Ch. 5 Should Wizard Hit Mommy?, 12th-Eng

 Updated on 27/12/2021

 

5. Should Wizard Hit Mommy? (John Updike)

 

Main Points of the chapter:

 

·      This story is about a little & four years old girl, Jo.

 

·      Her worldwide is different from the views of her father, Jack.

 

·      Jack tells his little daughter bed time stories since she was two years old.

 

·      The story is always about a little animal called Roger (Roger Fish, Roger Squirrel, Roger Chipmunk etc.)

 

 

·      In story he had problem and little Roger consulted with a wise owl.

 

·      The owl tells him to consult a wizard who could solve every problem with his magic wand but charged a fee for it.

 

·      Now Jo has grown a little older and asks her father difficult moral questions about his stories.

 

·      One day Jack tells her the story of a little animal Roger Skunk.

 

·      He has a problem. His smells very bad. No animals like his bad smell.

 

·      So he goes to a wizard and the wizard makes his smell like roses.

 

·      Now other animals like to play with him.

 

·      But the Skunk’s mother is angry with him.

 

·      She takes him to the wizard.

 

·      She asks him to make Skunk smell as bad as before.

 

·      Jo is not happy at the ending of the story.

 

·      She wants that the wizard should hit the stupid mother, but Jack defends the mother’s action.

 

आइये हम कहानी को हिंदी में समझते हैं।

 

यह कहानी चार साल की एक छोटी लड़की, जोअ(JO) के बारे में है।

के विचार अपने पिता जैक(Jack) के विचारों से भिन्न हैं।

जैक (Jack)सोने से पहले अपनी छोटी लड़की को हर दिन एक कहानी सुनाता है।  तब से जब वह दो साल की थी।

कहानी में वह एक छोटे जानवर रोजर को लेता है। (जैसे रोजर फिश, रोजर गिलहरी, रोजर चिपमंक आदि) जैसे कि हम अपने बच्चों को कहानी सुनाने के लिए एक जानवर को लेते हैं।

कहानी में जोअ(JO) के पिता एक समस्या लेते हैं समस्या के समाधान के लिए कहानी का पात्र  रोजर(Roger) एक उल्लू के पास जाता है

उल्लू उसे एक जादूगर से परामर्श लेने के लिए कहता है जो अपनी जादू की छड़ी से हर समस्या को हल कर सकता है लेकिन इसके लिए वह शुल्क(Fees)लेता है।

अब जोअ (JO) थोड़ा बड़ा हो गई है और अपने पिता से उनकी कहानियों के बारे में कठिन सवाल पूछती है। जैसे हम थोड़ा बड़ा होने पर समझदार हो जाते हैं वो भी समझदार हो गई थी।

एक दिन जैक(Jack) उसे एक छोटे जानवर रोजर स्कंक(Roger Skunk) की कहानी सुनाता है।

रोजर स्कंक(Roger Skunk) की एक समस्या है। उसकी गंध बहुत खराब है। कोई भी जानवर उसकी बुरी गंध पसंद नहीं करता है।

अतः वह अपनी समस्या के समाधान के लिये एक उल्लू के पास जाता है। उल्लू उसे एक जादूगर के पास भेज भेजता है।

रोजर की इच्छा के अनुसार, जादूगर ने रोजर स्कंक की गंध को गुलाब की खुशबू में बदल दिया

गुलाब की अच्छी महक आने के बाद, रोजर बहुत खुश था, अब दूसरे जानवर भी उसके साथ खेलना पसंद करने लगे

लेकिन जब उसकी माँ को इसके बारे में पता चला तो वह बहुत क्रोधित हुई। वह उसे जादूगर के पास ले गई।

वह जादूगर से अपने बेटे की गंध को पहले की तरह खराब करने के लिए कहती है।

जो कहानी के अंत से खुश नहीं है। वह चाहती है कि जादूगर बेवकूफ मां को मारे

लेकिन जैक ने कहा, नहीं, मां ने सही किया।

आपको क्या लगता है 'क्या जादूगर को मां को मार चाहिए था (Should Wizard Hit Mommy?)

 

Very Short Type Q-Ans.

 

1. Who is the writer of the story, ‘Should Wizard Hit Mommy’?

Ans. John Updike

 

2. Who is Jo?

Ans. A little girl

 

3. What is the name of Jo’s father?

Ans. Jack

 

4. Who tells stories to Jo?

Ans. Her father, Jack

 

5. Jack stories are always about a little animal. What is its name?

Ans. Roger

 

6. In every story whom does Roger consult about his problem?

Ans. An owl

 

7. What suggestion does the owl give Roger about his problem?

Ans. To consult a wizard

 

8. Where would Roger go in order to get the pennies?

Ans. To the well

 

9. In the evening, from where did Roger’s father return?

Ans. From Boston

 

10. What kind of hat did the wizard wear?

Ans. A pointed blue hat

 

11. What did Roger the Skunk want to smell like?

Ans. Like a rose

 

12. How much money did the Wizard demand from the Skunk for making his smell like roses?

Ans. Seven pennies

 

Short Type Q-Ans.

 

 

1. How did Roger Skunk’s mommy react when he smelled like roses?

Ans. Roger Skunk mother was very angry when she found that he smelled of roses. She at once took him back to the wizard. She hit the wizard right over the head for changing his smell.

 

2. Who is Jo? How does she respond to her father’s story-telling?

Ans. Jo was Jack’s daughter. She was four years old. Jack had been telling her stories for last two years. Earlier she would listen to the stories calmly. She took theme as real. But now her wisdom is growing, she has started to ask difficult moral questions about stories. Jack often finds difficult to answer these questions. Even title ‘Should Wizard Hit Mommy’ is also taken from one of her questions.  

 

3. Why was Roger Skunk’s mother angry? What did she finally tell him?

Ans.  When Roger Skunk came back home his mother found that he smelled of roses. She was not happy. She thought that Roger should smell like a Skunk. She was angry with the wizard for giving Roger that smell. Roger told his mommy that all animals should run away from him if he got his smell back. But his mother did not care. She took Roger back to the wizard and she hit the wizard on the head.

 

4. How did Jo want the story to end and why?

Ans. In the end of the story, Roger’s mommy goes to the wizard and hits him. Jo thinks it was not fair. The smell of roses was much better than the bad smell of Skunk. So Jo thinks that the wizard should have hit back Roger’s mommy. 

 

5. What do you think was Jo’s problem?

Ans. Jo’s wisdom and sense was developing. So, she started to ask so many difficult moral questions during the stories. She would not agree with her father. It happened most of the time. It was the result of her growing wisdom. That is why she asked her father that wizard should have hit Roger’s mommy back as she was stupid.

 6. Where did Roger Skunk go to solve his problem?

Ans. Roger was a tiny little creature. He smelled very bad. All other animals used to run away from him. Roger went to the wise owl. The owl sent him to the wizard as he could solve his problem. So, he goes to the wizard to solve his problem. The wizard changed his smells like roses.

 

7. Why does Jack insist that it was the wizard that was hit and not the mother?

Ans. The parents always think that they are always right. In this story, Skunk’s mother wants that her child should smell like a Skunk. The wizard in the story has done nothing wrong to change his bad smell into roses. Yet his mother goes to the wizard and says him to change his smell back. But Jack thinks that the mother was right in hitting him. If the wizard had hit her back, it would be an insult to a mother.

 

8. What do you think regarding the two ending of the story?

Ans. Roger’s mother hit the wizard for no reason. But it would be wrong if the wizard hit her back. In my opinion the mother should not have hit him. She could ask him politely to change Roger’s smell. In this way neither an elder would feel insulted nor the wizard.

 

9. Why is an adult’s perspective on life different from that of child ?

Ans. Adults have their own views on different issues. They can be wrong or right. They measure each and everything according to their own perspective. But a child lives in dreams.  A child takes the things in his own way. Children’s response to the things is often spontaneous. He doesn’t reason much.

 

10. Describe Jack’s style of storytelling.

Ans. Jack tells her little daughter, Jo a new story every day.  It is about an animal named Roger (as Roger Skunk, Roger Fish, Roger Squirrel, Roger Chipmunk etc. His smell was very bad. The other animals do not like his bad smell. So they don’t play with him.

 

Essay Type Q-Ans.

 1. What is the moral issue that the story raises?

Ans. In this story, there are two viewpoints. Jo, a little girl has a different viewpoint and her father, Jack has a different viewpoint. As a child grows, he develops his own way of thinking. He doesn’t accept everything blindly. He raises questions against it. On the other hand adults take it as insult. They think that their children should be obedient.

Jo’s wisdom and sense was developing. So, she started to ask so many difficult moral questions during the stories. She would not agree with her father. It was the result of her growing wisdom. That is why she asked her father that wizard should have hit Roger’s mommy back as she was stupid.

Adults have their own views on different issues. They can be wrong or right. They measure each and everything according to their own perspective. But a child lives in dreams.  A child takes the things in his own way. The parents always think that they are always right. In this story, Skunk’s mother wants that her child should smell like a Skunk. The wizard in the story has done nothing wrong to change his bad smell into roses. Yet his mother goes to the wizard and hit him. If the wizard had hit her back, it would be an insult to a mother.

2. How does Jack narrate the story ‘Should Wizard Hit Mommy’?

                                          OR

     Write a brief summary of the story ‘Should Wizard Hit Mommy’?

Ans. Jack tells her little daughter, Jo a new story every day.  It is about an animal named Roger (as Roger Skunk, Roger Fish, Roger Squirrel, Roger Chipmunk etc. His smell was very bad. The other animals do not like his bad smell. So they don’t play with him.

So, he goes to a wizard, who changes his bad smell. Now he smells like roses. He feels very happy. When he comes to his mother. She became angry. She says that Skunk should smell like a Skunk and not like roses. She takes Roger with her. She goes to the wizard. She hits him with an umbrella. She makes him change Roger’s smell.

      Jo becomes restless to hear this. She feels it is unjust, when the wizard had done nothing wrong, why he should have been hit. She thinks that the wizard should have hit the mother back. She does not understand the perspective of adults. She thinks it is not fair the wizard to be hit.

 

Important Spellings and word-meanings

daughter

questions

squirrel

wizard

interrupted 

variation

creature

especially

favourite

tomorrow

experience

description

 

 

word-meanings

wizard - magician

stinky - bad smell

whining - weeping