NCERT Solutions for Class 9th English Chapter 8 Believe in Yourself (poem by Robert Langley) — Reflect and Respond

Book page 245 Updated on2026-09-08

Q1.

I. Imagine that you are the person in the image. [The image on the opener page 245 is a circular collage of Indian achievers at the moment of success — a runner holding up the national flag, a woman scientist in a white coat working on a lunar lander with a rover and the moon behind her, and a masked researcher with a vaccine vial beside models of virus particles. The figure ‘standing at the base of a difficult task’ is the illustration that runs beside the poem on page 246: a schoolboy in a yellow shirt at the foot of a long white staircase, pointing upward at a girl who is already several steps above him.] 1. What emotions do you feel standing at the base of a difficult task?

Answer

Two opposite feelings at the same time — that is what makes the moment hard. A useful answer names both sides and does not pretend to be fearless.

Pulling you back	Pushing you forward
Fear of failing in public — that people will see me start and see me stop	Excitement — the ordinary day suddenly has something in it
Self-doubt — “others here are better prepared than I am”	Determination — the stubborn feeling that I have waited long enough
Being overwhelmed — the whole staircase at once, instead of one step	Curiosity — wanting to know what I am actually capable of
Loneliness — nobody can climb it for me	Hope — a clear picture of standing at the top

Sample answer: Standing at the bottom, the first thing I feel is that the task is far bigger than I am — I look at the whole staircase instead of the first step, and my stomach tightens. Underneath that there is a smaller, steadier feeling of wanting to know whether I can do it. I felt exactly this before my first inter-school elocution: my hands were cold, and yet I did not want anyone to take my name off the list.

Why this question opens the poem. The poem you are about to read describes precisely this doubleness in its second stanza — “Will it pull you forward / Or push you back in fear?” Langley does not deny the fear; he puts it in the same sentence as the pull forward and makes you choose. Answering honestly now will make that line mean something when you reach it.

Look at the illustration on page 246 while you answer. The artist has drawn the moment exactly: the boy is not climbing yet — he is standing on the floor, pointing up at someone already on the stairs. The girl above him is looking further up, at steps she has still to climb. Everyone in the picture is at the base of something.

Q2.

I. 2. What might make you take the first step?

Answer

Usually one of five things — and it is worth knowing which one works on you.

Making the step small enough. Not “learn to swim” but “get into the water today”. Most first steps are refused because they have been defined too large.
A deadline that removes the choice. Once the form is submitted and the fee paid, the argument with yourself is over.
One person’s belief. A teacher who says “put your name down”, a friend who waits at the gate. In the listening passage on page 253 this is exactly what Ananya does for Karan: “You’ve practised this more than anyone else!”
Seeing someone like you do it. The girl on the staircase in the illustration is the same age as the boy — that is the point of drawing her there.
Realising that not starting is also a cost. As the poem puts it, comfort is “not what we are made for / This isn’t how we grow.”

Sample answer: What actually gets me started is shrinking the step until it is too small to be frightening. Before the elocution I could not face “deliver a five-minute speech”, but I could face “read the first paragraph aloud in my room tonight.” Once I had done that, the next step was obvious, and by the time the competition came the first step was long behind me.

The poem’s own answer, for comparison. Langley gives one cause and one only — “You just need to believe in yourself / For your future to be on track.” That is the poem’s claim, and Critical Reflection II.3 on page 250 will ask you whether it is enough. Keep your own answer to this question: you will need it to argue that later question well.

Q3.

II. Think about a time when you had to face a challenge. 1. What was it, and how did you feel at the start of the journey?

Answer

This is a personal recollection, so the marks are for specificity and honesty, not for the size of the challenge.

What a good answer needs.

One incident, not a category. “Exams are difficult” is not an answer. “The Class 8 Maths half-yearly, when I had missed three weeks with dengue” is.
A physical detail. Cold hands, a dry mouth, not being able to eat breakfast. This is what makes a reader believe you.
The thought you actually had, in the words you had it in — including the unflattering one.
No moral yet. Save what you learnt for part 2; this half is only about the start.

Sample answer: In Class 8 I was picked for the school relay team, in the last position, because the regular runner had sprained an ankle two days before the district meet. I did not want it. On the morning of the race I could not finish my tiffin, and I kept working out how badly the team would lose if I dropped the baton — I had never run on a proper track. Standing at my mark I remember thinking, quite clearly, that everyone would be able to see exactly whose fault it was.

Q4.

II. 2. How did you feel once you made the decision to move forward?

Answer

The key word in the question is decision — not success. You are being asked about the change that happens the moment you stop weighing and start moving, and it is almost always the same change: the fear does not go away, but it stops being in charge.

What a good answer needs. Name the shift precisely. Before the decision you are managing a possibility — an endless argument in the head, which has no end because nothing has happened yet. After it you are managing a task — and a task has steps, which can be done one at a time. That is why the poem says “There is no turning back” as though it were a relief, when it sounds like a threat: the closing of the exit is what quiets the mind.

Sample answer: Once the starter called us to our marks, the arguing in my head simply stopped. I still felt sick, but there was nothing left to decide, so the fear had nothing to work on — all I had to do was watch for the girl coming round the bend and start running when she was three metres away. We came third, which was better than anyone expected. What surprised me afterwards was not that we placed, but that the two days of dread had been far worse than the twelve seconds of running.

A point worth making in class: most people describe exactly this — the anticipation is heavier than the act. That is a good practical argument for taking the first step early rather than waiting until you feel ready, and it is the experience the poem is built on.

Q5.

III. What does the phrase ‘believe in yourself’ mean to you? Write some words or phrases you associate with believing in yourself.

Answer

What it means: not the belief that you will succeed, but the belief that you are worth the attempt — that your own judgement, effort and preparation are reliable enough to act on, even before there is any proof.

A word web for ‘believe in yourself’ — eight associations, each of which can be defended from the poem.

Other words and phrases you could add: resilience; backing your own judgement; standing alone; “I don’t know if I can, but I’ll find out”; refusing to shrink; not waiting to be picked; steadiness under pressure; self-respect.

What it does not mean — worth saying in your answer. Believing in yourself is not the same as being certain you will win, and it is not the same as thinking you are better than others. It is compatible with being frightened, and it is compatible with losing. The boy in the listening passage on page 253 believes in himself precisely when he says, “I’ll give it my best shot, even if I feel a little nervous” — the nervousness stays; only its authority is gone.

Q6.

IV. Select the correct meaning of ‘status quo’ based on the given sentence. Even though some kids wanted to try new activities, most of them were happy with the status quo and didn’t want any changes. 1. A plan to make things more exciting. 2. A situation to keep things the same. 3. A decision where everything is completely different. 4. A choice to change things quickly without thinking.

Answer

2. A situation to keep things the same.

How the sentence gives it away. Two signals point straight at the answer:

“Even though” sets up a contrast. Some children wanted new activities; most wanted the opposite of new.
“and didn’t want any changes” is placed right after the phrase, and effectively defines it. When an unfamiliar term is followed by and plus a plain restatement, the restatement is the meaning.

Option	Why it fails
1. A plan to make things more exciting	That is what the other group wanted — the ones the sentence contrasts with.
3. A decision where everything is completely different	The exact opposite of ‘no changes’.
4. A choice to change things quickly without thinking	Also change, and adds a recklessness the sentence never mentions.

The Latin behind it. Status quo means ‘the state in which’ — short for status quo ante, ‘the state in which things were before’. You will meet it again in Vocabulary in Context on page 251 alongside ad hoc, per se and quid pro quo. The book asks it here because it is the key word of stanza 3: “There is such ease in comfort / To maintain the status quo, / But this isn’t what we are made for / This isn’t how we grow.” Langley is not neutral about it — for him the status quo is comfortable and therefore dangerous.

Was this helpful? Report an error