Class-XII-ENGLISH
SHOULD WIZARD HIT MOMMY ?
BY
V. SUNDaR (P.G.T.ENGLISH)
Author
Introduction
About the lesson
Characters
Wizard
Skunk
CONTENTS
Owls
Question raised by the lesson
Simplified version of the story
Moral issue raised by the lesson
Short answer type question
Long answer type questions
Main points
Conclusion
Vocabulary
John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic. Updike's most famous work is his Rabbit series (Rabbit Run; Rabbit Redux; Rabbit Is Rich; Rabbit At Rest; and Rabbit Remembered). Both Rabbit is Rich and Rabbit at Rest received the Pulitzer Prize. Updike, who had a history of smoking tobacco, died of lung cancer in 2009.
John Updike
Describing his subject as "the American small town, Protestant middle class", Updike was widely recognized for his careful craftsmanship, his unique prose style, and his prolific output, having published more than twenty novels and more than a dozen short story collections, as well as poetry, art criticism, literary criticism and children's books. Hundreds of his stories, reviews, and poems appeared in The New Yorker, starting in 1954. He also wrote regularly for The New York Review of Books.
Updike populated his fiction with characters who frequently experience personal turmoil and must respond to crisis relating to religion, family obligations, and marital infidelity.His work has attracted a significant amount of critical attention and praise, and he is widely considered to be one of the great American writers of his time as well as a notable prose stylist.
Style of writing
Introduction
Little children love to hear stories from their parents at bed-time. Such stories are mostly fables and have no logic behind them. Many a time parents make up stories out of their own head. Little children take them as literally true .
About the Lesson
In ’should wizard hit mummy?’ John Updike presents the world view of a little child. Joe warmly responds to her father’s story telling. But she can’t excuse Roger Skunk’s mother for making poor little Roger smell bad again. Her hero must smell like roses and must not stink at any cost. She wants her father to tell a different story in which little changes has made. In that version the wizard takes magic wand and hits Roger Skunk’s mummy.
Vocabulary
substance from the tusk
Characters
Jo
Jack (Jo’s father)
Wizard
Roger Skunk
Jo’s mother
Wise Owl
A magician, sorcerer, wizard, or a person known under one of many other possible terms in fiction is someone who uses or practices magic that derives from supernatural or occult sources. Magicians are common figures in works of fantasy, such as fantasy literature and role-playing games; they draw on a history of such people in mythology, legends, and folklore (see Magician (paranormal)). Although occasional practitioners of sleight-of-hand appear in modern fantasy, they are usually simulating the magic that others perform—or sometimes concealing their actual magic.
Fantasy magicians have powers arising from their study, possibly based on innate talent, rather than having their magical abilities occur entirely spontaneously, or be granted by another source. (Other fantasy characters can use magic or be magical, but they have generally not acquired their powers by study.) Still, most fantasy wizards are depicted as having a special gift which sets them apart from the vast majority of characters in fantasy worlds who are unable to learn magic.
Wizard
Magicians, sorcerers, wizards, and practitoners of magic by other titles have appeared in myths, folktales and literature throughout recorded history, and fantasy draws on this background. They commonly appear in fantasy as mentors and villains, as they did in older works, and more recently as heroes themselves. Although they are often portrayed as wielding great powers, their role in shaping the fantasy world they inhabit varies; much of fantasy literature writes of medieval worlds with wizards in a fairly limited role as guardians or advisors
Let’s see some wizards
Skunks are mammals best known for their ability to secrete a strong, foul-smelling odor. General appearance ranges from species to species, from black-and-white to brown or cream colored. Skunks belong to the family Mephitidae and to the order Carnivora. There are 10 species of skunks, which are divided into four genera: Mephitis (hooded and striped skunks, two species), Spilogale (spotted skunks, two species), Mydaus (stink badgers, two species), and Conepatus (hog-nosed skunks, four species). The two skunk species in the Mydaus genus inhabit Indonesia and the Philippines; all other skunks inhabit the Americas from Canada to central South America.
Skunks were formerly classified as a subfamily within the family Mustelidae, which includes weasels, otters, badgers, and relatives. However, recent genetic evidence suggests that the skunks are not as closely related to the mustelids as previously thought, and are now classified in their own family. Some taxonomists dispute this claim, and continue to group skunks in family Mustelidae
SKUNKS
Owls
Owls have large forward-facing eyes and ear-holes, a hawk-like beak, a flat face, and usually a conspicuous circle of feathers around each eye called a facial disc. Although owls have binocular vision, their large eyes are fixed in their sockets, as with other birds, and they must turn their entire head to change views.
Owls are far-sighted, and are unable to see anything clearly within a few inches of their eyes. Caught prey can be felt by owls with the use of filoplumes, which are small hair-like feathers on the beak and feet that act as "feelers". Their far vision, particularly in low light, is exceptionally good. Contrary to popular myth, owls cannot turn their heads completely backwards. They can turn their head 135 degrees in either direction; they can thus look behind their own shoulders, with a total 270 degree field of view.
Different species of owls make different sounds; the wide range of calls aids owls in finding mates or announcing their presence to potential competitors, and also aids ornithologists and birders in locating these birds and recognizing species. The facial disc helps to funnel the sound of prey to their ears. In many species, these are placed asymmetrically, for better directional location.
Owl eggs are usually white and almost spherical, and range in number from a few to a dozen, depending on species. The eggs are laid in intervals of 1–3 days and do not hatch at the same time. This accounts for the wide variation in the size of sibling nestlings. Owls do not construct nests but rather look for a sheltered nesting site or an abandoned nest, in trees, underground burrows, or in buildings, barns and caves.
Question raised by the lesson
As children grow up they become inquisitive and they begin to ask many questions. They want to know why and how certain things happen. They want to know the reason behind the things. Sometimes parents take this question of child affront. They try to discourage them. They want to accept as true whatever is said to them.
‘Is this attitude desirable’? The lesson poses this very question.
Simplified version of the story
*Jack used to tell stories to his daughter Jo in the evenings and for Saturday naps.
*This custom began when she was two .
*Every story was a product of his own head.
*Each story was a slight variation of basic tale.
*Every story had a small creature Roger-it could be a Roger fish, Roger squirrel or Roger Chipmunk.
*In every story Roger had a problem and he went to wise owl.
*Owl send Roger to wizard.
*Wizard perform a magic spell that solved the problem.
*Wizard demand in payment a number of pennies greater than the number Roger creature had.
*Wizard direct Roger to the place were he get extra pennies.
*Then he settles the wizard and becomes happy and goes back his home.
c) Ending of story and Jack’s little problem.
*Then Roger was so happy that he played with many other creatures and went home to his mother just in time to hear the train whistle that brought his dady home from Boston.
*Jack describe their supper and the story was over.
*Working this way was fatiguing on Saturday because Jo never fell asleep in naps anymore.
*The little girl grow around four years old did not find that some magic would occur and would sleep like an infant of two.
*However her brother Bobby was already asleep with his bottle.
*Jack asked her” who shall the story be about today”? one day. she at once asked Roger Skunk.
*Jack thought that Roger skunk was a new animal having a new hero for his tales stirred his enthusiasm.
*He at once started narrating his story with like “Once upon a time, there was a tiny little creature named Roger Skunk and he smells so bad…”.
*Roger Skunk smelled so bad that no creatures would play with him whenever he would go out to play other animals would cry ,”Uh-Oh here comes Roger Stinky Skunk” and would run away.
*Roger Skunk would stand all alone ands tears would fall from his eyes.
g)
*Little Jo could already guess what would be the storyline next.
*She asked “Won’t he see the owl ?“
*Jack continued there lived a big wise owl in the tip top of a tree Roger Skunk told him his pathetic tale the wise owl advised him to go to the wizard
*At last Roger skunk came to a little white house and he saw a little old man who had a long white beard and a pointed blue hat
*Roger skunk told wizard that he smell very badly and due to this
all other little animals ran away from him.
*The wizard asked him seven pennies.
*Roger had only four and he started crying.
*The wizard send him to a magic well were Roger found three pennies.
*He took them back to wizard , the wizard was very happy and made him smell like roses.
*All other little animals gathered around him. They played games and laughed all afternoons.
*Roger Skunk’s mommy asked him what that ‘awful smell’ was.
*Roger replied that he himself smelled like roses. The wizard made him smell like that
*Then she brought him right back to the ‘awful wizard’.
*Roger was crying if he got the previous smell back then again no one will come to play with him.
*But his mother didn’t care about that and made the wizard to get the awful smell back.
*Jo didn’t like the end of the story.
*She doesn’t want the hero of her story to smell bad and wanted him back to smell like roses.
*She wanted her father to tell her that “that magic wand hit that mommy”.
* Jack went downstairs he saw that Clare was stroking the chair by with a dipped brush.
*Above him Jo (Joanne) was still in the agitated mood and hadn’t slept. He shouted at her from below.
* Jack felt himself in a peculiar condition. He watched his wife labour.
* He felt caught in an ugly middle position. He felt his wife’s presence in the cage with him.
*He didn’t want to speak with her, work with her. He could not agree with Jo’s plotline and couldn’t ignore her either.
Short answer type questions
Long Answer type Questions
Main Points
11. Roger was very happy all other little animals played with him as he smell so good now.
12. Roger’s mother became furious he didn’t like her son smelling of roses.
13. She took Roger straight back to the wizard and hit the wizard on his head hard.
Moral Issue raised by this lesson
John Updike’s short story ‘Should wizard hit mommy?’ raises certain moral issues. The basic moral issue is of racial segregation. Roger Skunk smells very bad. It is none of his fault. Nature has made him so. He has to undergo intense sufferings due to his segregation. All little creatures run away from him when he comes near to them. They refuse to play with him. Sometimes the pain becomes unbearable and he weeps. The wizard make Roger Skunk smell like roses. The little animals starts playing with him. They start liking his company. But his mother doesn’t like the smell change her son had made.
She goes straight to the wizard and makes him smell bad again. Now Roger smells like her own son. She hugs and loves him as before. There is anther moral that is presented through the story. We should not lose our originality and identity. The moral values of children varies with ours. Ugliness and hatred have no place in their idealised world. Jo is furious at Roger’s mother. She made Roger smell bad again. Roger is Jo’s hero and he must smell good.
CONCLUSION
An adult’s world is different from the world of a child. The perspectives on life are totally different. A child lives in a dreamy and romantic world. It may be world of Roger fish, Roger Squirrel, Roger Chipmunk or Roger Skunk. It is also the world of a wise owl and a wizard with a magic wand. In this world of mystery, romance and beauty there is no place for ugliness. For Jo Roger Skunk is the hero of the story. Jo can’t tolerate Roger Skunk smelling bad again. It is due to the stupid mommy of Roger.
Hence she should be punished. The wizard must beat her with his magic wand. Jack and Clare’s world is the world of adults. An adult develops his own likes or dislikes. He sees the world through the coloured glass of his eyes. But a child’s innocent heart will always say what is just and natural.
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