First Flight Extracts - Previous Year Questions Solved Examples (Class 10 English)
First Flight contains stories and extracts that develop critical thinking and literary analysis. These questions test comprehension, interpretation, and ab
TL;DR: First Flight contains stories and extracts that develop critical thinking and literary analysis. These questions test comprehension, interpretation, a…
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First Flight contains stories and extracts that develop critical thinking and literary analysis. These questions test comprehension, interpretation, and ab
First Flight Extracts - Previous Year Questions — Solved Numerical Examples (Step by Step)
Example 1: In 'A Letter to God', why does Lencho write a letter to God, and what does his reaction to receiving only seventy pesos reveal about his character? [4 marks]
Solution: Lencho is a poor farmer whose entire maize crop is destroyed by a hailstorm that falls 'like new coins' on his field. Left with no seed and no food for the coming year, and having 'nothing but faith' in God, he writes asking for a hundred pesos to sow his field again and to live on until the new crop comes.
When the postmaster and his colleagues collect what they can and send seventy pesos, Lencho is not grateful but angry. He counts the money, and instead of doubting God, he immediately concludes that the post-office employees have stolen the rest.
This reveals two things. First, the depth and literalness of his faith: he never once suspects that God might not have sent it, only that men interfered. Second, his complete distrust of people, which stands in ironic contrast to the very people whose kindness actually supplied the money. He calls them 'a bunch of crooks' in his second letter — the story's central irony.
Example 2: In 'Nelson Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom', what does Mandela mean by saying that courage is not the absence of fear but the triumph over it? [3 marks]
Solution: Mandela is defining courage through the comrades he watched during the struggle against apartheid. He says he learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it, and that the brave man is not one who does not feel afraid but one who conquers that fear.
He had seen men and women risk imprisonment, torture and death for their beliefs. They were not fearless — they felt fear as anyone would — but they refused to let it govern their actions.
The significance is that it makes courage available to ordinary people rather than only to the exceptional. Fear is expected; what matters is what a person does in spite of it.
Example 3: In the poem 'Dust of Snow' by Robert Frost, how does a small natural incident change the poet's mood? Explain with reference to the poem. [3 marks]
Solution: A crow shakes down a dust of snow on the poet from a hemlock tree. Both images are conventionally negative: the crow is associated with darkness and ill omen, and the hemlock is a poisonous tree associated with sorrow.
Yet this trivial, accidental shower of snow gives the poet's heart 'a change of mood' and saves 'some part of a day' he had 'rued' — that is, regretted or spent in sorrow.
Frost's point is that healing can come from the most unlikely and ordinary sources. Nature does not need to be grand or beautiful to lift the spirit; a moment's contact with it, even through symbols of gloom, is enough to redeem part of a bad day.
Example 4: In 'From the Diary of Anne Frank', why does Anne say that paper has more patience than people? [3 marks]
Solution: Anne begins her diary observing that paper has more patience than people. She means that a sheet of paper will receive whatever she writes without interrupting, judging, growing bored or offering unwanted advice, which is more than any listener would do.
She feels she has no true friend despite being surrounded by a loving family and about thirty people she could call friends. She has no one she can confide her deepest thoughts to, and she does not want to simply record bare facts as most people do in a diary.
So she creates 'Kitty' as an imaginary friend and writes to her. The remark is really a statement of loneliness: paper listens perfectly precisely because it cannot answer back.
Example 5: In 'A Tiger in the Zoo' by Leslie Norris, contrast the tiger in the cage with the tiger in the wild as the poet presents them. [4 marks]
Solution: The poet sets the two states directly against each other. In the cage the tiger 'stalks' in 'a few steps of his cage', moving in 'quiet rage' — his power reduced to pacing a confined space, his anger silent because it has no outlet. He ignores the visitors and at night stares at the 'brilliant stars' with 'his brilliant eyes', longing for what he has lost.
In the wild he would be 'lurking in shadow', sliding through 'long grass' near the water hole, stalking deer — free, purposeful and dangerous. He would be 'snarling around houses at the jungle's edge', 'baring his white fangs, his claws' and terrifying the villagers.
The contrast is between suppressed and expressed power. The same animal is majestic and free in one setting and pitiable in the other, and the poem is a criticism of caging wild animals for human display.
Tips
- Always support analysis with direct quotes from the text; citations strengthen arguments.
- Identify and explain literary devices: symbolism, metaphor, irony, imagery, personification.
- Connect textual themes to broader social/political context for comprehensive analysis.
- In long answer questions, structure response clearly with introduction, analysis, and conclusion.
Frequently Asked Questions
How should I approach analyzing an unseen extract?
Read carefully, identify key characters and events, look for literary devices, relate to themes, support with evidence, and connect to broader contexts.
What is the difference between theme and plot?
Plot is the sequence of events. Theme is the underlying message or big idea the author wants to convey through those events.
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