Lizzie's Tiger: Reading Adventure & Quiz

The tiger walked up and down; it walked up and down like Satan walking about the world and it burned. It burned so brightly, Lizzie was scorched. Its tail, thick as her father's forearm, twitched back and forth at the tip. The quick loping stride of the caged tiger; its eyes like yellow coins of a foreign currency; its round, innocent, toy-like ears; the stiff whiskers sticking out with an artificial look; the red mouth from which the bright noise came. It walked up and down on straw strewn with bloody bones.

"like Satan walking about the world": A simile comparing the tiger to the Devil. Satan is powerful, evil, and unstoppable. This makes the tiger feel supernatural — not just an animal, but something from another realm.
"it burned. It burned so brightly, Lizzie was scorched": The tiger isn't literally on fire, but it's SO vivid, SO intense, that looking at it feels like being burned. This is a metaphor connecting the tiger to fire, echoing William Blake's famous poem ('Tyger, tyger, burning bright').
"its eyes like yellow coins of a foreign currency": A brilliant simile. The eyes are round and golden like coins, but 'foreign currency' adds mystery — these eyes hold value and meaning that Lizzie cannot understand. The tiger is from a different world.
"its round, innocent, toy-like ears" vs "straw strewn with bloody bones": The writer deliberately contrasts cute details ('toy-like', 'innocent') with violent ones ('bloody bones'). This creates fascinating tension — the tiger is simultaneously adorable and deadly.
"the red mouth from which the bright noise came": Calling a roar 'bright noise' uses a visual word for sound. This technique (called synaesthesia) makes the roar feel vivid and visible, not just audible.

Scorched: Burned or singed by intense heat; here a metaphor for the tiger's overwhelming presence.
Loping: Moving with long, easy, relaxed strides that cover ground effortlessly.
Artificial: Looking fake or manufactured; unnaturally perfect.
Strewn: Scattered untidily across a surface.

1. What does the Satan simile tell us about the tiger?

2. Why does the writer describe the tiger as both 'innocent, toy-like' AND surrounded by 'bloody bones'?

3. What does 'eyes like yellow coins of a foreign currency' tell us about the tiger's eyes?

All its motion was slung from marvellous haunches it held so high you could have rolled a marble down its back, if it would have let you.

Upon its skin it bore the imprint of the bars behind which it lived.

"slung from marvellous haunches": 'Haunches' are the powerful hip and thigh muscles. Every movement starts here — the tiger's back end is the ENGINE of its body. 'Marvellous' shows the writer's admiration for this raw power.
"you could have rolled a marble down its back, if it would have let you": The tiger's back slopes so steeply from its high haunches that a marble would roll down it. The tiny addition 'if it would have let you' is darkly funny — of course it wouldn't let you anywhere near it. It reminds us this is a dangerous predator.
"Upon its skin it bore the imprint of the bars behind which it lived": The most famous line in the passage. The tiger's natural stripes look like the bars of its cage. The writer suggests that captivity has literally been written onto the animal's body — the prison has become part of who it is. This is deeply sad: the tiger carries its cage with it, even in its own skin. It's a powerful statement about what imprisonment does to any living creature.

Haunches: The powerful hip and upper thigh muscles of an animal, especially at the back.
Marvellous: Wonderfully impressive; causing great admiration.
Imprint: A mark or pattern pressed or stamped onto a surface; something left behind as a permanent trace.

4. What does 'if it would have let you' add to the marble image?

5. What does the final line 'Upon its skin it bore the imprint of the bars' mean?

6. Why is the word 'marvellous' used for the tiger's haunches?

7. What overall impression does the writer create of the tiger?

Reading: Lizzie's Tiger

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