The Last Lesson by Alphonse Daudet

The last lesson by Alphonse Daudet is mainly about the longing to learn the mother tounge and love for it. It has a sense of patriotism. The prussian rejected the freedom of the people of Lorraine and Alsace to learn their own mother tongue. The colonizer took away the basic rights of the people. The story is narrated by a French boy, Franz. He is lazy but sensitive and likes to play. He dislikes studying French and his teacher M. Hamel .. After overpowring their district of Alsace and Lorraine in france, Berlin has ordered that German language instead of French be taught in the school there.             It is the last day of their French teacher M. Hamel, who has been there for forty years. He is full of grief, nostalgia and patriotism. As a mark of respect to his hard work, the village men also attanded 'his lost lesson'. They are sad as they did not learn their mother tounge, french in their childhood.                                 ....... Franz is shocked to know that it is his last lesson, as he does not know french. Now suddenly he gets interested in learning it and understands every thing taught on that day. He developes instant liking for the teacher, M Hamel and respects him for his sincerity and hard work. He feels sad at departing from him and ashamed for not being able to recite his lesson of participles.                          Mr. Hamel tells them that they all are at fault for not being eager enough to learn, putting it off to the next day. He blames himself for not teaching them sincerely. His patriotism is reflected in his praise for the french languages as being the most beautiful and most logical language in the world. He tells the class to guard their language as being close to one's language is the key to escapeb from the prison of slavery. It will help them in getting free from the Germans. They realised the importance of learning their mother tounge and that they have been defeated by the Germans because of their illletracy. Franz feels that it is not possible to take away one's language from  a person as it is natural to each being, may it be the "coo' to the pigeons or French to the Frenchmen.................           Short Questions and Answers:-Q(1)What was franz expected to be prepared with for school that day?                                                  Answer:-The day Franz was expected to be prepared with participles because M. Hamel had said that he would question them on participles. Franz did not know anything about participles.    Q(2)What did Franz notice that was unusual about the school that day?                        ................  Answer :Usually, when school began, there was a great bustle, which could be heard out in the street. But it was all very still that day. Every thing was as quite as Sunday morning. There was no opening or closing of desks. His classmates were alredy in their places. The teacher's great ruler instead of rapping on the table, was under M. Hamel's arm.           Q(3)What had been put up on the bulletin board?                               . Answer: For the last two years all the bad news had come from the bulletin -board. An Order had come from  Berlin to teach only German in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine. The Germans had put up this notice on the bulletin board.                                                Q(4).What changes did the order from Berlin cause in school that day? Answer. M. Hamel had put on his best dress-his beautiful green coat, his frilled shirt and the little black silk cap, all embroidred. The whole school seemed so strange and solemn. On the back benches that were always empty, the elderly villages people were sitting quitly like the kids.               ...............................   Q(5)How did Franz's feeling about M. Hamel and school change? Answer:- Franz came to know that it was the last lesson in French that M. Hamel would give them. From the next day they will be taught only German. Then he felt sorry for not learning his lessons properly. His books, which seemed a nuisance and a burden earlier were now old friends. His feelings about M. Hamel also changed. He forgot all about his ruler and how. cranky he was.