The Girl Who Can
Treasure Chest
Story 13
The Girl Who Can
MCQs
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Contextual Questions
Extract 11: ‘I’ refers to the narrator of the story, Adjoa, a seven-year-old girl. According to Adjoa, her grandmother’s problem was Adjoa’s thin and long legs, which she considered as not suitable for supporting strong hips required for childbearing.
2: Adjoa’s problem at the age of seven was that she was not able to express in words the things that were in her mind, as she did not know the proper language to speak them out with. It was a serious problem because her grandmother forbade her from saying certain things and at times asked her to repeat what she had said for the purpose of adult’s entertainment. Thus, she was confused when to keep quiet or when to repeat them and get laughed at.
3: When Adjoa said something, her grandmother would at first stare at her for a very long time, and then would ask her to repeat what she had said. After Adjoa repeated what she had said, her grandmother would immediately tell her never to repeat that or would burst out laughing.
4: Nana would involve other people by repeating what Adjoa had said a while ago and then laugh with them. All of them would laugh together and scream with tears running down their faces.
5: The seven-year-old Adjoa, the protagonist of the story is the narrator as well. • This presents a unique view of the world around her using simple vocabulary and child-like innocence. • It shows the inner feelings and doubts of a girl-child while she struggles to judge what is appropriate and inappropriate to speak. • The voice of a girl-child makes the narrative appear more realistic and reliable.
1: The narrator, Adjoa, wants to tell her grandmother and mother not to worry about her spindly legs. It suggests that the narrator does not find anything wrong with her legs as all her friends have got legs that look nothing different from hers.
2: The narrator’s two favourite people are her mother, Kaya, and her maternal grandmother, whom she calls Nana. The narrator’s grandmother was always worried about Adjoa’s spindly legs. However, her mother tried to resist the idea that her daughter was worthless for having spindly legs.
3: ‘They’ refers to the people who used to visit Adjoa’s house and laugh at her child-like remarks until their eyes would become watery. They would do so because they found Adjoa’s statements childish and laughable.
4: The narrator feels that her grandmother and mother would have been discussing her legs ever since she was born because she had been hearing them discussing this issue from the time she could understand their talk. The two women belonged to an orthodox society and held the conservative view that a girl needs to have strong legs to support the hips for childbearing. Although Adjoa’s mother did not like her mother’s regular complaints about Adjoa’s spindly legs, she could not gather enough strength to oppose her mother.
5: The figure of speech used is Juxtaposition. It is the close placement of ideas to highlight the contrast between them. In the last two lines of the extract, the narrator has compared her mother’s womb to the outside world. Her mother’s womb is described as a land of sweet, soft silence whereas the outside world is described as that of noise and comprehension.
Extract 3
1: The narrator could feel her mother’s silent tears from her voice. Besides, Adjoa was aware of the fact that her mother did not like her grandmother’s complaints about Adjoa’s thin legs. But she could not gather enough strength to oppose her mother. Her grandmother could not hear her daughter’s inside weeping because she was an authoritative woman and a representative of patriarchy, who did not allow women to express their views or raise their voice.
2: The narrator felt this way because her grandmother was an authoritative woman who viewed that women should only be wives and mothers. She viewed her own daughter as a failure as a wife and mother and therefore, never understood her silent tears. This suggests that her grandmother was an authoritative woman and a representative of patriarchy. Her mother was a remorseful woman, who could never raise her voice against her mother.
3: The narrator says so because she liked her grandmother, who was a matriarch, but kept her daughter and granddaughter with her and used to look after them. It suggests that the narrator was an understanding and affectionate child.
4: The grandmother would be discussing about Adjoa’s long and thin legs. She admitted the fact that her daughter’s husband was not as big a problem as Adjoa’s long and thin legs.
5: The narrator was an understanding and open-minded child. She was confused about why her grandmother complained about her legs. She was an affectionate child who loved her maternal grandmother although she regularly complained about her legs.
Extract 4
1: The grandmother would thank God that her biggest problem was not her son-in-law. She considered that her daughter had made a mistake by marrying such a man. It shows that she was an orthodox lady who had old views about the role of women in society and acted as a representative of patriarchy.
2: The narrator always found her grandmother complaining about her long and thin legs. The grandmother said that the legs would be an obstacle in bearing a child. Further, the grandmother blamed her daughter. Finally, the narrator felt that despite her Orthodox and conventional wisdom, her grandmother was a good person, who loved her (Adjoa).
3: Adjoa’s mother would feel quite bad after her own mother blamed her for having failed as a wife and a mother. She would weep inside. Adjoa’s mother and grandmother had a bittersweet relationship in which they were living together. Despite this situation, Adjoa’s grandmother probably provided for Adjoa and her mother.
4: The grandmother used to hush up things about Adjoa’s father because she did not want Adjoa to hear and understand anything about her father. This shows that she cared for her granddaughter and did not want to hurt her feelings.
5: Adjoa’s grandmother serves as an agent of patriarchy in the following ways: • She did not allow her daughter Kaya to express her thoughts or raise her voice. • She never listened to Adjoa and forbade her from repeating certain things. • She blamed her daughter for giving birth to a girl having spindly legs. • She did not want Adjoa to go to school and get education.
1: The narrator described her friend’s legs as being similar to her own legs. She was not sure whether her friends’ legs were strong enough to support hips required for childbearing.
2: This shows the narrator’s child-like innocence as she didn’t understand the units of distance. ‘They’ refers to the older boys and girls in Adjoa’s school, who used to complain about having to walk long distance to school and back.
3: Adjoa does not feel uncomfortable while walking a distance of five kilometres to school and back, which shows that her legs were not weak. She proved it at the end of the story by winning the district level running competition and thereby, the best all round junior athlete.
4: Two characteristic traits of the narrator:
- Child-like innocence.
- Courage and resolve to prove herself.
5: The narrator’s grandmother always considered Adjoa’s spindly legs as worthless. She feared that Adjoa did not have strong legs required to support the hips for childbearing. However, her attitude changed when Adjoa got selected to represent her school at the district level race competition and won it, which proved the worth of her legs and herself.
Extract 6
1: Nana would laugh at the prospect of Adjoa using her spindly legs to at least go to school because she believed that Adjoa would be a misfit in school. She allowed Adjoa to go to school as a good riddance for using her legs to go to school.
2: Adjoa didn’t tell this at home because she did not consider it important enough to tell at home. This time it was different because she had been selected to represent her school at the district level running competition rather than just racing against her schoolmates.
3: Adjoa’s mother and grandmother could not believe that Adjoa could be selected for any such competition with her spindly legs. Her grandmother marched to her school to confirm the authenticity of the news.
4: When Adjoa’s mother heard the news, she was utterly surprised and wanted to tell Adjoa’s grandmother that she knew that Adjoa could do something like that but it was a secret she could not share with anyone. She remained silent did not say anything.
5: After getting the news of Adjoa’s selection for district sports meet, her grandmother • took up the task of washing and ironing her school uniform daily. • started to accompany her every afternoon for the district sports week. She did so because she accepted the worth of Adjoa’s spindly legs and her new role as an athlete.
Extract 7
1: The ‘gleaming cup’ refers to the trophy won by Adjoa for winning the district level race. Her grandmother carried the trophy won by her (Adjoa) on her back as a mark of accepting the worth of Adjoa’s legs and feeling pride of her granddaughter’s achievement.
2: The narrator has compared the gleaming cup with babies and other precious things. She has done so to show that for her grandmother the cup seemed to be as important as a baby is for her mother, or some other very precious things.
3: Adjoa’s grandmother wanted to show the cup to Adjoa’s mother because she wanted her mother to rejoice at her daughter’s achievement. Adjoa’s mother became speechless on seeing the trophy but she must have felt a sense of pride and accomplishment for her daughter Adjoa.
4: Adjoa’s grandmother cried softly because she must have realised the worth of Adjoa’s legs. It suggests that she underwent a change of heart after Adjoa’s performance in the district level sports meet and finally accepted her worth as an athlete.
5: Adjoa’s mother and grandmother felt a sense of pride and accomplishment after Adjoa won the district level race. Her grandmother proudly displayed her granddaughter’s achievement by carrying the trophy on her back. For Adjoa, her victory brought her closer to self-awareness about her worth, especially of her spindly legs that were constantly criticised by her grandmother.