The Last Lesson
About the Author:
Alphonse Daudet is the author of Class 12 English Flamingo
(Prose) Chapter, The Last Lesson. Born in 1840, he was a French
novelist and short-story writer.
About the Story/ Synopsis of the Story
The Last Lesson is based on the backdrop of the Franco-Prussian
War of the 1870s. During the war, France was defeated by Prussia
which consisted of Germany, Poland, and various parts of Austria.
The France cities Alsace and Lorraine have been conquered by
the Prussian men and it’s the last lesson of [Link] in France.
Theme of The Last Lesson
The Last Lesson aims at showcasing the longing for your mother
tongue, and culture when lost in the war. It tries to explain the
pain, sadness, and grief of all those who lose their lands,
language, culture during wars. The lesson further takes a step
ahead in showing what impact the political situation of a country
has on children. Here, Franz suddenly developed love and
affection for his mother tongue, culture, and teacher. It explains
that it is the behavior of a human to feel attached to something
that he/she is about to lose, and that same thing isn’t given much
importance, love, and attention when is freely and readily
available.
Character Sketches:
M Hamel- A dedicated and determined teacher who wished to
teach French to his french kids. Very passionate about his work.
Strictly in nature, Franz was afraid of him and he carried an iron
ruler to scare the children. Nationalist and the feeling of
patriotism since he took great pride in introducing the French
language and culture to his students. Courageous since he took
the last lesson even after the order from Berlin. Though he was a
strict teacher with a shaped mind, since he kept the students
hooked to his conversations
Franz- Franz is a fun and active boy who likes to do a variety of
activities. He is disinterested in learning French but is usually
eager to explore new things and learn new activities. He is sort of
ignorant and unaware of the political situation in his country since
he didn’t know about the orders from Berlin and chose to run to
the class instead of looking at the bulletin. He is observant since
he observes M Hamel very closely and knows about his reactions,
behaviour, and occasions when M Hamel wore his Sunday suit. He
is emotional by nature since he suddenly developed a soft corner
for his language, nation, and M Hamel after acknowledging that
he is neither going to learn French from next day nor he is going
to be the student of M Hamel.
Summary(Important Points):
In 1870, during the France-Prussian War, Prussia
(Germany, Poland, and parts of Austria) conquered two
French districts, Alsace and Lorraine. After the conquer,
Berlin ordered the French districts to stop teaching French
in all the schools across the districts and hire new
teachers who could teach German, instead of French.
Franz, as usual, is late for the class and on the way
notices Prussian soldiers drilling, people hanging on the
bulletin board to check the updates of the war, and a
solemn classroom. He notices that the area around the
school is very silent.
M Hamel, the teacher in a school of the Prussia
conquered states informs his students that this was his
last French lesson because of the orders from higher
authorities. M Hamel does not scold Franz that day for
being late to the class and for not learning his lessons.
Instead, he starts recalling memories when he used to
scold students for doing the same and how all of them
behaved in a manner that they had sufficient time to
learn French. He further talks about French being a
beautiful language. M Hamel wears his special suit, the
one he carries on Sunday morning and on special
occasions only.
After entering the class, Franz notices that the last
benches that were usually empty were that day filled by
the villagers. On hearing about the orders from Berlin, he
realized that all of them were there to applaud M Hamel
for his dedicated forty years of faithful service, and to feel
sorry for not taking French classes and not going to
school.
That day all of them did their class work and listened to M
Hamel with full attention, dedication, and devotion since
they were aware of the fact that they were never going to
learn French again and M Hamel was never going to teach
them again.
As the clock struck twelve and noises of Prussian soldiers
were audible to them, M Hamel with a very heavy hard
wanted to bid goodbye to his classroom, his students, his
French lessons. But the tears in his eyes and heaviness in
his heart choke him and force him to not say a word.
He takes the chalk in his hand and writes on the
blackboard ‘Vive La France’, which means Long Live
France’. With utter anger and grief, he asked the students
to go and said that the class was dismissed.
Important Lines from the Text with Their Meanings
1. “Don’t go so fast, bub; you’ll get to your school in
plenty of time!”
Answer. The watchman says this to Franz as he sees him running
for the class. The watchman through these words wishes to
inform Franz with sadness that now there’s a lot of time for him to
reach the school to learn French lessons and that he does not
have to hurry for the lessons, since they would now not be taught
in the school.
2. When a people are enslaved, as long as they hold fast
to their language it is as if they have the key to their
prison.
Answer. By this sentence, M Hamel wishes to tell the students
that they must hold onto their language and guard it/protect it so
that it can never be forgotten. The line says that when a country
is enslaved by some other countrymen, they leave the impact of
their language and culture all over the place since language is a
matter of pride.
3. “Will they make them sing in German, even the
pigeons?”
Answer. By this line, Franz wants to express the fear of being
under German possession. He wishes to say that will the
oppression from the Germans be so engraved in their roots that
the birds (pigeons) will also start speaking German. Birds are free
animals who have their own language and persona. Will Germany
be so influential on Alsace and Lorraine, and will they steal away
the essence of France so much that the pigeons will also start
speaking their language?