the story his first flight summary
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His First Flight’ by Liam O’ Flaherty is a true parable about overcoming fears in life. Every journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step. But that single step is the most difficult one to make. Conquer the fear and venture forth; and we realize that we were born with wings.
The young seagull looked down desperately at the vast expanse of sea that stretched down beneath his ledge. He was hungry. His parents had flown away along with his brothers and his little sister, leaving him alone on the rock without food. They could all fly; and he could not. He had tried several times to run forward to the brink of the ledge and flap his wings but he became afraid. He was certain that his wings would not support him. His parents had tried countless times to make him fly. But for the life of him he would not make an attempt.
He felt that he was going to starve to death on his ledge. Even his mother was not looking at him. She was tearing a piece of fish with her beak. The sight of food maddened him. He cried at her but she just screamed back mockingly.
Suddenly, he felt the joy, seeing his mother approaching him with food. But she halted, keeping the fish just out of his reach. Maddened by hunger, he dived at the fish. But his mother flew upward and he started falling. A monstrous terror seized him, but the next moment he realized that he was flying. He was born to fly and he had made his first flight.
Liam O’ Flaherty was a keen observer of sea life and he believed that man has a lot to learn from nature. He has given a humane touch to the seagull’s plight so that the reader is reminded of the nervousness he too might experience before doing something new.
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Liam O’ Flaherty pictures the Irish Sea coast, and bird life through his inspirational story of a seagull in “His First Flight”. Bird life and habits are revealed clearly through the story. A bird attains independence only when it succeeds in flying. Flying encourages a bird to cover the land and the seas through air. One such young seagull and his first flight overcoming fear is the central character and theme of the story. The young seagull is alone on the ledge, his usual place of rest. His head is down, he is depressed. The reason is that his brothers and sister (siblings) have learnt to fly, but he hasn’t .His attempts have not become successful. Somehow the fear of failure and the lack of confidence has pulled him down. He has formed a judgment in his mind that his wings will never support him even though his wings are larger and stronger than the others. He cannot muster up (gather) courage to take, that plunge or leap which will inspire flying .His parents scolded him, and threatened him to starve on the ledge, if he did not fly. But all this was nothing. He was scared to death. Now 24 hours of tension has passed. His parents have tried their best to encourage him, to make him fly, but they failed. Moreover he had seen his parents perfecting his siblings in the art of flying, teaching them to skim the waves and dive for fish. The young seagull felt jealous seeing his older brother catch a herring and eat. The parents wanted him to feel jealous, they wanted to show him their anger in his refusal to fly. He must not be a coward, a fool. Birds are born to fly, and if this seagull did not have the courage to do he would be a failure. Other birds would make fun of him. He would die of starvation. Now it was evening, he was hungry. Not a single bit of food on the ledge. His stomach hurt from starving. But still he was not ready to try and fly. But moreover the funny fact was that he was burning his head, thinking of a method to reach his parents without flying. Between him and his parents there was a deep crack.He tried to make his parents notice his presence. He stood on one leg, with the other leg hidden under his wing, closing his eyes and pretending to fall asleep. But no one saw him. Again he secretly viewed his brothers and sisters lying and dozing after their first day of flying. His father was preening his feathers. But his mother, she was the only one who was still worried. She was looking at her young one. She wanted to give him some more inspiration, so she started pecking at a piece of fish .When she rubbed her beak on the rock, the young seagull grew mad. “Food....oh God its so long since I’ve had some food. His mother understood his needs. She cackled ga,ga,ga.... He too cried out loud. To his surprise, he saw his mother pick up a piece of fish and fly towards him. As he came nearer and nearer, his heart jumped with excitement. The thought of food bought water in to his mouth. But as she came nearer the rock, she halted. He unknowingly dived at the food, and he fell into open space. And he felt frightened. But the fear lasted only for a moment. He spread his wings outward and started to fly. He was soaring. He was so happy. He howled with joy. His family too came to accompany his joy. The whole family soared and dived through the air. He forgot his fear. Next he came on to the sea. His feet fell into water. He thought he would fall, but his belly touched the water .He felt balanced. He could fly and float too. Thus he made his first flight.