Jharkhand Board Class 9TH English Notes | THE LITTLE GIRL
JAC Board Solution For Class 9TH English Prose Chapter 4
COMPREHENSION
■ Read the following passage and answer the questions that
follow :―
1. To the little girl he was a figure to be feared and avoided.
Every morning before going to work he came into her room and
gave her a casual kiss, to which she responded with "Goodbye,
Father". And oh' there was a glad sense of relief when she heard the
noise of the carriage growing fainter and fainter down the long
road !
In the evening when he came home she stood near the
staircase and heard his loud voice in the hall. "Bring my tea into
the drawing -roorn ... Hasn't the paper come yet? Mother, go and
see if my paper's out there- and bring me my slippers."
Q. (a) Identify the' and why is he to be avoided?
(b) Why did he come into Kezia's room before going to
work?
(c) What did 'he' order for after returning home?
(d) Why did Kezia feel 'a glad sense of relief?
(e) Find a word from the passage which means 'replied'.
Ans. (a) He stands for Kezia's father. He is to be avoided as he
was a figure to be feared.
(b) She responded to her father by saying, "Good bye."
(c) He ordered for the newspaper and slippers.
(d) She felt 'a glad sense of relief in his father's going to
work because she was greatly afraid of him.
(e) 'responded'.
2. She never stuttered with other people - had quite given it
up- but only with Father, because then she was trying so hard to
say the words properly.
"What's the matter? What are you looking so wretched about?
Mother, I wish you taught this child not to appear on the brink of
suicide... Here, Kezia, carry my teacup back to the table carefully."
He was so big - his hands and his neck, especially his mouth
when he yawned. Thinking about him alone was like thinking
about a giant.
Q. (a) Why did she stutter while talking to her father?
(b) What did he mean by 'on the brink of suicide'?
(c) Why did she stutter before her father?
(d) How did he look?
(e) Find a phrase from the passage which means 'on the
edge!
Ans. (a) She stuttered because of her nervousness and fear.
(b) Kezia looked very wretched, and desperate, as if she was
about to commit suicide.
(c) She stuttered before her father because she tried too hard
to say the words properly.
(d) He looked heavy and big because of his hands and neck.
(e) 'on the brink of.
3. On Sunday afternoons Grandmother sent her down to the
drawing-room to have a "nice talk with Father and Mother". But
the little girl always found Mother reading and Father stretched
out on the sofa, his handkerchief on his face, his feet on one of the
best cushions, sleeping soundly and snoring.
She sat on a stool, gravely watched him until he woke and
stretched, and asked the time-then looked at her.
"Don't stare so, Kezia. You look like a little brown owl."
Q. (a) When did the grandmother sent her down and who
was she?
(b) What for did Kezia sit on a stool?
(c) How would Kezia's father talk to her?
(d) How did her mother spend her Sunday afternoons?
(e) Find words which mean opposite to the given words:
(1) contracted/huddled,
(ii) breathing noisily in sleep.
Ans. (a) The Grandmother sent her down to drawing room on
Sunday afternoons. She was Kezia.
(b) She waited for father to wake up and talk.
(c) He would talk to her harshly.
(d) Her mother spent her Sunday afternoons by reading.
(e) (i) contracted/huddle – stretched,
(ii) breathing noisily in sleep – snoring.
4. Laboriously, with a double cotton, the little girl stitched
three sides. But what to fill it with? That was the question. The
grandmother was out in the garden, and she wandered into Mother's
bedroom to look for scraps. On the bed-table she discovered a
great many sheets of fine paper, gathered them up, tore them into
tiny pieces, and stuffed her case, then sewed up the fourth side.
That night there was a hue and cry in the house. Father's
great speech for the Port Authority had been lost. Rooms were
searched; servants: questioned. Finally Mother came into Kezia's
room.
Q. (a) What did Kezia make as a gift for her father on his
birthday?
(b) What did Kezia need to fill 'it' with?
(c) How were these sheets of paper important?
(d) Why was there 'a hue and cry' in the house that night?
(e) Find a word from the passage which means 'filled with'.
Ans. (a) She made a pin-cushion as a gift.
(b) She needed some waste material to fill the pin-cushion
made of cotton.
(c) These sheets were important because these had an
important speech of Kezia's father.
(d) There was a hue and cry' because Kezia's father's speech
was not available.
(e) 'stuffed'.
5. The Macdonalds lived next door. They had five children.
Looking through a gap in the fence the little girl saw them playing
'tag'in the evening. The father with the baby, Mao, on his shoulders.
two little girls hanging on to his coat pockets ran round and round
the flower-beds, shaking with laughter. Once she saw the boys
turn the hose on him and he tried to catch them laughing all the
time.
Q. (a) Who were the Macdonalds ?
(b) How did Kezia look at the Macdonalds piaying 'tag'?
(c) How did Mr. Macdonalds create fun?
(d) What did Kezia think about fathers?
(e) Give the past forms of the following verbs:
(i) shaking. (ii) kinds.
Ans. (a) The Macdonalds were Kezia's neighbours.
(b) She looked at them through a gap in the fence.
(c) Mr. Macdonald put the baby Mao on his shoulders. Two
little girls hung on to his coat pockets and he ran
laughing round the flower-beds.
(d) She thought that there were different fathers.
(e) (i) shaking - shook. (ii) kinds - sorts.
Long Answer Type Quesions
■ Answer these questions in about 80-100 words each :―
Q. 1. Kezia's efforts to please her father resulted in
displeasing him very much. How did this happen?
Ans. On her part Kezia tried her best to please her father. She
used to come to him as soon as he came from the office. She did
petty things for him. But he scolded her. Once she decided to
make a pin cushion to present him on his birthday. She worked
really very hard on it. But by mistake she took some important
speech papers, tore them and stuffed the case with scraps. The
father needed speech badly. So he got angry and punished her. In
this way, Kezia tried hard to be free and not afraid of her father but
all her efforts made her more frightened of her father.
Q.2. Kezia decides that there are "different kinds of fathers".
What kind of father was Mr Macdonald, and how was he different
from Kezia's father?
Ans. Kezia had always seen her father angry and scolding or
taunting her. She saw her neighbour Mr. Macdonald playing with
his children. She decided that there are two different kinds of
fathers. Her father belonged to the other category of the fathers. He
was stern, non-humorous, commanding and busy in himself and
was always too tired to play with her. Mr Macdonald was a good
father. He used to take life lightly, think children to be friends,
used to take time off to play with them. He was not commanding or
stern like Kezia's father. In this way, Mr Macdonald and Kezia's
father were two different kinds of fathers.
Q. 3. How does Kezia begin to see her father as a human
being who needs her sympathy?
Ans. Kezia was very much afraid of her father and tried to
avoid him. After he punished her for using his speech paper for
stuffing the pin cushion, she had been terribly frightened. Once
Kezia's mother and grandmother had to stay at hospital and their
cook, Alice made her sleep on her bed. She had a nightmare. She
cried out. Her father came and took her to his bedroom. He made
her lie beside him, asked her to warm up herself and thus comforted
her. While lying besides him, she got to hear his heart beat. She
found him innocent, loving and caring but tired. She was not
longer afraid of him. All her misunderstandings were cleared and
she considered him as a human being who needed her sympathy.
Q.4. Write the character-sketch of Kezia.
Ans. Kezia was a little sensitive girl. To her, father was a
horrible figure. She was terribly afraid of him. She felt nervous in
his presence. She took a great sign of relief as he left for the office.
She could not answer properly to his questions. She made a
beautiful cushion with hard labour to present it on her father's
birthday. But unknowingly she annoyed her father, as she torn the
important papers. But ultimately she realized her father's true
nature. She felt the genuine love of her father behind his harshness.
She also realized her mistake and in the end she kept her head on
his father's chest and heard his beats. She called him dear father.
Q. 5. Describe the departure from and arrival at home of
Kezia's father,
Ans. Kezia's father went for work in the morning. Before going,
he would give Kezia a casual kiss. Then she would say, "Goodbye,
father". The sound of the going carriage gave Kezia a sense of a
glad relief. Father came back from work in the evening. At this
time, the little girl would stand near the staircase. She would hear
the loud voice of father coming from the hall. He would demand
tea and ask for the stairs. Her father would then hear her mother
call her. On this call, she would slowly go down the stairs. Her
father would look at her over his glasses. The glance would frighten
the girl. Now she would stutter to his ordinary questions. He would
be angry and the girl would fear him more.
Q. 6. Why did Kezia change her opinion about her father?
Ans. On the night Kezia was left alone in the house. There
came a horrible night dream to her. Her father took her to his room
and lay beside her. She crept close to him, snuggled her head
under his arm, held tightly to his shirt. He asked her to rub her feet
against his legs to get them warm. He slept before the little girl. A
funny feeling came over her. She thought that he had to work hard.
There is no one to look after him. He was harder than Grandmother,
but it was a nice hardness. He had got a big heart.
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