VISTAS ch-5 wizard

VISTAS
CHAPTER-5 SHOULD WIZARD HIT MOMMY?

- JOHN UPDIKE
Q1. How did Jo want the Roger Skunk story to end? Why?
Ans. In Jack’s version of the story, Roger Skunk’s mommy hits the wizard on his
head with her umbrella, and told him to cast a reverse spell on Roger skunk and
give him his original smell back. However, Jo did not agree with this ending and
suggested an alternate end for the story. According to her, the wizard should have
hit mommy back and not change Roger Skunk. To Jo, the wizard was a good
person who helps ‘Roger skunk’ when he was in trouble and seeking a way out.
Witnessing Mommy Skunk’s actions, Jo felt that ‘stupid Mommy’ should have
been punished for her unkind behaviour towards the kind wizard. She believed
that Mommy Skunk was imposing her will both on Roger Skunk and the wizard
without considering her son’s fear of not getting accepted by his peers. Jo also
thought that Roger Skunk should be allowed to choose his own life even if it
meant to get rid of the stink.
Q2. How does the story, ‘Should Wizard Hit Mommy’ bear testimony to the
fact that the frustrations faced by adults and their personal experiences
often intrude upon their interaction with their children? Elaborate. OR At
the end of the storytelling session, why does Jack consider himself ‘caught in
an ugly middle position’?
Ans. Jack feels that he has been caught in an ugly middle position physically,
emotionally as well as mentally. He was conscious of his duties as a father and as
a husband. His efforts to make Jo fall asleep proved quite fatiguing. She kept on
interrupting him, asking for clarifications, pointing errors and suggesting
alternatives. Jo’s non-acceptance of the ending of the story is considered an act
of defiance by Jack. He is quite taken aback by Jo’s behaviour and the things she
said. On the other hand, learning that his pregnant wife, Clare, needs his help in
the household chores, he is in a hurry to end the story. However, being a loving
father, he gives into Jo’s demands and extends the story. The result of the
extension to the story proves unfruitful and unpleasant for Jack and Clare. Being
waiting for her husband to come down and help her with painting of the
woodwork, Clare complains that he had told a long story. Jack feels utter
weariness and trapped in a cage. He is overcome with a sense of detachment and
frustration being caught in the ugly middle position.
Q3. What part of the story did Jack himself enjoy the most and why?
Ans. The part of the story, which Jack himself enjoyed the most was where
Roger goes to the wizard’s house. Jack imitated the wizard’s voice. He felt being
an old man suited him. He mixed his own childhood humiliations and
experiences with the narration of the story. Jack enjoyed doing so because he
liked seeing his daughter holding on to his words, liked seeing her apprehensive
and expecting something unexpected. Jack enjoyed the fact that Jo loved the
stories narrated by him.
Q4. Why does Jack insist that it was the wizard that was hit and not the
mother?
Ans. Jack insists that it was the wizard that was hit and not the mother because
he wanted to teach a moral lesson to Jo that parents know what is best for their
children. Jack also wanted, Jo to understand that one should be content with the
way one is born and not change just because the society does not accept him/her
the way he/she is.
Q5. What is the moral issue that the story raises?
Ans. The story examines adult attitude to growing children. The issue that it
raises is whether children should be allowed to use their abilities to reason and
question or be forced to remain mere shadows of adult influence and thought. Jo
dared to question her father’s interpretation of how the story of the stinky Skunk
should end. This came as a shock to Jack who was used to a complacent Jo who
always enjoyed the story session designed by her father. Jack had failed to
appreciate the fact that Jo was growing up and was bound to have thoughts of her
own and may not always agree with the way he viewed things. Jack found it hard
to come to terms with this.
Q6. What is the moral issue that the story raises?
Ans.The story raises a moral issue—should parents always decide what the
children should do or let the children do what they like to do. There is an evident
contrast between an adult’s perspective on life and the world view of a little
child.
Jack, the father, defends the behaviour of Roger Skunk’s mother who forced the
old wizard to restore the natural but offensive smell to Roger Skunk. He sums up
the issue in one sentence: ‘She knew what was right’. As to why the little skunk
agreed to her mother’s proposal, Jack says that the little skunk loved his mommy
more than he loved all the other little animals. Jack cites an instance. When
Roger Skunk was in bed, Mommy Skunk came up, hugged him and said he
smelled like her little baby Skunk again and she loved him very much.
Little Jo, the spokesperson of children, does not agree with her father’s view. She
feels that the Skunk’s mother should not have robbed the pleasure of her little
son and deprived him of the pleasant smell of the roses. She insisted that the
wizard hit that mommy on the head and did not change that little skunk back. She
calls the little skunk’s mother “a stupid mommy”. She realised that her father
was defending his own mother to her, or something odd.
Jo stuck to her view point. She insisted that her father should tell her the story the
next day in a different manner. It was the wizard that took the magic wand and
hit that mommy.
Q7. Why is an adult’s perspective on life different from that of a child’s?
Ans. An adult’s perspective on life is different from that of a child’s because of

the difference between their respective experiences and exposure to the world
around them. An adult comes across all sorts of experiences—good or bad,
pleasant or unpleasant, happy or sad, encouraging or discouraging. The child
lives a sheltered life under the protection and love of his parents. In their rosy
dream world of fairies and wizards, nothing good is impossible for their favourite
characters. Their adoration of these characters is nothing short of hero-worship.
Jo, a four-year-old child, prefers to live in her world of dreams and fantasies. She
would like to take revenge on Skunk’s mother and is annoyed because her father
refuses to accept her suggestion. The father has a mature perspective and so he
views things beyond the ‘face-value’ and delves into the philosophical and
moralistic aspect of the entire situation. The Wizard, according to him, had
interfered with nature and so deserved to be punished. Jo completely disagrees
with her father. For her the baby Skunk was right and it made perfect sense if the
Wizard hit the ‘stupid’ mommy.
Q8.What impression do your form of Jack as a father?
Ans : Jack was a father of a small four-year-old girl, Jo. He was a very loving,
caring and affectionate father, who used to tell his daughter a story out of his
imagination every day. Since his daughter was very inquisitive and used to ask
many questions, he had to be ready with the answers. He was a good storyteller,
but was often found caught in an ugly middle position, when he had no answers
to his daughter’s questions.
As a part of good parenting, he tried his level best to prove his point and satisfy
his daughter’s queries. To sum up, we can infer that Jack was a very good father,
who believed in giving his child the best care and understanding.

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VISTAS

CHAPTER-5 SHOULD WIZARD HIT MOMMY?

Q5. What is the moral issue that the story raises?

Q6. What is the moral issue that the story raises?

Ans. An adult’s perspective on life is different from that of a child’s because of

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