Amanda Summary for Class 10
The poem Amanda is by the poet Robin Klein. Here, we have provided you with the summary of Amanda along with a detailed explanation of the verse for the students, who find it challenging to comprehend the meaning and literary aspects of the poem. The poem Amanda primarily emphasizes the upkeep of a small child, whose name is Amanda. The poem illustrates the struggles of that young child.
Through the poem Amanda, poet Robin Klein furnishes the critical point that children should never be deprived of their freedom. However, parents become responsible for the proper upbringing of a child but should ensure not to make them feel imprisoned or incarcerated.
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In this poem, the little Amanda is ready to be accepted by society, and this training wants to cut short her freedom. Her imagination is crumpled with insufficient space, and this situation makes her annoyed, which usurps her desire to be an orphan. This continuous annoyance can be felt throughout the poem and turns little Amanda into a moody nuisance.
Hence, the whole trajectory of the poem, Amanda is a familiar environment with which we can either understand or relate.
About the Poet
Robin Klein is one of Australia's most beloved and prolific Young Adult authors. Klein worked several jobs at the age of fifteen before becoming an established writer and published her first story at the age of sixteen. Robin Klein has written over 40 books that are hugely celebrated for winning the CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award and the Human Rights Award for Literature in 1989 for the novel- Came Back to Show You I Could Fly. The poem Amanda is a wonderful portrayal of teenage perceptions of growing up and the difference in opinions with their guardian. This poem might reflect the feelings of the poet in her teenage years as she was into several jobs.
Summary of the Poem Amanda
The poem Amanda is a brief expression of the little girl's state of mind, which is stuffed with instructions- the do's and don'ts by her mother. The poem revolves around a little girl named Amanda and her mother, who keeps instructing and irritating her for her mistakes. Her mother's constant instructions like not to bite her nails, or not to bend her back and shoulders, or not to hunch her shoulders but sit up straight deprive Amanda of her freedom of life in the open.
To her mother's persisting instructions, Amanda imagines herself as a Mermaid swimming joyously and freely in the deep green ocean enjoying the calming and relaxing life. She even imagines how blissful her life would be if she would be a sea god having a fishtail instead of legs and enjoying the calming effect of the sea waves and moving along with the waves, up and down in the water. The act of escapism is interrupted by her mother, who drags her out of the blissful dream with endless questions.
At this moment, little Amanda visualizes herself as an orphan wandering freely, barefoot in golden silence and uninterrupted freedom in the streets. She enjoys the thought of being an orphan as she can have a quiet, peaceful life full of space by making the patterns of her bare feet on the sand. Her mother's nagging complaints about her hygienic and healthy life or her restrictions towards chocolates not only break her daydream but also snatches her freedom.
Counter to her mother's words, Amanda slides into another dream where she fantasies herself as Rapunzel, captured in a tower by a witch. She dreams that she will never let down her hair from the tower like Rapunzel to allow the witch to climb in, thus living a calm and quiet life in a pleasant environment.
Finally, Amanda's mother warns her about her moody and odd behavior as it might develop into a habit, and the result would be people thinking that she is harassing her little daughter. Here, the poet wants to convey that Amanda is restricted to reacting to her feelings and the constant complaints and nagging. This pushes Amanda to stop escaping into her dreams as her mother would take it up against her sense of pride and scold her to behave appropriately as other children. Amanda uses this to escape from the continuous harassment and dominance of her mother.
How to Prepare For Exams With This Topic?
Exam preparation is not complete without Vedantu. One simply needs to register with Vedantu or download the Vedantu app. At Vedantu one can find notes and other practice questions with solutions that are some of the best resources available to ace exams. The learning resources provide a thorough understanding of the topic.
Additionally, this poem has thoughts of Amanda in brackets and her mother’s words without brackets. These should be used to draft a character sketch of Amanda and her mother. Once this is done, it should be easier to justify their actions from their own point of view. Finally, answering the questions in this chapter will be easy.
FAQs on Amanda Summary
1. What is the Central Theme of the Poem Amanda?
The center of the poem, Amanda by Robin Klein, is freedom. The most significant wealth every child wishes to possess is his or her freedom. Those parents who fail to comprehend the nature of children, restrain them, rob them of their liberty to imagine through constant commands and nagging. In the poem, the protagonist Amanda is tired and annoyed by her mother's nagging, unwanted instructions, overprotection, and wants to direct her according to the norms listed by society. In the poem, Amanda wants to delve deep and indulge the wonders of her fantasy land. This act of escapism behavior of Amanda is restricted to the extent that we learn towards the end; this adversely impacts her behavior where she stops imagining and instead becomes short-tempered, moody, and angry. She wants to postpone growing up and remain a little girl forever.
2. Who is the Poet of the Poem Amanda and Explain the Summary of the Poem?
The poem Amanda is written by the poet Robin Klein. In the summary of Amanda the turmoil undergone by the little girl- Amanda has been portrayed, who is corrected continuously by her mother for committing mistakes. The poet beautifully described the feelings of the girl about how she was continually instructed and directed by her mother for trivial things.
The poem conveys an important message that children should never be restricted from their free thoughts and wishes. It becomes the responsibility of the parents to bring up their children in that their decisions are respected and must not hold their grudge from childhood. Children should never get the feeling that being an orphan has more freedom than having parents.
3. What information about Amanda could be found?
Amanda is the protagonist of the poem by Robin Klein. She is a teenager as evidenced from the line where her mother ordered her not to have chocolate because that might aggravate her acne. Teenagers have acne and are known for their dislike of strict parental controls. Through the character of Amanda, the poet had appropriately portrayed the mentality of teenagers. Whenever her mother wanted Amanda to correct her posture or clean her room, Amanda’s mind wandered off to some distant place where she was imagining her life alone without her mother. According to Amanda, she wanted to find peace away from her mother and hence, did not want to live with her mother.
4. Is Amanda’s mother the antagonist in the poem?
According to the poem, Amanda may find her mother to be the antagonist with her nagging attitude. Her mother wanted to discipline Amanda so that she could become a responsible adult, but in the process, she (Amanda’s mother) was unaware that Amanda is no longer a child who requires constant control. Amanda’s mother has been domineering to such an extent that Amanda's desire to be an orphan roaming in the streets became stronger as she began to crave freedom. As a reader, Amanda’s mother may not be an antagonist but to Amanda, she was.
5. Why does Amanda want to be a Rapunzel?
Amanda wanted to be a Rapunzel locked away in peace in a tower. This is because Rapunzel had to let her hair down to let her witch stepmother climb up the tower and reach her. However, Amanda would not allow her mother into the tower because she craved freedom and did not want to be patronized. This symbolizes that when a teenager is stressed and exhausted with the daily humdrum of strict controls, he or she would want to set themselves free and away from even the near and dear ones.
Thus, students can easily find the summary of Amanda for Class 10 on Vedantu. Many times, students do not want to read a poem and they find it difficult to understand the complex words of the poem but vedantu provides an easy-to-understand summary of the poem Amanda that can help students to understand the real meaning of the poem and prepare for the final exams. The summary of the poem gives a clear understanding of the poem and helps students to get an insight into the questions asked in the exam. Students can read the summary and questions given on Vedantu to prepare for the final exams.