Two Stories about Flying (Part I)
His First Flight
Analysis :
·
The story ‘His First Flight’ is written
by Liam O’ Flaherty, an Irish novelist.
·
This story is about a young seagull who
is scared of making his first flight. It didn’t trust its wings.
·
It depicts one’s fear of trying out new
things and emphasises the need of bravery and courage in one’s life
.
·
The story also conveys that one should
trust one’s abilities. It emphasises the need of motivation in one’s life.
‘Fear of failing or suffering is worse than suffering itself’.
Synopsis
/ Summary
·
A young seagull dared to make his first
flight. All the family members encouraged it to fly but it couldn’t.
·
Its younger brothers and sister made
attempt and were successful in flying but young seagull didn’t have faith on
its wings. It was scared to think that if it tried, its wings won’t support and
it would fall into sea.
·
The mother couldn’t see young seagull like
this and all the family members deserted it on the ledge where it was sitting
and flew across the sea to live on another hill.
·
The seagull was there all alone for 24
hours. It was starving and painfully looking at its family members catching
fish and enjoying their meal together.
·
It cried in hunger. Its mother came near
seagull with a scrap of fish in its beak and tempted seagull to make a dive for
fish but Seagull didn’t and mother flew away.
·
Seagull again called its mother
desperately. Mother again came but this time nearer with a fish as bait. Hunger
maddened it and as it made an attempt to take fish, mother flew in the sky and
seagull fell down the ledge. Seagull was falling down but his fear lasted for a
minute and then its wings opened and it made a desperate attempt to fly.
·
To its amazement, it was not falling.
Then it flapped its wings and flew up. This way young seagull made its first
flight and soon, was learning how to catch its food.
Theme
The story ‘His First Flight highlights the
importance of self belief and self confidence. It acknowledges the need of courage
and motivation in one’s life.
Message
The underlying message of the story is ‘The only
thing we have to fear is the fear itself’. Once we are able to overcome our
fear, it transports us to the world of confidence, joy and satisfaction.
Important
Question - Answers
Q1. ‘The sight of food maddened him’. What does it
suggest? What compelled young seagull to fly?
Ans. To see young seagull sitting all alone on the
ledge and dying of hunger its mother tried to motivate it using fish as bait. Mother
went to seagull and brought fish closer. The sight of food maddened it as it
was dying of hunger. Question of survival tempted it to make a dive for food. It
forgot its fear and dived to catch fish from its mother’s beak. This way,
hunger and the question of survival compelled young seagull to make its first
flight.
Q2. What lesson does the story ‘His First Flight’
teach you? What does the story convey?
Ans. The story ‘His First Flight’ teaches us the
lesson of bravery and courage. It teaches us to be brave and self confident. One
needs to be confident of its abilities and shouldn’t be scared of making first
attempt due to fear of failure. It conveys,
‘Fear of failing or suffering is worse than suffering itself’. We should
nourish a belief that we have been given innate abilities that will never fail
us. We should trust them. Once, we trust them and make our first attempt, they
take us to a world of confidence, joy and satisfaction what was experienced by
young seagull after making ‘His First Flight’.
Q3. ‘Fear and lack of
self-confidence stop one from learning new things’. Do you agree?
A. Definitely, I do
agree that ‘Fear and lack of confidence stop one from learning new things as it
happened with the young seagull. It wanted to fly but was afraid of falling.
The fear of falling stopped it from even making an attempt. Moreover, it didn’t
have faith and confidence on its wings. It thought that its wings won’t support
it during its attempt to fly. Its fear of falling and lack of confidence
stopped the young seagull from making an attempt to fly. Same is the case with
all living creatures and even human beings. Out of fear and due to lack of
faith in ourselves we don’t try out new things and get lost in the crowd. In short fear is the only thing that she should be scared of.
Q4. Why was the seagull
afraid? What forced him to fly?
Ans. The young seagull
was afraid of falling into sea thinking that his wings were short and weak. He
thought that if he made an attempt to fly, his wings would not support him and
he would fall into the sea and die.
When his parents left
him alone on the ledge, he was hungry. He hadn’t eaten anything for 24 hours.
When his mother approached with a piece of fish, being maddened by hunger he
dived for the fish. First he fell down, but in desperation he started flapping
his wings and was able to fly in an instant. The love for life compelled him to
make a dive and explore that flying is natural to him.
Video on Two Stories about Flying
https://youtu.be/rUjK7jLCdCY
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