Answer the following questions :

(a) How was Jerry’s relationship with Pat?
(b) Describe Jerry’s mother according to his description.
(c) Why did the information of Jerry’s having a mother shock the narrator?
(d) What was the writer’s ‘distress’?
(e) Why did Jerry tell an imaginary story about his having a mother?

 a) Jerry's relationship with Pat was close, as Pat stayed with Jerry except when he ran in the laurel, and Jerry felt comforted by Pat's presencE-

b) According to Jerry's description, his mother lived in MannvillE- He mentioned that she sent for him every summer and went up there whenever she could. He also said that she was jobless. Jerry also said that his mother wanted to give him a puppy but the orphonage authority did not allow it. Finally Jerry said that his mother had sent him gifts like a suit and a pair of skates on the occasion of Christmas.

c) The information of Jerry's having a mother shocked the narrator because it filled her with a passionate resentment. She could not believe how a woman left her son, especially a son like Jerry, who had such a
lean body that she had given birth by her own wholesomE- The narrator felt distressed by the mother's indifferent attitude of not yearning over her child.

 d) The writer's 'distress' stemmed from a passionate resentment towards any woman who would leave her son, particularly someone like Jerry, who possessed lean body and seemed deserving of maternal care and affection.

e) Jerry told an imaginary story about his having a mother out of poignant expression of his desire and need for maternal love and carE- He wanted to fill the void created by the absence of his mother through getting the motherly love and emotional support from the narrator.