10th std THE TIGER IN THE ZOO

10th std THE TIGER IN THE ZOO

Extract Based Questions 

Read the following extracts carefully and answer the questions that follow.
Question 1.
He stalks in his vivid stripes,
The few steps of his cage,
On pads of velvet quiet,
In his quiet rage.
(a) Why the tiger could walk only a few steps?
(b) How does the tiger move in the cage?
(c) What are the two qualities of the animal under reference?
(d) Why is he in quiet rage?   
Answer:
(a) The tiger could walk only a few steps because he was locked in a very small cage.
(b) The tiger moves very slowly and quietly in a threatening way.
(c) The tiger has vivid stripes on his body and soft velvet pads.
(d) He is in quiet rage as he is locked and his freedom has been curtailed. Thus, he is unable to show his anger and ferocity.

Question 2.
He should be lurking in shadow,
Sliding through long grass,
Near the water hole,
Where plump deer pass.
(a) Who is ‘He’ here?
(b) Where should he be lurking?
(c) Where should he be sliding?
(d) Who would pass through the water hole?
Answer:
(a) ‘He’ refers to the tiger.
(b) He should be lurking in the shadows in the forest.
(c) The tiger should be sliding through the long grass in the forest.
(d) A plump deer would pass through the water hole.

Question 3.
He should be snarling around houses At the jungle’s edge,
Baring his white fangs, his claws,
Terrorising the village!
(a) What does the poet try to suggest through these lines?
(b) How does the tiger scare the people?     
(c) Why does ‘he’ snarl?
(d) How does ‘he’ show his presence? 
Answer:
(a) The poet is trying to suggest that the tiger should be allowed to live in his natural habitat.
(b) The tiger scares the people by growling at them and showing his teeth and claws.
(c) ‘He’ snarls to show his anger and helplessness.
(d) ‘He’ shows his presence by baring his white teeth and claws.

Question 4.
But he’s locked in a concrete cell,
His strength behind bars,
Stalking the length of his cage,
Ignoring visitors.
(a) What does the phrase ‘his strength behind the bar’ suggests?
(b) Why does the tiger ignore the visitors?
(c) What is the tiger doing in the cage?
(d) What does the expression ‘stalking the length of the cage’ imply?   
Answer:
(a) It means that he is helpless as he is locked in a cage.
(b) The tiger ignores the visitors because he considers them devoid of feelings as none of them tries to help him out of the prison.
(c) The tiger is moving slowly and quietly along the length of the cage.
(d) It implies walking to and fro in helplessness.

Question 5.
He hears the last voice at night,
The patrolling cars,
And stares With his brilliant eyes
At the brilliant stars.
(a) What kind of voices does the tiger hear?
(b) Where does the tiger look at in the night?
(c) What do you mean by ‘patrolling’?
(d) What is the effect of the repeated use of the word ‘brilliant’?
Answer:
(a) The tiger hears the voice coming from the patrolling cars at night.
(b) The tiger looks at the brilliant stars shining in the sky at the night.
(c) ‘Patrolling’ means to go around an area at regular times to check that it is safe.
(d) The repeated use of brilliant shows the contrast. The brilliant stars are free while the brilliant eyes are inside the cage.

Short Answer Type Questions 

Question 1.
How does a tiger create terror for the villagers?
Answer:
The tiger creates terror for the villagers by snarling
around their houses as they are situated near the jungle. He frightens them by showing his white fangs and claws.

Question 2.
Leslie Norris has described some of the activities of a tiger behind the bars of its cage. Write them.
Answer:
Some of the activities of the tiger behind the bars of its cage includes stalking along the length of the cage, ignoring visitors, hearing patrolling cars and staring at the brilliant stars shining in the sky.

Question 3.
Describe the tiger in the cage.
Answer:
The tiger in the cage is just a diminished form of his original self. He paces up and down in the cage restlessly. He is confined in the narrow cell and keeps staring the stars as if longing for freedom. He is helpless and draws pity for his condition.

Question 4.
Describe the tiger in the wild.
Answer:
The tiger in the wild is majestic. He is free and lies under the shades and hunts for prey. He moves near the water because food is in plenty there. Sometimes he growls and terrorises the villagers.

Question 5.
Why does the tiger express his rage quietly?
Answer:
The tiger expresses his rage quietly because
there is nothing he can do from behind the bars of his cage. He is helpless as his strength now lies inside the cage. He is no longer free as he was in the jungle.

Question 6.
Where should the tiger have been according to the poet?    
Answer:
The poet thinks that the tiger should have been in the jungle, lurking in the shadow of long grass to prey on the deer near the water hole. He should also be on the outskirts of the jungle snarling around houses and terrifying villagers.

Question 7.
How does the tiger make his presence felt in the village?    
Answer:
The tiger makes his presence felt by snarling around houses at the jungle’s edge and by showing his white fangs and claws.

Question 8.
What does the tiger do in his cage?
Answer:
The tiger is locked in a concrete cell where he can hardly take a few steps along the length of the cage. He doesn’t take any notice of the visitors who come there. With his shining eyes, he keeps staring at the bright stars in the sky.

Question 9.
Why should the tiger snarl around houses at the edge of the forest?’.    
Answer:
The tiger should snarl around houses at the edge of the forest because of the following reasons. Firstly the villagers will not disturb the peace of the forest. Secondly, they will not kill the animals for money or just for fun.

Question 10.
What is the tiger doing? Why is he ignoring the visitors?
Answer:
The tiger is slowly and quietly moving along the length of the cage in a threatening manner. He is ignoring the visitors because he considers them devoid of any feelings. None of them thinks of releasing him from his prison. Thus, he stops taking any notice of them.

Question 11.
Why do you think the tiger looks at the stars?
Answer:
The tiger feels very helpless in the cage. He stares with hope at the brilliant stars shining in the sky. He hopes for the day when he would be able to run free in the wild. The brilliant stars, thus, provides him with some sort of comfort.

Question 12.
What does the poet convey through the poem?
Answer:
The poet tries to expose the miserable life led by the animals in the zoo. He compares the life of the tiger in the zoo with its life at a natural habitat. The animals have the right to freedom and should not be caged. They should be allowed to run free in the wild.

Question 13  What do you understand by `His strength behind bars’? What kind of a cage is he locked in?

Ans. The tiger is wretched in its cage. His power is confined behind the bars. He was locked in a small cage where he is devoid of freedom. He feels unhappy, frustrated, restless and angry.

Question 14 . Is it safe to allow tigers to live in their natural habitat these days?

Ans. Although it is ideal for tigers to live in the wild, today, it will mean certain death for them. Fast diminishing jungles and danger posed by poachers have pushed tigers to the brink of extinction, making their natural home unsafe.

Question 15. The tiger in the poem ‘A Tiger in the Zoo’ has some obvious limitations, describe them in contrast to its natural habitat.

Ans. The tiger in the zoo was confined to a small space. He was angry that he couldn’t be free to move, hunt and do what he pleased forced to be a showpiece; and the cage’s bars obstructed his view of the starry night. This was all unlike his natural habitat where he hunted fiercely and slept fitfully.

Question  16 .What is the theme of the poem?

Ans. The poet wants to convey that it is cruel to keep the wild animals in small enclosures of the zoo, away from their natural habitat. They feel angry, helpless and unhappy and remember their life and environment in the forest.

Question 17. Why do you think the tiger was stalking in the cage? What does it show?

Ans. I think the tiger was feeling restless and uneasy in that small cage. He seems to be frustrated and helpless as he could not come out of the cage in the open and enjoy his freedom. He did not want to be a mere showpiece and a source of entertainment for human beings.

Question 18 . Describe the movement of the tiger in the cage and in the wild.

Ans. In the zoo, in his small cage and devoid of freedom, the tiger feels unhappy rather frustrated, restless and angry. In the forest, he enjoys moving majestically wherever he wants, terrorizes the villagers by displaying his sharp teeth and claws. He is happy in the forest, enjoying his liberty and surroundings, but not in the zoo.

Question 19. What does the poet say about a tiger in his natural surroundings?

 Ans. The poet says that the tiger should be in the jungle. It is his natural habitat. In the jungle, he moves in the long grass near a water hole. He hides in shadow to hunt the deer for his food.

Question 20 . Where is the strength of the tiger and how does he treat the visitors?

 Ans. The tiger is imprisoned in a cage. So his strength is behind the bars. He paces to-and-fro the length of the cage. Visitors come to his cage. But he ignores those visitors.

Question  21. How does the tiger terrify the villagers?

Ans. The tiger prowls around the houses of the villagers. He terrifies them by snarling at them. Their houses are situated near the jungle. He terrifies the villagers by baring his fangs and showing his long claws.

Question 22 . How does the tiger behave at night?

Ans. At night the tiger feels lonely. He hears the sound of the patrolling cars. He looks through the bars at the shining stars. His eyes are also shining.

Question 23.  How does the poet contrast the tiger in the cage with the tiger in the forest? 

Ans. The poet says that the caged tiger is imprisoned. He is not free. He is angry. On the other hand. the tiger in the jungle is free. He walks in the tall grass and hunts the deer that pass near the water hole

Question 24. How does the tiger walk in the cage?                        

Ans. The tiger walks in the cage in a proud manner. He walks quietly. But his eyes show that he is very angry at having been imprisoned in a cage. But he can’t do anything for his freedom.

Question 25 . How does the tiger stalk in the cage?

Ans. The tiger is not in his natural habitat—the jungle. the lie is locked in a cage made up of cement and concrete. He keeps on stalking inside his cage from one side to the other. He is walking in a quiet rage with his heels which are padded like velvet.

Question 26.  How does the tiger terrorise the villagers? Does he have any intention of killing them?

Ans. Sometimes, the tiger roams around freely and comes near the edge of the jungle. He comes very near to the houses of the villagers which are situated on the outskirts of the jungle. Roaming there, he opens out his white sharp teeth and paws to terrorise the villagers. He has no intention of killing them as he never attacks until he is provoked to do so.

Question 27 . How does the tiger feel locked in the concrete cell of the zoo? Why does he ignore the visitors?

Ans. The tiger is basically an animal of the wilds. He is’ a denizen of the forest. Being locked in a concrete cell of the zoo, he feels quite helpless. His immense strength is of no use to him as he is put behind the bars. He only stalks the length of his cage. He ignores the visitors who came to see him after buying their tickets. He doesn’t want to present himself as an object of entertaining others.

Question 28. What does the tiger do at night? What does he feel when he stares at the brilliant stars in the sky?

Ans. The patrolling cars move around and the tiger hears their sound late at night. He is locked in a cage but stares at the brilliant stars shining in the vast and open sky. The vast open sky and the brilliant stars only intensify the feeling of helplessness that he feels inside the cage.

Question 29  Freedom can’t be bargained at any cost. What message does Leslie Norris give to the readers in ‘A Tiger in the Zoo’?

Ans. Not only humans but animals too cherish freedom. Freedom can’t be bargained. In this case, a tiger may be well-fed and protected. However, the curtailment of his freedom keeps him in ‘quiet rage’. He resents being behind the bars. He is a different animal when he is in his natural habitat, the jungle. He roams around the water hole and ambushes his favourite plump deer.

Question 30. Why are the eyes brilliant? What is common between the eyes and the stars?

Ans. The tiger’s eyes shine brightly in the darkness of night. The stars are also shining in the sky. The common thing between the tiger’s eyes and the stars is that both are brilliant.

Question 31.  What message do you get from this poem?

Ans. From this poem, we come to know that animals like to live freely in the forest. The animals do not want to live in the zoo. Their life is pitiable in it.

Long Answer (Value Based) Type Questions 

Question 1.
Love for freedom is the natural instinct of every living being. Comment.   
Answer:
It is rightly said that love for freedom is the natural instinct of every living being. Everyone loves freedom and does not want to live in confinement. Similarly, the tiger also longed for freedom. He was so fed up being caged that he even ignored the visitors. He took to and fro steps in the cage as if trying to while away the time. The tiger wanted to escape this captivity.
God has made all living beings equally and thus, the animals too have the right to freedom. They should not be caged. It is their right to enjoy their natural habitat i.e. the forest and run freely in the wild. We should, thus, respect their freedom and should not put them in the zoo.

Question 2.
Is it right to confine wild animals into cages? Why or why not?
Answer:
Wild animals are meant to live in the wild. They are not meant to be caged and displayed in the zoos. We all know that the majestic species of tiger is on the verge of extinction. There used to be a time when they used to roam proudly and freely in the jungle. They are not meant to live a life in confinement. They also have the right to freedom like all other living beings. Confinement leads to depression and misery. Moreover, their offsprings lose the hunting capabilities as they are not trained to hunt in the wild. As a result, they would not be able to feed themselves. Furthermore confining wild animals disturbs the whole ecological balance. We should, thus, let the animals run free in the wild. They beloijg to the forest and not to the cage.