Bihar Board Rainbow English Book Class 12 SolutionsChapter 7 'A Child is Born by Germaine Greer'
Text Book Questions and Answers
(i) In a traditional society, a pregnant woman has to follow the conventional procedure of childbirth. - T
(ii) Even taboos and prohibitions help to manage anxiety. - T
(iii) Western women suffer mostly because they have to manage everything on their own. - T
(iv) In traditional societies, childbirth is a family affair. - T
(v) The family support and conventional procedure lessen mother-infant mortality. - F
(vi) Freedom to live our own lives is more important than prenatal mortality. - T
(vii) Western people do not think that all mothers-in-law are unjust and vindictive. - F
(viii) Silent opposition in international conferences is not a major difficulty in the way of feminists. - F
(ix) In many traditional societies, the relation between mother and child is more important than that between husband and wife. - T
B. 1.2. Answer the following questions briefly -
1. How are the ways of managing childbirth in traditional societies useful?
Ans: In traditional societies, there are many different ways to manage childbirth. They are useful primarily because they are accepted culturally and collectively. The expectant mother is free from the anxiety of reinvesting the procedures. The ritual approach to pregnancy surrounds a pregnant woman with taboos, rituals, and prohibitions. This helps the anxiety manageable because the observance of all those prohibitions and rites keeps the woman actively involved.
2. A pregnant woman in a traditional society does not feel that she is alone. Why?
Ans: In a traditional society, a pregnant woman never feels that she is alone because the ritual observances of pregnancy involve the support and participation of her husband, her family, and members of her community. Thus, it enhances her sense of security and her conviction that it is not the pregnancy that is conducting her, but it is she who is conducting the pregnancy.
3. What is the superstition associated with acquiring new clothes and instruments for baby before birth?
Ans: A diehard superstition is that if clothes and equipment are acquired for the baby before it is born, it would be a had luck. So the baby comes into the world without napkins and a scribe.
4. ‘In our anxiety to avoid death, we may have destroyed the significance of the experience’ What is the ‘experience’ the writer refers to?
Ans: The writer is talking about the experience of free people to live in their way, and according to their sense of values.
5. What is the ‘tourism of anthropologies’ that the writer talks about?
Ans: In many societies, women go from their mother’s houses at marriage to live with their mother-in-law and the wives of her husband’s brothers. It is the tourism of anthropologies that such women do not become members of their new family until they have borne a child.
6. What compels women to withdraw into silent opposition in international fora?
Ans: There are two reasons why women are compelled to withdraw into silent opposition. Firstly, the discussions are held in a language that those women cannot speak fluently. Secondly, they get tired of being told about their own lives instead of being consulted.
7. Why had Sudanese women officials stopped going to international conferences?
Ans: Though the Sudanese women officials considered going to international conferences a treat, they did not want to participate in them. The reason was that they felt they were told about their own lives and were not consulted.
B.2.1. Read the following sentences and write ‘T’ for true and ’F’ for false statements -
(i) A Sylheti woman may not visit her mother’s house during pregnancy. - F
(ii) For Sylheti women, the whole matter of pregnancy is one of celebration. - T
(iii) Garlands of turmeric and garlic are worn to please gods. - F
(iv) The songs they sing are about the lives of women in Bengal. - T
(v) Visiting the mother’s house is one of the rewards of pregnancy. - T
(vi) In Bangladesh, Rupthoka is a kind of sweet dish. - F
(vii) All technological changes cause social developments. - T
(viii) Childbirth in modem hospitals is more brutal. - T
B.2.2. Complete the following sentences on the basis of the lesson -
(a) The potential catastrophes are alive in the memory of her community.
(b) She will have others reinforcements, for many of the rituals observances of pregnancy involve the participation of the others who should support her.
(c) In non- technocratic societies, except for remarkable accidents, birth is always attended.
(d) The description provided by the Amnesty for Women of typical Muslim marriage was no more than a coarse ethnocentric libel.
(e) In many traditional societies in Africa and India, the biological family is deliberately weakened by enforced abstinence or actual separation of parents.
B. 2. 3. Answer the following questions briefly -
1. Where do Sylheti women go to stay during the last stage of pregnancy?
Ans: In the last stage of pregnancy, Sylheti women go to their parents’ house to live.
2. What is the reward of pregnancy for a young Sylheti woman?
Ans: The reward of pregnancy for a young Sylheti woman is that she goes to stay with her parents, and gets an opportunity to live with her mother and sisters.
3. How are children of the joint family in Bangladesh looked after?
Ans: All the small children of the joint family in Bangladesh are looked after by the whole family. One of the daughters-in-law bathes them all; another cooks food and yet another feeds them. It is only at night that the children go to their respective mothers to sleep.
4. What is the worst impact of western medicine in traditional societies?
Ans: The impact of western medicine in traditional society is the impact of modernization. The doctors are arrogant, the medicines are expensive, there is much display of shining equipment, and little
regard for the health of the patient.
5. What is the immediate impact of poverty in the medical field?
Ans: The immediate impact of poverty in the medical field is the cultural dominance of western
technology.
C.1. Long Answer Questions -
1. What is the role of rituals in managing childbirth in traditional societies?
Ans: In traditional societies, the birth of a child is a special occasion. Several rituals are observed in which a pregnant woman, her family, and even the community participate. The observance of these rituals keeps the pregnant woman actively involved. She also gets a central place. She feels strong because she gets the support of her husband and the family. Some of the rituals are sensible, while others have the effect of magic. The pregnant woman feels that the pregnancy is not conducting her, but she is conducting the pregnancy. These rituals are culturally accepted, and a pregnant woman is not under any anxiety to reinvent them.
2. The experience of childbirth is very significant. But modern technology has deprived the potential mother of this significant experience. How?
Ans: Childbirth is a unique experience in the life of a potential mother. In non-technological and traditional societies, she is pampered; she is praised for her courage; she has to observe taboos and rituals; she gets the support of her husband and her family. The childbirth is always attended to. The whole period of pregnancy is a period of celebration. After the child is born, there is singing and dancing.
But modem technology has deprived her of this significant experience. In hospitals, there are unconcerned doctors and nurses, costly but impersonal equipment, expensive drugs. The potential mothers are ignored. While the nurses are busy with their sophisticated modem equipment. Births are very far from normal. Childbirth turns from a climatic personal experience into a personal disaster.
3. Describe the western interpretation of a bride’s longing for a child in a traditional society.
Ans: In many traditional societies women still go from their mother’s home after marriage to live with their mother-in-law and her husband’s joint family. Some anthropologists in the west unjustly believe that she is not accepted as a member of her new family so long as she does not bear a child. So she longs to have a child. The western interpretation is that they are backward, cruel, and wrong, and the mothers-in-law are unjust and vindictive.
4. How do languages come in the way of a better understanding of women’s problems?
Ans: At international fora, the debates are conducted in a language that many women, who still live among women in traditional societies, cannot speak fluently. They simply withdraw in silent opposition. This presents one of the difficulties to understand their problems. The same difficulty is also experienced at sophisticated hospitals where the patients and doctors and nurses speak different languages.
5. Describe the rewards of pregnancy as experienced by Sylheti women.
Ans: A young pregnant Sylheti woman goes to her mother’s house for the last few months of pregnancy and the first three months of the baby’s life. There she has the opportunity to live with her brothers and sisters. There she gets all the attention and care. She is given to eat what she likes to eat. The whole period of pregnancy is a period of celebration. When the baby is born, it is an occasion of joy. When the baby is a week old, he is given new clothes, and the mother is given a sari. Then there is feasting, singing, and dancing. It is an all women’s affair who gather and sing and joke. The singing goes on all night. Men just come in to have a look at the baby. Thus, the mother’s achievement is celebrated which is a reward of pregnancy.
6. Does the writer want to say that the use of western medicine in childbirth is producing horrible results? Do you agree with her views?
Ans: The writer admires the traditional societies where childbirth is a rewarding experience. The potential mother gets all the care and support of her family. Even after the baby is born, the joint family helps her to look after it. The anxiety of bearing a child is absent. But western medicine is depriving her of these joys. The mother has to bear the anxiety. Besides, in poor societies the dominance of western technology is total. I do not agree with her views. Firstly, she concedes that over the last fifty years, western medicines have reduced the number of prenatal and perinatal mortality.
The mother and the baby enjoy better health. It is also ensured that the baby is protected from many fatal diseases. In itself, it is a marvelous achievement. Methods adopted in nontechnical societies are full of risks. It is wrong to presume that the western system takes away the freedom of people to live their way. In India, pregnant women in cities and towns visit hospitals regularly to ensure safe childbirth. This does not in any way hinders them to observe their cultural rituals and taboos. If they live in a joint family, they can continue to have all their benefits too.
7. What could be the worse fates than death for a pregnant woman?
Ans: God creates a miracle through a woman. She gives birth to a baby that keeps the human race going on. If a pregnant woman dies, the baby also dies. The hopes of the human race die. God does not like a pregnant woman to die. He wants her to live and create life. But if she dies, it is because of our carelessness and negligence. It is a misfortune that can be avoided with the help of modem science. So people, and especially women, should be educated so that no pregnant woman or her baby ever dies.
8. What are the problems of a modern woman in matters of pregnancy and childbirth?
Ans: In the modem time s joint families have disintegrated and nuclear families are coming up. Sometimes circumstances force young couples to live far away from their families. In such cases, modem women have many problems to face in matters of pregnancy. During her second stage of pregnancy and after the birth of childbirth she needs the support of someone. Of course, the modem woman enjoys some benefits of modern medical science and technology. She can visit a hospital and monitor every development. They can ensure safe delivery. But that is not all. She feels insecure. She needs support and helps to bring up her baby. So either some female relative is called to help her, or she goes to stay with her mother or mother-in-law during this period.
C. 3. Composition -
Write a paragraph of about 100 words on each of the following -
a) Rituals: their value in our cultural life.
Ans: Rituals are prevalent in all cultures. They have their values. Rituals connected with birth help the mother to feel she is not alone. The rituals connected with marriage give the bride and groom time to develop love and intimacy, and the families to come closer. Rituals connected with death help the bereaved family to overcome their grief. They bring a sense of oneness to a community because rituals need the participation of the community also, they also help to bring variety to our life. If there are no rituals, fairs, and festivals life will be done and monotonous. Many rituals are associated with our common heritage and help to keep our culture and traditions alive. But with the advance of modernizations, many rituals are dying out. Their observance in cities is dwindling. Chatt Puja, Sama-chakra festival, Makar Sakranti is the unique identity of Bihar and is observed wherever the people of Bihar may live.
b) Family is the hub of our social life.
Ans: A society is made up of families. A family is a society in miniature. All values come from the family. Whatever be the functions, festivals, rituals, they are celebrated by the family. When there is chat all families observe it with great fervor. Though it is the activity of each family, the whole society appears to be celebrating it together. Diwali is celebrated by each family. But it becomes the festival of the whole society. Marriages, births, etc. are a family matter. But they are never celebrated without the participation of the community. So whatever be the activity of a family is reflected in our society. Indeed family is the hub of our social life.
D. Word Study -
D.1. Dictionary Use -
Ex. 1. Correct the spelling of the following words -
- anjeety - anxiety
- usefullness - usefulness
- bahaviars - behaviours
- acquintance - acquaintance
- necesarily - necessarily
- secratariet - secretariat
- techanological - technological
- comunities - communities
- sofisticated - sophisticated
- equippment - equipment
D. 2. Word-formation -
Add suffix ‘-able’ to the following words and fill in the blanks with the new words to complete the sentences (in some cases the final ‘e’ is. to be dropped.)
(i) We did not find Varsha’s proposal acceptable.
(ii) Safdar has already spent considerable amount in the repairing work.
(iii) The act of violence is quite deplorable.
(iv) The refills are not usable.
(v) Everyone found his behavior quite agreeable.
(vi) Workable knowledge of a car cannot make you a good mechanic.
(vii) Nikhat is quite knowledgeable you can seek advice from her.
(viii) Since he has been ill for a long period, his irritating nature is quite understandable.
D. 3. Word-meaning -
Ex. 1. Fill in the blanks with suitable phrases given in the box -
(a) Pragya’s fever was not severe but it was the doctor’s assurance which kept her fear at bay.
(b) It is not proper to ask others to take care of your newborn babies.
(c) This time team India played seriously in order to win the match.
(d) Development of a nation can never be achieved at the expense of common people’s aspirations.
(e) Many women and children joined the freedom struggle movement in response to Gandhiji’s call.
(f) The teacher infused confidence in the children inward off their fear of darkness.
(g) Everyone admiringly looked at the paintings.
(h) The new gardener looks after the plants with great affection.
E. Grammar -
Read the text to find out appropriate prepositions and fill in the blanks to complete the sentences -
(a) All the members of family participate in the function.
(b) The scientists were actively involved in holding the natural calamities at bay.
(c) Pregnant women are advised to cling to a proper diet habit.
(d) The nurses were quite cooperative about breastfeeding.
(e) Modem obstetric is responsible for the decrease in maternal mortality over the past century.
(f) The west thinks that in many traditional societies, the relations between spouses are exploitative.
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