Krishna Classes: February 2020

First Flight Chapter 11 The Proposal Class 10 English Language And Literature

Read the extracts and answer the questions that follow.

1. It’s cold… I’m trembling all over, just as if I’d got an examination before me. The great thing is, I must have my mind made up. If I give myself time to think, to hesitate, to talk a lot, to look for an ideal, or for real love, then I’ll never get married.

(a) Who is saying, “I’m trembling all over as if I had got an examination before me”?

(b) What is the great thing that the speaker is talking about?

(c) What state of Loom’s mind does the passage reflect?

(d) Why did Lomov not want to wait for real love?

2. “No, you’re simply joking, or making fun of me. What a surprise! We’ve had the land for nearly three hundred years and then we’re suddenly told that it isn’t ours! Ivan Vassilevitch, I can hardly believe my own ears. These Meadows aren’t worth much to me. They only come to five dissipations and are worth perhaps 300 roubles, but I can’t stand unfairness”.

(a) Who is making fun of whom?

(b) For how long did they have the land?

(c) Who is the speaker of these lines?

(d) What has been unfairness with the speaker?

3. “Then you make out that I’m a land grabber? Madam, never in my life have I grabbed anybody else’s land and I shan’t allow anybody to accuse me of having done so. Oxen Meadows are mine!”

(a) Who is ‘Madam’ in the above lines?

(b) In which situation does Lomov call himself a ‘land grabber’?

(c) What had happened to the speaker?

(d) What will he not allow the other?

4. What a surprise! We’ve had the land for nearly three hundred years, and then we’re suddenly told that it isn’t ours! Ivan Vassilevitch, I can hardly believe my own ears. These Meadows aren’t worth much to me. They only come to five dessiatins and are worth perhaps 300 roubles, but I can’t stand unfairness. Say what you will, I can’t stand unfairness.

(a) Who speaks the above lines and to whom?

(b) How much are the meadows worth?

(c) Who is the speaker of these lines?

(d) What is difficult for the speaker to believe?

Q.5. Bring out the humorous element in the one-act play ‘The Proposal’.

Q.6. Draw a brief character-sketch of Natalya.

Q7. Chubukov has all the attributes of a quarrelsome rich Russian landlord. Instead of solving the problems, he only adds fuel into the fire in their quarrel over Oxen Meadows and the dogs. Justify the statement.

Q8. What are the main points of controversy over the ownership of Oxen Meadows between Chubukov and Lomov? How and why does Natalya jump into the quarrel?

Q9. Justify the title of the lesson, ‘The Proposal’.

Q10.Doesn’t it look ridiculous and childish to see mature persons like Natalya, Lomov and Chubukov quarrelling over their dogs, Squeezer and Guess? Give the reasons answer.