Beehive: Chapter 3 The Little Girl

I. Answer the following questions in about 30 – 40 words:

1. What was unusual about Kezia’ stuttering?

Ans. Kezia was able to speak without stuttering to everyone in the household but her father.
In her
father’s formidable presence she could barely speak and she stuttered as she attempted to
speak to
him.

2. Why did the little girl start making the pin-cushion?

Ans. One day Kezia was suffering from cold. She was kept indoors. Her father’s birthday was
next week. Her grandmother suggested that she should present a pin-cushion to her father. So
she started making the pin-cushion.

3 Why was there a hue and cry in the house? Why did her Father punish Kezia?
Ans. There was a hue and cry in the house. Kezia had stuffed her father’s important papers
into the pin-cushion. It was a birthday present she wanted to gift to her father. His father
became furious after knowing this. He beat her with a ruler for tearing his important papers
into pieces.

4 Why was Father often irritated with Kezia?

Ans. Kezia was very scared of her father. She stuttered when he spoke to her. Also, the
terrified expression on her face irritated him. In his presence, she wore an expression of
wretchedness. He felt that with such an expression, she seemed as if she were on the verge of
suicide.

5. How and why did Grandmother comfort Kezia after her father hit her with a ruler?
Ans. Hours after Kezia’s father hit her with a ruler, her grandmother wrapped the little girl in
a shawl and rocked her in the rocking chair, with the child clinging to her soft body. She gave
her a clean hanky to blow her nose and tried to put her to sleep comforting her with loving
words.

6. Why was Kezia afraid to sleep alone?

Ans. That night, when Alice was putting Kezia to bed, the little girl suddenly felt afraid as
she had to sleep alone. She was scared of the dark and often had nightmares at night.
Normally, whenever she had a nightmare, Grandmother would take her to her bed but tonight
she was not there at home

7. What were the circumstances that forced Kezia to change her opinion about her
father?
Ans. Kezia’s grandmother went to stay with her mother when she was hospitalized, her r.
Kezia used to sleep alone at night. She was so scared that she started shouting at night. She
had nightmares and trembled a lot with fear. Then her father came to her room and took her
into his arms to comfort her. She felt secure with her father near her. Then she realized that
her father was busy with work and had no time to play. She even realized that her father
loved her but didn’t have the art of expressing it. Thus, her attitude towards her father
changed positively.

V. Answer the following questions in about 100-120 words:

1. Do you think Kezia was wrong in tearing her father’s papers? What does it show
about her character?
Ans. ‘The Little Girl’ is a story that covers the theme of unconditional love and a strong bond
between the parents and the child. Kezia is the little girl in the story, who has some
presumptions and negative thoughts towards her father. For her, the father was a figure of
fear, and she was very scared of him. She was very close to her grandmother who always
tried to bridge the gap between Kezia and her parents, following her suggestion, Kezia
decided to make a pin cushion for her father, using a piece of yellow silk cloth. To stuff the
cushion, she tore up certain papers she found on the bedside table in her mother’s bedroom.
Unfortunately, the papers were an important speech her father had written for the Port
Authority. Undoubtedly, Kezia was wrong in having taken his papers without his permission
and in tearing them up, even though she had done so with the best of intentions. The incident
only shows that she was too innocent and immature to know the wrong she was doing. All
she wanted was to please her father with a birthday gift.

2. Kezia decides that there are “different kinds of fathers”. What kind of father was Mr.
McDonald, and how was he different from Kezia’s father?
Ans. Kezia is the central character in the story ‘The Little Girl’, The story revolves around a
little and her relations with her father. Even though her father was very loving, Kezia was
always afraid of him because of his strictness.

McDonald's was their next-door neighbour. Once Kezia saw her neighbours playing “tag”
together in the evening. Mr. McDonald with the baby Mao, on his shoulders and the two little
girls ‘hanging on to his coat pockets. They ran round and round shaking with laughter. On the
other hand, her own father was very disciplined, strict, mostly busy, tired, and frustrated. He
never played with her and neither interacted much. He even beat her up for her little mistakes.

After seeing Mr. McDonald, spending quality time with his children, she decided that there
are ‘different kinds of father’.

3. Do you think that Kezia deserved the beating she got for her mistake? What light
does this incident throw on her father’s character?
Ans. Kezia earned her father’s wrath for tearing his speech for the Port Authority to stuff a
pin cushion she was making for him as a birthday present. He punished her by beating her
little pink palms with a ruler when discovered that Kezia was the culprit who tore his
important papers, to teach her not to touch what did not belong to her.
I think it was too harsh a punishment for an innocent mistake of a fond daughter who was
making a gift for her father. Undoubtedly, the papers were extremely important to him and
their loss must have caused him a lot of inconvenience but he should have heard Kezia’s
explanation, and understood and appreciated Kezia’s intentions. A firm but gentle reprimand
would have succeeded in teaching the sensitive Kezia not to touch things that did not belong
to her. This incident shows that Father was a very insensitive and harsh man who demanded a
very high standard of discipline from his daughter and did not tolerate any disobedience.