Parents often resort to strict measures in order to make the child learn to be self-sufficient. Justify the statement with reference to ‘His First Flight’.. Give an example of your own to substantiate your answer as well.
Answers
2. The story by “Liam O’ Flaherty” is an account of a young bird that is afraid to fly for the first time.
He believed that his wings would not support him. All his younger siblings despite their much shorter wings flew fearlessly while he could not gather the courage to trust his own wings. The young seagull became sad when he saw his parents perfecting his younger siblings in the art of flying. His parents scold and taunt him for not even trying. They even call him a “coward”. They tell him a lot to at least try and also threaten him to leave him alone and hungry if he does not. The following day, he is left in isolation and upon feeling hungry; he tries to seek the attention of his family members. Only his mother, who is withering a fish in an attempt to eat it, notices his son. The young seagull cries out of starvation hoping his mother would help. On seeing his mother come to him with the fish, he gets excited. But on noticing that his mother stopped mid-way, he gets maddened out of hunger and takes a dive at the fish, forgetting for a moment that he is afraid to fly. Finally, he took his first flight. All the family members celebrate his victory by cheering and dancing around him. He also attempts at floating in the sea that he was once afraid of.
Thus, he overcomes his fear and realized that it is all in the mind. It was his mother that compelled him to fly by using food as a trap. The lesson reflects how one hesitates to take the first step and that fear is all in the mind. One should trust one’s abilities because “the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself”.
I have also experienced such behaviors from my parents as well, when I was young. I studied in second grade at that time and I believed that life is a bed of roses. I was a pampered child then and I never experienced any harsh acts. After joining day school, I woke up late, became lazy and I would not complete the assignments set by school. So, one day, my mother became very angry and decided to lock me down in a room deprived of any toys or other distracting things. She dumped all the books and copies and did not give me any food until I finished the pending assignments. I was pessimistic at first and thought that she could not be such strict to me. To seek attention, I started crying. I cried for about 2 hours but she had already made up her mind. So, I finally finished all the homework and I was gifted with my favorite food. After that, I never forget to do my homework on time.