Class 9 English Chapter 1 Extract Based Question Answers - Moments

Read the following extracts and answer the questions that follow in one or two lines.

1. She was never far from me. I had rescued her when she was a kitten, and somehow she knew that I was the one responsible for giving her ‘the good life’.

(a) Who is ‘I’ in these lines? Whom had he rescued?
Ans: ‘I’ in these lines is the author, Zan. He had rescued a red tabby cat when she was still a kitten.

(b) Why was ‘she’ never far from the speaker?
Ans: She was never far from the speaker, Zan, because he loved her a lot and took good care of her. She was his pet and he tended to all her requirements for food, play and love. She, in turn, responded to his love and care with loyalty.

(c) What does the speaker mean by ‘good life’?
Ans: ‘Good Life’, according to the speaker, Zan, means a life where the pet cat was fed well, pampered, and taken care of in every way.

(d) How did ‘she’ know that the speaker was the one responsible for giving her ‘a good life’?
Ans: She, the red tabby cat, knew that Zan was responsible for giving her a good life because he was quite liberal with her. He allowed her to lie over his papers and punch at his pen while he did homework.

2. He held on to me while other firefighters ran into the house. He knew that I wasn’t acting very logically and that if he were to let go, I’d run. He was right.

(a) Who held on to whom and why?
Ans: One of the firefighters held on to Zan because he tried to run after his mother who was inside their burning house.

(b) Why did the other firefighters run into the house?
Ans: The other firefighters ran into the house to rescue Zan’s mother.

(c) ’He was right’. Why?
Ans: ‘He’, the firefighter, was right because Zan would have certainly run into the burning house after his mother and would have thus endangered his life too if the firefighter had left him.

(d) Which trait of the speaker do these lines highlight?
Ans: The speaker’s abundant love for his mother and his strong emotional dependence on her is highlighted here.

3. Regardless, I had to go. We piled into the car with just the clothes on our backs and a few of the fireman’s blankets and made our way to my grandparents’ house to spend the night.

(a) Who is the speaker? Where did he have to go and why?
Ans: The speaker is Zan and he had to go to his Grandparent& house since his house had been burnt down and was unsafe to stay in even after the firefighters had doused the fire.

(b) Who does ‘we’ stand for?
Ans: “We” stands for Zan and his mother.

(c) Why did they take ‘so few’ belongings with them?
Ans: They took so few belongings with them because everything they owned had got burnt down in the house.

(d) ” Regardless, I had to go”. Why does the speaker say this?
Ans: The speaker, Zan, says this because he had to go without knowing whether his cat was dead or alive. This was a crisis situation, and his priority was to ensure his and his mother’s safety and to start life fresh.

4. Everyone in the high school, including my teachers, was aware of my plight. I was embarrassed as if somehow I were responsible. What a way to start off at a new school! This was not the kind of attention J was looking for.

(a) Who is the speaker of these lines and what was his plight?
Ans: The speaker is Zan and his plight was that his house had been burnt down in the fire. All his belongings – his clothes, his books, his backpack – everything had been destroyed.

(b) Why was he embarrassed?
Ans: He was embarrassed because he held himself responsible for his shabby appearance at school. He did not have a proper dress, shoes, or even backpack like other children.

(c) Why was he uncomfortable about starting school in this manner?
Ans: He was uncomfortable about starting school in this manner because he thought he looked like a geek and an outcast without proper clothes, shoes and a backpack.

(d) Why didn’t he want this kind of attention?
Ans: He had been ahead of his class in the previous school and was loved by his teachers for his grades. But now he was embarrassed as he had to attend school in awkward clothes and without notebooks or bag.

5. There was a big table set up with all kinds of stuff on it, just for me. They had taken up a collection and bought me school supplies…

(a) Who is the speaker and who are ‘they’ in these lines?
Ans: Zan is the speaker and ‘they’ are his new schoolmates.

(b) Where was the big table?
Ans: The big table was in the school gym.

(c) Why had the collection been taken up?
Ans: The collection had been taken up to help Zan after he had lost all his belongings in the fire that had burnt his house.

(d) What was the speaker’s response to this gesture?
Ans: The speaker, Zan was overwhelmed by this gesture and felt as if the school supplies, notebooks, and different clothes kept on the table for him, were like Christmas gifts.