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NEB ENGLISH ALL NOTES [C.ENG | M. ENG] CLASS 11
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The Bistro Styx by Rita Dove: Questions and Answers | Major English Class 11
Bistro Styx by Rita Dove
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Bistro Styx by Rita Dove
UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT
1. How does the poem begin? What differences does the mother notice in her daughter's appearance?
Answer:
The poem begins with the narration of a mother who is waiting for her daughter at an art studio. The mother notices that her daughter has become quite thin in her physical appearance.
2. What does the colour of the daughter's clothes symbolize?
Answer:
The grey skirt colour of the daughter's clothes symbolises the death of human emotion and sensibility. When the daughter sees her mother, she becomes more formal than affectionate. The feeling of the emotional faculty of humanity has been replaced by formality.
3. What kind of life does the daughter want to live?
Answer:
The daughter wants to live her life in a very modern and sophisticated way. She prefers career, job, opportunity, modernity, fashion, etc. much more than the old attitude, old values, and tradition. She also wants to be with her mom because she needs to compete in this modern world to maintain and keep her standards up to date.
4. What does the mother's expression "I've lost her" mean?
Answer:
The mother's expression "I've lost her" means losing her daughter in the modern as well as sophisticated life of the chaotic city. The mother expresses her feelings in such a way that she finds her daughter completely changed and has forgotten her relationship, village life, tradition, and rural values.
5. What does the poem say about the relationship between the mother and the daughter?
Answer:
The poem says about the troubled relationship between the mother and the daughter. Here, the mother finds her modern daughter in the underworld of modern Paris, abducted by modern civilization.
REFERENCE TO THE CONTEXT
1. Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
She was thinner, with a mannered gauntness
as she paused just inside the double
glass doors to survey the room, silvery cape
billowing dramatically behind her. What's this
a) Whose perspective is depicted in this stanza of the poem?
Answer:
The mother's perspective is depicted in this stanza of the poem.
b) Who was thinner?
Answer:
The daughter was thinner.
c) What does "What is this" imply?
Answer:
"What is this?" implies the mother's inability to recognise her daughter in the studio.
2. Explain the following stanza.
"How's business?" I asked, and hazarded
a motherly smile to keep from crying out:
Are you content to conduct your life
as a cliché and, what's worse,
Answer:
Here in this stanza, we find the narrator (the mother) questioning her daughter. She asks her daughter after meeting her in the city's studio after a long time. Here, the narrator, who is searching for her daughter in the city, gets emotional to see her daughter's actual state. She asks her daughter about her business with her controlled sentiments. She protects herself from her sentiments with a showy smile on her face. Seeing the useless living style of her daughter, she tries to find out her daughter's opinion regarding her lifestyle. The narrator asks her daughter whether she is satisfied with her stereotypical living style as well as the tasks of the city as a cliche' or something worse in her life. The mother is in a dilemma about her daughter's condition. She controlled her tears and asked her about her life with a smiley face. She feels so bad after seeing her daughter's life in the city.
LITERARY ANALYSIS
1. What kind of mythical allusion is created in the poem? What can be its significance?
Answer:
Here in this poem, "The Bistro Styx," the Greek mythical allusion to Demeter (mother) and Persephone (daughter) is created especially to create their troubled relationships. This is a poem taken from the collection Mother Love, 1995. It is a poem that tells the modern (or rather post-modern) story of a mother, Demeter, going in search of her daughter, Persephone, to the underworld of the city civilization. The original Greek myth on which this poem is based is about the mother-earth, or goddess of fertility, who mourned for the disappearance of her daughter, who was abducted by her brother Pluto (or Hades). The daughter is eventually allowed to come back to the natural world on the condition that she return for three months during the winter. The mother in this poem is supposed to symbolise not only mother nature but also the natural, emotive, permanent, and ideal culture of the rural world. The daughter, who has herself gone to the city (not forcibly abducted by her uncle), does not want to return with her mother. The allegory is thus ironic as well. Another mythological allusion is the river of forgetfulness, Styx. According to the myths, if a dead creature crosses the boundary between the world and the dead world and drinks the water of the river Styx, then it forgets everything about its previous birth as well as its life. The daughter's drinking wine looks like Styx's dead drinking water. The daughter has forgotten her relationship, village life, tradition, and rural values.
Its significance can be found in the exploration of postmodern society. This kind of reality is also known as mythopoeic reality. In this modern world, modern daughters are not being abducted by Hades; they are abducted in the name of their career, job, and personality. The mythical Persephone was always urging her to go back to her mother, but this modern Persephone has chosen to be the victim of the modern Hades willingly.
2. What is the theme of the poem?
Answer:
The theme of the poem is the troubled relationship between a mother and daughter in the present world. This poem has shown the generation gap between old and new generations. The poem has presented a vast gap between the close relationships. We find a clash between traditional and modern norms and values.
REFERENCE BEYOND THE TEXT
1. Modern daughters are abducted themselves in the name of career, job, personality and lifestyles. Explain.
Answer:
Yes, the above-mentioned statement is absolutely correct. The present world is the world of competition. In this world, people are too concerned about their education, career, job, personality, and lifestyle. In the case of modern daughters, they are seen abducting themselves from their lives. Daughters are seen as very ambitious in the matter of shaping up their career, job, personality, and lifestyle. They are seen struggling quite hard in search of better opportunities in different sectors. In the present world, most daughters are away from their native places and busy in their lives, doing various things to establish themselves. They have been focused on their career opportunities and lifestyles. They have quite different lifestyles that are far from their traditional norms and values. In most places, they are obliged to do tasks that are against their interests. They are totally lost in the modern world to get their preferred living styles. They have forgotten various things from their past.
2. When the girls go to live in the cities, they forget their relation, life in the village, tradition and rural values. Do you agree? Justify your answer.
Answer:
No, I don't agree with this statement that the girls go to live in the cities; they forget their relationships, life in the village, tradition, and rural values. This case is not applicable to all girls. This case should not be generalised. Most girls move away and live their lives in cities, but they never forget their native places. We can't generalise this case to all the girls. In my opinion, this case should be individualised. I agree that few girls forget their native places, relationships, traditional norms and values, etc., but not all. Still, we find most girls who live and work in the cities have a hearty connection with their native places and people. They never forget their native places. They take care of their people and love their native places even after marrying someone and living far away in the cities. They seem very devoted to their close friends.
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