Don`t bite your nails, Amanda!

AMANDA

Prepared By: Nityanandesh Narayan Tripathi PGT English Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya

Robin Mc Maugh Klein is a wellknown Australian author of books for children. She was born 28 February 1936, in Kempsey, New South Wales and now resides near Melbourne.

The Poetess of the Poem

Don’t bite your nails, Amanda! Don’t hunch your shoulders, Amanda! Stop that slouching and sit up straight, Amanda!

(There is a languid, emerald sea, Where the sole inhabitant is me – A mermaid, drifting blissfully.)

Did you finish your homework, Amanda? Did you tidy your room, Amanda? I thought I told you to clean your shoes, Amanda!

(I am an orphan, roaming the street, I pattern soft dust with my hushed, bare feet. The silence is golden, the freedom is sweet.)

Don’t eat that chocolate, Amanda! Remember your acne, Amanda! Will you please look at me when I’m speaking to you, Amanda!

(I am Rapunzel, I have not a care: Life in a tower is tranquil and rare; I’ll certainly never let down my bright hair!)

Stop that sulking at once, Amanda! You’re always moody, Amanda! Anyone would think that I nagged at you, Amanda!

Instructions that Amanda did not Like

Desires of Amanda

• Don’t bite nails • Don’t hunch shoulders • Stop slouching and sit up straight • Finish homework • Tidy the room • Clean the shoes • Don’t eat the chocolate • Look in the eyes when being talked • Don’t sulk • Don’t be moody

• To become mermaid – So that she could live alone at a peaceful place without any instruction. • To become Orphan – So that she may not have any guardian to give her strict instructions. • To become Rapunzel – She would be happy even in a secluded and prison like place where she will not have anybody to instruct her.

Meaning of difficult words • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Hunch – Bend Slouch – Droop, Bend Languid – Relaxed, Lazy Emerald – Bright green Sole – Single, Alone Inhabitant – Occupant, Resident Drift – Float, Glide Bliss – Happiness, Pleasure Tidy – Neat, In order Orphan – Without parents Hush – Silence Bare – Naked, Without cover Acne – Spots, Bad Skin Tranquil – Calm , Relaxing Sulk – Be in a temper, Be in a mood Nag – Irritate, Harass

Text Book Question & Answer 1. The age of Amanda is between 5 to 10 years. It is so because the children of this age group deny the rules laid down by elders. They also imagine to become the characters like Mermaid and Rapunzel. 2. Amanda’s elders are talking to her. They may be her brother, sister, mother or father. 3. Stanzas 2, 4 and 6 are given in parentheses because these are the thinking or desires of Amanda. However no body listens it. 4. Amanda is the speaker in stanzas 2,4 and 6. The elders speaking in the stanzas 1,3,5 and 7 are not listening to Amanda’s desires expressed in the stanzas 2,4 and 6.

5. If she were Mermaid then Amanda would in the emerald ocean alone. 6. Amanda is not an orphan but still she calls herself an orphan because she wants to be free from the rules and regulations put on her by parents. 7. Rapunzel was a beautiful princess who was captured by a monster and put in a tower. Rapunzel had long hairs. One day a prince climbed onto the tower with the help of the same hair and then saved the princess. Amanda also wants to live in the same tower where she may have peace and freedom. But she will not put her hair down from the tower to be saved by any prince.

8. The little girl Amanda desired for a free and peaceful life where no body was there to instruct her all the time. From this poem we came to know that Amanda was a kind of person who did not like to be under the rules and regulations because she was ignorant about the difference between freedom, bondage and discipline. 9. Yes, Amanda is moody and she is sulking also because she is asked by her elder to stop being sulky and moody