Question

Read the following excerpt and answer the questions briefly.

I am important to her. She comes and goes. Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness. In me she has drowned a young girl and in me an old woman Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.

1. Why is the mirror important for her?     [1]
2. With what hope does the woman keep coming back to the mirror every day?     [1]
3. Which young girl has been drowned? Where and how?     [1]
4. Name the literary device in ‘like a terrible fish’.     [1]

Answer 1

i. The mirror is important to her because it reflects her true self. It is a way for her to see her own reality and face the passage of time.

ii. The woman keeps coming back to the mirror every day with the hope of finding her lost youth and beauty. She yearns to see the young girl she once was.

iii. The young girl who has been drowned is her younger self. She confronts her own ageing when she emerges out of the water of the lake and accepts herself as ‘a terrible fish’.

iv. Simile