Summary of "the last lesson"
Answers
Gist of the lesson
Franz is afraid of going to school as he has not learnt participle. He wants to enjoy beauty of nature. The bright sunshine, the birds chirruping in the woods, Prussian soldiers drilling but resisted.
Bulletin board: all bad news, lost battles, the drafts n orders of the commanding officers: wondered what it could be now.
The changes he noticed in the school.
Instead of noisy classrooms everything was as quiet as Sunday morning
The teacher does not scold him and told him very kindly to go to his seat
The teacher dressed in his Sunday best.
Villagers occupying the last benches
To pay tribute to M. Hamel for his 40 yrs of sincere service and also to express their solidarity with France. Hamel making the announcement that that would be the last French lesson; realizes that, that was what was put up on the bulletin board. Franz realizes that he does not know his own mother tongue
Regretted why he had not taken his lessons seriously. Also realizes the reason why teacher was dressed in his Sunday best and villagers sitting at the back. Hamel realizes that all three, the children , the parents and he himself are to be blamed for losing respect and regard for the mother tongue.
Always keep the mother tongue close to your heart as it is the key to the prison of slavery. Atmosphere in class: teacher teaching sincerely and patiently, students and others studying with utmost sincerity. Franz wonders sarcastically if Prussians could force pigeons to coo in German.
Hamel overcome with emotions could not speak and wrote on the black board “Long Live France”
(I copied it from studycbscnotes.com. My brother, too read from here and wrote in his notebook.)
Answer:
The narration of this story is by a French boy, Franz. Franz is a lazy boy. However, in spite of his laziness, Franz likes to play and is of a sensitive nature. Furthermore, Franz hates his teacher M. Hamel in his school and has no interest in studying French.
An order has come from Berlin after taking over the districts of Alsace and Lorraine in France that the German language rather than the French should be taught in the schools there. Furthermore, it is the school French teacher M. Hamel’s last day. This teacher has been working there for forty years. Moreover, the teacher has feelings of patriotism. He is also full of nostalgia and grief. The village men also attend his ‘last lesson’ so as to honour and respect him. The village is regretting and is sad that they didn’t learn their mother tongue in their childhood.
Franz receives a big shock when he learns that this is his last lesson in French. He is shocked because he does not know French. Furthermore, on learning about the last lesson, a sudden interest arises in him for learning French. Moreover, he pays careful attention and learns everything taught on this last day.
Instantly, he develops liking for the teacher M. Hamel. His feelings of hatred for him suddenly came to an end. Moreover, Franz develops respect for the hard work and sincerity of his teacher. Franz is sad and ashamed for being unable to recite his lesson.
Hamel explains that they all are at fault for lacking eagerness to learn. Furthermore, he also includes himself in this fault. He blames himself for lack of sincerity in teaching them.
There is a reflection of his patriotism in his praise for the French language. He says that the French language is the most logical and beautiful language in the world. It seems that M. Hamel got emotional on this occasion. Furthermore, he asks the class to guard their language. He says that being close to one’s language is a way to escape the clutches of slavery. This language will assist them in attaining freedom from the Germans. The people realize the significance of their mother tongue. Moreover, they feel the reason for their defeat is illiteracy.
Franz feels that it is impossible to remove one’s language from a person. This is because it is something that is natural to a person. This means that no matter how hard the opposition may try, they will fail to remove one’s language.
Conclusion of the Last Lesson Summary
The Last Lesson summary reflects on the importance of one’s language for any race and why it is crucial to safeguard it.