Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 9 (formerly Chapter 11), The Proposal, concludes the textbook with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov’s famous one-act farce (1888–89) about wealthy landowner Stepan Stepanovitch Chubukov, his twenty-five-year-old daughter Natalya Stepanovna, and their hypochondriac neighbour Ivan Vassilevitch Lomov, whose marriage proposal repeatedly derails into petty, explosive quarrels over Oxen Meadows and their hunting dogs Guess and Squeezer.
What Class 10 English (First Flight) Chapter 9 Covers
One-Act Farce: The Proposal (Anton Chekhov) Thirty-five-year-old landowner Ivan Vassilevitch Lomov arrives in formal evening dress at his neighbour Chubukov’s country house to propose to twenty-five-year-old Natalya Stepanovna—not out of romantic passion, but because he needs a regular, quiet life due to his palpitations, twitching eyebrow and ‘awful’ sleep, and Natalya is an excellent housekeeper and not bad-looking. Before he can utter the proposal, mentioning ‘my Oxen Meadows’ triggers a furious argument with Natalya and Chubukov over who owns the five-desaittin wedge of land, ending with Lomov stumbling out in cardiac distress. When Natalya discovers Lomov had come to propose, she falls into hysterics and forces her father to fetch him back—only for the pair to immediately start a second shouting match over whether Lomov’s dog Guess or Chubukov’s dog Squeezer is the better hunting dog. Lomov faints, Chubukov hurriedly joins their hands as Lomov revives, and even as the champagne is poured, the newly engaged couple is already shouting again: ‘Squeezer’sulia is better!’ — ‘He’s worse!’.
Exercises in Chapter 9
- Thinking about the Play examines what Chubukov at first suspects Lomov has come for (to borrow money), why Lomov wants to get married at age 35, the two petty disputes (Oxen Meadows and the dogs Guess vs Squeezer) that overshadow the marriage proposal, and how Chekhov satirises the mercenary marriages of the 19th-century Russian landowning class.
Read Class 10 English (First Flight) Chapter 9 Online
More Chapters
- Previous: Chapter 8: The Sermon at Benares (with Poem: For Anne Gregory)
- Workbook companion: Words and Expressions II Unit 9: The Proposal
- All English (First Flight) chapters and the other Class 10 books: Class 10 NCERT books 2026-27
- All Class 1 to 12 NCERT Textbooks: NCERT Books PDF (Class 1–12)
- Every book chapter by chapter: NCERT chapter wise PDF
FAQ
Why does Lomov wish to propose to Natalya Stepanovna in ‘The Proposal’?
Lomov is already thirty-five—a ‘critical age’, as he calls it—and suffers from hypochondria, palpitations, an excitability that makes his lips tremble and his right eyebrow twitch, and pulls in his left side whenever he tries to sleep. Rather than waiting for ideal love, he wants to lead a quiet and regular married life, and considers Natalya an excellent housekeeper, educated, and not bad-looking.
What are the two main quarrels between Lomov and Natalya in ‘The Proposal’?
The first quarrel erupts over the ownership of Oxen Meadows (a small piece of land wedged between Chubukov’s birchwoods and the Burnt Marsh, worth barely 300 roubles). After Natalya learns he came to propose and calls him back, the second quarrel breaks out over whose hunting dog is superior—Lomov’s thoroughbred dog Guess (bought for 125 roubles) or Natalya’s overshot dog Squeezer (bought for 85 roubles).