Aunt Jennifer’s Tiger

Ans. The tigers are bright yellow in colour and they live in the dense green forest. They do not fear the men who come for hunting. The tigers are elegant and chivalrous as they prance around.

Ans. The poet uses imagery as we can visualize the trembling fingers of Aunt Jennifer. This shows how terrified she is of her husband. Perhaps he does not approve of her hobby and so she is scared of him. She must have suffered many ordeals since young age.

Ans. She wants to live a free life. She seeks fearlessness. She wants to move out of the oppressed life enforced upon her through the wedlock. These desires are depicted through the free and fearless tigers embroidered by her.

Ans. Aunt Jennifer faced oppression by her husband, throughout her married life. She had lived in constant fear. She cannot live freely and is traumatised of her husband. She has lived with the immense burden of marital responsibilities.

Ans. The phrase means that the wedding ring given by the uncle to aunt Jennifer brings along with it, an immense burden of martial obligations. These duties are referred to as the massive weight of the uncle’s wedding band.

Ans. Aunt Jennifer’s reality is a depressed person living an oppressed and fearful life. Her imagination can be seen in the tigers who are free, fearless, elegant residents of the forest.

Ans. She created such animals to put forth her feelings. She wished to live freely and fearlessly. Thus, she expresses this innermost desire through her creation. The tigers are in contrast to her character and she wishes to be like them.

Ans. Aunt Jennifer was embroidering a panel of prancing tigers. The poet refers to the tigers as Aunt Jennifer tigers because they are her creation, her work of art.

Ans. Aunt Jennifer used her art as a medium to vent out her oppressed feelings. She made the tigers which were confident and majestic.

Ans. 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 spirit of courage, fearlessness, strength and confidence.

Ans. Aunt Jennifer is a timid and terrified old woman whose nature is in stark contrast to the fearless and chivalrous tigers she has created.

Ans. Prancing tigers are a symbol of the spirit of freedom within Aunt Jennifer which remains subdued. They also symbolize her fear of her male counterpart.

Ans. 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.

Ans. The poet uses many images and symbols to describe the unpleasant experience of Aunt Jennifer’s married life. Massive weight of ‘Uncles wedding band’ is a symbol of harsh and bitter experiences of married life of Aunt Jennifer.

Ans. The tigers are the dwellers of the green forest so they are referred to as ‘denizens of a world of green’.

Ans. Aunt Jennifer is too terrified to openly resist the oppression that she is victim of. She expresses her bitterness and anger against male dominance silently through her art. She created tigers on her tapestry; animals that are symbolic of bravery, fearlessness and strength. Besides, she portrays these tigers as creatures unafraid of the men around them. The tigers she creates are wild and free from any kind of bondage.

Ans. aunt Jennifer’s tigers are created by her on the tapestry. However, they present a sharp contrast to their creator. While the Aunt is weak, meek and submissive and scared of expressing her feeling openly, the tigers are strong fearless and confident. They are bold creatures and are scared of no one. The aunt is in bonded in matrimony and faces several restrictions. On the other hand, the tigers move about freely.

Ans. Aunt Jennifer lives in constant fear of her dominating husband. She feels so nervous and terrified that her hands shake and flutter when she sits down knit.

Ans. Aunt Jennifer is victimized by the dominant nature of her husband. Her life has become a torture due to her suppression by her 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.

Ans. 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 dominating nature continue to haunt her even after her death.

Ans. Yes, we do sympathise with Aunt Jennifer. She has experienced hardships and ordeals during her married life. The attitude of the speaker towards Aunt Jennifer is equally sympathetic.

Ans. Since the society is male dominated, it shows no concern for Aunt’s suffering, even her death. The loss of her freedom is her individual loss. The society is not affected by it.

Ans. The women are silenced in the male- dominated society, this topic is silently addressed in Aunt Jennifer’s Tiger. In this poem, the poet has explored the mechanisms of the ‘male domination’ and ‘patriarchy’ that exists in the society. Adrienne Rich, a poet from marginalized communities reacts towards the dominating nature that forms the mainstream society. Rich saw poetry as a keen-edged beacon by which women’s lives and consciousness could be enlightened. The poem is an eye- opener to re-construct the identity of the women. The poet examines women’s positions in a conventional society, and strongly argues for restructuring identity and, rewriting the norms that result in envisioning a new world to come.

Hence, as Aunt Jennifer expresses her innate desires through her knitting, Adrienne Rich displays her ideals through poetry.

Ans. The role of women in society and the language used by men for social and political gain go hand in hand. For poet Adrienne Rich the personal becomes the political and this short poem, whilst not overtly political, hints at more radical work to come. Aunt Jennifer has suffered over the years and is looking for a positive way to express her artistic talents, before it’s too late. She intends that the tigers she creates will outlast her and become a symbol of freedom and independence.

Ans. One redeeming feature of her life is displayed in the last stanza, the prancing, free spirited tigers, will continue indefinitely. This gives a ray of hope for those who see no way out of a relationship. Art can bring a sense of inner peace and instil confidence, however fragile. This gives a ray of hope for those who see no way out of a relationship. Art can bring a sense of inner peace and instil confidence, however fragile. This is a feminist twist on the classic signature tune of art’s ability to live longer than human life

Ans. The poet highlights the victimization of oppressed Aunt Jennifer in his poem. According to him, she is so terrified of her husband that her fingers tremble when she pulls out the needle through wool which is very light. It symbolizes her physical as well as emotional weakness. The wedding ring which she is wearing seems heavy to her, as she finds it difficult to go ahead as her married life has taken away her freedom from her.

Ans. Aunt Jennifer’s tigers were different from her because she herself was a timid lady whereas her tigers were symbolic of bravery, courage and fearlessness. They stand for power, strength and confidence which she lacks in herself. Aunt Jennifer created animals, i.e., tigers which were very different from her own docile character because they represented the fearlessness and freedom which she was deprived of. They also represented her secret longing to live a brave and fearless life like them.

Ans. Aunt Jennifer expresses her bitterness through her art by knitting tigers on the panel which symbolise freedom, strength and chivalry.

Ans. Aunt Jennifer has made those tigers to express her hidden suppressed feelings. Oppressed in a male dominated society, the qualities of a tiger like fearlessness and bravery are the ones which Aunt Jennifer longs to have.

Ans. Aunt Jennifer is surrounded by the constraints of married life. She was probably dominated by her husband throughout her life. She was a timid woman and could never stand up to her husband boldly. She remained a caged bird and bore her sufferings meekly. She is the embodiment of the miseries inflicted by a patriarchal society.

Ans. When Aunt Jennifer will be dead; she will still remain chained to the ordeals of her married life in the same way as she was mastered by when she was alive. It is considered that she will not be able to shake off the shackles of her married life. Since the society is male dominated, it will show no concern for Aunt’s suffering, even her death.

Ans. Aunt Jennifer lived in constant fear of her husband. She was very weak and frail. She could never stand up boldly against her tyrannical husband. She revolted silently in her own way, i.e., by creating tigers on a panel to symbolize her wish to be strong, fierce and free like the tigers. There was no escape even after death. Her terrified hands still will be ringed with ordeals that she was mastered with

Ans. In the poem, ‘Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers’, Aunt Jennifer was oppressed by her husband. She was confined within the four walls of her husband’s house and was not free to do what she wished. She was also overburdened by her marital responsibilities. Although Aunt Jennifer tried her best to conquer her fear, she continued to be traumatised and oppressed by her husband. Her act of embroidering fearless, prancing tigers could only give her a temporary release to her pent up feelings of liberation.

Aunt Jennifer is quiet weak and submissive, whereas the tigers are strong, bold and powerful. She is bound by the constraints of her married life, while the tigers are free to move about in the green woods. The tigers created by Aunt Jennifer are an expression of her desire to free herself from the restrictions of her married life. She wants to be bold and fearless like her tigers. Aunt Jennifer expresses her bitterness and anger against male dominance silently through her art. She creates tigers on her tapestry; animals that are unafraid of men and are symbolic of bravery, fearlessness and strength

Ans. 12, Davidson County

23 January ‘XX

Dear hubby,

I want to tell you that I love you very much. I know that you equally reciprocate this feeling. However, due to the society in which we have been brought up, I have been a target of male chauvinism. Though unknowingly to you, I have been afraid of you. Right after marriage, a girl has to adjust to the new house. In that situation, when she is burdened with the rules and regulations, she gets under-confident. Same happened with me. I had been afraid to tell you this earlier but Adrienne Rich’s poem gave me the courage to share the truth with you. As now I am nearing my death-bed, I want to let you know that I have loved and cherished every moment of life that I have spent with you, yet in some corner of my mind, I have been afraid lest any of my words or activities should anger you.

Hope you will take this in good spirits.

With love

Jennifer