12 English - Should Wizard Hit Mommy - Notes

Should Wizard Hit Mommy?
By John Updike
Should wizard hit mommy is a story within a story where the father usually tells his daughter the
same story of a creature named Roger. When the creature faces some problem, he visits wise owl
who sends him to wizard and the wizard solves the problem of creature charging some money.
The daughter listens the story with great curiosity and raises a difficult moral question for which
the father does not have any convincing answer.
▪ Gist of the Lesson
▪ Jack fabricated a story to tell to his two year old daughter Jo.
▪ He created a basic plot where the main protagonist was an animal named Roger, a small
creature.
▪ The animal had a problem and went to the owl. The owl advised him to go to the wizard.
▪ The wizard solved the problem and charged Roger Pennies more than he had however he
also guided him how to get the required pennies.
▪ One day Jack told Jo a story about Roger Skunk who smelled so bad that the other
animals ran away from him.
▪ Roger Skunk went to the owl who in turn sent him to the Wizard who changed his foul
smell to sweet smell of roses.
▪ Roger Skunk was ecstatic and ran to the jungle to play with the other animals, who loved
his smell very much.
▪ When he reached his house, his mother scolded him for the new smell.
▪ The mother took him to the wizard.
▪ Roger's mother shouted at the wizard and hit him hard on the head.
▪ The little Roger got the foul smell again and was very sad.
▪ Jo did not like the behaviour of the mommy and wanted her father to hit mommy. Jack
disapproved Jo’s decision to hit mommy.
▪ Jo's mother is annoyed at Jack's taking so much time in telling the story. Jo didn’t like the
ending to the story, forced him to change it.
▪ Jack is in a dilemma whether to go to help his wife in her work or to change the end of
the story.
Notes
❖ Storytelling
• In the evening and for Saturday nap father Narrates stories to daughter Jo.
• Story telling started when Jo was two year now she has turned four.
• Each story a variation of same basic tale
• Roger creature goes to wise owl with his problem
• The owl advises him to go to wizard
• The wizard solves the problems with magic and asks for fee.
• Roger has insufficient money- but wizard shows where and how money can be found
• Roger returns home from Boston and the family has their dinner
❖ New story of Roger Skunk
• Roger Skunk wants to play with wood mates
• His obnoxious smell is hated by creature
• Roger Skunk feels hurt and humiliated
• Skunk meets wise owl then the wizard (Tiny old man with long while beard and a
pointed blue hat)
• Wizard advises him not to get too close
• Skunk wants to smell like rose
• Wizard reads some spell and Skunk smells like roses
❖ The wizard fee
• Wizard demands seven pennies as fee
• Skunk has only four
• Roger Skunk follows the instruction of wizard
• To gets three more pennies
• Skunk pays fee and happily runs out in the wood
❖ Skunk and wood land creatures
• Wood land creature feel glee full in company of skunk
• Skunk's mother dislikes rose smell and scolds him
• Skunk's mother visits wizard and hits him on the head
• On mother's order wizard gets foul smell again
• Mother and skunk come back home and have a nice meal with his father
• Mother hugs and kisses Roger
❖ New life of Roger skunk
• Skunk now plays with wood land animals
• They got used to his foul smell
❖ Joe's problem
• Joe does not like the defeat of the wizard
• Wants the story : wizard hits Mommy
• Father advises that Mother are always loving and right
❖ Father's predicament
• Clare, his wife busy painting furniture
• Clare complains of delay in his coming soon
• Finds herself and his huge trapped in a cage
• Feels he is caught in an ugly middle position
Justification of Title
The title “Should Wizard Hit Mommy?” is apt and justified, in spite of the fact that the father –
the mouthpiece of the author – is firm in his opinion that mothers all over the world are supreme
and cannot err. The reader is face to face with two contrasting view-points. The spirit of equality,
stamped in her mind urges Jo to condemn the mother and demand that the wizard should hit the
mother in retaliation. The child’s thinking is simple and innocent. She fails to understand that her
father wants to tell her that mothers are above all blame. That is why, the child vehemently
demands that, “Tomorrow I want you to tell me the story that wizard took the magic wand and
hit the mommy,” is met by father’s cryptic answer, “No, that’s not the story.” Yet the author
deliberately keeps the story open-ended and does not categorically state his opinion and the title
has a question mark leaving the readers to decide whether the mother needs to be hit or spared,
because he wants the gingerliness to correspond with the ending of the story that leaves the
narrator caught in the “ugly middle position” of uncertainties.
Short Answer Questions

1. How did the Wizard help Roger Skunk?
Ans. The wizard was moved by Roger skunk's story. On finding his magic wand he chanted
some magic words & granted that Roger should smell like roses. Roger was very happy and ran
out into the woods. All other animals gathered around him because he smelled so good.
2. How did Roger Skunk's Mommy react when he went home smelling of roses? How did the
Skunk's mother get him his old smell back?
Ans. Roger Skunk began to smell like roses. Mommy asked about the smell. Roger Skunk
replied that the wizard had given him the smell. The mother did not like that and asked Roger to
come with her. Mother was furious to learn about the wizard who had changed his original smell.
She immediately visited the wizard and hit him on his head and asked him to restore the original
smell.
3. Who is Jo? How did Jo behave in 'reality phase'?

Ans. Jo is Jack's 4 year old daughter. She is not a patient listener. She does not take things for
granted and tries to see things in her own way. She raises questions on the figments of her father.
4. Why did Jo want the wizard to hit mommy?

Ans. Jo was drawing a parallel between mommy skunk and her own mother. She perceived both
of them as an interfering factor in the independent growth of their children. So, she wanted
wizard to hit mommy as she had failed to empathize with her son's (baby skunk) problem of not
having any friend.
5. Was Roger skunk's mother justified in forcing him to retain his original smell?
Ans. Up to some extent I agree with the point of view of mother but not with the way she
behaved. She wanted her child to retain his unique identity. But, she resented the rose smell very
sternly. The child should have been taken into confidence and should have been made aware of
the pros and cons.
Long Answer Questions
1. How does Jo want the story to end? Why?

Ans. Children have a very different view of life than that of adults. They dream and live in their
imaginative world. Jo does not like the ending that mommy should hit the wizard. Rather she
wants that the Wizard should hit the Mommy for her failure to realize the problems of Roger
Skunk. She calls her 'Stupid Mommy" and insists for a change in the
storyline. She has got sympathy for Roger Skunk. She thinks it to be unfair on the part of the
mother to go to the Wizard and get Roger his bad smell again.
2. Drawing inference from the lesson "Should Wizard Hit Mommy", elucidate perception of
imposing parents ?
Ans. In the lesson 'Should Wizard hit Mommy', Mother Skunk did not support the idea of a
changed identity for baby Skunk. The story says that Roger Skunk felt alienated because of his
bad smell. The elders failed to recognize his feeling and pain. His mother
vehemently opposed the changed smell. She perceived the bad smell as unique characteristic of a
Skunk. But, her reaction was impulsive.She could have responded in a subtle manner to make the
child understand her point of view. A healthy discussion in an amiable environment leads to
agreeable solution.

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Should Wizard Hit Mommy?

▪ Gist of the Lesson

Short Answer Questions

3. Who is Jo? How did Jo behave in 'reality phase'?

4. Why did Jo want the wizard to hit mommy?

Long Answer Questions

1. How does Jo want the story to end? Why?

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