2nd PUC English Springs Textbook Answers Chapter 8 To the Foot from its Child

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Karnataka 2nd PUC English Springs Textbook Answers Chapter 8 To the Foot from its Child

To the Foot from its Child Questions and Answers, Notes, Summary

To the Foot from its Child Comprehension I.

Question 1.
What would the foot like to be?
Answer:
It would like to be a butterfly or an apple.

Question 2.
Line 1 of the poem conveys
(a) the immense possibilities of life.
(b) the unrestricted nature of a child’s imagination.
(c) the child’s ignorance of harsh realities.
Answer:
(c) the child’s ignorance of harsh realities.

Question 3.
What does time teach the child?
Answer:
Time teaches the child that it cannot be a butterfly or an apple, nor it could fly.

Question 4.
The line ‘stones and bits of glass, streets, ladders and the paths in the rough earth’
(a) indicates hardships one has to face in life.
(b) provides a mere description of a road.
(c) suggests the good and bad experiences of growing up.
Answer:
(a) indicates hardships one has to face in life.

Question 5.
Why does the child’s foot feel defeated?
Answer:
The child’s foot feels defeated because the outside world does not allow the child’s foot to fulfill its dreams.

Question 6.
Which words convey the real experiences of the foot?
Answer:
The words “But in time, stones and bits of glass, streets, ladders, and the paths in the rough earth” signify the real experiences of the foot.

Question 7.
Which lines in the poem suggest the transformation of the foot?
Answer:
The lines “And the tiny, petaled toes of the child grow bunched and out of trim, take on the form of eyeless reptiles with triangular heads, like worms” suggest the transformation of the foot.

Question 8.
“… condemned to live in a shoe” suggests that the foot is
(a) a prisoner
(b) a criminal
(c) forced to give up its dreams
Answer:
(c) forced to give up its dreams

Question 9.
Identify some examples of the mundane activities of an adult.
Answer:
The mundane activities of the adult are adventures like walking on a rough path filled with stones and bits of glass, climbing ladders, ploughing the fields, mining, and in markets and politics.

Question 10.
What does the line “until the whole man chooses to stop” mean?
Answer:
End of life of the man indicating death.

To the Foot from its Child Comprehension II.

Question 1.
We think of a foot as belonging to a person, but Neruda says ‘To The Foot From Its Child’. Why?
Answer:
It is true that we think of a foot as belonging to a person. Even in the poem ‘the foot’ refers to the adult foot. Neruda uses ‘foot’ as a metaphor for life and focuses on the changes seen in the transition of an infant’s foot through adulthood until it dies and gets buried.

Question 2.
Pick out the expressions that suggest the child’s imagination is fertile.
Answer:
Butterfly and an apple are two expressions which indicate the child’s fertile imagination.

Question 3.
What contrasting descriptions of the foot docs the poem offer? Why?
Answer:
A child’s foot offers many contrasting descriptions in the poem. At the child’s age, it does not realise that it was afoot, but after facing many difficulties in life, it understands that it was a prisoner inside a man’s shoe. It felt the darkness inside the shoe that it couldn’t even get an opportunity to communicate with the other foot. When the man grows old, it also grows old becomes rough and gets the age-related disease and understands that it cannot stay young forever. The man must end his life one day or the other, but the foot is unaware of all these happenings.

Question 4.
The poem begins with the idea that the child’s foot is not yet aware that it is a foot; at the end, the foot is unaware that it had ceased to be a foot. What is the poet trying to convey through these statements?
Answer:
The foot is ignorant about the incidents happening around it. It is unaware of its freedom, or where took birth. The man leads a prisoner’s life and in the same way, the foot also faces many struggles in life. After his death, the man’s soul could transform into anything, but the foot is unaware of it.

Question 5.
How can the foot fly or become an apple after it is buried?
Answer:
The release from the shoe is nothing but freedom. It (foot) imagines being as free as an apple because man’s soul is free after his death, so the foot feels free and imagines to be an apple.

Question 6.
How does Neruda describe the busy life of the individual as represented by the loot?
Answer:
The poet describes the busy life of the individual as represented by the foot by restless walk to provide for his family. He couldn’t stop the work, because if he stops he couldn’t survive and can’t take care of his family. He has to work, sometimes even without sleep, and work hard in various fields like market, politics, mines, fields, and work until the end of his life.

Question 7.
What docs the last stanza of the poem mean? Can you think of parallels in nature?
Answer:
Man’s death is a recycle in many other forms as after his death his dead body gets buried and decomposes and becomes fertilizer which helps an apple tree to grow. The apple tree helps the butterfly to sit on it and gives shelter. So Man’s death is a cyclic process. In one or other Birth and Death are cyclic processes which come one after other.

To the Foot from its Child Comprehension III.

Question 1.
Examine how Neruda’s poem works out the contrast between colourful dreams and the humdrum reality of life.
Answer:
Dreams are always colourful. The foot has many dreams: to fly like a bird and to be an apple, but they are all far away from real life, as in reality there are only difficulties and we are completely surrounded by bonds and there is no freedom. Hence the dream is always colourful and reality is always bitter.

Question 2.
Neruda’s poem is a salute to the ordinary human being, who continues with life braving all odds. Do you agree? Give reasons.
Answer:
Yes, I agree Neruda gives importance to the ordinary man, as he is the symbol of hard work, who works for his daily life. Though he is diseased or tired, he has to work continuously to achieve his goals. Hence, the poet has given much importance to the ordinary people, because ordinary life is a meaningful life which makes for a complete life.

Question 3.
Is Neruda criticizing how society crushes childhood dreams forces people into rigid moulds?
Answer:
Yes, Neruda criticizes society for burdening the children with marks and awards. Instead of spending its childhood happily, the child works very hard to get good marks to shape its future. Society does not leave the child according to its will and wish but ties the bonds of society and makes it move along a path according to society’s wish.

Question 4.
‘Foot’ is a keyword in the poem. Comment on Neruda’s skillful use of the word and its associations in terms of imagery to convey his ideas.
Answer:
‘Foot’ is an image which signifies the child. As a child one is innocent and works hard at an early age without dreams and games. Neruda excellently uses the word to create awareness in the society as we are treating children negligently and not giving any importance for their own dreams and aspirations.

To the Foot from its Child Additional Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Why did the foot hate to live in a shoe?
Answer:
Though the shoe protects the foot from injuries, because of the surrounding darkness, it hated to live in shoes. Moreover, it could not communicate with the other foot.

Question 2.
Why is the foot unaware of its reality in the beginning.
Answer:
Because of its innocence.

Question 3.
Why did the poet consider the foot to be a prisoner?
Answer:
As to walk on a rough path, stones, climb ladders man has to wear shoes but the poet considers that it is too dark to be in a shoe for a foot. Hence he called it a prisoner.

Question 4.
What were the nails of a child’s toe compared to?
Answer:
Toenails were compared to eyeless reptiles

Question 5.
The words stones? glasses, streets signify.
(a) Problems
(b) Solutions
(c) Pleasures
Answer:
(a) Problems

To the Foot from its Child Summary in English

– Pablo Neruda
The Poem “To The Foot From Its Child” is by Pablo Neruda who is famous as “People’s Poet.”

The poet has used the foot as a metaphor for the child and describes the dreams and realities of life. The poem has a close relationship with Petrus Brovka’s “Life’s Beginning’. In the beginning, the child is unaware that it is afoot and would rather be a butterfly or an apple. But when it grows to be youth, it faces difficulties of life as “walking on stones and bits of glasses, the ladders and the paths on the rough earth”. After facing all these struggles of life it understands that it cannot become a butterfly or an apple.

The images of Butterfly and apple signify freedom. The child when it walks on the rough path wears shoes to protect the ‘foot’, but the foot feels it as a prison and feels defeated and tired, and hates to be in the shoe. Though in the darkness of the shoes, it analyses its own life and understands the reality. ‘Foot’ when it is in darkness, never sees anything. It is just like a blind person in darkness. But it is inevitable and’ it must face all the difficulties to survive in the world. It wants to communicate with the other foot but unable to do so as it is in darkness. As change is natural the ‘foot’ also grows young, then old and feeble or weak. The nails on the ‘toe’ of a child are compared eyeless reptiles.

While growing up, the foot becomes rough and exposed by the scars of the injuries, which occurred while facing the difficulties of life for survival in this world. The foot knows no rest as it continuously works through markets, mines, and politics. It must work without gender discrimination and till death, it has to walk and work without sleep. After death, it is buried underground and it is ignorant that there is darkness even in the underground. The whole life span, it has to work and walk and lead it’s life facing challenges not realizing its dreams and unaware of the bitter truth of life.

To the Foot from its Child Summary in Kannada