“An Old Woman: Question and Answers” is a powerful and moving story about the importance of family, tradition, and the power of love. The story tells the tale of an old woman who is struggling to cope with the loss of her son. The old woman is isolated and alone, and she finds solace in her memories of her son and in the traditions that she has passed down to her grandchildren. Read More Plus One English Question and Answers.
An Old Woman Question and Answers
Question 1.
How do the hills and temples heighten the effect of desertion?
Answer:
The hills and temples heighten the effect of desertion at various levels. First of all, they stand for loneliness and abandonment. Secondly, they heighten the difficulty of earning one’s living as there are not many opportunities available to earn one’s living. Thirdly, the description that the cracks around the eyes of the old woman spread beyond her skin, making the hills, temples and the sky crack, further heighten the effect of desertion. But, what remains as the ultimate reference to desertion is the fact that people desert one another in families and in communities. These hills and temples are holy places which people visit to earn divine blessings. But people hardly care for their fellow human beings.
Question 2.
Narrate the experience of the speaker in ‘An Old Woman’.
Answer:
In ‘An Old Woman’ the narrator presents a very common incident most tourists experience when they visit a historical shrine. Such tourist places are usually crowded out by beggars, vendors, and tourist guides pestering tourists to give them alms or buy toys and trinkets, or to hire them as guides respectively. The first four stanzas portray the old woman as ‘a burr’. The first stanza describes the narrator’s reaction. The sixth and seventh stanzas describe the narrator’s reaction and also signal a change in his attitude as well as his perspective towards old women.
The poem is a recollection of the narrator’s experience when he visited a historical place on the barren hills of Jejuri town, which houses the famous legendary ‘Horseshoe’ shrine for Khandoba, the presiding deity at Jejuri. The poet presents his experience dramatically helping the reader visualize it instantly. As soon as he had landed in the place, an old beggar woman grabbed hold of his sleeve and hobbled along with him, pestering him to give her a fifty paise coin in return for which she would guide him to the horseshoe shrine. Though he told her that he had already seen it, she persisted and did not let him go. At that moment, the poet’s previous experience of dealing with old women coupled with that incident makes the narrator express his annoyance and scorn for such old women saying that they are like ‘a burr’ which cannot be brushed off easily.
The narrator, then turned around to face her and send her away with a decisive look. Immediately, the old woman expressed her predicament stating that there was nothing else to do on those wretched hills except begging. Her statement shocked the narrator slightly. The old woman’s words triggered the moment of transformation in him. This made him look at her eyes sunk deep inside her face like two bullet holes and look right at the sky clearly through them. Her skin is wrinkled and cracks begin to appear around her eyes and spread beyond her skin. He feels that everything is falling apart. Everything is cracked and in ruins. The cracks spread beyond her skin to the hills and the sky. There is a catastrophe. The hills crack, the temples crack and the sky falls and shatters like a sheet of glass except for the “shatterproof crone who stands alone”. At this moment the poet realizes his own value. He has been reduced to a fifty paise coin in the hands of poverty. It is at this moment that the poet’s scorn for the old woman changes to respect.
“An Old Woman” is a beautiful and thought-provoking story that has much to teach us about ourselves and the world around us. I encourage you to revisit the story from time to time and to reflect on its message.