Class 9 English Moments Ch. 8 PPT

1. Class IX English
Moments

2. Prose
Book:- Moments
Chapter-8
A House is not a Home
by Zan Gaudioso

3. Elements of prose
Setting : Where the story takes place.
Characters : The people that are part of the
story.
Plot: What happens in the story.
Mood : The feelings or the emotions the
author creates or the feeling you get when
reading the story.
Theme: The theme in a story is its underlying
message, or 'big idea.

4. About the Author
 contributing author and
editor of several volumes
of the best-selling Chicken
Soup for the Soul series,
most notably Chicken Soup
for the Teenage Soul III.
 She is also co-author of the
award winning book, The
Buddha Next Door.

5. This story reflects the
challenges of being a
teenager, and the problems
of growing up. How does the
author overcome his
problems?

6. Awkward: strange
Freshman: a student
in the first year of
high school, college
or university
Isolated: lonely

7. Value Points
 The author says that her first year at school was not
pleasant.
 She felt like a fresher.
 Her school was twice bigger than her old school.
 Her old friends had gone to a different high school.
 So she felt lonely. She missed her old teachers also.
 She visited them. They advised her to take part in
school activities.

8. Tabby: grey or brownish
in colour and streaked
with dark stripes.
Purring: sound made by
cat
Swatting: to hit
something
Stoking the fire: feeding
and tending the fire
Groping: to search
blindly
Engulfed: flooded,
surrounded by

10. Value Points
 One Sunday afternoon the author was sitting at home.
 She was doing homework.
 It was cold. Fire went on in the fireplace.
 She had her cat nearby.
 Her mother stoked the fire.
 Suddenly, she noticed smoke from the ceiling.
 It increased. They came in the front yard.
 But the fire had surrounded the place.
 It was spreading. Her mother ran back into the house.
 The author ran to the neighbours to call the fire
department.

11. Oral comprehension check
a. How was the author’s first year in the High School?
b. What did the author do after missing her old teachers and
school?
c. Where was the author sitting?
d. What was the author doing?
e. What did the author notice one Sunday afternoon?
f. What was the author’s mother doing?

12. In tow: behind
Grasp: a firm hold
or grip.

13. Value Points
 The author’s mother then ran out of the house with
important documents.
 She ran back into the house again.
 She wanted to get the pictures and letters of her husband.
The author ran after her. But the fireman caught her.
 The author told him that her mother was inside.
 The fireman seated her wrapped in a blanket in the car.
Soon another fireman brought the author’s mother.
 He put her in the truck with an oxygen mask over her
mouth.

14. Dazed: unable to think or
react properly
Piled: get into or out of a
vehicle

15. Value Points
 The fireman told the author that her mother was otherwise
all right.
 She had only inhaled a little more smoke.
 After five hours, the fire was finally put out.
 The house was completely burned down.
 It struck the author that she had not seen her cat.
 She started weeping. She cried also.
 The firemen did not allow her to go inside the house.
 They went to the author’s grandparents for the night.

16. Oral comprehension check
a. What had happened to the author’s father?
b. What did the author’s mother carry out of the house first
of all?
c. Why did the author’s mother run into the house for the
second time?
d. Who stopped the author to run into the house?
e. What was the author worried about after the fire tragedy?
f. Where did the author and his mother spend their night
after the fire tragedy?

17. Weird: strange
Destined: future developed
as per a predestined plan
Outcast: a person rejected
by society
Geek: an unfashionable or
socially inept person
Zombie: a dull and
apathetic person
Surreal: unreal, strange,
bizarre
Ripped away: torn apart

18. Value Points
 The next day the author went to school.
 She was in her old dress with no shoes.
 She had no books or homework.
 Her backpack was also gone. She felt sad.
 She felt if she would be an outcast all her life.
 She did not want to grow up.
 She wanted to die. But she walked to school.

19. Vulnerable: weak,
easy to influence
Plight: sad story

20. Value Points
 The author walked through her house to school.
 Everything had been destroyed.
 Only the photo albums, documents etc, were not
destroyed.
 Her heart ached for her cat. Her mother took her soon
from there.
 They would have to find a place to live.
 She would have to buy clothes for school also.
 Soon the rubble was being cleared off from the place.
 The author would go over there.
 She kept thinking of her cat.
 She kept thinking how the cat would climb her and fall
asleep into her pocket.

21. Oral comprehension check
a. What was the appearance of the author
when she went to the school?
b. When did she go to school?
c. Who gave the tennis shoes to the author?
d. What things were left with author after the
fire tragedy?
e. Why did they have to borrow money?

22. Milling around: moving
around aimlessly
Shove: push hard

23. Value Points
 Soon all came to know about the author’s plight.
 People collected around her to take her to the gym.
 The author was surprised. Soon she knew it.
 The table inside had a collection of school things.
 These were notebooks, clothes, jeans, tops,
sweatsuits.
 The author grew emotional.
 She felt great relief as people came to meet her.
 They were those who had not visited her earlier.
 She made many friends that day.

24. Curb: edge of the pavement
Freaked: behaved
irrationally
Tragedy: mishap
Diminish: fade off
Gratitude: thankfulness
Sorely: to a very high
degree
Overwhelming : very great
in amount
Purr: vibratory sound of a
cat

25. Value Points
 A month later, the author was at her house.
 It was being rebuilt.
 Her two friends from school visited her.
 The fire was responsible to open up all the wonderful people around
her.
 She realized that her life was getting the same again.
 Soon a woman came to her.
 She had a cat with her. She asked the author if the cat was hers.
 The author got the cat from her at once.
 The cat purred happily.
 The author’s friends were hugging her.
 As for the cat, it had run away from the fire.
 That woman got it. She telephoned as the author’s telephone number
was written on its collar.
 The author sat with her friends.
 The cat curled up in her lap.
 The feelings of loss and sad event had vanished.
 She felt gratitude for her life and her new friends.
 She also felt it for the kindness of a stranger and the purr of her cat.

26. Oral comprehension check
a. What did author see in the school gym?
b. How did the students help the author at
school?
c. Did the author get her cat back?
d. Who gave the cat?
e. How was author feeling after getting her cat?

27. Setting
The story is set in a small town in America,
where the writer lived with her mother.

28. Theme
The story traces the problems that one faces when an older
way of living comes crashing down, forcing one to rebuild
life from scratch. It examines how a seemingly tough
situation can be turned into an advantageous one, with the
right attitude.

29. Message
The story highlights the importance of keeping an open
mind and not being depressed by the problems and
challenges that are an important part of life. It reiterates
that every dark cloud has a silver lining.

30. Character sketch
The writer: The writer appears to be a teenager, who has just graduated
from junior high. In the beginning of the story, she appears to have been a
normal teenager, who was rude to her mother and sometimes even hated
her. She also appears to be emotional and finds it difficult to handle the shift
to high school, away from the environment and people that she was used
to. All her friends had gone to different high schools, and she felt very
isolated and alone. She is very close to her pet cat, whom she had rescued
as a kitten.
After the fire, she is initially very lost and sad, as she and her mother had
just lost all their possessions and didn’t even have any clothes or a place to
stay. She is very shaken and insecure. However, she soon matures and
grows closer to her mother. The shock of almost losing her mother in the
fire makes her realise how much she loves her and she stops taking her for
granted. The kindness of her new classmates and teachers, who donate all
kinds of necessities to help her overcome her losses from the fire, touches
her and makes her feel accepted and secure. She becomes less
judgmental and more accommodating of the changes that take place in her
life.

31. Character sketch
The mother: Her character emerges not through direct descriptions, but
through her actions during the course of the story. She is very caring,
responsible, and brave, bringing up her daughter as a single parent after
her husband died several years ago. She faces each challenge and
problem that arises without complaining. She never gives up, but always
tries to find a solution to the problem. She is very concerned about her
daughter, and even borrows clothes so that she can go to school the next
day. She rebuilds her home from the debris.
Even though her cards and identification papers are burnt, she does not
hesitate to borrow money from her parents to make sure she can create a
normal living situation for her daughter as quickly as possible. She is a
caring and sensitive person, who loved her husband dearly even after he
died. This is clear from the way she ran into the burning house to rescue
his letters and pictures. She seems to have been a very remarkable
woman who did not let life’s challenges knock her down.

32. Summary
 The narrator feels isolated in her new school. Now she is studying in a high school.
 Her old school teachers and friends are dear to her.
 They always encouraged her to participate in school activities and make new
friends.
 Once her house catches fire. She, together with her mother run out to the
neighbours because they have to inform the fire department.
 Her mother rushes to the home to save the metal box, pictures, documents and
letters by her father.
 The firemen save her mother.
 The narrator hugs her mother because she has a great love for her.
 As the narrator loses everything in the fire, they have to go to the grandparent’s
house so that they could spend the night.
 Next day, the author went to her school, wearing weird clothes, borrowed shoes
and with no backpack.
 The narrator was surprised by her schoolmates.
 They gave her school supplies, notebooks, and all kind of different clothes.
 The narrator was touched by their concern and made many friends.
 A woman who got the pet cat of the narrator somehow managed to find her and
gave her cat back to her.
 The narrator overcame the feeling of loss and pessimism and regained a new life.

33. Assignment
Answer the following questions in 30-40 words:
A. What does the author notice one Sunday afternoon? What is her
mother’s reaction? What does she do?
B. Why does the author break down in tears after the fire?
C. Why is the author deeply embarrassed the next day in school? Which
words show her fear and insecurity?
D. The cat and the author are very fond of each other. How has this been
shown in the story? Where was the cat after the fire? Who brings it back
and how?
E. What actions of the schoolmates change the author’s understanding of
life and people, and comfort her emotionally? How does her loneliness
vanish and how does she start participating in life?
F. What is meaning of “My cat was back and so was I”? Had the author gone
anywhere? Why does she say that she is also back?