Class 11 English Unit 10: Tattered Blanket by Kamala Das
Unit 10: Tattered Blanket by Kamala Das
Reflection of the Text
After five years, Gopi comes to Kerala to see his mother. Gopi is a big officer in Delhi living with his wife, Vasantha, and four children. He has come to Thiruvananthapuram as a part of his official assignment. He just dropped off on his way back to meet his mother. His mother is very old. She lives with his eldest sister Kamala, who is a widow.
When he arrived unexpectedly at his home in the countryside, his mother was lying in an armchair on the veranda. The mother fails to recognize her son, Gopi. She believes that Gopi is still a schoolboy. She doesn’t recognize anybody. Sometimes her memory is quite sharp, sometimes she forgets the present but remembers the past. When her memory is very sharp, she asks about Gopi’s letters from Delhi. Kamala tells her a lie that everything is fine with Gopi, his wife, and the kids.
She has a blanket, the one Gopi bought for her when he was studying in Madras. It is all tattered now, just a ball of knotted yarn. Gopi has come home to ask his sister to sell his share of land and get some money for him. Kamala knows that Gopi has come only for money, not to see his mother. It took more than five years for him to find time to come home. Kamala says, ‘Amma is eighty-three now. I don’t think she will pull on much longer. It took you so long to visit her after the last time.’ But Gopi has his excuses for not visiting Amma. He says, ‘But Amma can’t remember who I am.’ The story ends with Kamala's question to Gopi, ‘But do you remember your Amma?’
Amma doesn’t recognize her son because she has lost her power of memory. Forgetfulness is a blessing for her. Her son doesn’t have any love for his mother. This is one of the brilliant short stories penned by Madhavikutty in Malayalam. Her focus has always been on the tormented female self-craving for love. She is concerned with the condition of women and how they are betrayed by society. In ‘The Tattered Blanket’, the mother craves her son’s love.
Her son is evergreen in her memory. But she has been overpowered by forgetfulness. She needs a red blanket because the old one is tattered. Here blanket represents the warmth of her son’s love. She needs her son’s love.
Ways with words
A. Fill in the blanks with an appropriate word.
a. All my efforts to convince her of the tour were futile.
b. The lost traveller huddled up under a shelter made of branches and leaves.
c. Her rude behaviour was the main cause of irritation for him.
d. She moved awkwardly in the room, thinking that I was watching.
e. She is mumbling something, but I can’t hear her.
f. When I met my sister after a long time, she talked to me in a feeble voice.
B. Tick (√) the correct words that are similar in meaning to the underlined words.
a.
Rupa studied
Science reluctantly due to her father’s pressure.
√ unwillingly
b.
She moved her
fingers exasperatedly through her hair.
√ Annoyingly
c.
My grandmother is
over eighty. She lifted her hands feebly.
√ Weakly
d.
She is wearing a tattered
shawl.
√ torn
e.
I have to work at
two jobs to make ends meet in this expensive city.
√ Earn just enough money
C. Spell the following words correctly, adding the suffixes given against each root.
write + ing = writing arrive + al= arrival army + es = armies
monkey + es = monkeys fancy + ful = fanciful stop + ed = stopped
worry + ed = worried recur + ing = recurring
argue+ ment= argument create + ive = creative
Video: Suffixes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucX5iHGwS_k
D. Syllable
Identify the vowel sounds in the given words.
Pen /pen/ writing/ raiting/ life/ laif/
a. The following words have only one sound unit called a syllable. Pronounce them.
dawn → /dɔːn/ board → /bɔːd/ straight → /streɪt/
spring → /sprɪŋ/ prompt → /prɒmpt/ strong → /strɒŋ/
small → /smɔːl/ text → /tekst/ learn → /lɜːn/
twelfths → /twɛlfθs/
Video: Syllables: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ojv7ilNtMA
b. The following words have two syllables. Underline their syllables and pronounce them:
beauty /ˈbjuːti/ sleepy / sli: pi/ survive / s Ӡ:(r) vaiv/
current / kʌrent/ woman / wum ʌn/ hotel /ˌhəʊˈtɛl/
c. Consult an English dictionary and find the number of syllables in the following words.
bury: bur-y - 2 syllables
development: de-vel-op-ment - 4 syllables
syllabic: syl-lab-ic - 3 syllables
vowel: vow-el- 2 syllables
education: ed-u-ca-tion - 4 syllables
discipline: dis-ci-pline - 3 syllables
examination: ex-am-i-na-tion - 5 syllables
children: chil-dren - 2 syllables
separately: sep-a-rate-ly - 4 syllables
pronunciation: pro-nun-cia-tion - 5 syllables
Comprehension
Answer the following questions.
a. Why didn’t the mother recognise her son, Gopi?
The mother didn’t recognize her son, Gopi, because she was eighty years old and had lost her memory.
b. Why is the sister living with her mother?
The sister is living with her mother because she is a widow, and there is nobody to take care of her mother.
c. What is the sister’s attitude towards her brother?
She is serious about her brother’s behaviour. He is not taking care of his old mother.
d. Does the son love his mother very much? How do you know that?
Yes, the son loves his mother very much. He shows his love by bending down and bringing his face close to his mother’s wrinkled cheeks.
e. What does the mother need: a blanket or the warmth of her son’s love?
The mother needs the warmth of her son’s love. Here, the blanket symbolizes love and care.
f. What does the phrase ‘the tattered blanket’ mean? Is it only the blanket that is tattered?
The phrase ‘the tattered blanket’ means the hurt feelings of his mother.
g. The son says, ‘Amma can’t remember who I am. ’ Do you think that he remembered his mother? Why didn’t he answer when his sister asked, ‘Do you remember your Amma?’
He didn’t answer her question because he couldn’t do so, as it had been a year since he wrote to his mother and more than five years since he saw her.
***
Click for next lesson: https://limbuchandrabahadur.blogspot.com/2025/08/class-11-english-unit-10-critical.html
Posts
Post a Comment