The Black Aeroplane - AWS

The Black Aeroplane

Presented by Mrs. Lily Kumar

Introduction to the Author

• Frederick McCarthy Forsyth, CBE (born 25 August 1938) is an English author, journalist, former spy, and occasional political commentator. He is best known for thrillers such as The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Fourth Protocol, The Dogs of War, The Devil's Alternative, The Fist of God, Icon, The Veteran, Avenger, The Afghan, The Cobra and The Kill List.

• Forsyth's works frequently appear on best-sellers lists and more than a dozen of his titles have been adapted to film. By 2006, he had sold more than 70 million books in more than 30 languages.

Introduction to the Chapter

The lesson “Black Aeroplane” by Frederick Forsyth

reflects on how one’s judgement gets distorted due

to fantasizing and how it creates problems. In this

chapter, the narrator is a pilot who is so eager to

meet his family and have a good breakfast that he

takes the wrong decision of facing the storm

instead of doing the right thing. Miraculously, he

somehow manages to escape with the help of a

mysterious aeroplane.

Theme of the Story

The story oscillates or shifts

between Miracle and

Mystery.

SummaryThe story “Black Aeroplane” is about a pilot who feels happyand contended to fly over a city that is sleeping (at the nighttime). He is flying from Paris to London. While taking his flight,he dreams about the long holiday with his family. He alsofantasizes about the scrumptious breakfast he would haveupon landing. As soon as he crosses Paris, he gets a look ofthe dark clouds that were a sign of the upcoming storm. Theright decision would have been to turn back to Paris for thesake of safety. But he being overshadowed by his dreams andnot wanting to delay them, risks the life of his passengers andheads straight into the storm. Everything gets dark, he isunable to see, all his direction instruments stoppedfunctioning and he lost control of the plane. When all hopewas lost, he saw another plane whose pilot was more thanwilling to rescue them. The author was panicking as there wasvery less amount of fuel left. The anonymous pilot guidedthem out of the storm and disappeared as soon as they sawlight. Upon landing, when he asks the lady in the control roomabout the other pilot, he is left in shock when she says thathis was the only plane in the sky.

Thank you

His First Flight-Liam O’ FLaherty

Presented by Mrs. Lily Kumar

Introduction to the Author

Liam O’Flaherty, (born August 28, 1896, Inishmore, Aran Islands, County Galway,Ireland—died September 7, 1984, Dublin), Irish novelist and short-story writer whoseworks combine brutal naturalism, psychological analysis, poetry, and biting satire withan abiding respect for the courage and persistence of the Irish people. He was consideredto be a leading figure of the Irish Renaissance.

O’Flaherty abandoned his training for the priesthood and embarked on a varied career asa soldier in World War I and an international wanderer in South America, Canada, theUnited States, and the Middle East. He laboured in such occupations as lumberjack,hotel porter, miner, factory worker, dishwasher, bank clerk, and deckhand. After takingpart in revolutionary activities in Ireland, O’Flaherty settled in England in 1922; hereturned to Dublin in the mid-1920s. His books include Thy Neighbour’sWife (1923),his successful first novel; The Black Soul (1924), the story of a tormented former soldierwho seeks tranquillity on a remote western isle; The Informer (1925; adapted as anOscar-winning film by John Ford, 1935), about a confused revolutionary who betrays hisfriend during the Irish “troubles”; Skerrett (1932), a critically acclaimed story of conflictbetween a parish priest and a teacher; Famine (1937), a re-creation of the effect of theIrish famine of the 1840s on the individuals of a small community; Short Stories (1937;rev. ed. 1956); Insurrection (1950), a novel dealing with the Easter Rising of 1916; ThePedlar’s Revenge and Other Stories (1976); as well as several other novels andcollections of short stories. His autobiography, Shame the Devil, was published in 1934.This article was most recently revised and updated byAmy Tikkanen, Corrections

Introduction to the Story

The story by “Liam O’ Flaherty” is an account of ayoung bird that is afraid to fly for the first time. Hebelieves that his wings would not support him.Despite his younger siblings flying fearlessly withmuch shorter wings, he could not gather the courageto do the same. He was punished to stay hungry if hedid not try. Thus, it was his mother that compelledhim to fly by using food as a trap. The lesson reflectshow one hesitates to take the first step and that fearis all in the mind. One should trust one’s abilitiesbecause “the fear of suffering is worse than thesuffering itself ”.

Themes“His First Flight” highlights the importance of independence,self-belief and confidence, and the need for motivation to attaingoals. Necessity is always the mother of invention, but itsometimes needs an initial spark from outside.The story is also a metaphorical assertion that everyone needs tobe independent even while staying involved in family life. But thejoy of independence is not meant for cowards.From an educator’s point of view “His First Flight” shows howto tactfully impart motivation. The parents of the seagull hadtried to cajole and threaten him in different ways, but to no avail.The mother knew well that the trick was to arouse his need andshe eventually lures him out with food – to his momentaryhorror and then great joy.

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 themost difficult one to make. Conquer the fear and venture forth; and we realize that wewere born with wings.The young seagull looked down desperately at the vast expanse of sea that stretched downbeneath his ledge. He was hungry. His parents had flown away along with his brothersand his little sister, leaving him alone on the rock without food. They could all fly; and hecould not. He had tried several times to run forward to the brink of the ledge and flap hiswings but he became afraid. He was certain that his wings would not support him. Hisparents had tried countless times to make him fly. But for the life of him he would notmake an attempt.He felt that he was going to starve to death on his ledge. Even his mother was not lookingat him. She was tearing a piece of fish with her beak. The sight of food maddened him. Hecried 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 hismother flew upward and he started falling. A monstrous terror seized him, but the nextmoment 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 tolearn from nature. He has given a humane touch to the seagull’s plight so that the readeris reminded of the nervousness he too might experience before doing something new.

Summary

Moral of the Story

The mother seemed to be well awareof the Chinese proverb “Give a mana fish and you feed him for a day;teach a man to fish and you feed himfor a lifetime.” And why, she mighthave even heard of Franklin D.Roosevelt’s maxim “The only thingwe have to fear is fear itself.”

Thank You