Extract Based Questions: The Little Girl - Class 9 PDF Download

Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.

Q1: To the little girl he was a figure to be feared and avoided. Every morning before going to work he came into her room and gave her a casual kiss, to which she responded with “Goodbye, Father And oh, there was a glad sense of relief when she heard the noise of the carriage growing fainter and fainter down the long road!

(a) Who does ‘he’ refer to in this extract?
Ans: He refers to the father of the little girl, Kezia.

(b) What kind of a person was Kezia’s father?
Ans: He was a strict disciplinarian with a harsh exterior.

(c) What were the feelings of the little girl towards him?
Ans: The little girl was afraid of him and tried to avoid him.

(d) How did she feel when her father left for office?
Ans: She heaved a sigh of relief after he left for his office.

Q2: To the little girl he was a figure to be feared and avoided. Every morning before going to work he came into her room and gave her a casual kiss, to which she responded with “Goodbye, Father”. And oh, there was a glad sense of relief when she heard the noise of the carriage growing fainter and fainter down the long road!

(a) Who is the little girl?
Ans: The little girl is Kezia.

(b) Who were the people in Kezia’s family?
Ans: Kezia’s family consisted of her father, mother, grandmother and herself.

(c) What did ‘he’ do before going to work every morning?
Ans: Before going to work every morning, he came to Kezia’s room and casually kissed her.

(d) What does this gesture show about him?
Ans: This gesture shows that he loved her girl but was not very expressive in his affection.

Q3: She never stuttered with other people – had quite given it up – but only with Father, because then she was trying so hard to say the words properly.

(a) Who is ‘she’ in this extract?
Ans: ‘She’ is Kezia, the little girl who was afraid of her father.

(b) What had she “quite given up”?
Ans: She had quite given up the occasional stuttering in front of other people.

(c) How did ‘she’ speak in the presence of her father?
Ans: In the presence of her father, Kezia stuttered while speaking and displayed lack of confidence.

(d) Why did ‘she’ stutter in her father’s presence?
Ans: Kezia was afraid of her father and hesitated to speak to him, also whenever she had to speak to him, she would stutter because then she was trying so hard to say the words properly.

Q4: ‘‘What’s the matter? What are you looking so wretched about? Mother, I wish you taught this child not to appear on the brink of suicide … Here, Kezia, carry my teacup back to the table carefully. ” He was so big – his hands and his neck, especially his mouth when he yawned. Thinking about him alone was like thinking about a giant.

(a) Who is the speaker in these lines?
Ans: The speaker is Kezia’s father.

(b) Where are they at the moment? What time is it?
Ans: They are in the drawing room. It is evening and Father has just returned from work.

(c) How does Kezia look in her father’s presence? Why?
Ans: Kezia looks miserable and gloomy in his presence because she is scared of him.

(d) Why was she scared of her father?
Ans: She was scared of him because he was a large, loud man and he often reprimanded her.

Q5: Slowly the girl would slip down the stairs, more slowly still across the hall, and push open the drawing – room door.
(a) What time of the day is it?
Ans: It is evening and Father is back from work.

(b) Where is the little girl going?
Ans: The little girl is going to the drawing room, where her father is sitting.

(c) Why is she going there?
Ans: She is going there to help him take off his shoes.

(d) Why does she go slowly?
Ans: She goes slowly because she is afraid of her father and is reluctant to go in his presence.

Q6: He was so big – his hands and his neck, especially his mouth when he yawned. Thinking about him alone was like thinking about a giant.
(a) Who is ‘he’ in the above extract?
Ans: In this extract, ‘he’ refers to the father of Kezia, who was a very strict disciplinarian.

(b) Why does the speaker find him so big?
Ans: The speaker is his little daughter, Kezia, who is very scared of him. Hence she finds a really big and giant-like with big hands, neck and mouth.

(c) Why does the speaker think of him as a giant?
Ans: The speaker, Kezia, thought of him as a giant because to a small girl like her, his big body structure was as frightening as that of a giant of children’s stories.

(d) When did his mouth especially appear big?
Ans: His mouth especially appeared big when he opened it wide while yawning.

Q7: On Sunday afternoons Grandmother sent her down to the drawing-room to have a “nice talk with Father and Mother”. But the little girl always found Mother reading and Father stretched out on the sofa, his handkerchief on his face, his feet on one of the best cushions, sleeping soundly and snoring.
(a) Where did Grandmother send ‘her’? Why?
Ans: Grandmother would send her to the drawing room to talk to her parents.

(b) What would ‘her’ parents be doing?
Ans: Her mother would be reading and her father would be sleeping.

(c) What do you learn about Mother from this passage?
Ans: Mother is unconcerned and not very loving as she would ignore Kezia and continue to read.

(d) What would Father say to the little girl when he got up?
Ans: When he got up Father would ask why Kezia was looking at him like a brown owl.

Q8: One day, when she was kept indoors with a cold, her grandmother told her that father’s birthday was next week, and suggested she should make him a pin-cushion for a gift out of a beautiful piece of yellow silk.

(a) Who had a cold? What was the result of the cold?
Ans: Kezia had a cold and so she could not go out, but had to stay indoors.

(b) What was the occasion next week?
Ans: It was Kezia’s father’s birthday next week.

(c) What did her grandmother want her to do?
Ans: Grandmother wanted Kezia to make a gift for her father, a pin-cushion.

(d) What did Kezia use for stuffing the pin-cushion?
Ans: Kezia used some papers she found on a bed-table in her parents’ bedroom for stuffing the pin-cushion. Unfortunately, the papers were an important speech written by her father.

Q9: “Mother, go up to her room and fetch down the damned thing – see that the child’s put to bed this instant. ”
(a) Who speaks these lines and to whom?
Ans: Kezia’s father speaks these lines to his mother.

(b) What is the mood of the speaker in these lines?
Ans: The speaker, Kezia’s father, is very angry while speaking.

(c) What does the speaker refer to as the ‘damned thing’?
Ans: The ‘damned thing’ referred to by the speaker, Kezia’s father, is the pin-cushion Kezia had made for him.

(d) Who is the ‘child’ here? Why does the speaker wish the child to be put to bed immediately?
Ans: The ‘child’ here is Kezia. Her father, the speaker, wishes her to be put to bed immediately because he is furious at the damage caused by her. He wants to punish her for tearing up his papers.

Q10. “Sit up, ” he ordered, “and hold out your hands. You must be taught once and for all not to touch what does not belong to you. ”

(a) Who is the speaker? Who is he talking to?
Ans: Kezia’s father is talking to Kezia.

(b) Where are they at the moment?
Ans: They are in Kezia’s bedroom where she had been sent for tearing up her father’s papers.

(c) Why does the speaker want the listener to hold out her hands?
Ans: Kezia’s father wanted her to hold out her hands so that he could punish her by hitting her on the palms

(d) What do you learn about the speaker from these lines?
Ans: He is a strict disciplinarian and is punishing his little daughter for tearing up his important papers. He is also unforgiving.