If you're a student studying Class 8 English, you may be looking for resources to help you prepare for exams. One important resource is NCERT solutions, which provide comprehensive answers to questions in your textbook. In this article, we'll provide printable NCERT solutions for Chapter 6 of Honeydew, titled "This is Jody's Fawn." Use these solutions to ace your exams and deepen your understanding of the text.
Introduction to the chapter and its themes.
Chapter 6 of Honeydew, titled "This is Jody's Fawn," is a heartwarming story about a young boy named Jody who finds and cares for a fawn. The chapter explores themes of compassion, responsibility, and the relationship between humans and animals. Through Jody's experiences, readers are encouraged to consider their own attitudes towards nature and the importance of protecting and preserving wildlife.
Summary of the story and its characters.
"This is Jody's Fawn" is a story about a young boy named Jody who lives on a farm with his parents. One day, Jody finds a fawn in the woods and decides to take care of it. He names the fawn Flag and becomes very attached to it. However, Jody's father tells him that he cannot keep the fawn as a pet and that it belongs in the wild. Jody is heartbroken but eventually realizes that his father is right and releases Flag back into the woods. The story explores themes of compassion, responsibility, and the relationship between humans and animals. The main characters are Jody, his parents, and the fawn, Flag.
The lesson "This is Jody's Fawn," by Marjorie
Kinnan Rawlings, emphasises gratitude and compassion.
Jody's compassionate attempts to find and raise an orphaned fawn are
the focus of the lesson's story. When Jody's father Penny was bitten by a
rattlesnake, he slaughtered a doe and used its liver to
remove poison from his body as a home treatment, and the
fawn's mother was the one which saved his life.
Jody felt bad about abandoning the fawn in the forest
after its mother was killed. Jody wanted to talk to his father Penny about the
fawn since it was bothering him. He did so, emphasising the
importance of bringing the orphaned fawn home, as he believed it would be ungrateful to
leave the fawn hungry and alone in the forest.
Joy's father understood his son's distress and allowed him to bring the fawn home. Jody then persuaded his mother to take the fawn home with them. Jody began his journey into the forest, with Mill-wheel's assistance, in quest of the fawn. Jody looked for the fawn for a long time and finally found it. He felt like the happiest person in the world and cuddled the fawn, carrying it in his arms and he joyously went home. Penny was happy to see his kid with the fawn. Jody then fed milk to the hungry fawn. Jody's gratitude and goodwill saved a life.
Questions and answers for better understanding of the chapter.
To fully understand and appreciate the themes and literary devices used in "This is Jody's Fawn," it's important to review the questions and answers provided in the NCERT solutions for Class 8 English Chapter 6. These comprehensive solutions cover everything from the plot and characters to the symbolism and imagery used in the story. By studying these solutions, students can gain a deeper understanding of the story and improve their performance on exams and assignments.
NCERT SOLUTIONS
Questions (Page No.
89)
(Comprehension Check - I)
Question 1. What had happened to Jody’s
father?
Answer: Jody’s father was bitten by a
rattlesnake.
Question 2. How did the doe save Penny’s
life?
Answer: When Jody’s father, Penny was
bitten by a rattlesnake, he quickly killed a doe and used its heart and liver
to draw out the poison as a home remedy to save his life.
Question 3. Why does Jody want to bring
the fawn home?
Answer: Jody is interested to bring home
the fawn because its mother was killed so that its organs – heart and liver
could be used to save his father’s life. However, when the fawn became an
orphan, Jody felt guilty and did not want to leave the fawn alone and let it
die from starvation. He wondered if he could bring the fawn to his home and
offer some food to eat.
Question 4. How does Jody know that the
fawn is a male?
Answer: Jody’s father, Penny had once
told him that a male fawn has spots in a sequential line. This knowledge
enlightened Jody on how to distinguish between a male and a female fawn.
Questions (Page No.
90)
(Comprehension Check - II)
Question 1. Jody didn’t want Mill-wheel
with him for two reasons. What were they?
Answer: Jody was unwilling to have
Mill-wheel with him for two reasons. Firstly, if the fawn was dead, or could
not be found, he did not want Mill-wheel to see his disappointment. Secondly,
if the fawn was alive, the meeting would be so lovely and secret that he could
not endure to share it with anyone.
Question 2. Why was Mill-wheel afraid to
leave Jody alone?
Answer: Jody was not so familiar to the
forest route. So Mill-wheel was afraid to leave Jody alone as he felt the young
boy might get lost in the woods or might even get bitten by a rattlesnake like
Penny.
Questions (Page No.
93)
(Comprehension Check - III)
Question 1. How did Jody bring the fawn
back home?
Answer: Jody tries his best not to scare
the fawn away. Firstly, he stroked its neck slowly and wrapped his hands around
it. He then picked up the little fawn and walked through the thick bushes of
the forest. He tried to protect its face from the sharp vines. When Jody became
tired, he stopped by on his way home and took some rest. Suddenly he remembered
his father once said that a fawn once carried follows if it had first been
carried. He gently put the fawn down for some time and it initially refused to
follow. Jody took it to his arms and put it down and gradually noticed that it
had started to follow him. When they finally reached home, the fawn was unable
to climb the stairs. Seeing this, Jody picked up the little deer on his arms
and took it inside his house.
Question 2. Jody was filled with emotion
after he found the fawn. Can you find at least three words or phrases which
show how he felt?
Answer: Jody’s mind was filled with
emotion when he saw the fawn. When he gently stroked the neck of the little
deer, the touch made him ‘delirious’. When Jody realised that the fawn looked
up to him, he was ‘light-headed with his joy’ and wanted to fondle, run and
romp with it. Finally, when he brought the little deer to his home, it seemed
to Penny that ‘the boy’s eyes were as bright as the fawn’s.’
Question 3. How did the deer drink milk
from the gourd?
Answer:
Jody poured milk into a small gourd and
kept it in front of the fawn. It butted it suddenly, smelling the milk, but
could make nothing of the milk in the gourd. Jody saved it precariously from
spilling over the floor. Then the deer slowly started drinking milk from Jody’s
hands when he dipped his fingers in the milk and thrust them into the fawn’s
soft wet mouth.
Question 4. Why didn’t the fawn follow
Jody up the steps as he had thought it would?
Answer:
As the fawn is a wild animal, it is not
aware of how to climb the stairs in a house. Hence, when it reached at Jody’s
home, it failed to follow him up the staircase or even drink the milk offered
in the gourd. It simply didn’t know how to react in such an unfamiliar
situation.
Questions (Page No.
93)
(Working with the text)
Question 1. Why did Penny Baxter allow
Jody to go find the fawn and raise it?
Answer: Penny Baxter allowed Jody to go
find the fawn and raise it because he was feeling guilty of taking away its
mother whose organs were used to cure his snake bite. He agreed to Jody’s
interest to bring the fawn home as he did not want the little deer who was
orphaned for no fault of its own to die from starvation . Penny felt a sense of
responsibility towards the fawn when Jody requested him if they could raise the
little deer.
Question 2. What did Doc Wilson mean when
he said, “Nothing in the world ever comes quite free”?
Answer: Penny had killed the doe to save
his own life. Therefore, he felt a moral responsibility to take care of the
fawn which may otherwise die out of starvation. He felt it would be ungrateful
to leave the little deer all alone in the forest. Hence, when Jody asked to
bring home the fawn, he readily agreed to it. Hearing this, Doc Wilson said to
Jody’s mother that both Jody and penny were right in their decision i.e.
‘Nothing in the world comes quite free.’
Question 3. How did Jody look after the
fawn, after he accepted the responsibility for doing this?
Answer: Jody took very good care of the
fawn when he accepted its responsibility. He would gently stroke its neck
slowly and wrapped his hands on its soft neck. While taking it home, he picked
up the little fawn and walked through the thick bushes of the forest shielding
its face from the sharp vines. When Jody became tired, he stopped by on his way
home and took some rest. He allowed the little deer to follow him and carried
it up the staircase on reaching home. When he offered it to drink milk from the
gourd, the deer initially didn’t know how to respond. However, the deer slowly
started drinking milk from Jody’s hands when he dipped his fingers in the milk
and thrust them into the fawn’s soft wet mouth.
Question 4. How does Jody’s mother react
when she hears that he is going to bring the fawn home? Why does she react in
this way?
Answer: Jody’s mother was astonished when
she heard that Jody wanted to bring home the young fawn. But when she came to
know that the doe which saved Penny’s life was the little fawn’s mother, she
was left speechless. She gasped with surprise and held the coffee pot in
mid-air. She was not in favour of getting a wild animal at home. She told Jody
that they had nothing else to feed the fawn except milk, which he would need to
sacrifice in order to feed the little deer.
Questions (Page No.
93-95)
(Working with language)
Question 1. Look at these pairs of
sentences.
Penny said to Jody, “Will you
be back before dinner?”
Penny asked Jody if he would be
back before dinner.
“How are you feeling, Pa?”
asked Jody.
Jody asked his father how he
was feeling.
Here are some questions in direct speech.
Put them into reported speech.
a.
Penny said, “Do you really want it son?”
b.
Mill-wheel said, “Will he ride back with
me?”
c.
He said to Mill-wheel, “Do you think the
fawn is still there?”
d.
He asked Mill-wheel, “Will you help me
find him?”
e.
He said, “Was it up here that Pa got
bitten by the snake?”
Answer:
a.
Penny asked his son if he really wanted
the fawn.
b.
Mill-wheel asked if Jody would ride back
with him.
c.
Jody asked Mill-wheel if he thought the
fawn was still there.
d.
Jody asked Mill-wheel if he would help
him find the fawn.
e.
Jody asked Mill-wheel if it was up there
that Pa got bitten by the snake.
Question 2. Look at these two sentences.
He tumbled backward.
It turned its head.
The first sentence has an intransitive
verb, a verb without an object.
The second sentence has a transitive verb.
It has a direct object. We can ask: “What did it turn?” You can answer: “Its
head. It turned its head.”
Say whether the verb in each sentence
below transitive or intransitive. Ask yourself a ‘what’ question about the
verb, as in the example above. (For some verbs, the object is a person, so ask
the question ‘who’ instead of ‘what’).
a.
Jody then went to the
kitchen.
b.
The fawn wobbled after
him.
c.
You found him.
d.
He picked it up.
e.
He dipped his fingers in
the milk.
f.
It bleated frantically
and butted him.
g.
The fawn sucked his
fingers.
h.
He lowered his fingers
slowly into the milk.
i.
It stamped its small
hoofs impatiently.
j.
He held his fingers
below the level of the milk.
k.
The fawn followed him.
l.
He walked all day.
m. He stroked its sides.
n.
The fawn lifted its
nose.
o.
Its legs hung limply.
Answer:
a.
Jody then went to the
kitchen. – Intransitive
b.
The fawn wobbled after
him. – Intransitive
c.
You found him. – Transitive
d.
He picked it up. – Transitive
e.
He dipped his fingers in
the milk. – Transitive
f.
It bleated frantically
and butted him. – Intransitive, Transitive
g.
The fawn sucked his
fingers. – Transitive
h.
He lowered his fingers
slowly into the milk. – Transitive
i.
It stamped its small
hoofs impatiently. – Transitive
j.
He held his fingers
below the level of the milk. – Transitive
k.
The fawn followed him.
– Transitive
l.
He walked all day.
– Intransitive
m. He stroked its sides. – Transitive
n.
The fawn lifted its
nose. – Transitive
o.
Its legs hung limply.
– Intransitive
Question 3. Here are some words from the
lesson. Working in groups, arrange them in the order in which they would appear
in the dictionary. Write down some idioms and phrasal verbs connected to these
words. Use the dictionary for more idioms and phrasal verbs.
close |
draw |
make |
wonder |
scrawny |
parted |
clearing |
sweet |
light |
pick |
Answer: The words would appear in the
following sequential order when arranged properly:
clearing |
close |
draw |
light |
make |
parted |
pick |
scrawny |
sweet |
wonder |
Some idioms and phrasal verbs connected
to these words are listed below:
Clearing: clearing out, clearing the air, clearing off.
Close: a
close shave, a close thing, a close call.
Draw: draw
a blank, draw a line, draw interest.
Light: a
light heart, bring to light, a guiding light.
Make: make
a last-ditch effort, make a pass, make up your mind.
Parted: part
with, parting of the ways, part and parcel.
Pick: pick
out, pick at, take your pick.
Scrawny: scrawny
thin, scrawny neck, scrawny persona.
Sweet: sweet
tooth, sweet sixteen, sweet-speaking.
Wonder: little wonder, a nine days’ wonder, do wonders.
Analysis of the themes and motifs in the story.
"This is Jody's Fawn" explores several themes and motifs throughout the story. One of the main themes is compassion, as Jody shows kindness and care towards the fawn despite his father's objections. Responsibility is another important theme, as Jody learns that he must do what is best for the fawn and release it back into the wild. The relationship between humans and animals is also a prominent motif, as Jody learns to appreciate the beauty and importance of nature. Overall, the story teaches important lessons about empathy, responsibility, and the interconnectedness of all living beings.
Explanation of literary devices used in the story.
"This is Jody's Fawn" uses several literary devices to enhance the story's themes and motifs. One example is symbolism, as the fawn represents innocence and vulnerability, while Jody represents compassion and responsibility. The story also uses imagery to create vivid descriptions of the natural setting and the fawn's physical appearance. Additionally, the use of dialogue and characterization helps to develop the relationships between the characters and their motivations. Overall, the literary devices used in the story contribute to its emotional impact and message.