AUNT JENNIFER'S TIGERS BY ADRIENNE RICH EXPLANATION AND NCERT QUESTIONS

AUNT JENNIFER'S TIGERS BY ADRIENNE RICH- POEM

Value Points:

• This poem of three four-line stanzas imagines a relative whose hobby is needlework.
• Aunt Jennifer reveals her dreams of a happier life in her needlework.
• From the titles given to the adults, it seems as if the speaker is a child.
• In the first stanza the relative, Aunt Jennifer, makes a panel with images of tigers parading proudly across it.  The tigers are free, unlike their maker.
• Her panel contains animals that are happier and more confident than she is. There is a ‘certainty’ about them that their maker lacks in herself.
• Aunt Jennifer paints confident, proud tigers. They are assured and confident dwellers, ‘denizens’, of their green world. ‘Denizen’ suggests independent citizen.
• It would seem that Jennifer is not an independent citizen of her own world. She is instead a wife, weighed down by duties as we learn in the second stanza.
• Jennifer uses sharp and contrasting colours, sharp yellow against a green background.
• Her tigers are as bright as topaz, a yellow gem.
• Her picture contains an image of men under a tree, though the proud tigers show no fear of the men. This is mentioned to show that they differ from Jennifer, who lives in fear of her husband to some extent.
• The tigers remind the poet of knights, full of courtesy and style. Chivalric men respected their women and acted kindly towards them. Again, this seems to contrast with how ‘Uncle’ behaved towards Aunt Jennifer according to the second stanza.
• In the second stanza, the poet describes Aunt Jennifer’s nervous hands struggling to pull the wool with her ivory needle. The word ‘fluttering’ suggests trembling.
• We get the impression of a frail woman who finds it hard to pull the needle.
• It is interesting that if her needle is made of ivory it may have come from an elephant’s tusk. Ivory is a bit like topaz, a precious material
• The poet suggests that Aunt Jennifer’s fingers find it hard to hold the weight of her wedding ring and then pull the needle at the same time.
• The wedding band is another reference to a precious substance, probably gold.
• By mentioning that it is ‘Uncle’s wedding band’, the poet suggests that Uncle owns Jennifer too and that as a female she is the property of her husband.
• The words ‘massive’ and ‘heavily’ suggest Aunt Jennifer lives a demanding sort of life in which she has to attend to her husband’s needs and fulfill his commands. As a result, she is somewhat worn out in her old age..
• Aunt Jennifer is ‘ringed’, trapped in her marriage and controlled like an animal. Her husband is her master.
• Her artwork will live on after her as a reminder of the dreams she never fulfilled.

Themes

1.      Marriage is unequal due to male domination/Inequality

The woman at the centre of the poem, Aunt Jennifer, is a nervous and fearful wife. She lacks inner conviction or ‘certainty’, unlike the tigers she portrays. Aunt Jennifer is ‘mastered’ in her life. She lives a life of inequality. She is so nervous that her fingers ‘flutter’ through the wool she is using in her tapestry or panel. The poet portrays the marriage of Jennifer as an unhappy one for her. Aunt Jennifer feels the burden of duty and obedience. This is shown by the symbol of the wedding ring that she wears. It is described as her husband’s property: ‘Uncle’s wedding band’. It ‘sits heavily’ on her hand because he dominates her life. Her life with her husband is described as a life of ‘ordeals’.  It is shown that Jennifer is terrified in her marriage. Her husband may be fiercer to her than the tigers she produces in her artwork.  The poem therefore provides a negative picture of marriage. The poem is probably saying that the ‘Uncle’ or husband is behaving like a tiger, and the tigers are ‘chivalric’ like the husband should be.

2.      The world of art is happier than the real world/Dream versus Reality

Aunt Jennifer’s hobby is making designs and pictures from wool. Jennifer produces wool tapestries that she places on panels. The creatures she places there are free and proud, the opposite to herself. She is ‘ringed’ or mastered in marriage and therefore she is not free, but controlled.  It seems that she creates a happier looking world than the one she lives in. She makes precise and brightly coloured pictures like the sharp yellow tigers of the poem, pictured against a green background. These bright contrasting colours are probably much more vivid than Jennifer’s everyday world. Her artistic work will live on after she dies, as, according to the poet, her tigers will ‘go on prancing’. The figures she creates are stronger and happier than she is. They are proud and ‘prance’ about, unlike their creator, who is nervous and fears her husband. The word ‘prance’ or parade contrasts sharply with ‘fluttering’, meaning trembling. The tigers do not fear the men the aunt places under some trees in her tapestry. Therefore, the imaginary tigers produced by Aunt Jennifer live a type of proud and free life that she can only dream about. It is a ‘chivalric’ world, one where gentlemen treat women with great respect. Yet this is also a false world, as real tigers live out a battle for survival of the fittest, where the strongest dominate. Perhaps Aunt Jennifer uses art as an escape from her troubles. In her artwork Jennifer imagines the kind of life she would have liked.

Style

• Language Most of the words are short and simple everyday words. The sentences are simple in structure and all take two lines. 
• Diction The unusual word ‘denizens’ stands out and it shows how special the tigers are, unlike how Aunt Jennifer feels about herself. The word ‘chivalric’ shows that the tigers are proud and charming. It means they treat women with respect. The repetition of ‘prance’ [parade] is interesting and emphasizes the happy, confident life of the tigers.
• Comparison The tigers are compared to knights from the time of chivalry in the middle ages.
• Imagery The main images are of Aunt Jennifer as a fearful wife and, secondly, the magnificent tigers she creates in her panel. Images of precious substances run through the poem: ‘topaz’, ‘ivory’ and the gold of ‘wedding band’.
• Metaphor The poet compares the yellow stripes of the tigers to a precious stone, topaz.
• Contrast [difference] The main contrasts are between nervous Aunt Jennifer and her confident tigers. Another contrast is between the strong yellow and green colours. The words ‘prancing’ and ‘fluttering’ contrast as well.
• Mood/Atmosphere Fear is the main atmosphere in Aunt Jennifer’s life of ‘ordeals’ where her fingers tremble and show terror.  An air of freedom and confidence dominates the atmosphere in her artistic creations. The men beneath the tree create an atmosphere of mystery.  The image of Aunt Jennifer’s corpse from the future is a bit eerie or creepy.
• Paradox [apparent contradiction]   Here a trembling and ‘mastered’ woman creates free and confident creatures in her artistic endeavours. ‘Fluttering’ fingers produce something that has ‘certainty’.
• Tone The tone appears to be positive and cheerful when the poet describes the tigers. The tone becomes sad and even creepy at times in describing the life of Aunt Jennifer.
• Repetition The word ‘prance’ is repeated to emphasize the pride and freedom of the tigers. ‘Ringed’ echoes ‘wedding band’. There is repetition of various sounds as indicated in the next few bullet points. 
• Rhyme Every pair of lines rhyme, like the ‘een’ sound in ‘screen’ and ‘green’ at the end of the first two lines. The rhyme pattern for the poem is: aabb ccdd  eeff. This rigid pattern mirrors the rigid life of Aunt Jennifer.
• Alliteration [repetition of consonant sounds at the start of nearby words] e.g. ‘p’ in ‘prancing proud’ emphasizes the feeling of confidence expressed in the tigers’ movements.

NCERT QUESTIONS

Q1. How do ‘denizens’ and ‘chivalric’ add to our understanding of the tiger’s attitudes?

Tigers are natives of wild forests. The word ‘denizen’ associated with tigers show that they are assured of their habitat and take pleasure in being the masters of their domain. The word ‘chivalric’ indicates the majestic and honourable position the tigers occupy in the world of animals. Moreover they are confident, intrepid and brave.

Q2.Why do you think Aunt Jennifer’s hands are ‘fluttering through her wool’ in the second stanza? Why is she finding the needle so hard to pull?

Aunt Jennifer might have been a victim of gender oppression at the hands of her husband. So she must have felt so nervous and terrified that her hands shake and flutter as she knits.

Suppressed under the weight of male domination, she would have become a nervous wreck. Moreover she has grown physically weak. She is so weakened, both mentally and physically that she finds needle hard to pull.

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.

Q4 What do you understand by “massive weight of uncle’s wedding band”?

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

Q5. Of what or of whom is Aunt Jennifer terrified with in the third stanza?

The Aunt is terrified about the fact that when she would quit the world and when she would be lowered into the grave, she would still remain afraid of her husband and would carry the marks of torture in the form of wedding ring even in her grave. She has suffered so much suppression in her life that even her death  would fail to liberate her soul from the torturous memories of her life.

Q6. What are the ‘ordeals’ Aunt Jennifer is surrounded by, why is it significant that the poet uses the word ‘ringed’? What are the meanings of the word ‘ringed’ in the poem?

Although Aunt Jennifer’s ordeals are not explicitly mentioned in the poem, but we can easily judge that she suffers from matrimonial oppression and is a victim of patriarchy and male chauvinism. Her personal liberty and desires are constricted by her domineering husband.  She might be burdened with heavy responsibilities towards the family and her husband.

The poet uses the word ‘ringed’ to signify that after her death also, Aunt Jennifer’s hands will still be affected by the dominance of a male, perhaps her husband. The word ‘ringed’ could have several shades of meaning. First of all, the ring refers to the wedding ring which symbolizes the sacred bond of marriage. In Aunt’s case, the marriage has proved to be burdensome and restrictive. So the word ‘ringed’ in the poem also refers to the confines, constraints and demands of marriage that bind a woman

Q7.Why do you think Aunt Jennifer created animals that are so different from her own character?

(– to express hidden agony of her suppressed married life 2 marks

– to highlight qualities of freedom, boldness, fearlessness

– to create alternate reality

– as a creative outlet)

Q8. Interpret the symbols found in this poem.

Tiger is symbol of freedom, liberation and bravery which Aunt dreams of attaining but never achieves except in her dreams and art. It could also symbolize terror and oppression perpetrated on women like Aunt Jennifer by the male world.

Wedding band symbolizes confines, constraints, oppression a woman faces in matrimony.

Aunt Jennifer is symbolic of women as a whole who are victimized by patriarchy and gender oppression

The "ivory needle" is characteristic of the hunting of elephants for their tusks. This is all symbolic of the male dominance over nature.

REFERENCE TO CONTEXT

1. 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) How are Aunt Jennifer’s tigers described?
Ans. -bright topaz denizens of the world og green
       -pacing in chivalric certainty
        -fearless
       -prancing across a screen

(b) Why are they described as denizens of a world of green?
     -found mostly in forests/woods / green cover

(c) Why are they not afraid of the men?
       -fearless by nature /wild/ ferocious / not real tigers/ alternate reality

d). Are Aunt Jennifer’s tigers real ? Give reasons for your answer

( No,  • they are on a screen   • can be seen on a panel)

e). What do you understand by ‘chivalric certainty’?

( they are sure of their power • and the strength they possess)

f) . How does the poet portray the outer and inner qualities of the tigers?

2.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, unafraid.
(a)   What is the time projected by the poetess? What does she suggest?

 Ans: In the above stanza the poetess projects the future and suggests that even after her death Aunt Jennifer will continue to be burdened by    her marriage .

(b)   What does ‘terrified hands’ symbolize?

Ans : Her ‘terrified hands’ symbolize that Uncle’s fear has transcended   human limitations and that Aunt Jennifer will continue to be afraid of    him even after her death.

(c)    What is Aunt Jennifer’s death symbolic of ?

Ans :Aunt Jennifer’s death is symbolic of her complete submission to the    Suppression she was subjected to in her life. 

SHORT QUESTIONS

 Q1 Why are the tigers called ‘Aunt Jennifer’s tigers?  1      

The tigers are called Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers as they are her creation. She has embroidered them on a panel.

Q2 How has Aunt Jennifer created her tigers?
Ans. -on a panel with needle
       -embroidered on canvas
     -worked with wool and ivory needle
      -making a tapestry

3. How do the prancing tigers look like?

3. They look like shining topaz denizens.

Q4  Explain: ‘They pace in sleek chivalric certainty’ in the poem “Aunt Jennifer’s Tiger?

The movement of the tigers is sleek, stealthy, sure, majestic and elegant. They are sure of their purpose.

Q5What will happen to Aunt Jennifer’s tiger when she is dead?
      -will go on prancing / would outlive their creator / live fearless and proud life / remain undeterred / exhibit their freedom

6. Explain ‘The tigers in the panel------------proud and unafraid.’

Here the tigers symbolize the unquestioned authority of man enjoyed by him over his woman counterpart. The lines suggest the dispassionate and unconcerned attitude of the male towards the desire for freedom among women. Here, Aunt Jennifer tries to find an escape in her art but ends up portraying an image of her own suppression. While a woman can never free herself from the oppressive authority of her male counterpart, the male, on the other hand will go on enjoying his authoritative arrogance and ferocity without any fear of regrets. It also means that human beings die but their art survives.

Q7 Is the society in any way affected by Aunt Jennifer’s death?

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 and the state of women still remains the same.

Q8What character traits of Aunt Jennifer’s come to light in the poem?

   Ans : Aunt Jennifer comes across as a terrified and feeble person totally lacking in confidence, who is a victim of her domineering husband.   Her creativity finds outlet in her embroidery of prancing tigers which  are a complete contrast to her own personality.

Q9How are Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers totally different from her own character ?

Ans : Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers are a picture of strength ,certainty,   fearlessness and confidence who prance across the screen whereas  Aunt Jennifer is weak ,terrified and a submissive individual who is in  the grip of  the ordeals of her married life. 

Poem , stanza wise explanation

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