Here is a comprehensive guide to Chapter 5, “Should Wizard Hit Mommy?,” from the VISTAS textbook, created to help you prepare thoroughly for your upcoming AHSEC Class 12 exams. This guide includes a summary, complete textual answers, previous years’ AHSEC questions, and other important questions.
Should Wizard Hit Mommy?
Summary Note
“Should Wizard Hit Mommy?” by John Updike explores the clash between a child’s perspective and an adult’s worldview, centered around a moral question raised during a storytelling session. The story features Jack, a father who tells his four-year-old daughter, Jo, a bedtime story every evening. Each story follows a basic formula about an animal named Roger who has a problem, goes to a wise old owl, who then sends him to a wizard. The wizard solves the problem with magic and asks for payment.
On this particular day, the story is about Roger Skunk, who smells so bad that no other animals will play with him. The wizard performs a magic spell and makes Roger Skunk smell like roses. Roger is overjoyed and plays happily with his new friends. However, when Roger Skunk goes home, his mother is furious. She says a skunk should smell like a skunk and that the new rose smell is awful. She takes Roger back to the wizard, hits the wizard on the head with her umbrella, and makes him change Roger’s smell back to his original foul odor.
Jo, the daughter, is deeply unhappy with this ending. She wants the story to end with the wizard hitting the mommy back. She feels it is unfair that Roger Skunk’s mother forced him to give up his happiness and his friends. Jack, however, defends the mother’s actions, trying to explain that mothers always know what is right and that the mother loved her son just the way he was.
The story ends with Jack feeling “caught in an ugly middle position,” torn between his daughter’s innocent, peer-centric worldview and his own adult need to defend parental authority and the natural order of things. The unresolved conflict leaves Jack feeling uneasy and disconnected from his wife, who is downstairs painting. The central question of the title, “Should Wizard Hit Mommy?”, remains unanswered, highlighting the complexities of parenting and the different ways children and adults perceive the world.
Complete Textual Question and Answer
- What is the moral issue that the story raises?
Answer: The central moral issue the story raises is the conflict between a child’s desire for peer acceptance and happiness versus a parent’s authority and belief in what is natural and right for their child. It questions whether parents have the right to impose their will on their children, even if it makes the child unhappy. The story asks us to consider if we should accept ourselves as we are, as Roger’s mother insists, or if we should change ourselves to fit in and be accepted by society, as Roger and Jo desire. - How does Jo want the story to end and why?
Answer: Jo wants the story to end with the wizard taking his magic wand and hitting Roger Skunk’s mommy “right over the head.” She wants this ending because she feels that the mommy is “stupid” and unfair. From her perspective, Roger Skunk was finally happy because he smelled like roses and could play with the other animals. She sees the mother’s action of changing him back as a cruel punishment that takes away her son’s happiness and friends. - Why does Jack insist that it was the wizard that was hit and not the mother?
Answer: Jack insists that the mother hit the wizard and not the other way around because he is trying to defend the institution of motherhood and parental authority. He tells Jo, “The point is that the little skunk loved his mommy more than he loved all the other little animals and she knew what was right.” By defending the mother, Jack is defending his own role as a parent. He believes that parents know what is best for their children and that their authority should not be questioned or challenged, especially not by a wizard or, by extension, his own daughter. - What makes Jack feel caught in an ugly middle position?
Answer: Jack feels “caught in an ugly middle position” because he is trapped between two conflicting worlds. On one side is the innocent, fantasy-filled world of his daughter, Jo, who demands a simple, happy ending where the “bad” mommy is punished. On the other side is the real, adult world, represented by his pregnant wife, Clare, who is downstairs performing household chores. He feels a duty to his daughter as a storyteller but also a responsibility to his wife and the demands of their adult life. This tension between the fantasy he creates and the reality he lives in makes him feel stuck and uneasy. - What is your stance regarding the two endings to the Roger Skunk story?
(This is an opinion-based question.)
Answer: Both endings have their own merits. Jo’s desired ending, where the wizard hits the mommy, represents a child’s perspective, prioritizing immediate happiness and social acceptance. It is a simple, justice-driven view where the person causing unhappiness should be punished. Jack’s ending, however, carries a more complex adult moral. It emphasizes the importance of individuality, self-acceptance, and a mother’s love. It suggests that one should not change their essential nature just to please others. While Jo’s ending is more emotionally satisfying for a child, Jack’s ending provides a deeper, more thought-provoking lesson about identity and family. - Why is an adult’s perspective on life different from that of a child’s?
Answer: An adult’s perspective on life is different from a child’s because it is shaped by experience, responsibility, and an understanding of complex moral and social realities. Children, like Jo, tend to see the world in black and white terms, focusing on immediate feelings like happiness and fairness. Adults, like Jack, have a more nuanced view. They understand that life involves compromises, difficult choices, and that what seems “right” is not always simple. Jack’s perspective is influenced by his role as a parent and his need to impart lessons about identity and family, whereas Jo’s perspective is driven purely by her empathy for Roger Skunk’s desire to have friends.
Previous Year AHSEC Question Answers (2015-2025)
Short Answer Questions (2 Marks)
1. Who is Jo? How does she respond to her father’s story-telling? (AHSEC 2015, 2018)
Answer: Jo is the four-year-old daughter of the protagonist, Jack. She is an intelligent and inquisitive child who responds actively to her father’s storytelling. She does not passively accept the story but asks many questions, points out inconsistencies, and becomes deeply emotionally invested in the fate of the characters, especially Roger Skunk.
2. What was the basic tale of the stories told by Jack? (AHSEC 2016, 2019)
Answer: The basic tale of the stories told by Jack was always a slight variation of the same plot. A small creature, usually named Roger (like Roger Fish or Roger Squirrel), had a problem. He would go to the “wise old owl,” who would advise him to see the wizard. The wizard would then perform a magic spell to solve the problem.
3. What problem did Roger Skunk face? (AHSEC 2017, 2022)
Answer: Roger Skunk’s problem was that he “smelled very bad.” Because of his terrible smell, all the other little woodland creatures would run away from him whenever he tried to play with them. This made him very sad and lonely.
4. Why did Roger Skunk’s mommy take him back to the wizard? (AHSEC 2020, 2023)
Answer: Roger Skunk’s mommy took him back to the wizard because she was furious that he no longer smelled like a skunk. She did not like the new smell of roses and believed that a skunk “should have smelled the way a little skunk should have.” She wanted the wizard to change him back to his original, natural smell.
Long Answer Questions (5-7 Marks)
1. What is the moral issue that the story “Should Wizard Hit Mommy?” raises? How does Jo want the story to end? (AHSEC 2017, 2020)
Answer: The central moral issue in the story is the conflict between individuality and group acceptance, and it questions the extent of parental authority. It asks whether a child should change their essential nature to be accepted by their peers or if they should remain true to their identity, as their parents wish. It also raises the question of whether parents always know what is best for their children’s happiness.
Jo wants the story to end differently. She is very unhappy that Roger Skunk’s mother forced the wizard to change him back to smelling bad. She insists that the next day, her father should tell her a story where the “wizard took that magic wand and hit that mommy” so that Roger Skunk could continue to smell like roses and play with his friends.
2. Why did Jack feel “caught in an ugly middle position”? (AHSEC 2023)
Answer: Jack felt “caught in an ugly middle position” because he was trapped between two different worlds and their conflicting demands. On one hand, he was in the imaginative, innocent world of his daughter, Jo, who was resisting his authority and the moral of his story. He felt a duty to finish the story and put her to sleep. On the other hand, he felt the pull of the adult world downstairs, where his pregnant wife, Clare, was alone, moving heavy furniture and painting. He felt a responsibility to help his wife and be a part of that reality. This feeling of being torn between the demands of his child’s fantasy world and the duties of his real, adult life made him feel stuck, powerless, and uneasy.
Most Important Question Answers
1. What was the custom of Jack’s storytelling?
Answer: Jack’s custom was to tell his daughter, Jo, a story out of his head every evening and for Saturday naps. This custom had begun when Jo was two and was now two years old. Each story was a slight variation of a basic tale about a creature named Roger who had a problem and went to a wise owl and then a wizard to solve it.
2. How did the wizard help Roger Skunk?
Answer: The wizard helped Roger Skunk by using his magic wand to change his bad smell. When Roger Skunk said he wanted to smell like roses, the wizard chanted a magic spell: “Abracadabry, hocus-poo, Roger Skunk, how do you do, Roses, boses, pull an ear, Roger Skunk, you never fear: Bingo!”. Instantly, the wizard’s house was filled with the smell of roses, and Roger Skunk smelled good.
3. Why does Jo call Roger Skunk’s mommy “stupid”?
Answer: Jo calls the mommy “stupid” because she cannot understand why the mother would want her son to smell bad again. From Jo’s perspective, Roger Skunk was finally happy because he had friends, and the mother took that happiness away. She sees the mother’s action as illogical and cruel, and therefore calls her “stupid.”
4. What does the end of the story reveal about the relationship between Jack and his wife, Clare?
Answer: The end of the story reveals a sense of distance and tension in Jack and Clare’s relationship. After the difficult storytelling session with Jo, Jack goes downstairs feeling weary. He sees his wife painting and feels that she is a separate entity in a “cage” with him. The text says “he did not want to speak with her, work with her, touch her, anything.” This feeling of detachment suggests an underlying strain or lack of connection between them at that moment, possibly due to the pressures of their domestic life and the impending arrival of their third child.
