To The Foot From Its Child Questions & Answers

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Questions and Answers

Comprehension I

1. What would the foot like to be?

Ans: a butterfly or an apple.

2. Line 1 of the poem conveys

Ans: (c) the child’s ignorance of harsh realities

3. What does time teach the child?

Ans: That it cannot fly.

4. The ‘stones and bits of glass, streets, ladders and the paths in the rough earth’

Ans: (c) suggests that good and bad experiences of growing up.

5. Why does the child’s foot feel defeated?

Ans: the hard realities of life make the child’s foot feel defeated.

6. Mention the words that convey the real experiences of the foot?

Ans: bit by bit, in the dark, it grows to know the world.

7. Identify the lines in the poem that suggest transformation of the foot?

Ans: "These soft nails" “and change themselves - take on the form of eyeless reptiles”.

8. “… condemned to live in a shoe” suggests that the foot is

Ans: (c) forced to give up its dreams.

9. What does the line “until the whole man chooses to stop” mean?

Ans: death.

Comprehension II

1. We think of a foot as belonging to a person; but Neruda says ‘To the Foot from its Child’. Explain.

Ans: Pablo Neruda views child as a part of the society or system. Now the foot is part of the child and dreams of becoming either a butterfly or an apple. This poem ‘To the Foot from its Child’ is a symbolic poem of contrasting thoughts. Neruda uses child as a symbol of innocence and full of imagination. As life begins, a child has only present and future. It does not know how life comes very hard with stones, bits of glass and difficult paths. In the course of its journey the child is exposed to all the hardships.  All these make the foot realise that it cannot translate its dreams into reality.

2. Pick out the expressions that suggest the child’s imagination is fertile.

OR

What contrasting descriptions of the foot does the poem offer? Why?

Ans: Pablo Neruda is a Chilean poet diplomat and politician. He expresses his revolutionary ideas through his abstract poetry. His poems are deep in thought and rich in imagery. In this poem To the Foot from its Child, he presents the dreams of an individual against the hard realities of life as part of a system or society. As the poem begins with the lines “The Child’s foot is not yet aware it’s a foot, and would like to be a butterfly or an apple”, it describes the innocence of the child with unparalleled imagination. The child is filled with colourful dreams of becoming either a butterfly or an apple. In contrast with this, stones, bits of glass and the paths in the rough earth go on teaching the foot that it can neither become a butterfly nor a fruit. Thus Neruda presents the hard realities of life.

3. The poem begins with the idea that child’s foot is not yet aware that it is a foot; at the end the foot is unaware that it had ceased to be a foot. What is the poet trying to convey through these statements?

OR

How can the foot fly or become an apple after it is buried?

Ans: Pablo Neruda is a Chilean poet diplomat and politician. He expresses his revolutionary ideas through his abstract poetry. In this poem To the Foot from its Child, he presents the dreams of an individual against the hard realities of life as part of a system or society. This is a remarkable poem about an individual’s struggle to become one that he dreams to be in a controlled society. There are aspirations on one hand and the realities on the other which render him defeated. Though it looks like he cannot become one that he wished to be, yet the foot is optimistic. When the foot begins its journey of life, it’s not aware that it is a foot and when it meets its end, it does not know that it has just ceased to be a foot. But the hope remains. Neruda concludes on an optimistic note that even when the foot is buried, it hopes to become a butterfly or an apple.

 Comprehension III

1. Examine how Neruda’s poem works out the contrast between colourful dreams and humdrum reality of life.

OR

Is Neruda criticising how society crushes childhood dreams and forces people into rigid moulds?

Ans: Pablo Neruda is a Chilean poet diplomat and politician. He expresses his revolutionary ideas through his abstract poetry. His poems are deep in thought and rich in imagery. In this poem To The Foot From Its Child, he presents the dreams of an individual against the hard realities of life as part of a system or society. As the poem begins with the lines “The Child’s foot is not yet aware it’s a foot, and would like to be a butterfly or an apple”, it describes the innocence of the child with unparalleled imagination. The child is filled with colourful dreams of becoming either a butterfly or an apple. In contrast with this, stones, bits of glass and the paths in the rough earth go on teaching the foot that it cannot become a butterfly not can it be a fruit. The foot is defeated and imprisoned in a shoe. It is not even in touch with the fellow foot. It is imprisoned by the forces of society and loses its form. The foot becomes an eyeless reptile. It becomes callused. However, its struggle continues; without respite till it chooses to stop.  

Extra Question

How does Neruda describe the busy life of the individual as represented by the foot? 

Pablo Neruda uses the symbol of the foot to show how it becomes crippled in a society over the course of its journey. However, the foot never stops and does not resort to any rest. It becomes busier yet to realise its dream of becoming an apple or butterfly. The poet narrates the struggle metaphorically involving effective imagery. He extends this to all people around the world.  One foot’s journey is the other foot’s journey also. It is the man’s and the woman’s. All people up above and down below continue to release themselves. 

These individuals on the fields, in the mines, and ministries continue to march along. The foot that represents the collective hardships continues to toil in its shoe without taking time to express its pain and agony. So, this fight for freedom continues till one exists or till the system stops to control its individuals. However, the foot remains optimistic that it can still become what it aspires to be.