CBSE TEST PAPER - 01

Class – 12 English Core (Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers)

General Instruction:

Question No. 1 to 3 carry four marks each.

Question No. 4 to 10 carry three marks each.

1. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
Aunt Jennifer’s tigers prance across a screen,
Bright topaz denizens of a world of green.
They do not fear the men beneath the tree:
They pace in sleek chivalric certainty.”
a. What does prancing tigers symbolize?
b. Why are they referred to as ‘denizens of a world of green’?
c. What qualities of the ‘tigers’ are highlighted here?
d. What are her tigers symbolic of?
2. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:

Aunt Jennifer’s fingers fluttering through her wool

Find even the ivory needle hard to pull.
The massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band
Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer’s hand.”

a. Why do Aunt Jennifer’s fingers flutter through her wool?

b. Why does she find it hard to pull the ivory needle?
c. Explain: ‘massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band’.
d. Give the meaning of 'Fluttering'.
3. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:

When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie

Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by
The tigers in the panel that she made
Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid

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 a. What is Aunt Jennifer’s death symbolic of?
b. Explain: “terrific hands”.
c. What does ‘ringed with ordeals’ imply?
d. How are Aunt Jennifer’s tigers different from her?
4. How do the tigers made by Aunt Jennifer look like?
5. What do the tigers made by the Aunt symbolize?
6. Explain -“They pace in sleek chivalric certainty”.
7. How is Aunt Jennifer affected by the ‘weight of matrimony’?
8. Why do you think Aunt Jennifer’s hands are fluttering through her wool? Why is she
finding the needle so hard to pull?
9. What do you understand by “massive weight of uncle’s wedding band”?
10. Explain -‘her terrified hands will lie; still ringed with the ordeals she was mastered by’.

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 CBSE TEST PAPER - 01
Class – 12 English Core (Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers)
Answers

1. a. Prancing tigers are a symbol of the spirit of freedom within Aunt Jennifer which
remains subdued.
b. The tigers are the dwellers of the green forest so they are referred to as denizens of a
world of green.
c. Fearlessness and ferocity of the tigers are highlighted here. Aunt Jennifer’s
nervousness and timidity are in sharp contrast to wild ferocity of the tigers that are
not afraid of hunting men. Unlike Aunt Jennifer, the tigers fear nothing.
d. Her tigers are symbolic of Aunt Jennifer’s desire for freedom. They are also symbols
of strength and self-confidence.
2. a. Aunt Jennifer lives in constant fear of her husband. She feels so nervous and terrified
that her hands shake and flutter when she sits down to knit.
b. She finds it hard to pull the ivory needle more because of mental suppression than
because of physical weakness. Due to constant fear that she confronts she has become
a nervous wreck.
c. The expression is symbolic of male authority and power. Matrimony binds the
woman physically as well as mentally. Likewise, Aunt Jennifer is trapped in gender
oppression and feels herself burdened by the authority of her husband. Hence, she is
fettered with the massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band.
d. 'Fluttering' means to move in quick, irregular motions as if being agitated.
3. a. Aunt Jennifer’s death is symbolic of her complete submission to her suppression.
b. Aunt Jennifer is terrified by her bitter experience of married life. He has a dominating
husband and hence her hands are shivering.
c. Aunt Jennifer has been so victimized throughout her life that even after death she
remains trapped. We find her a victim of gender discrimination, injustice and
oppression.
d. Aunt Jennifer’s tigers provide a striking contrast to her. The old lady is weak and
scared of men, whereas the tigers symbolise strength, power and fearlessness.
4. The tigers, made by Aunt Jennifer on the screen, are jumping and playing about without
any fear of the men beneath the tree. They walk in elegance and style displaying the

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 spirit of courage, fearlessness, strength and confidence.
5. The tigers made by Aunt Jennifer symbolize the spirit of courage, strength and
fearlessness Aunt Jennifer, a victim of male oppression, expresses her crushed feelings in
the form of art. So, the tigers are symbolic of the fear of male domination with which
Aunt Jennifer suffers.
6. The movement of the tigers are sleek, stealthy, sure, majestic and elegant. They are sure
of their purpose. Gallant and confident, they move ahead fearlessly undeterred by any
obstacles or hindrances.
7. Aunt Jennifer cannot do things freely. She tries to come up to the expectation of her
husband. She seems to have lost her identity. The freedom that she dreams of through
her art is itself symbolic of her oppressed self.
8. Aunt Jennifer is victimized by the overbearing and dominant nature of her husband. Her
life has become a torture due to her suppression by her atrocious husband. The fear of
her authoritative husband has gone so deep into her being that she seems to have lost all
strength and energy. Thus, her hands shake and flutter so much that she is not even able
to pull the needle through the tapestry.
9. Generally ‘wedding band’ is a symbol of joy and happiness. But in case of Aunt Jennifer, it
has become a symbol of torture and oppression. Her relationship with her authoritative
husband has become a painful burden to carry. Her ‘wedding band’ has brought her a
world of pain, misery and torture. She has lost her freedom and entered a world of
humiliation and oppression.
10. These lines convey Aunt’s complete submission to the oppressive authority of her
husband. The fear of her husband has gone so deep into her being that even death cannot
liberate her from the chains of her mental suppression. Memories of her husband’s
tortures and atrocities which bent her into a humiliating slavery will continue to haunt
her even after her death.

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