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Linda Pastan, a Jewish poet, was born in Bronx (in New York), in the year 1932. She graduated from Radcliffe College and received her M.A. from Brandeis University. She has written a number of poems and has received a number of awards and honours. She also served as the Poet Laureate of Maryland.

A) without any care for the picture or old age

b) half-heartedly.

The speaker asked the teacher, why the woman shouldn’t be left to decide for herself.

The teacher used to ask a hypothetical question every time. She would ask the students – if there were a fire in a museum, and if they, had a choice, what would they save: a Rembrandt painting or an old woman who didn’t have many years to live?

No, the children were not able to answer the question correctly.

The students did not understand the gravity of the question and it was also beyond their understanding; they were also bored with the same repeated question. Therefore, they answered ‘half-heartedly’.

(b) They were unable to understand the ethics dilemma.

Each year the students opted for a different choice. One year they said they would save the painting and the next year it was the old woman.

The expression ‘half-heartedly’ indicates that the question did not interest the children.

D) did not have many years to live

The teacher had asked students to choose between saving an old woman and a famous painting. Now the speaker herself was standing in a museum in front of a famous painting. To that extent the question had come true. Now it is her own situation and no more a simple reaction.

C) every autumn season

(b) the ethical dilemma was beyond their understanding of arid experience.

The teacher wanted to know, whom a child would save in case of a fire in a museum being visited by the child – an old woman, who did not have many years to live or a painting by Rembrandt, the famous artist.

The speaker had realized after many years the truth that woman and painting and season are almost one. Ethics and moral values can be only learned from experience and maturity.

She is visiting a museum and standing in front of a painting by Rembrandt.

No, the teacher instead told Linda that she was avoiding the burden of responsibility.

The speaker is standing in a museum when she narrates the incident.

Standing in front of the painting, she feels that the colours within the frame of the painting are darker than the colours of reality. They are even darker than the winter colours. The Earth has darker and more lively, sparkling shades than is seen in art. But it is a representation of life. The canvas does try to reflect the radiant colours of the earth.

C) she avoided taking responsibility

B) aging and death

1. Place of work: At the place of work we have practical, behavioural and moral ethics to follow. If being punctual is practical value, being friendly and cooperative with our colleagues is the behavioural ethics that we should follow. But more importantly, we should follow the moral ethics of integrity in our workplace.

2. Place of learning (a school/class): In the place of learning it is important that we honour the ethical values of punctuality, discipline and obedience. We should respect the ideals of cleanliness and ecoconsciousness. We should uphold the norm of treating others with respect and helping one anothe

3. Place of worship: We should maintain the serenity of the place by remaining silent and prayerful.

4. Place of living: We should keep our surroundings clean and not merely our own homes. We should advocate the strength of human relationships, bonding and love.

C) the old woman who hadn’t many years left anyhow

A) woman and painting and season are almost one.

The poem’s title points to its central concern – ethics. What is meant by ethics is a general system of moral principles, the study of which is the branch of philosophy concerned with right and wrong of certain actions and behaviour. A system of ethical or moral behaviour is essential to a civilised society, and we learn early through instruction many of its moral precepts. However, in the course of life people find themselves in situations in which they must decide for themselves what is the right way to act or the right choice to make. It is an individual’s responsibility to make the right choice and to be accountable for that choice. A part of growing up is learning how to make the right choices.

In the poem ‘Ethics’, Linda Pastan speaks about her experience and understanding of the true meaning of Ethics. She recollects her school days when her Ethics teacher would ask the same question to her students every fall (autumn). The teacher would ask her students whom would they save if there were a fire in the museum – a Rembrandt painting or an old woman who hadn’t many years to live?

The students would be restless on hard chairs and give answers halfheartedly, without understanding the significance of the question. As they cared very little for art or life, they would choose life one year and art the next year. Another year Linda tried to suggest letting the woman decide for herself, but the teacher warned her not to escape from her responsibility of making a choice.

Years later, in an autumn, Linda visited a museum and stood before a real Rembrandt painting. As she studied the painting, she noticed that the colours were darker than autumn, darker than even winter. The painter’s colours on the canvas were those deep colours seen at the end of a season. However, she saw that through these dark colours earth’s most radiant elements burned. By using such imagery she expresses what she saw in the Rembrandt, which a child would not be able to see.

Pastan realised that a beautiful painting and an old woman are “all beyond saving by children”. Pastan understood that a child would choose to save an old woman rather than a painting because the child felt that it was, morally, the right thing to do. The unmatched beauty of the painting was truly worth saving. At the same time she was now standing in the place of the old woman. She understood the value of the painting which she could not as a young girl. She remembered how little meaning either pictures or old age had for her then.

She now realized the teacher’s true intention in posing the question – that woman, painting and seasons are all equally important and they are beyond saving by children. Pastan shows that at a young age children don’t fully understand what ethics means, they would just do what felt morally right. She understood that ethics comes with the experience that one has in one’s life.

In the concluding part of the poem which states, “I know now that woman and painting and season are almost one and all beyond the saving of children”, it is evident that this poem is not meant for the amusement of children, but rather for people who have attained the age of the speaker. In these lines, the poet finally realizes the real meaning of the question posed to them by their teacher several years ago because of the numerous years of experience she has gained. The narrator implies that the woman and the painting both represent old age and wisdom; things that the children are unable to comprehend and that is why they cannot assist or save them.