Question

What does the girl yearn for? What does this poem tell you about Amanda?

Answer 1

Hint: The context of the above question is given in the poem ‘ Amanda’ written by Robert Klein. She is a famous Australian writer of children’s books and young adult fiction. In the poem, the poetess narrates about Amanda and her Mother. Amanda’s mother would keep pestering Amanda over her small mistakes. The theme of the poem conveys that constant nagging can make a child conscious and deprive him/her of the freedom he/she should have. Therefore, parents must exercise responsible parenting through understanding their children instead of nagging them.

Complete answer:
Amanda’s mother nagged her at almost everything. This made Amanda frustrated. Gradually she developed a habit of imagining scenarios in her mind to ignore her mother’s taunts. She yearns for freedom. She yearns for a world of her own.

The following instances elaborate her feelings:
- While her mother is taunting her for biting nails, not sitting straight, being lazy etc. she imagines herself to be the sole mermaid in the beautiful green sea.
- While her mother nags about not keeping the room and shoes clean or not doing the homework, she imagines herself to be an orphan roaming on the streets playing on the sand with feet and enjoying the freedom.
- While her mother nags about eating chocolate and acne, she imagines herself to be Rapunzel who does not have to care about anything and she feels that she will never let her hair down so that nobody can come into her tower. She imagines living peacefully in the tower.
- This tells that Amanda wants to be free and alone. Due to the compulsive nagging she withdraws from the outer world into her own imaginative world. This also shows her frustration.

Note: Amanda’s mother blames Amanda for being moody. She wants Amanda to stop being moody else the people will think that she is being pestered by her mother. This exhibits the emotional blackmailing and manipulating traits of her mother. Such traits have negative impacts on children’s mental growth.