Unit 2 Two Stories About Flying Part I- His First Flight

CBSE Class 10 English Unit 2 Part I

1. Two Stories about
Flying-His First Flight
Liam O’ Flaherty

2. About the
author-Liam
O’ Flaherty
Obituary-28 August 1896-7
th
September 1984.
Born into a large, poor family, he took inspiration from the
peasant (farmer) life of the people in his surrounding and included
them in his works.
Irish novelist and short story writer.
He is known for his socialist writings, writing about common
people’s experiences.
He was the founding member of Communist Party of Ireland.
He worked in British Army.
In his household, both English and Irish was used.

3. Liam O’
Flaherty

4. Two stories
about flying
Here in this unit we will be dealing with two stories, both of which
deal with the experiences of flying. One story speaks about the first
flying experience of a seagull and the other story speaks about the
flying experience of the pilot of a Dakota plane.

5. His Works
His works include short stories, novels and stage plays. A few are:
The Neighbour’s Wife
The Black Soul
The Informer, which was adapted as a film.
The House of Gold (a novel)
When his short stories were compiled there were about 183
stories.

6. Sea Gull

7. His First Flight-
Title and
Theme
The title “His First Flight” is appropriate as the story talks about
the maiden flight of a seagull.
It is based on the theme that self-belief and confidence can be
brought through motivation. The seagull is scared to fly but its
parents and siblings motivate it to fly. After overcoming a
momentary feeling of fear, the young seagull finally experiences
the joy of completing his first flight.
The lesson conveys the message that self-reliance is very
important and parents should encourage their children to have a
strong self-belief and self-confidence. One should try to overcome
fear by fighting it.

8. Important Key
points
This is an interesting story about a baby seagull –chick, who was
afraid of flying.
He did not have self-confidence. He was full of pessimism
(negativity).
His parents and other siblings scolded him, taunted him,
encouraged him and even tempted him with food. But everything
was in vain.
He was left alone by his parents for 24 hours without any food.
He was begging for food and his mother was looking at him. She
picked up a piece of fish and flew across him. The sight of food
maddened him.
He cried and screamed. But finally his wings opened up
automatically and he dived into the water. He flapped his wings.
He was joined by his parents and siblings in his first flight. His
family praised his efforts and offered him scraps of dog fish.

9. Glossary
Ledge-a narrow horizontal surface projecting from a shelf or a
cliff.

10. Glossary
Desperate-hopeless, impossible to deal
Shrilly-with high-pitched voice
Upbraiding-scolding
Skim-to move lightly just above a surface.
 Herring-a soft-finned sea fish

11. Glossary
Devour-to eat hungrily; swallow; gobble
Cackle-a loud harsh laughter
Taunting-intended to provoke someone in an insulting manner
Brink-edge
Scraping the beak-wiping the beaks often to maintain the length,
texture and shape of the beak
Plaintively-something done in a sad or mournful way
Swooped-dived
Commended-praised
Beckoning-a gesture, signal

12. Annotation
Questions
Annotation 1
First paragraph
His father and mother had come….he could not move
1.Who is ‘he’ here?
2.Why are his parents scolding him?
3.What do they expect him to do?
4.Why could ‘he’ not move?

13. Annotation
Annotation 2
2
nd
Paragraph
That was twenty-four hours ago….near him.
1. Who all didn’t come near ‘him’?
2. Why hadn’t anybody come near him?
3. what does ‘that’ refers to?