in the poem?

Ans: The marriage experiences are addressed by the poet in the background of oppression faced by women. The word ‘ringed’ suggests that the vicious grip of her unhappy married life is still holding her tightly. The word ‘ringed’ is used in two ways. The first way is conventional use, where the ring symbolises the sacred bond of marriage. The second way is the figurative use of ‘ringed’, which means surrounded or encircled.

Q6. Why do you think Aunt Jennifer created animals that are so different from her own character? What might the poet be suggesting through this difference?

Ans: The tigers are ‘prancing’. In ‘sleek chivalric certainty’, they pace and ‘do not fear’ the men under the tree. So, they are the symbols of beauty, fierceness and strength. On the other side, Aunt Jennifer is terrified and weak. Her hands are finding it hard to pull the needle through the wool. The huge weight of her wedding band is heavy on her hands. Her terrified hands are still ringed by the ordeals of her married life. The intensity is heightened by the contrast.

Q7. Interpret the symbols found in this poem.

Ans: ‘Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers’ by Adrienne Rich is rich in symbolism. ‘The massive weight of the wedding band’ symbolises the worries, hardships and ordeals of married life. ‘Ringed with ordeals’ and ‘terrified hands’ highlight the unpleasant experiences which are still clinging to Aunt Jennifer, both mentally and physically.

Q8. Do you sympathies with Aunt Jennifer? What is the attitude of the speaker towards Aunt Jennifer?

Ans: Yes, we sympathies with Aunt Jennifer as she has gone through ordeals and hardships during her married life. The speaker’s attitude towards Aunt Jennifer is sympathetic. Many suggestive symbols and images are given by the poet to present a lady who has gone through terrifying and unpleasant periods and painful experiences during her married life. 

Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers Hindi Translation, Difficult Words, Poetic Devices

Question based on stanzas Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers

Read the stanzas given below and answer the questions that follow each:

1. 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. 

Questions
(a) Name the poem and the poet of these lines.
(b) What are Aunt Jennifer’s tigers doing? How do they look like?
(c) Where do they live? Are they fearless? Give an example.
(d) How do they pace? 

Answers:
(а) The poem is Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers. The poet is Adrienne Rich.
(b) They are jumping across a screen or a wall. They look like shining yellow topaz.
(c) They live in green forests. They are fearless. They don’t fear the men under the tree.
(d) They run with a well-groomed, honourable confidence.

2. 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.

Questions
(a)What were Aunt Jennifer’s fingers fluttering through?
(b)How was she pulling the needle?
(c)What was lying heavily? Where?
(d)What was upon Aunt Jennifer’s hand? How did it sit there? 

Answers:
(a) Aunt Jennifer’s fingers were fluttering through her wool.
(b) She was finding even the ivory needle hard to pull.
(c) The weight of Uncle’s wedding band was lying heavily on her hand.
(d) There was uncle’s wedding band upon Aunt Jennifer’s hand. It sat heavily there.

3. 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. 

Questions
(a) Why are Aunt Jennifer’s hands called ‘terrified’’?
(b) What are they still ringed with?
(c) Where did she make the tigers?
(d) What will happen to her tigers after her death? 

Answers:
(а) Her hands are called terrified because they passed through very hard and bitter experience of married life.
(b) They are still ringed with those hard and testing difficulties which possessed her dining her life.
(c) She made the tigers in the panel.
(d) Her tigers will go on jumping ahead, proud and unafraid even after her death. 

Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers Hindi Translation, Difficult Words, Poetic Devices

Short Questions and Answers Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers

Q1. Aunt Jennifer’s efforts to get rid of her fear proved to be futile. Comment. [Delhi 2016]

Ans: Aunt Jennifer’s effort to get rid of her fear of Uncle proved futile because all through her life she remained subservient and conformed to the patriarchal society. She felt trapped in a failed marriage and succumbed to the male-dominated world.

Q2. What picture of male chauvinism (tyranny) do we find in the poem, ‘Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers’? [All India 2016]

Ans: The poem depicts how Aunt Jennifer feels oppressed by her tyrannous husband who stifles her creativity and freedom by dominating her. He represents a typical male of a patriarchal society.

Q3. What lies heavily on Aunt Jennifer’s hand? How is it associated with her husband? [All India 2013]

Ans: The ‘wedding ring’ lies heavily on Aunt Jennifer’s hand. This is associated with her husband because his dominant behaviour has oppressed Aunt Jennifer and made the ‘wedding ring’ a heavy burden for her.

Q4. Why has Aunt Jennifer made ‘prancing, proud and unafraid’ tigers? [Delhi 2013 (C )]

Ans: Aunt Jennifer has tried to express herself through her art. She has created proud, prancing, unafraid tigers on her panel because she wants herself to be like her tigers, confident with freedom to live her life in her own way.

Q5. Do you sympathise with Aunt Jennifer? Why?

Ans: Yes, I do sympathise with Aunt Jennifer because she is in a pathetic condition. She is oppressed and denied any freedom. She is living a life of a slave. In fact, it is totally inhuman to take away anyone’s . freedom.

Q6. How does Aunt Jennifer express her bitterness and anger against the male domination? [Delhi 2014]

Ans: Aunt Jennifer expresses her anger and bitterness against the male domination by creating proud, fearless, chivalric tigers on a panel.

Q7. How are Aunt Jennifer’s tigers different from her? [All India 2014]

Ans: Aunt Jennifer is a meek and suppressed woman in a male-dominated society. She is denied every kind of freedom and is always oppressed. But the tigers that she has made are free, bold, confident, chivalric, and courageous.

Q8. What are the difficulties that Aunt Jennifer faced in her life? [Delhi 2014]

Ans: Aunt Jennifer was dominated by her husband. She was denied every kind of freedom and was oppressed. In the male-dominated society, Aunt Jennifer was enslaved and subjugated to all kinds of oppression.

Q9. How do the words, ‘denizens’ and ‘chivalric’ add to our understanding of Aunt Jennifer’s tigers? [All India 2012]

Ans: The tigers are referred to as ‘denizens’ and ‘chivalric’ as they are in their habitats. They are fearless and gallant. These tigers are confident and masters of their domain. They have respectable position in the world of animals.

Q10. Why did Aunt Jennifer choose to embroider tigers on the panel? [Delhi 2012]

Ans: Aunt Jennifer lived an oppressed life. But she wanted to have a life of freedom and wanted to be confident and bold. In order to express his inner feelings and longings of her heart, she embroidered tigers on the panel.

Q11. What will happen to Aunt Jennifer’s tigers when she is dead? [Delhi 2013]

Ans: The tigers that Aunt Jennifer has embroidered will outlive her. They will keep on moving blatantly, confidently and intrepidly even after her death as they belong to the piece of art which is immortal.

Q12. How is Aunt Jennifer different from her tigers?

Ans: Aunt Jennifer’s tigers are fearless and confident, whereas Aunt Jennifer is submissive and subdued. Aunt Jennifer is terrified of the patriarchal society in which she lived. She is oppressed by her husband. She is meek and weak unlike the tigers who are chivalric and enjoy freedom.

Q13. Aunt Jennifer’s tigers are totally different from her own character. Highlight this contrast.

Ans: Aunt Jennifer’s tigers are in contrast to Aunt Jennifer herself. Aunt Jennifer is submissive and is oppressed by her husband. She is victimized and subjugated by the male-dominated world. She has been denied the freedom to live as per her own wish. On the contrary, the tigers created by Aunt Jennifer represent her longing for freedom. These tigers are dominating and chivalric. They conduct themselves in a heroic fashion and are confident and bold.

Q14. ‘The tigers represent Aunt Jennifer’s spirit and her hands represent her reality.’ How?

Ans: The tigers that Aunt Jennifer created represent her spirit. She was bold and confident in her spirit. But her hands trembled and could not pull the needle which depicts her reality. She was oppressed and dominated by her husband in real life. Her hidden desire to break free is detected in the tigers she embroidered.

Q15. Explain the irony at the end of the poem.

Ans: It is ironic that even death would not liberate Aunt Jennifer from the oppression that she faced. Her fingers remained ‘ringed’ with the uncle’s wedding band. But the tigers that she made would always remain fearless and bold.

Q16. What message does the poet want to convey through this poem?

Ans: The poet, has tried to depict the theme of male chauvinism where a woman has no liberty, not even self-expression. The poem emphasises the value of freedom and brings out the message that women need to be respected and should have liberty to live their live according to their own desires. 

Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers Hindi Translation, Difficult Words, Poetic Devices

Central Idea of the poem Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers

Introduction: Adrienne Rich (1929-2012) was a renowned American poet and feminist activist. "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers," one of her famous poems published in 1951, explores the complexities of gender roles and societal expectations placed on women. Through vivid imagery and symbolism, Rich portrays Aunt Jennifer as a character who finds empowerment and defiance through her art, challenging traditional norms and advocating for women's agency. The poem is celebrated for its thought-provoking themes and continues to be studied as a feminist critique of gender inequality

Central Idea

Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" by Adrienne Rich is the exploration of the dichotomy between the external appearance of Aunt Jennifer's meekness and fragility, and the inner strength and resilience she embodies through her art. The poem delves into the complexity of gender roles and the societal expectations placed on women, challenging the notion that outward appearances are always reflective of one's inner self. Despite Aunt Jennifer's seemingly submissive and passive demeanor as a result of societal norms and her oppressive marriage, her embroidered tigers represent a powerful and fierce inner world that she longs to express. Through her art, Aunt Jennifer asserts her agency and finds a sense of empowerment, transcending the limitations imposed upon her by society. The poem highlights the transformative power of art as a means of self-expression and resistance against societal constraints, and celebrates the inner strength and resilience of women, even in the face of external oppression. 

Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers Hindi Translation, Difficult Words, Poetic Devices

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