So What Are You Anyway Questions & Answers

Hi Everyone!! This article will share So What Are You Anyway Questions & Answers.

In my previous posts, I have also shared the questions and answers of Patol Babu Filmstar, The Adventures of An Understudy, A Shot in the Dark, The Prince of Panidihing and Casabianca so, you can check these posts as well.

So What Are You Anyway Questions & Answers

Question 1: Read the line and answer the questions:

“What are you anyway?”

(a) What did the Norton’s want to know about Carole?

Answer: The Nortons were curious about Carole’s ethnic origin. They had noticed that her skin tone differed from theirs. So, they would not stop asking Carole about her racial identity. They asked outrageous questions in an arrogant way. When none of these questions got her to tell them what her race was, Mr Norton could not hold his patience anymore. He directly asked Carole, “What are you, anyway?” He meant to find out what her racial identity was.

(b)

So What Are You Anyway Questions & Answers

Answer: The question discriminates between races and is said in a derogatory fashion. Yes, it makes the other person feel less than human and low and inferior. The way it is said and the usage of body language of Norton makes the child uncomfortable even though she does not understand the concept of race.

(c) Is there any word or phrase in paragraph 32 which says the same thing?

Answer: “They’re neither one thing, nor the other”, indicates the same thing.

Question 2: Answer these questions about the Nortons?

(a)

So What Are You Anyway Questions & Answers

Answer: The first thing Mr Norton notices about Carole was her black doll. He was baffled to see it and exclaimed that he had never seen anything like that in his entire life.

So What Are You Anyway Questions & Answers

(b)

Question 2

Answer: Mrs Norton is honest about her feelings for mixed people because she does not mind Carole as much as Mr Norton does. In fact, she keeps reminding Mr Norton that she is just a child. She makes little gestures, asks Mr Norton to wake the girl up for the meal. She also urges Mr Norton to make way for Carole when she gets up to go to the bathroom.

(c) What do you think is the difference between Carole and Norton’s in the way they approach people? Do they treat everyone equally?

Answer: Carole and Norton’s look at people in a very different manner. For Carole all people are equal, she does not differentiate between black and white, she is not aware of what is race and it does not matter to her. However, the Nortons differentiate and discriminate people on the basis of race and look down on other people as inferior.

Question 3: Answer these questions about Carole and her understanding of race?

(a)

Question 3

Answer: No, Carole doesn’t understand the terms ‘race’ but from the tone of the Nortons she can deduce that it is something bad. She has not heard of the word ‘mulatto’ either. She is so taken aback when she is asked whether she is a mulatto or not, she fumbles and asks what the word meant.

(b)

So What Are You Anyway Questions & Answers

Answer: No, Carole does not identify Mr Norton as white-skinned. Carole uses the word sunburned to describe him.

(c)

Question 3

Answer: Carole is too young and too innocent to be able to comprehend the differences that divide the world. Even though she thinks that Mr Norton’s face is a bit sunburnt, it does not bother her that he is of a different skin tone. In sharp contrast are the Nortons whose sole concern is to find out Carole’s ethnic identity.

So What Are You Anyway Questions & Answers

Question 4: Read the line and answer the questions:

“I never used just one colour.”

(a) What is Carole talking about?

Answer: Mr Norton curious about Carole’s ethnic roots asks her what colour she would make her father’s face, if she were to draw him. Carole is puzzled by this question and obviously does not what colour to use. So, she says that she would never use one colour.

(b) Carole’s mother is a white woman. But Carole says she would colour her using many different colours. Why do you think that is?

Answer: Carole wants to colour her mother in different shades, in spite of the fact that she is a white woman. This is because there is no one colour to depict the whiteness of the skin. She falters and says that she could be yellow. But when the Nortons ask if her mother is Chinese, she disagrees. She then mentions that her mother’s face could be red. Moreover, at such a young age, Carole is not aware of how differences in skin tone denote one’s ethnic identity.

(c)

So What Are You Anyway Questions & Answers

Answer: The labels ‘black’ and ‘white’ are nothing but social constructs. Children like Carole are easily the least discriminate. This is obviously proved by the fact that the protagonist, Carole, knew that people come in different skin tones but she never passed discriminatory comments while dealing with white people. Children do not recognize these labels unless they are consciously made aware of their ethnic origins and racial standing in society.

Question 5: What do you think Carole has learned about people and their attitude towards race?

Answer: In the beginning of the story, we find that young Carole doesn’t know anything about her racial identity. But the Nortons make her curious to discover her ethnic origin and she wishes her parents to tell her about it. She learns finally that she is a ‘mulatto’, a child with one black and one white parent.

So, these were So What Are You Anyway Questions & Answers.

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