Class 10 English Chapter 1 Question Answers - First Flight

Q.1. What was the content of Mr Petronski’s letter?
Ans. The letter said that Wanda would come no more to that school because students made fun of her strange name.

Q.2. Where was Wanda’s family moving?
Ans. Her family was moving to a big city.

Q.3. Who read Mr Petronski’s letter to the class?
Ans. Miss Mason read Mr Petronski’s letter to the class.

Q.4. What happened when Miss Mason read the letter?
Ans. There was a deep silence in the class.

Q.5. What did Miss Mason say about the hurting of any one’s feeling?
Ans. She said that it was unfortunate and sad to hurt someone’s feelings.

Q.6. Why did Maddie have a sick feeling at the bottom of her stomach?
Ans. Maddie felt it very bad of making fun of Wanda by Peggy for filer poverty.

Q.7. Where did Peggy and Maddie go that evening after school hours?
Ans. They both went to the Boggins Heights to meet Wanda.

Q.8. What did Wanda’s house remind Maddie of?
Ans. Wanda’s shabby but clean house reminded Maddie of her faded blue cotton dress.

Q.9. Who did Maddie and Peggy write a letter to?
Ans. They wrote a letter to Wanda.

Q.10. What gift did Wanda give to Peggy
Ans. She gave her the drawing of a dress with a green colour.

Q.11. What gift did Wanda give to Maddie?
Ans. She gave her the drawing of a dress in blue colours.

Q.12. What did Maddie find when she looked at the drawing intently?
Ans. She found that the head and face in the drawing resembled her own.

Q.13. Why did Jan Petronski write a letter to the teacher? Give two reasons.
Or
Why has Wanda’s father written a letter to Mrs Mason?
Ans. Jan Petronski writte a letter to Miss Mason, Wanda’s teacher, to inform her that Wanda and Jake would not come to school anymore as they had shifted to a big city. He also made an indirect complaint. He wrote that no one would make fun of Wanda’s name and call her ‘Pollack’ because there would be many funny names and foreigners like her in a big city.

Q.14. Why did Peggy and Maddie go to Bogin’s Height? What did Maddie want to tell Wanda?
Ans. Maddie and Peggy went to Wanda’s house at Bogin’s Height to find out whether Wanda was still there or left. If they found her there they would tell her that she had won the contest and that she was smart and a hundred dresses were beautiful. They would also apologize to her for teasing her.

Q.15. Why did Maddie and Peggy go to Wanda Petronski’s home? 
Ans. Maddie and Peggy wanted to go to Wanda Petronski’s house at Bogin’s Heights to apologize to her for teasing her. They wanted to tell her that she had won the drawing competition and that she was smart and a hundred drawings of dresses were beautiful.

Q.16. What important decision did Maddie make when she found that the Petronskis were gone? Why did she have to think a lot to do so?
Ans. The important decision Maddie took was that if ever she heard anyone picking on someone because of his/her looks or funny names she would not. stand by silently, she would speak up. She would never make anyone unhappy.

Q.17. Which drawing did Wanda ask to give to Peggy?
Ans. Wanda wrote in the letter that she would like Peggy to have the drawing of the green dress with the red trimming.

Q.18. Where had Maddie pinned Wanda drawing in her bedroom?
Ans. Maddie carried Wanda’s drawing carefully. She pinned her drawing over a torn place in the pink- flowered wallpaper in her bedroom. The shabby room came alive from the brilliance of the colours.

Q.19. What did Wanda do for the dresses?
Ans. Wanda gave away a hundred dresses to girls and blue as well as green to Maddie and Peggy respectively.

Q.20. Mention the important conclusion of Maddie.
Ans. Maddie was deeply troubled. She took up an important decision. She found that if anyone speaks unkindly she would speak up. She would not make anybody unhappy again.

Q.21. How did Peggy and Maddie find Wanda house at Boggins Heights?
Ans. They found that it was a little white house. Straws of old grass stuck up here and there along the pathway. The house and its little yard looked shabby but clean,

Q.22. How was Room Thirteen decorated?
Ans. Room Thirteen was decorated with Christmas bells and a small tree.

Q.23. What did Miss Mason receive from the Principal’s office? Why did she read it several times thoughtfully? 
Ans. The Principal received a letter. It was sent to Miss Mason. It was a letter from Wanda Petronski’s father. The content of the matter was such that it affected Miss Mason deeply. She read it several times. She thought it deeply before disclosing it to the class.

Q.24. Who sent that letter and why?
Ans. Wanda’s father Mr Jan Petronski wrote that letter to Miss Mason, the teacher. He disclosed that he had withdrawn his daughter Wanda from the school. He had moved to a big city. Constant teasing and making fun of Wanda for having a ‘funny’ name troubled her. Being discriminated in this way on the basis of colour and name led him to go to a big city. There were many such ‘funny’ names in the big city and nobody bothered about such things there.

Q.25. Why did Miss Mason call it an `unfortunate and sad’ thing to happen? 
Ans. Miss Mason was deeply pained to know the reason why Wanda’s father had gone to a big and new city. She hoped that none of the boys and girls in Room Thirteen would purposely and deliberately hurt anyone’s feelings because his or her name happened to be a long, unfamiliar one. It was really a sad and unfortunate thing that should not have happened. She wanted all of them to think about it.

Q.26. Why did Maddie have a very sick feeling in the bottom of her stomach
Ans. Maddie was highly agitated when the teacher read Wanda’s father’s letter to the class. She could not put her mind on the work. She had a very sick feeling in the bottom of her stomach. She cursed herself that she remained silent when poor Wanda was being teased by Peggy. Her silence was as bad as what Peggy had done.

Q.27. What did Maddie want to tell Wanda?
Ans. Maddie thought if she could do anything that might assuage Wanda Petronski. She wanted to tell her that she had not meant to hurt her feelings. She decided to go to Boggins Heights to meet Wanda. Perhaps she was still there. She would tell Wanda that she had won the contest and they thought she was smart. And her hundred dresses were beautiful.

Q.28. How did Peggy try to defend herself by making excuses? 
Ans. Wanda’s father’s letter had mentally upset Maddie. However, Peggy was not so much moved. On the other hand, she tried to defend herself. She told Maddie that she never called Wanda a foreigner. Nor did she make fun of her name. She didn’t think that Wanda had the sense to know that they were making fun of her. Her questioning about her dresses only gave her new ideas about dresses and helped her in winning the contest.

Q.29. How did Peggy and Maddie know that the Petron skis were gone? 
Ans. Peggy and Maddie reached Wanda’s house at Boggins Heights. There was no sign of life about the house. Peggy knocked firmly on the door, but there was no answer. She and Maddie went round to the backyard and knocked there. Still, there was no answer. There was no doubt about it that Petron skis were gone.

Q.30. What did Wanda’s shabby but clean house remind Maddie? 
Ans. The two girls reached Boggins Heights where Petronskis lived. They lived in a little white house. Wisps of old grass stuck up here and there along the pathway. The house and its little yard looked shabby but clean. It reminded Maddie of Wanda’s faded blue dress which also looked shabby but clean.

Q.31. What was the hardest thinking that Maddie had done and what was the result? 
Ans. Maddie was thinking sadly about Wanda and her hundred dresses. This was the hardest thinking that she had ever done. Then, she reached an important conclusion. She decided that she would never stand by and say nothing again. She would speak up if someone teased others because they were funny-looking or had strange names. Even if it meant losing Peggy’s friendship.

Q.32. What did Wanda writes in her letter? 
Ans. Wanda Petronski wrote a letter to her previous teacher Miss Mason. She requested her to tell the girls of Room Thirteen that they could keep those hundred dresses. She wished that Peggy would have the drawing of the green dress and Maddie of the blue one. She wrote that she missed her old school. Her new teacher couldn’t equalise Miss Mason.

Q.33. How did Peggy and Maddie interpret and react to Wanda’s letter?
Ans. Peggy was excited. The letter showed that Wanda really liked them. Everything was all right. But Maddie was sad. She felt sad because she knew that she would never see that little Polish girl again. She knew that they would never really make things right between them.

Q.34. Why tears blurred Maddie’s eyes when she studied intently the drawing of the green dress drawn by Wanda? 
Ans. Maddie studied the drawing of the green dress intently. She thought of Wanda Petronski. Tears blurred her eyes. She noticed that the face and the head of the drawing looked like her. Maddie could hardly stop her tears when she imagined Wanda among the laughing girls telling about her hundred dresses.

Q.35.How would you compare and contrast Peggy and Maddie?
Ans. Peggy and Maddie were closest friends. Peggy was the most popular girl in the class. She was pretty, had pretty dresses and could draw better than other girls. She was not really cruel but rather insensitive in teasing Wanda about her hundred dresses. Maddie was a poor girl who couldn’t speak up against her friend and benefactor, Peggy. She wore handed down old dresses given by Peggy. In the end, she decided to speak up against injustice even if it meant losing Peggy’s friendship.

Q.36. What did Maddie and Peggy notice on the designs, prepared by Wanda? 
Ans. When Maddie hanged the design in her bedroom, she became very surprised to I see her own picture in it. She looked at very carefully. She was very curious to tell Peggy. She told this to Peggy and she also found the same.

Q.37. What did the girls know at last?
Ans. From Wanda’s designs, both the girls—Maddie and Peggy came to know that Wanda liked them very much. Wanda designed their faces on her dresses. Although they teased her, yet she loved them. Now they were deep down hurt for their behaviour.

Q.38. why couldn’t Maddie sleep that night when she returned from Boggins Heights? 
Ans. Maddie wanted to say sorry to Wanda. But when she could not find her at Boggins Heights, she thought that she had missed a chance to say sorry to her. That night she could not sleep. She thought about Wanda, her faded dress and her little house. She thought about her hundred dresses. She was restless.

Q.39. How did the town look on Christmas Eve? 
Ans. On Christmas Eve, the town looked very beautiful. There were celebrations all around. All the houses were being decorated. The Christmas trees were decorated at many public places. The colour papers were hanging everywhere. Each place was full of happiness.

Q.40.What was Miss Mason’s reaction after getting Mr Petronski’s letter?
Ans. After getting Mr Petronski’s letter, Miss Mason was very unhappy and upset. She looked at the class and spoke in a low voice. She said that none of the students in that class would knowingly hurt anyone’s feelings because their name seemed funny. It was really very unfortunate.