A Child is Born – Summary
A Child is Born is a very illumination and investigating essay by Germaine Greer on the problem of marriage and child-birth. Childbirth is different in traditional societies are managed in different ways that are collectively and culturally accepted and practiced.
A pregnant woman has to observe various taboos, rituals, and customs. Generally, she is sent to her parent’s home for childbirth. There she has to stay at least for three months.
When the child is seven days old, a new dress of the child and a new sari for the mother are purchased. She is looked after the whole family. This gives the mother a sense of security and satisfaction.
Modern technology has, no doubt, reduced the mortality of women during childbirth but it has also deprived them of the experience of childbirth.
The whole process of delivery has become mechanical. Childbirth is no longer a matter of community celebration. Even bringing up a child has become a tough job in the absence of joint families.
Objectives
1. A Child is Born is written by ………..
- H.E. Bates
- Anton P Chekhov
- Germaine Greer
- Shiga Naoya
Answer:- Germaine Greer
2. In Bangladesh ………. is a kind of fairy tales.
- Rupthoka
- Supthoka
- Tupthoka
- Jupthoka
Answer:- Rupthoka
3. Germaine Greer is an ……….. writer.
- Indian
- Australian
- British
- American
Answer:- Australian
4. ………….. visited an enormous modern hospital for ‘Bantu patients’ in South America.
- Mamata Sen
- Geeta Sethi
- Ragini Kri
- Sheila Kitzinger
Answer:- Sheila Kitzinger
5. Infant and ………… mortality is greater in traditional births.
- mother
- father
- sister
- brother
Answer:- mother
6. Rupthoka is told by …………
- mother
- aunt
- sister
- brother
Answer:- aunt
7. Who visits the mother’s house as a reward of pregnancy?
- Bihari woman
- Odisha woman
- Punjabi woman
- Sylhet woman
Answer:- Sylhet woman
8. In the ………… the husband-wife due enjoy more freedom and individuality.
- North
- South
- West
- East
Answer:- West
9. Sylheti woman and her child are given new dress on the …………. day of the birth.
- 6th
- 7th
- 8th
- 9th
Answer:- 7th
10. A ……….. woman has to observe various taboos, rituals, and customs.
- pregnant
- beautiful
- ugly
- wicked
Answer:- pregnant
11. ………… woman visits her mother’s house during pregnancy.
- An Indian
- A Sylheti
- An African
- A Canadian
Answer:- An Indian
The Artist – Shiga Naoya
12. …………. is an extract from Sex and Destiny: The Politics of Human Fertility.
- The Artist
- A child is Born
- The Earth
- A Pinch of Snuff
Answer:- A child is Born
13. Germaine Greer is a famous …………. writer.
- scientific
- educational
- feminist
- None of these
Answer:- feminist
14. The hospital was very uncooperative about ………..
- Providing meals
- Exploit childbirth
- Breast-feeding
- Giving medicines
Answer:- Breast-feeding
15. Clearly, infant and mother mortality are greater in ……….
- Traditional births
- Untraditional births
- Particular births
- Prevented births
Answer:- Traditional births
16. Germaine Greer was born in ……….
- 1838
- 1938
- 1939
- 1949
Answer:- 1939
17. The author believes that socio-cultural practices are designed to suit the interest of ………..
- Males
- Females
- Family
- Writers
Answer:- Males
18. The ceremony is held …………
- only for boy
- only for girl
- for both
- None of these
Answer:- for both
19. During pregnancy, a woman prefers her mother’s house because ………..
- she gets proper care there
- she is neglected
- she feels freedom there
- None of these
Answer:- she gets proper care there
20. The naming ceremony is held when the baby is ……….
- seven days old
- five days old
- the days old
- None of these
Answer:- seven days old
21. The traditional method of child-birth is accepted ………..
- fearfully
- dangerously
- culturally and collectively
- None of these
Answer:- culturally and collectively
22. Who all are assumed to be unjust and vindictive?
- husbands
- fathers-in-law
- husband’s sisters
- mothers-in-law
Answer:- mothers-in-law
Subjective
1. How are the Bangladeshi children looked after?
Ans:- The Bangladeshi children are looked after by the whole family jointly. One of the women gives them their bath, the other feeds them. The children jointly play with the simple things that they are handed over by their parents.
They don’t need expensive toys to play with. All of them together listen to stories told by their aunts and it is quite common to call them Badi Maa or Choti Maa.
2. How is the traditional method of childbirth is useful?
Ans:- The traditional method of childbirth is useful because when the woman observes the rituals of pregnancy. She is looked after by all in the family. This gives her a sense of security and convention that she is conducting the pregnancy.
3. What is the immediate impact of poverty in the medical field?
Ans:- Poverty prevents medical facilities from reaching into every hut and hovel. The cultural hegemony of western technology is total.
4. What is the difference between the East and the West in the matters of the mother-child relationship?
Ans:- In the East, the biological family is deliberately weakened. The sexual relations between the spouses are perfunctory and exploitative. Mother-child relation is given more importance than that of husband-wife.
Even the child is born to fulfill the demand of the family. In the West, the husband-wife, the husband-wife do enjoy more freedom and individuality. The biological family is not weakened.
5. What is the reward of pregnancy for the youth Sylheti woman?
Ans:- The reward is that she is sent to her mother’s home well before she is delivered to her child. The newborn is looked after by her parents. She and her child are given a new dress on the seventh day of the birth. Feasting and singing go on till night.
6. What is supposed to be outrageous in the West?
Ans:- It is regarded as outrageous in the West that a woman could lose her own name and become known as the mother of her firstborn, once she has born it.
Explanation
1. “The ways of managing child-birth ………… the procedures”.[2018]
>>> These lines belong to the essay ‘A child is Born’ by Germaine Greer. The writer says that in traditional societies, child-birth is managed in many ways and all of them are accepted culturally.
Pregnant women have to observe several rituals and prohibitions. The parent-child relationship depends on the way a child is born and brought up.
2. “Clearly infant and mother mortality are greater in traditional birth in our anxiety to avoid death. We may have destroyed the significance of the experience for the vast majority who live”.
>>> These lines have been taken from A child is Born which is written by Germaine Greer. She said that infant and mother mortality rate is greater in traditional births. Mortality can be reduced by modern birth technique, as it helps in avoiding death rate.
We are destroying the significance of the experience for the vast majority who live below in traditional births. But modern obstetric care is essential for the child and the mother.