Should wizard hit Mommy?

-By John Updike

Main idea:

Ø  The chapter captures a very sensitive reaction of a small girl to an important aspect of the story that her father narrates to her.

Ø   The story reveals the worldview of a little child to a difficult moral question that shows her mental or psychological richness.

Ø  John Updike, the author examines the issue of parenting and the adult tendency to curb the questioning mind of a child. He also highlights the intrusion of the beliefs held by adults to represent the only valid viewpoint of the world.

Clare (mother)

Jack(father)

Characters:

Bobby (son)

Jo (daughter)

 

Ø  A Tradition of Storytelling by Jack : In the evening (beginning, para-1, page 48)……rite seems futile(para1, page 49)]

1)       Jo is a little girl of four years. She is engaged in a story session with her father.

2)        Jack, the father used to tell her a story every evening and especially for Saturdays’ naps.

3)       Jo feels herself involved with the characters and the happenings.

4)       He started this tradition when his daughter Jo was two year old and now it’s almost two years elapsed. So, he was left with no new stories.

5)        Now, the stories have a slight variation of a basic tale.

The basic tale:

a)       It follows a simple unchanging plot in which there’s always a small creature, usually named Roger.

b)       This Roger may be a fish or Squirrel or a chipmunk.

c)       This character always had a problem and goes to the old wise owl who advises him to visit the wizard who would perform a magic spell that solve the problem.

d)       But, demanding a high payment that Roger doesn’t have. Immediately he himself directs Roger to a place where pennies could be found.

e)       After that Roger happily plays with his friends and then goes home to his mother just in time to hear the train whistle that brought his daddy home from Boston.

6)       Jack gives details of their supper and story ends.

Questions

1. What was the custom or a necessary ritual for Jack?

2. Why was it necessary for Jack to tell stories in the evenings and on Saturday afternoons?

3. What type of stories did Jack usually tell his daughter?

4. “Each new story was a slight variation of a basic one”. What used to be the common features of Jack’s stories?

Ø  The little girl grown up: Jack’s technique stopped working

1)       The little girl is not little any more.

2)       Her legs reach half way down their big double bed where she sleeps when she was sick.

3)       So, Jack’s technique stopped working on Saturday as Jo doesn’t fell asleep anymore.

4)       She no more fell asleep at his stories like old days when she was just two.

Ø  Jo Being intrusive (Disturbing): A new Phase

1)       On the particular day, a Saturday, it was time for Joanne's nap. So, Jack had to tell her a story. So he began his story and asked Joanne what the creature should be named.

2)       It seemed they had studied about a new animal at school today for she enthusiastically said "skunk, Roger skunk (rat like creature with a bad smell) ".

3)       The character was set and so began the story. Jack was now ready to start the story and was filled with creative enthusiasm.

4)       He tells the story of a smelly Skunk who smelt so bad that he did not have any friends to play with.

5)       He starts, ‘once upon a time...’ It follows the same course except in mentioning the fact that Jack is reminded of his own childhood and its humiliation

6)       He narrates-

a)       Whenever Roger goes to play with his friends all other creatures tease him as ‘here comes Roger stinky skunk’.

b)       So, he stands all alone with tears rolling down from his eyes.

7)       Now she can predict what her father would say. She asked why don’t he go and see the owl.

8)       And Jack could feel her tension as her legs switched tensely.

9)       So, he begins to feel that he is actually telling Jo something that is true and thus is no hurry to go any faster.

10)   They could hear sound of chairs dragged in downstairs as Clare was painting living room’s wood work.

11)   He should go and help. But despite of it he continued with the story. 

c)       The creature having no other option with a heavy heart walked to the big tree where huge wise old owl lived and seek his advice.

12)   Jo interrupted Jack with her guess, ‘the wizard’. But he yelped and snubbed (ridiculed) her same time and continued-

d)       The wise old owl directed him to go to the magician.

13)   Jo interrupted again with her question. And he was irritated by her and is even more as she asked whether magic spells are real.

14)   He is reminded that of late she has been asking many questions. Once he said Spiders eat bugs she turned to her Mom and asked do they really eat bugs. And another time when Clare told her God was in the sky and all around them. She asked him if he really.

15)   He answered her shortly ‘they’re real in stories’ and continued. As he was disturbed with her questions and missed a bit of his story.

e)       The wise old owl asked Roger to go through the forest, under the apple trees, into the swamp, over the crick.

16)   Jo disturbed him again with her question, ‘what’s a crick?’ But Jack’s response was same. He answered shortly. It’s a small river and continued with his story.

f)        After crossing the forest Roger reached a little white house and knocked on the door.

g)       A tiny little figure with a long white beard and a pointed blue hat came and asked what he wants.

h)       He too mentioned the bad smell of Roger.

i)         Then Roger informed his problem and sought his help.

17)   Then Jack gave description of Wizard’s room.

j)         It was full of all magic things, jumbled up together in a big dusty heap. There was no cleaning lady.

18)   Jo asked why. Jack’s answer was short and straight as if don’t want to be disturbed with Jo’s questions and miss anything from the story. He simply answered because he was a wizard and a very old man.

19)   Jo was scared at this. She asked if will die.

20)   This wonderful evidence of Jo’s inquisitive progressing mind and intellect completely escapes Jack. He was so determined on getting on with the stories planned by him. That his answers to her questions were too short and dictatorial. He even failed to notice that her question about whether the old wizard could die might be a sign of an inner fear.

21)   He only said wizards don’t die and continued with where he left.

k)       The Wizard asked how Roger wanted to smell. He thought and thought and asked for the smell of Roses.

l)         Then the Wizard chanted “Abracadabry, hocus-poo….bingo!” turned the awful smell that Roger had into a smell that was of roses.

m)     The whole room smelled roses.

n)       Then it was the time for the wizard’s payment

o)       He asked for seven pennies.

22)   He continues with the story and so involved is he in the story that Jo has to remind him that he has referred to Roger Skunk as Roger Fish. After an exchange of apologies he continued with the story.

23)   In between he could hear Clare dragging Chairs again. She was expecting their 3^rd child.

p)       But Roger had only three. So, he started crying.

q)       Then the magician instructed him two go to the end of the lane, turn three times, look into the well and find the pennies.

r)        The Roger creature then as directed gave the magician the pennies he had and as per the instruction of the magician went to the well to get the extra pennies and gave it to him.

Animals Welcomed Roger

s)         Then, Roger Skunk went to play with his friends. That day they played tag, baseball, football, basketball lacrosse, hockey, soccer and pick-up-sticks.

1. How did the woodland creatures react to the skunk’s new smell?

2. What happened after Roger Skunk smelled very bad again?

3. How do the woodland creatures ultimately accept the skunk?

Skunk’s Mother Hits the Wizard

t)        Then roger skunk went back home. As he reached home his mother was disappointed with roger skunk as she thought that it was not right to change one's identity to please their friends. She said real friends are the ones who accept you for who you are and not for whom you want to become.

u)       She then took roger back to the magician and hit the magician with the umbrella she had been carrying. The magician then performed his magic and roger no longer smelled of roses. After that they returned home just in time to hear the whistle of the train blow that brought Roger skunk's father home and from that day on, Roger skunk was content in being himself. 

1. Why did Roger Skunk’s mother not like her son smelling like roses?

2. How did the Skunk’s mother react to his new smell?

3. Why was Roger Skunk’s mommy angry on finding him smell like roses? What did she do?

4. Why did the ‘mommy’ go to the Wizard and with what result?

5. Why did skunk’s mother hit the wizard?

6. Do you think that the wizard deserved the beating? Was he right in changing the smell?

7. How did the skunk’s mother get his old smell back? Was she insensitive towards her son?

8. How did the mommy justify for retaining the original smell?

9. What is the role-played by Roger Skunk’s mommy in the story. “Should Wizard Hit Mommy?”

10. Why did Roger Skunk not react to his mother’s demand?

Jo’s Reaction - Jo Is Not Convinced

24)   It comes as a rude shock to Jack to discover that though Jo is exhibiting the desired response to each fragment of the story, the response is insincere and even reminds him of his wife pretending pleasure at a cocktail party. As the story that Jack is narrating comes to an end, he notices that Jo is expecting it to end this way and this annoys him for some inexplicable reason. He cannot bear it when women take things for granted. So, he decides to continue with the story giving it a twist.

v)       In his story the wizard has changed Skunk so that he smelled of roses, but mother Skunk disapproved of this and hit the wizard with her umbrella making him change Skunk back to his old stinking self.

25)   The end of the story does not appeal to Jo who wants the wizard to hit mommy, but Jack tells her that mommy knows what is best for her child. It is evident that the story violates Jo’s sense of fairness for why should Roger Skunk not smell of roses and thus have more friends? It is also apparent that in a way Jo’s authority, for doing not adults knows best! Jack feels threatened by Jo’s attitude and when he finds that she is restless after he has come to downstairs, he uses the ultimate weapon of adult authority does she want him to slap her, he asks.

1. How was Jo affected by Jack’s story telling?

2. Why did Jo want the Wizard to hit the mommy?

3. What change did Jo want in the story?

4. Why did Jo want Roger Skunk’s mommy to be punished?

5. What do you think was Jo’s problem?

6. What is Jo’s perspective and how does it differ with Jack’s?

7. How did Jo react when her father refused to change the ending of the story?

8. Do you think Jo was right in her demands?

9. How does Jo want the story to end and why?

10. Why wasn't Jo happy with the ending of the story? How did Jo want the story to end up?

11. What is the difference between the original ending and the ending of the story Jo insists on?

12. Why did Jo not approve of Skunk’s mother scolding him for his new smell?

Jack’s conflict:

26)   Jack finds his wife painting the chair downstairs. She is expecting their third child and is wearing his shirt ever her maternity dress. He notices that half the chair is still the old dirty color while the other half is the color of ivory. HE finds himself caught somewhere in an ugly middle position. This is perhaps an indication of the confusion that Jo’s questioning has caused. The idea is not only shocking but also quite unacceptable to him. The reader does get the distinct impression that Jack is not used to his authority being questioned by anyone and least of all a little child. He finds it hard to come to terms with the fact that Jo no longer accepts what he says and is not afraid to assert her opinion. The fact that she insists on his changing the ending of the story on the following night. She also indicated that she has lost faith in adults’ wisdom and has a mind of her won, something that Jack cannot understand or accept.

27)   The writer brings into focus the impatience and insensitivity that adults display in their dealing with children and the intolerance they exhibit if they feel that their authority is being questioned. He also high lights the adult habit of imposing their opinion on children and that of discouraging any queries. So, caught up are adults in the web of life that lose their sense of perception which is so sharp in children. Also, the adult viewpoint is most often colored by the intrusive hues of their various experiences in life.

1. What makes Jack feel caught in an ugly middle position?

2. Why was Jack worried about his wife Clare?

3. Was Jack right in not changing the end or in hurting his little girl?

4. Why does Jack insist that it was the Wizard that was hit and not mother?

5. How does Jack narrate the story ‘Should Wizard Hit Mommy?’

6.  How did Jack enact the part of the wizard?

7.  How does Jack try to make his story lively and real?

MORAL:     
Throughout this story Jack wanted to teach his daughter Joanne about moral values, but his daughter Joanne (Jo), who was just a child, reacted differently to the story's ending. She wants the wizard to hit Roger's mother and let Roger smell of roses and not change him. This was a child's perspective of things. To a child, friends mean everything and they do not understand moral values and the importance of parents.
Jack had faced similar problems like roger had faced so he was trying to tell Jo that whatever parents say or do for them are in their best interest. But Jo was adamant and wanted another ending for the story.
After the story ended jack went down to help his wife Clare paints the furniture. When he reached downstairs he saw that the woodwork, a cage of moldings and rails and baseboards all around them was half old tan and half new ivory and he felt caught in an ugly middle position, and though he as well felt his wife's presence in the cage with him, he did not want to speak with her, work with her, touch her, anything.

Questions

1. Describe Roger Skunk.

2. What was Roger Skunk’s problem? How did he get it solved?

3. Describe the troubles that Roger Skunk had to face and what did he do?

4. How and why did all other animals tease Roger Skunk?

5. Why did the woodland creatures avoid Roger Skunk?

6. Narrate the story told by Jack to his daughter about a Skunk

7. What made Jo unhappy over Roger Skunk’s story?

8. What made Jo feel that the story was over?

9. Where did the Wizard live and how did he look like?

    10. Where did Roger Skunk go for his immediate help?

    11. How was Roger Skunk able to pay the requisite fee of the Wizard?

12. How did Roger Skunk find three more pennies?

13. How did he start to smell like roses?

14. Why did Roger Skunk go in search of the Wizard? What did he say to the Wizard?

15. What happened when Roger Skunk met the Wizard?

16. What did the Wizard do when Roger begged him for help?

17. How did the Wizard help Roger Skunk?

SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS (with answers):

1.      How did the wizard help Roger Skunk?

Ans. The wizard was moved by Roger Skunk’s story. On finding his magic wand, he chanted some magic words and granted that Roger should smell like roses.

2.      How did Roger Skunk’s Mommy react when he went home smelling of roses?

Ans. Roger Skunk began to smell like roses. Mommy asked about the smell. Roger Skunk replied that the wizard had made him smell like roses. The mother thought that he had lost his identity and asked Roger to go with her to meet the wizard.

3.      How did the Skunk’s mother get him his old smell back?

Ans. The mother was furious to learn about the wizard who changed the original smell. She immediately visited the wizard and hit him on his head and asked him to restore the original smell.

4.      Who is Jo? How has she changed in the past two years? How did Jo behave in ‘reality phase’?

Ans. Jo is Jack’s four year old daughter. She was no longer a patient listener. She did not take things for granted and tried to see things in her own way.

5.      How does Jo want the story to end and why?

Ans. Jo understood Roger Skunk’s need to enjoy the company of his friends; therefore wanted that the wizard should take Roger’s side.

LONG ANSWER QUESTIONS

6.      Why an adult’s perspective of life is different from that of a child’s as given in the story?

Ans. An adult’s perspective on life is always different; maturity of a person becomes his parameter to judge right and wrong. For him/her everything that occurs has a message. In the story,

Jack at no level accepts Jo’s worldview that wizard should hit Mommy. On the other hand , a child’s perceptive is limited , loves ‘action’ more than thought .Jo would delight in hearing the story of Roger Skunk’s Mommy being hit by the wizard, wanted a happy ending to the story.

7.      What was usually the basic story line of the tale that Jack told Jo almost daily?

Ans. The stories that Jack used to tell Joe were the slight variation of the basic tale about a small creature usually named Roger. Roger would go to the wise owl whenever in trouble. The wise owl would ask him to go to the wizard who would finally solve Roger’s problem.

8.      Describe the wizard’s room.

Ans. The wizard’s room is a white house over the crick. Inside it are all magic things. All jumbled together in a big dusty heap as the wizard did not have any cleaning lady.

9.      How did Roger Skunk’s mommy react when he smelling ‘roses’ went home?

Ans. When Roger Skunk smelling ‘roses’ reached home his mommy asked what was that awful smell. Roger Skunk replied that the wizard had made him smell like that. She got angry and with Roger went to the wizard and hit his head with an umbrella. 

10.  How did Jo react to Jack’s story line?

Ans. Jo did not agree with Jack’s version of the story in which Roger Skunk’s mommy hit that wizard right over his head for changing Roger Skunk’s smell. Instead she wanted the wizard hit Skunk’s mommy and did not change that little Skunk’s smell back.

11.  What does Jack actually want Jo to know and understand in the story?

Ans. Jack actually wants Jo to know and understand that parents always love their children as they are. Smelling good or bad is immaterial against the natural biological bond. But this thing is Jo’s beyond understanding. She understands what she sees around; but not beyond that.

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

Ans. The story shows the conflict between two generations. It tells us about the belief, of the older generation, in customs and traditions and constantly questioning attitude of the younger generation, hence contributing to a generation gap. Not understanding her son’s pain of loneliness and dejection, mother Skunk gets his smell changed to his original foul smell and loves him the way he is, raising the moral issue of whether parents should 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. Jo wants the wizard to hit Mommy and not vice-versa because she represents the new generation and does not agree with her father’s view. Jack sums up the issue in one sentence- ‘She knew what was right’. Jack also says that the little Skunk agreed to the mother’s proposal because he loved his mother more than the other animals. Little Jo feels that the Skunk’s mother should not have robbed her little son of the pleasure he derived when playing with the other animals when he smelled of roses. She insists that the wizard hit the Mommy on the head and calls little Skunk’s mother a ‘Stupid Mommy’. Keeping to her view point, she insisted that her father should tell her the story the next day in a different manner. So we see that the story deals with moral issues dependent on the different levels of maturity of Jack and Jo.

13.  How does Jo want the story to end? Why? What light does it throw on Jo’s character?

Ans. Jo wanted the story to end with Roger being accepted by the other animals. In Jack’s version, the wizard was hit by mommy. Jo did not relish this. The wizard was the person who fulfilled everyone’s wishes. He had rid Roger Skunk of the bad odor. So she wanted her father to end the story with Roger skunk having a new and pleasant smell and wizard spanking the stupid ‘mommy’. Jo would get totally involved in the story. She even shed a tear or so, when woodland creatures spurned Roger. She could not bear injustice to the wizard by ‘mommy’ skunk. She wanted the end of the story to change in which the benevolent Wizard hits mommy for being inconsiderate to Roger’s need for acceptance by friends. She was independent in her thinking. Jo remains unconvinced by the father’s argument that mothers are always right.

14.  Do you think Jack and Jo could identify with Roger skunk as a victim of the hatred of other creatures?

Ans. Jack brought the story to life when he narrated the tale remembering certain humiliations of his own childhood. The corners of Jo’s mouth drooped down and her lower lip bent forward. A tear flowed along the side of the nose. This shows that even Jo could identify with Roger skunk.

15.  Which two opposite forces acted on Jack while he was telling Jo the story?

Ans. Jack was telling Jo something she must know and had no wish to hurry on. On the other hand he heard a chair scrapping. He realized that he must help his pregnant wife Clare to paint the wood work down stairs. These were the opposite forces acting on Jack while he was telling Jo the story.

16.  Why did Jo not approve of skunk’s mother scolding him for his new smell?

Ans. Jo was very happy that skunk smelt like roses. He was accepted by the woodland creatures and was happy. Jo did not approve of skunk’s mother scolding him for something that made him acceptable among his friends and brought him happiness.

17.  What do you learn about Jo’s new reality phase?

18.  Ans. Earlier Jo used to accept her father’s word about magic etc. now she had started asking if magic spells were real. She had become curious since a month. She was growing up and wished to check the reality of all that was told to her.

19.  What is the ugly middle position where jack finds himself trapped?

Ans. The ugly middle position refers to jack’s helplessness and dilemma. Its ugly because jack is not used to the women questioning his authority and Jo’ constant interruptions, clarifications, pointing out mistakes , disagreements, questioning the end of the story and suggesting an alternate end makes jack uncomfortable. It is a middle position because jack is as if coerced by the tradition (recalls his own mother) and society to inculcate certain moral lessons in Jo but at the same time he is at loss. He is unable to satisfy Jo’s lingering anxiety as he fails to understand her perspective (her fear of abandonment), as a result he finds himself trapped in a cage along with his wife which brings him no solace.

20.  Father has felt empty after two years of storytelling to Jo. What idea do you form about his skill in the art of storytelling?

Ans. It would be wrong to say that Jo's father is a bad story teller. In fact, with all his histrionics, sound effects and gestures, he is quite effective in the art. His only problem is that his stories lack variety and he ends up telling the same old story again and again with slight variation here and there. He feels empty because he has been telling stories for over two years now and has quite naturally run short of ideas.

21.  Do you think the father in the story is, more or less, an alter ego of the author, as far as the childhood is concerned?

Ans. John Updike's childhood was tortured by 'psoriasis' and stammering and he had to suffer humiliation and ridicule at the hands of his classmates on account of this. Like him, Jo's father too recalls certain moments of 'humiliation of his own childhood. ''Thus the father more or less, was an alter ego of the author.''

22.  How was Jo affected by Jack's story telling?

Ans. Jo would be immensely engrossed in the story. She liked the way her father used to tell story particularly his dramatization of it, through gestures and changing voices. She also liked the predictable way the story would unfold for it allowed her to make guesses, draw conclusions and ask questions. The whole world of the story would come alive before her and she would twitch and turn in excitement as the story progressed.

23.  This was a new phase, just this last month. 'What new phase is referred to here in the story "Should Wizard Hit    Mommy"?

Ans. Children's physical and mental growth is very speedy. Earlier Jo used to accept father's word about magic etc. but now she has started having apprehensions about such spells. She has become more inquisitive and less credulous.

24.  Why does the wizard instruct the Skunk to "Hurry up"?

Ans. The wizard asks Skunk to hurry up because he is used to living alone and does not like company for a long time and secondly he was keen to have his full payment for the task performed. Another reason can be that he could not stand Skunk's smell for long

25.  After the Skunk started smelling of roses Jo "thought the story was all over." Why did she think so?

Ans. Viewed from a child's angle, Skunk's smelling of roses is a befitting ending for the story, because first, Skunk's long standing desire has been fulfilled and secondly he is able to do what is dearest to his heart-play with other woodland creatures.

26.  Why in your opinion is the smell of roses obnoxious for the Skunk mother or How did Skunk's mother react to his new smell? 

Ans. Nature keeps its own balance and has its own way. The Skunk's smell is obnoxious for other creatures, but certainly not for other Skunks. Skunks are born with this particular smell and any deviation is violation of Nature. So the mother Skunk does not like the rose smell of Roger Skunk. She believes that what is natural is not disgraceful.

27.  The Skunk accepts Mom's order like a tame lamb and follows her to the wizard without demur, but Jo chooses to differ from her father with regard to changing the rose smell. How would you account for this difference in attitude between the two?

Ans. Roger Skunk as a character symbolizes Jack's own personality as a child. He loved and obeyed his mother very much. She in turn taught him courage and self-regard in dealing with his hurt and humiliation on account of his psoriasis and stammering. Thus, Skunk is as unquestioningly obedient as Jack himself was. Jo on the other hand is a happy-go-lucky child of four who has no upset and humiliation to deal with. She is naturally inquisitive and is curious to know more and more. It is not surprising that she is full of questions. The attitudes of both Skunk and Jo are shaped by their life experience.

28.  Why did Jo not approve of Skunk's mother scolding him for his new smell?

Ans. Jo was very happy to hear that Skunk had got rid of his awful smell and had been accepted by the woodland creatures. She did not like Skunk's mother scolding him for his new smell because Jo thought it was a pleasant smell and the one that had won Skunk so many friends. Skunk's mother, she thought, was wrong in scolding him for his new smell.

29.  What is the underlying idea behind the wizard's taking the beating and tamely changing the rose smell?

Ans. By making the wizard take his beating by Skunk's mother quietly, Jack and through him the author wishes to bring home the idea that mothers are always right and that we should accept what is natural. The wizard also sees the point and tamely changes Skunk's rose smell into his original Skunk smell.