Q103
“A past that’s rooted in pain” refers to a past
- (1) that has always been pleasurable
- (2) that has been pleasurable once but is now in pain
- (3) that has always been painful
- (4) that has had alternate periods of pain and pleasure
CTET 7 Feb 2026 Paper 1 English, Question 103
Read the extract given below and answer the questions (Q. Nos. 100–105) that follow :
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that is wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
Solution.
CBSE answer: (3)
Answer: (3) that has always been painful
- Something "rooted" in pain has pain at its very base, from the start.
- So the past was painful throughout, not just at some moments.
- The next lines about "nights of terror and fear" support this.
Trap: (4) There is no mention of any pleasant period, so alternating pain and pleasure does not fit.