Question

What underlying concern does the poet have while recalling the memory of the drive with her mother ?

• A. A reflection on the irreversible passage of time and looming mortality
• B. A moment of nostalgia for shared childhood memories
• C. A comparative portrayal of mother as youthful and old
• D. A symbolic reference to the generational divide between them
• A. The assertion is supported but the reason is ambiguous.
• B. The assertion lacks clarity, while the reason is clearly expressed.
• C. Both the assertion and the reason are strongly implied in the text.
• D. Neither the assertion nor the reason can be supported by the text.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

Step 1: Read the memory:
The poet sees her mother dozing with an open mouth and a face ashen like a corpse. She realises with pain that her mother is as old as she looks.

Step 2: Find the concern:
The image of a corpse and the word 'pain' show that the poet is worried about her mother's ageing and the nearness of death. Time cannot be reversed.

Step 3: Test the other options:
(B) No shared childhood memory is recalled in these lines. (C) Only the old, tired mother is shown, not a youthful one. (D) No generation gap is mentioned.

Final Answer:
(A) A reflection on the irreversible passage of time and looming mortality

Answer 2

Step 1: Meaning of the phrase:
'Ashen' means pale and grey like ash, and a corpse has no life or colour. The poet compares her mother's face to this.

Step 2: What it suggests:
The mother's face looked dull, pale and lifeless. This shows her weakness and the signs of old age, and hints that she is moving closer to death.

Final Answer:
It suggests the mother's weakness and ageing, and her approaching death.

Answer 3

Step 1: Understand the image:
A corpse stands for the end of life. The poet sees this likeness in her living mother.

Step 2: Understand the realisation:
She then realises, with pain, that her mother is as old as she looks. So the image and the realisation point to the fact that life is short and death comes to everyone.

Final Answer:
approaching death / the mortality of life

Answer 4

Step 1: Meaning of 'doze':
To doze is to sleep lightly, usually because one is tired. The mother dozes with her mouth open during the drive.

Step 2: Choose the option:
This shows tiredness, not suffering. Nothing in the lines says she was in pain; the pain belongs to the poet.

Final Answer:
exhausted

Answer 5

Step 1: Notice the layout:
The word 'pain' stands alone on its own line between 'realized with' and 'that she was as old as she looked'.

Step 2: Explain the effect:
This makes the reader pause and stresses the poet's deep emotion. It shows how hard it is for her to accept that her mother is close to death.

Final Answer:
To highlight the poet's pain and her difficulty in accepting her mother's approaching death.

Answer 6

Step 1: Check the assertion:
The poet realises 'with pain' that her mother looks as old as she is. This pain shows that she does not want to face her mother's decline, so she tries to shield herself from it.

Step 2: Check the reason:
The same pain and the shock of the corpse image show that she is emotionally unprepared to accept the truth of her mother's ageing.

Step 3: Compare options:
Both statements are implied, so (A), (B) and (D), which call one of them unclear or unsupported, are wrong.

Final Answer:
(C) Both the assertion and the reason are strongly implied in the text.