Gul Mohar English Class 7 Chapter - 6 Zero Hour

Gul Mohar Edition 9 Orient Blackswan

Gul Mohar English Chapter - 6 Zero Hour

Writer of the story - Alexander Blade

Question and Answers

Question 1: What was Bobby’s own space rocket look like? Did he spend time on it with real interest that morning? How can you tell? What was the reason?
Answer: Bobby’s own space rocket was six feet long with two seats and a neat instrument panel. No, he did not spend time on his space rocket with much of interest as he was just fussing around it until he was able to slip away without his mother noticing him. He was not interested in his rocket as he had already planned of going to moon in a real rocket that morning and he was very excited about that.

Question 2: How did Bobby come to know what the rocket was for and when it was going to go off? Did he also come to know that his father was going on it? If not, what made him believe that his father was going to?
Answer: Bobby did not know that it was a moon rocket. However, one day when he was peeking at the rocket from his hiding place, he heard his father and one another scientist discussing that the rocket was going on moon. He could not understand their conversation completely as they were speaking in low voices. As Bobby’s father was the second biggest scientist of the Buffalo Flats and since the topmost scientist was too old to go on this mission, Bobby assumed that his father would definitely go on this mission to moon.

Question 3: We see Bobby sitting firmly in the rocket. When and where do we see him next? Why was he there instead of inside the rocket?
Answer: We can see Bobby lying in his bed at night, when he was woken up by the soft touch of his father. While speaking to his father, Bobby explained that he was already in the rocket and had decided to go to the moon, however, at the last minute he came out thinking about his mother, that she would be all alone if both he and his father travelled on the rocket.

Question 4: Read and answer the questions:
“I think, I’ll go to the moon today”.
a) Who said this to whom? In what context?
Answer: Bobby said this to his mother when she asked him his plans for the day.

b) How was it understood by the listener?
Answer: The listener (Bobby’s mother) thought that Bobby was talking about going to moon in his toy rocket, hence she took his response jokingly.

c) Did the speaker have a second meaning in mind? If so, what was that meaning?
Answer: Yes, the speaker Bobby did have a second meaning in mind when he said this. Bobby had actually planned of going on Moon along with his father in a real rocket and decided to give a hint to his mother through this statement.

Question 5: Read and answer the questions:
“I got into the rocket and was all set…”
a) Who said this to whom and when?
Answer: Bobby said this to his father when his father at night asked him, if he too was planning to make a trip to moon.

b) What was meant by the speaker?
Answer: The speaker Bobby meant that he had actually planned of travelling to moon by getting into the real rocket.

c) What was understood by the listener?
Answer: Bobby’s father, however, assumed that Bobby was referring to his toy rocket and his imaginary mission to the moon travelling in the same rocket.

Question 6: Read and answer the questions:
Children were wonderful! …..What a wonderful dream world they lived in!
a) Who thought this and why?
Answer: Bobby’s father John Kendall thought this when Bobby told him that he planned of travelling to the moon in a rocket. Although Bobby was talking about travelling to the moon in a real rocket, however, his father thought of Bobby’s toy rocket and his imaginary mission of travelling to moon, which according to him was a wonderful thought of his dream world.

b) In this situation, who thought that he is wiser - the grown-up or the child? Did he really have the fuller and the better understanding of the situation?
Answer: In the situation, the grown-up Bobby’s father thought himself to be wiser. However, he did not have the fuller and the better understanding of the actual situation as he was not aware that Bobby was actually in a real rocket and was about to fly to moon and got down just at the last minute.