[ The Other Family – Paragraph Questions and Answers
🔵 1. How does the mother’s experience as an immigrant create feelings of loneliness, guilt and insecurity?
The mother feels lonely because she has moved away from her homeland, language and people. The cold and unfamiliar Canadian surroundings make her remember the warm and lively atmosphere of her native country. She feels guilty for bringing her daughter to a foreign land and fears that the child may lose her cultural identity. She is also worried that her daughter may one day feel ashamed of her dark-skinned family and reject them.
🟣 2. Describe the picture drawn by the little girl and explain why it deeply disturbed her mother.
The little girl draws a white family consisting of people with fair skin, blond or red hair and blue eyes. The picture does not resemble her real family, whose members are dark-skinned and dark-haired. Her mother becomes angry and sad because she thinks that her daughter wants to belong to a white family. She fears that the girl is rejecting her parents, appearance and cultural identity.
🟢 3. Why did the girl draw a white family instead of her own family? How did she defend her drawing?
The girl copied the family from one of her schoolbooks because all the books contained the same picture of a white family. The other children also drew similar pictures, and the teacher appreciated her work. When her mother questioned her, the girl defended the drawing by saying that she had followed the book and the teacher’s instructions. This reveals how educational materials can influence children’s ideas about what a “normal” family should look like.
🟠 4. What did the girl do after her mother went to bed? How did it help her recognise her identity?
After her mother went to bed, the girl quietly entered the washroom and stood before a full-length mirror. She removed the top of her pyjamas and carefully examined her brown skin, dark eyes, black hair and the scar on her nose. This act of self-examination helped her understand and accept her real appearance. It marked the beginning of her awareness and acceptance of her racial and cultural identity.
🔴 5. How did the girl complete her picture? Explain the significance of the words, “It’s the other family.”
The next day, the girl took the picture back to school and said that it was incomplete. Beside the blond family, she drew another family consisting of a dark-skinned man, woman and child. The woman wore clothes from her homeland, and the girl had a scar on her nose. When the teacher asked who they were, she replied, “It’s the other family.” Her completed picture represents self-acceptance, cultural diversity and the peaceful coexistence of different families.]
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[Prepared by Sindhu.P,HSST English,GGHSS Kallai]