CBSE Class 12 English Core — Flamingo (Prose) — Memories of Childhood by Zitkala-Sa / Vistas (Play) — On the Face of It by Susan Hill

Read the following extracts and answer the questions for ANY ONE of the given two (A) or (B): (A) [Memories of Childhood] 'I cried aloud, shaking my head all the while until I felt the cold blades of the scissors against my neck, and heard them gnaw off one of my thick braids. Then I lost my spirit. Since the day I was taken from my mother, I had suffered extreme indignities. People had stared at me. I had been tossed about in the air like a wooden puppet. And now my long hair was shingled like a coward's! In my anguish, I moaned for my mother, but no one came to comfort me. Not a soul reasoned quietly with me, as my own mother used to do; for now I was only one of many little animals driven by a herder.' (i) Complete the following suitably: 'Then I lost my spirit', indicates that the speaker _________. (ii) What does Zit Kala-Sa imply about the prejudice prevailing in society when she talks of having 'suffered extreme indignities'? (iii) Why did Zit Kala-Sa yearn to be with her mother in her moment of anguish? (iv) The tone of the narrator in the extract can be best described as (A) bitter and strong willed (B) detached and impersonal (C) pained and despairing (D) grateful and reflective. OR (B) [On the Face of It] Derry: But I'm not.... I'm not afraid [pause] people are afraid of me. Mr. Lamb: Why should that be? Derry: Everyone is. It doesn't matter who they are, or what they say, or how they look. How they pretend. I know. I can see. Mr. Lamb: See what? Derry: What they think? Mr. Lamb: What do they think, then? Derry: You think.... 'Here's a boy'. You look at me... and then you see my face and you think. That's bad. That's a terrible thing. 'That's the ugliest thing I ever saw.' You think, 'poor boy'. But I'm not. Not poor. Underneath, you are afraid. Anybody would be - I am. When I look in the mirror, and see it, I'm afraid of me. Mr. Lamb: No, not the whole of you. Not of you. Derry: Yes! (i) Which emotion dominates Derry's dialogue in this extract? (A) superiority (B) shrewdness (C) vulnerability (D) indifference. (ii) Complete the following suitably: According to Derry, the people put up a pretence when they see him because _________. (iii) Complete the following suitably: When Mr. Lamb says, 'No, not the whole of you. Not of you.' He means _________. (A) Your face will get healed and your ideas about your appearance will change. (B) You are not just your face or your injury. That is not the sum total of who you are. (C) I am afraid of your face and your appearance. (D) You shouldn't look into the mirror so that you don't get the feeling of dejection. (iv) State in one sentence: What advice will you give to the people who pretend to look away when they see Derry's face?