"Should Wizard Hit Mommy?" is the fifth chapter of the Vistas textbook for Class 12 English. Written by the American novelist and short-story writer John Updike, the story is a subtle, psychologically rich narrative about a father, Jack, who tells a bedtime story to his four-year-old daughter, Jo. The story within the story — about a skunk named Roger who wants to have his smell taken away — becomes the vehicle for exploring themes of childhood imagination, parental power, and the intrusion of adult reality into a child's world.
The story is built on two levels. The outer story is the simple domestic scene: Jack, a woodworker, returns home and takes over the evening ritual of telling his daughter Jo a story, because his wife Clare is pregnant and tired. The inner story is the tale Jack invents about Roger the skunk, who goes to an owl named Old Owl to have his bad smell removed. As Jack tells the story, he follows a familiar formula, but when Jo objects to the ending, a conflict arises between her child's logic and his adult sensibilities.
The story explores the tension between a parent's desire to shape a child's understanding and the child's own independent, questioning mind. Jo, with the innocence and logic of a four-year-old, challenges her father's story and asks a startlingly profound question: "Should wizard hit Mommy?" — a question that disrupts Jack's comfortable narrative and forces him to confront his own uncertainties. The story is a masterful examination of the complexity of parent-child relationships and the mysterious inner world of a child.
John Updike (1932-2009) was one of the most prolific and celebrated American writers of the twentieth century. He wrote over twenty novels, numerous short stories, poems, and essays. He is best known for his "Rabbit" series of novels — "Rabbit, Run," "Rabbit Redux," "Rabbit Is Rich," and "Rabbit at Rest" — which follow the life of Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom. Updike won the Pulitzer Prize twice and the National Book Award. His writing is known for its precise, lyrical prose, its keen psychological insight, and its close observation of ordinary American life. "Should Wizard Hit Mommy?" (1960) is one of his most studied short stories, celebrated for its delicate handling of the relationship between a father and his young daughter.
The story opens with Jack, a woodworker, arriving home after a day at his workshop. His wife Clare, who is pregnant with their third child, is tired, so Jack takes over the task of putting their four-year-old daughter Jo to bed and telling her a bedtime story. This is a routine they share, and Jack has developed a formula: the story always features a little creature in trouble, who goes to an animal for help.
This evening, Jack invents the story of Roger, a small skunk who feels unhappy about his smell. Roger decides to visit Old Owl, the wise bird who lives in the forest, to ask to have his smell taken away. Old Owl agrees and works his magic; Roger's smell is removed, and he returns home. His parents, the skunk parents, are initially pleased that he no longer smells bad, but then they begin to worry: without his smell, how will Roger find his way home in the dark? How will he be recognised? They realise they love him exactly as he is, and they ask Old Owl to give him back his smell. In the end, Roger's smell is restored, and everyone is happy.
As Jack tells the story, he adds details from his own memories and observations, making the story rich and vivid. Jo listens intently, but at the end, she objects. The story, Jo declares, is not over, and she asks her father a series of surprising questions. Jo suggests that the skunk's mother should have died in the story, or that the wizard should have "hit" the mother. She asks, "Should wizard hit Mommy?" — a question that puzzles and unsettles Jack. He cannot understand why his daughter, so young and innocent, would imagine such violence.
Jo's final question — whether the skunk's mother should have been hit by the wizard — reveals the strange logic of a child's mind and challenges Jack's assumptions. The story ends with Jack, disturbed and introspective, wondering about his daughter's inner world and the gap between a parent's understanding and a child's imagination. The reader is left with the sense that the "real" story of the chapter is not Roger the skunk, but the quiet, unresolved drama between Jack and Jo — and the mysteries of childhood that even a loving parent cannot fully penetrate.
A woodworker and the father of two (soon three) children. He is a loving but somewhat impatient and self-absorbed father who tells Jo bedtime stories on his own terms. He values his own narrative control and is unsettled by Jo's independent questions. He represents the adult world's assumptions about how children should think and feel.
Jack's four-year-old daughter. She is curious, imaginative, and independent-minded. She listens to her father's story with keen attention but is not satisfied with its neat, comfortable ending. Her question "Should wizard hit Mommy?" reveals the mysterious, unpredictable logic of a child's mind and challenges her father's authority.
Jack's pregnant wife, who is tired and absent for most of the story. She represents the domestic responsibilities that have fallen on Jack and the shifting balance of the household. Her presence is felt through the pregnancy and her interactions with Jack.
The little skunk of Jack's invented tale, who wants his smell removed. Through him, the story explores themes of identity, acceptance, and being loved for who one is.
The wise owl of the story who can remove (and later restore) Roger's smell. He represents the magical helper of fairy tales and the moral machinery of the story.
The central theme of the story is the conflict between a child's world and an adult's assumptions. Jack tells the story to reassure and control, but Jo's unpredictable questions reveal that a child's mind does not work as an adult expects. A related theme is parental power and the limits of control: Jack, as the storyteller, tries to shape Jo's understanding, but he cannot control her imagination.
The story also explores the theme of childhood logic and the mysterious inner world of a child: Jo's suggestion that the wizard "hit" the mother shocks Jack and reveals the strange, sometimes unsettling logic of childhood. The theme of identity and acceptance appears in the inner story — Roger the skunk learns that he must be accepted for who he is. Finally, the story reflects on the theme of the gap in understanding between generations: Jack's failure to understand Jo's question suggests the deep, often unbridgeable distance between parents and children.
| Element | Details |
|---|---|
| Author | John Updike |
| Setting | A family home, evening bedtime |
| Protagonist (outer story) | Jack, a woodworker, father of Jo |
| The child | Jo, four years old |
| The inner story | Roger the skunk and Old Owl |
| The unsettling question | "Should wizard hit Mommy?" |
| Element | Significance |
|---|---|
| Roger the skunk's smell | Symbol of identity and individuality |
| Old Owl | The magical helper / moral machinery |
| Jo's question | The mystery of a child's mind |
| Clare's pregnancy | The domestic pressures on Jack |
| The bedtime ritual | The routine of family life and parental control |
"Should Wizard Hit Mommy?" is a subtle and deeply human story that finds enormous depth in the simple ritual of a bedtime story. John Updike's narrative-within-a-narrative structure allows him to explore the delicate relationship between a parent and a child, and the profound mystery of a child's mind. Jack, the father, tells Jo a comfortable tale about Roger the skunk, only to have his neat moral universe disrupted by his daughter's startling question: "Should wizard hit Mommy?"
The story reveals that parenthood is not simply about shaping a child but about encountering the mysterious, unpredictable inner world of that child. Jo's logic, which seems strange and even unsettling to Jack, is perfectly coherent to her. The story reminds us that children are not empty vessels waiting to be filled but independent beings with their own imaginative lives. It is a quiet, masterful meditation on identity, acceptance, and the enduring wonder of the parent-child bond.