Lullaby: Exercise (Questions and Answers) | Leslie Marmon Silko | Major English Class 12

Neb English Support Class 12

Lullaby: Exercise (Questions and Answers) | Leslie Marmon Silko | Major English Class 12

Lullaby Questions and Answers 

SHORT QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Lullaby by Leslie Marmon Silko 

1. Why does Ayah hate Chato?

Answer:

Ayah hates Chato because she feels her husband Chato is the responsible person behind losing her two young children. Actually, Ayah didn't know how to sign in English. Her husband taught her how to sign. Due to her knowledge of signatures, she had to lose her two children at the hands of the white doctors. If she hadn't known to sign, she wouldn't have signed on the paper, and Ella and Danny would not have had obligations to go with the white people. Therefore, Ayah blames her husband, Chato, for teaching her to sign.

2. What pain was very difficult for Ayah to bear? Why?

Answer:

It was very difficult for Ayah to bear the pain of losing her eldest son Jimmy in a helicopter crash. She couldn't believe her son, Jimmy, was no more. Likewise, losing her two young children, Ella and Danny, was also very painful for her. She didn't want to submit her kids to white doctors. She ran to the hills to keep her children with her. But she lost them too. Thus, the pain of losing her children one after the other was very difficult for her to bear, as she loved her children more than anything else.

3. Discuss the native American issues in this story?

Answer:

This story was written by Leslie Marmon Silko, a Native American author. She is a leading figure in the Native American Renaissance movement of the 1970s.

In the story, she has mainly raised issues about her own Native American culture. Here, she has raised the issue of white supremacy over the local or native people. Ayah's husband, Chato, is one of the victims of whites. He was used by a white employer when he was young and energetic, but was later dismissed from his job when he was weak and old. Ayah had to hand her children over to white doctors. Her son, Jimmy, was killed during the war. When Aaya entered the bar in search of her husband, others looked at her with suspicion. Being unable to understand the English language, white people took advantage of the Ayah.

The white people encroached upon the native culture by taking Danny and Ella as well. They have forgotten their Navajo language and even their mother.

The old Navajo tradition is being encroached upon. The conflict between Ayah and the whites is the cause of all her suffering. As the whites began to take over the lands that belonged to the Native Americans, they began to lose their culture, and this is where the Ayah's plight began.

4. Is there any conflict in the story? What are the types of conflict?

Answer:

Yes, there is a conflict between Ayah and the whites, Ayah and her husband Chato, and she goes through an internal conflict. The conflict experienced by the characters results in the loss of traditional cultures and family ties.  The result of conflicts is that they result in mental pain and suffering.

5. Why does Ayah sing the ancestral lullaby to her husband at the end of the story?

Answer:

Ayah sings the ancestral lullaby to her husband at the end of the story because she wants to reassure him that they will always be together. Here, she sings for the hope of togetherness but not for fear of her own as well as her husband's life.

6. Explain the song sung by Ayah at the end of the story.

Answer:

The song sung by Ayah at the end of the story implies a maternal relationship between the land and humans. According to Navajo lore (story), the earth is a mother figure who cares for humans. It is explicitly stated in the lullaby that Ayah sings to Chato at the end of the story, "The earth is your mother; she holds you." When Danny and Ella are brought back to the hut to visit Ayah and Chato, Ayah can tell that "they were already weaning off these lava hills and this sky." Wean is often used to describe the process of a baby transitioning from its mother's milk to another form of sustenance. Silko's use of that term also refers to the maternal relationship between land and humans.

7. What is the central idea of "Lullaby"?

Answer:

The central idea of Leslie Marmon Silko's short story "Lullaby" is that the old woman, Ayah, despite having experienced many tragedies during her long life, is a part of the land in which she was born and raised. Despite her sufferings, she has dignity, peace, and wisdom. This idea is embedded in the song at the end of what the main character has learned from her ancestors.

8. What does the blanket symbolize in "Lullaby"?

Answer:

The blanket symbolises the warmth and protection of love. The blanket made by Ayah's mother and grandmother kept Ayah warm at night as she slept on the sandy hogan floor.

9. What is the snow in the wind being compared to at the beginning of the story "Lullaby"?

Answer:

At the beginning of the story, the snow in the wind is being compared to the tuft of wool that her mother and grandmother wove during her childhood days. As Ayah sits under a cottonwood tree and watches the snow fall, she recalls the events of her past.

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