The Little Girl Important Questions Class 9 Beehive English
Very Short Answer Type Questions
Question 1. What was the name of the little girl?
Answer
Her name was Kezia.
Question 2. What was the little girl’s fault when she appeared before her father?
Answer
She stuttered badly when she appeared before her father.
Question 3. What did Kezia always find her father and mother doing on Sunday afternoons?
Answer
She always found her mother reading and father stretched out on the sofa.
Question 4. Who was Alice?
Answer
Alice was the cook in Kezia’s house.
Question 5. Who were the people in Kezia’s family?
Answer
Kezia’s family had four people in all. Her very strict father, her stern mother, her soft-hearted grandmother and little Kezia herself.
Question 6. Why was Kezia left alone one night with her father?
Answer
Kezia’s mother was ill and the grandmother went with her to the hospital.
Question 7. What gift did Kezia prepare for her father?
Answer
She prepared a pin-cushion for her father.
Question 8. Who was ‘the Macdonalds’?
Answer
They were Kezia’s next-door neighbour.
Question 9. Why was there hue and cry on the loss of the papers in the house?
Answer
There was so much hue and cry in the house on the loss of the papers because the father’s great speech for the Port Authority was written in them.
Question 10. What was Kezia’s nightmare?
Answer
Kezia saw a butcher with a knife in her nightmare.
Short Answer Type Questions
Question 1. What was Kezia’s father’s routine before going to office and after coming back in the evening?
Answer
Before going to office, Kezia’s father would come to her room, give her a perfunctory kiss and leave for work. He would return in the evening and in a loud voice ask for his tea, the papers and his slippers to be brought into the drawing-room. He would wait for Kezia to help him take off his shoes and exchange a few words with Kezia.
Question 2. What was Father’s and Kezia’s morning routine?
Answer
Before going to his office, Kezia’s father would come to Kezia’s room and give her a perfunctory kiss. She would respond with “Goodbye, Father”. Since she was afraid of him, she always felt relieved after his departure.
Question 3. Why was Kezia afraid of her father?
Answer
Kezia was afraid of her father’s strictness and terrifying angry looks. Instead of tender love and affection, she would get harsh words of scolding and physical punishment from him. Evert his giant-like size would terrify her.
Question 4. Why did Kezia go slowly towards the drawing-room when mother asked her to come downstairs?
Answer
Kezia was afraid of her dominating father. He always scolded her for one thing or the other and did not display any soft feelings or affection for his little daughter. So frightened was she of him that she went very slowly towards the drawing-room when she was asked to come downstairs to take off his shoes.
Question 5. Why was Father often irritated with Kezia?
Answer
Kezia was very scared of her father. She stuttered when he spoke to her. Also, the terrified expression on her face irritated him. In his presence she wore an expression of wretchedness. He felt that with such an expression, she seemed as if she were on the verge of suicide.
Question 6. What would Kezia’s mother ask her to do when Father returned from office?
Answer
When Father returned home from the office, the mother would tell Kezia to come downstairs and take off her father’s shoes. She would also be told to take the shoes outside. Further, she was ordered by Father to put his teacup back on the table.
Question 7. What was unusual about Kezia’ stuttering?
Answer
Kezia was able to speak without stuttering to everyone in the household but her father. In her father’s formidable presence she could barely speak and she stuttered as she attempted to speak to him.
Question 8. Why did Kezia feel that her father was like a giant?
Answer
Kezia felt that her father was like a giant because he had very big hands and neck. His mouth seemed big especially when he yawned. He had a loud voice and would often call out orders. In addition, his stem and cold behaviour made the little girl think of him as a giant.
Question 9. How did Kezia feel when her father left for office and why?
Answer
Kezia was a little girl. Her parents were working. She had formal relations with her parents. She often felt a sense of relief when her father left for office. Actually, she was afraid of her father.
Question 10. Why did Kezia avoid her father?
Answer
Kezia avoided her father because she was afraid of him. She saw him as a harsh, emotionless person who never spoke to his daughter affectionately. He reprimanded Kezia for making mistakes. Kezia stammered in front of her father since he was a very huge and giant-like figure lacking in the warmth of a father.
Question 11. What was Kezia’s father’s routine on Sundays?
Answer
On Sundays, Kezia’s father did not go for work. He would relax in the afternoon. He would stretch out on the sofa in their drawing-room, put handkerchief on his face, feet on the best cushion and sleep snoring soundly. All this while, her mother would be absorbed in reading.
Question 12. Why did Kezia go slowly towards the drawing-room when the mother asked her to come downstairs?
Answe
Kezia never enjoyed the company of her dominating father. He always scolded her for one thing or the other and never appreciated or loved her. She was so frightened of him that she went very slowly towards the drawing-room when she was’ asked to come downstairs to take off his shoes.
Question 13. What did Kezia make as a birthday gift for her father? How did she prepare it?
Answer
Kezia made a pin-cushion as a birthday gift for her father out of the beautiful piece of yellow silk that her Grandmother had given her. She laboriously stitched its three sides with a double cotton and stuffed it with papers that she took from the bed-table in her mother’s room. Finally, she sewed up the fourth side and the gift was ready.
Question 14. Who dragged Kezia down to the dining-room at night? Why?
Answer
Kezia’s father was extremely angry as he had been looking for his important Port Authority speech and he could not find the papers. Her mother dragged her down to the dining-room at night and took her to her father when she came to know that Kezia had tom the papers that had his great speech for the Port Authority.
Question 15. Kezia’s efforts to please her father resulted in displeasing him very much. How did this happen?
Answer
On grandmother’s suggestion, Kezia decided to make a pin-cushion as a birthday gift for her father, hoping that it would please her. But instead, he was furious because she had inadvertently torn the papers of his Port Authority speech and used them as a stuffing in the pin-cushion.
Question 16. Why did Father come to Kezia’s room with a ruler? What do you learn about him from the incident?
Answer
Father was a strict disciplinarian who believed in the use of physical punishment to correct children. He came to Kezia’s room with a ruler because he wanted to punish her and teach her not to touch what did not belong to her. This also shows that he was a firm, unforgiving person.
Question 17. How did Father punish Kezia? What was the impact of the punishment?
Answer
Father punished Kezia by hitting her hard on her little, pink palms with a ruler. The impact of this punishment was so strong the Kezia could never forget it. Next time when she saw him, she at once hid her hands behind her back and her cheeks flushed with fear.
Question 18. How and why did Grandmother comfort Kezia after her father hit her with a ruler?
Answer
Hours after Kezia’s father hit her with a ruler, her grandmother wrapped the little girl in a shawl and rocked her in the rocking-chair, with the child clinging to her soft body. She gave her a clean hanky to blow her nose and tried to put her to sleep comforting her with loving words.
Question 19. What did Kezia tell Alice, the cook, about her fear?
Answer
When Alice put Kezia to bed at night, the little girl suddenly became afraid as she had to sleep alone. She told Alice that she was scared of darkness and often had nightmares at night. Earlier Grannie would take her into her bed but today she was alone.
Question 20. Do you think that Kezia’ father didn’t love her?
Answer
I think Kezia’s father loved his daughter. Underneath his frightening and strict exterior, beat a father’s loving heart. If at he appeared too strict or lacking in understanding or compassion, it was probably because he was too tired or engrossed in his work, or wanted his daughter to be well-brought up.
Question 21. Grandmother tells Kezia, “I tried to explain to Father but he was too upset to listen tonight.” Why does she say that?
Answer
Kezia’s grandmother wanted Kezia to bond with her parents and always tried to bridge the gap between her and her parents, especially her father. She told Kezia that her father was too upset that night to listen to her because she did not want the little girl to nurture any grudge against her father.
Question 22. Who were Kezia’s neighbours? What did she observe about them?
Answer
The Macdonalds were Kezia’s neighbours. She saw that Mr Macdonald played with his children. He laughed when they turned the hose on him and ran about the flower-beds with his young son, Mao, on his shoulders and his two little daughters hanging on to his coat pockets.
Question 23. Kezia felt that Mr Macdonald was a better father as compared to her own father. Why?
Answer
Kezia observed that Mr Macdonald was a good-humoured cheerful fellow who enjoyed the company of his children and played with them, laughing even when they drenched him with the hose. Contrary to this, her own father was a strict disciplinarian and quite aloof. He did not express any affection or show any leniency towards Kezia, despite her young age.
Question 24. How did Father comfort the little girl, Kezia, when she got scared in her sleep?
Answer
When Kezia cried out in her sleep in fear, her father came to her room, lifted her in his arms, took her to his bed and made her sleep close to him. He allowed her to warm her feet against his legs. She felt secure and protected as she snuggled up to him.
Question 25. What kind of a person was Kezia’s father?
Answer
Kezia’s father was a hardworking man, but he was short tempered. He was a strict disciplinarian too. It was only when Kezia’s mother was hospitalized, that ahe realized that her father loved her but didn’t have the art of expressing his love.
Long Answer Type Questions
Question 1. How do you interpret the behavior of Kezia’s mother towards her?
Answer
The behaviour of Kezia’s mother towards her is unlike the expected role played by mothers in households. Perhaps, her husband’s strict nature does not leave enough room for her to pay the desired attention to her daughter. The story reveals that her relationship with her daughter is distant. She treats the little girl in accordance with her husband’s expectations. She orders her to take off her father’s shoes and put them outside as this would indicate obedience. On Sunday afternoons, she spends time engrossed in a newspaper sitting with her husband instead of talking to her daughter. When Kezia mistakenly tears the papers of her father, she drags her downstairs to face the wrath of Father. She does not try to soothe her when Father scolds and beats her. Neither does she defend her or try to protect her in any way. That is why Kezia turns to her grandmother to fulfil her need for motherly care and affection.
Question 2. Do you think the Kezia deserved the beating she got for her mistake? What light does this incident throw on her father’s character?
Answer
Kezia earned her father’s wrath for tearing his speech for the Port Authority to stuff a pin-cushion she was making for him as a birthday present. When Father discovered that Kezia was the culprit, he punished her by beating her little pink palms with a ruler to teach her not to touch what did not belong to her.
I think it was too harsh a punishment for an innocent mistake of a fond daughter who was making a gift for her father. Undoubtedly, the papers were extremely important for him and their loss must have caused him a lot of inconvenience but he should have heard out Kezia’s explanation, and understood and appreciated Kezia’s intentions. A firm but gentle reprimand would have sufficed to teach the sensitive Kezia not to touch things that did not belong to her. This incident shows that Father was a very insensitive and harsh man who demanded a very high standard of discipline from his daughter and did not tolerate any disobedience.
Question 3. Kezia decides that there are “different kinds of fathers.” What kind of father was Mr. Macdonald and how was he different from Kezia’s father?
Answer
Mr. Macdonald, Kezia’s next-door neighbour, had five children and Kezia would often see them playing in their garden. One day, when Kezia looked through the gap in the fence she saw the Macdonalds playing the game ‘tag’. It was evening, and Mr. Macdonald had just returned from work but unlike her father, he looked happy and energetic. He was having a good time with the hose on him and he tried to catch them laughing two girls time with his children – baby Mao was on his shoulders, was hanging on to his coat pockets and the party ran around the flower beds, shaking with laughter. Mr. Macdonald’s sons turned This happy scene made Kezia conclude that there were different sorts of fathers. Mr. Macdonald was so different from her own father. He was not at all strict, was always happy and thoroughly enjoyed the company of his children.
In contrast, her own father was often in an angry mood and remained much too busy in his work. She dreaded him and avoided his company as much as she could. Whenever she was with him, he would get upset because out of fear she would stammer and fumble and look silly. His strict discipline and his domineering nature would often make Kezia wonder what God made fathers for.
Question 4. What impression do you form of Kezia’s mother?
Answer
Kezia’s mother is very unapproachable, aloof figure, quite unlike a loving mother a young girl desires and needs. Perhaps her ill-health and her strict and domineering husbands demands leave her with very little room to pay the desired attention to her daughter. Her relationship with her daughter is distant. She treats the little girl in accordance with her husband’s expectations. She orders her to take off her father’s shoes and put them outside as this would indicate obedience. On Sunday afternoons, she spends her time engrossed in her reading, rather than talking to her daughter.
When Kezia innocently tears her father’s papers, she drags her downstairs to face Father’s wrath. She does not try to reason with Father when he reprimands and beats the little girl. She neither defends nor protects her in any way. She does not even go to assuage her traumatised daughter’s physical and emotional hurt. Little wonder then that Kezia turns to her grandmother to fulfill her need for motherly care and affection.
Question 5. “That night there was a hue and cry in the house.” Why did her father get agitated?
Answer
One day, when Kezia was kept indoors due to cold, her grandmother suggested that she make a pin-cushion for her father. She stitched three sides of the cushion and went to her mother’s bedroom to look for scraps with which she could fill the cushion. On the bed-table, she discovered a great many sheets of fine paper, gathered them up, tore them into tiny pieces and stuffed her case and then sewed up the fourth side. That night there was a huge hue and cry in the house because those papers were very important. It was a great speech for the Port Authority. So her parents were in search of those sheets. This was the reason that her father got agitated and punished her with a ruler.
Question 6. What were the circumstances that forced Kezia to change her opinion about her father?
Answer
When Kezia’s mother was hospitalized, her grandmother went to stay with her. Kezia was’alone at home with her father. As Alice, the cook, put Kezia to bed at night, the child was terrified of the dark and of being alone. She was afraid of the nightmares which she usually saw. On other occasions she was comforted by her grandmother, but tonight Grannie wasn’t there.
That night, Kezia again had the horrible dream and she woke up shivering and crying for her grandma. However, her father stood beside her bed with a candle in his hand. He gently took her in his arms and carried her to his room. He tucked her nicely in his bed and made her sleep close to him. She felt secure with him near her. That was when she realized that her father was busy with work and had no time to play with her. She even realized that her father loved her but didn’t have the art of expressing it. Thus, her attitude towards her father changed.
Question 7. Kezia slept one night with her father and changed her opinion about him. What was her opinion about her father before? What change did take place?
Answer
Earlier Kezia thought that her father was a cruel man. She always avoided him. She saw that her neighbour Mr. Macdonald loved her children. But her father never cared for her. One day Kezia’s mother Was taken to a hospital. Kezia was alone in her room. At night she had a nightmare. She cried with fear. Her father took her to his bed. She slept with him. Her father asked her to rub her feet against his legs to make them warm. She felt sorry for her father. He worked hard. The lie was so tiring that he had no time to play with her. She realised that it was her fault to tear up the sheets. Now it appeared to her that her father was not a hard-hearted man.
Question 8. Briefly comment on Kezia’s relationship with her grandmother?
Answer
The little girl is extremely close to her loving and sympathetic grandmother. Failing to get any expression of affection from her parents, especially her father, Kezia turns to her grandmother for the emotional support and comfort that she needs. She turns to her to fulfill her need for love and protection.
Grandmother too showers love upon the little girl. She keeps trying to help the girl build her bridges with her parents. She advises Kezia to talk to her parents when they would be more relaxed as they sat in the drawing¬room on a Sunday afternoon. Again, she suggests to Kezia suggests that she should make a pin-cushion for her father as a present for his birthday. When Father beats Kezia, it is grandmother who tries first to reason with her son and then consoles and comforts Kezia by covering her with her shawl and allowing the child to cling to her soft body.
We also learn that, at night, when Kezia is scared by the dark or by her nightmares, it is for her grandmother that the little girl calls out, and it is grandmother who takes her into her own bed. Hence, her love and support make Kezia look upto her for everything.