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Answer any one of the… (Class 12 English SQP 2024-25, Q12A)

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EnglishCBSE Class 12 · Sample paper, session 2024-25 · 5 marks · Long answer

CBSE Class 12 English sample paper 2024-25: question 12(A)

From the official CBSE sample question paper for 2024-25, section C, question 12(A), for 5 marks. Try it first; the hints and our step-by-step solution are below.

Q12(A) · 5 marks · Long answerA Roadside Stand

Answer any one of the following two questions, in about 120-150 words.

Analyse the poems, A Roadside Stand and Aunt Jennifer's Tigers for the theme of inequality and its impact on the bearers.

Source: official sample paper from cbseacademic.nic.in (PDF). See it in the full Sample paper 2024-25.

Hints

Open one hint at a time and try again before the next.

Hint 1

Name the kind of inequality in each poem first.

Hint 2

Pick two or three images from each poem to support your points.

Hint 3

Close by comparing how each bearer is affected.

Step-by-step solution

Each step shows the marks it earns, as an examiner would award them. Checked by an independent re-solve from the question paper.

Verified: two independent solves agree and the official marking scheme matchesChecked 2026-11-01

  1. Introduction: Both poems deal with inequality. 'A Roadside Stand' shows economic disparity between rural and urban people, while 'Aunt Jennifer's Tigers' shows gender inequality in marriage.

    1 mark

  2. A Roadside Stand: The poor farmers hope city motorists will buy their produce, but they are ignored. The poet criticises exploitation by well-meaning outsiders and officials, and the loss of the rural way of life to modernisation.

    1 mark

  3. Aunt Jennifer's Tigers: Aunt Jennifer is oppressed by a dominating husband and social expectations of women. Her fearless tigers contrast with her fearful reality, and the heavy wedding band weighs her down.

    1 mark

  4. Impact on the bearers: The rural folk suffer frustration, helplessness and disappointment. Aunt Jennifer suffers suppression, fear and loss of autonomy, which continues even after her death.

    1 mark

  5. Conclusion: Both groups bear emotional and psychological pain. Yet both long for freedom, the villagers through hope for fair dealing and Aunt Jennifer through her embroidered tigers that assert her spirit.

    1 mark

Answer: Model analysis of economic inequality (A Roadside Stand) and gender inequality (Aunt Jennifer's Tigers), with their emotional impact and longing for freedom.

Where the marks are

  • Introduces the theme of inequality in both poems (1 mark)
  • Economic inequality and exploitation in the first poem (1 mark)
  • Gender oppression in the second poem (1 mark)
  • Impact on the bearers, such as frustration or suppression (1 mark)
  • Conclusion on longing for freedom, with good expression (1 mark)

Revise the chapter

  • Chapter: A Roadside Stand (notes, formulas, where marks are lost and every past question)

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