Chapter -1

THE LAST LESSON

Main Points & Key Points

• Franz is afraid of going to school as he has not learnt participles.

• He wants to enjoy beauty of nature. The bright sunshine, the birds chirruping in the woods, Prussian soldiers drilling but resists.

• Bulletin board: all bad news, lost battles, the drafts and orders of the commanding officers: wonders what it could be now.

• The changes he notices in the school:

o Instead of noisy classrooms, everything is as quiet as Sunday morning.

o The teacher does not scold him and tells him very kindly to go to his seat.

o The teacher is dressed up in his Sunday best.

o 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; Franz realizes that, that was what was put up on the bulletin board.

• Franz:

o Realizes that he does not know his own mother tongue.

o Regrets why he had not taken his lessons seriously.

o Realises the reason why teacher is 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.

• M. Hamel advises: 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, cannot speak and writes on the blackboard “Long Live France”.

THEME of the lesson

THEME: Negligence of the people (children, parents, teacher) towards their own language. Proverb ‘Familiarity breeds contempt’ gets justified here. Feeling of linguistic chauvinism. Patriotism.

MAIN
CHARACTERS :

FRANZ- The narrator of the story, Franz is a young school boy in the French region of Alsace-Lorraine in the nineteenth century. Franz is a dawdler and when it comes to schoolwork, he prefers to spend time in the woods over going to the class. He doesn’t like learning his French grammar lessons and, when the story begins, is terrified that his negligence will be found out by his teacher, the stern M. Hamel. Franz comes to a new appreciation of his education, however, when Prussian authorities who have occupied his home region announce that school will no longer be taught in French, but in German. Upon hearing this news, Franz feels a great sense of remorse and regrets not taking his French education more seriously while he still had the chance.

M. HAMEL- The school master of a small village school in the French region of Alsace-Lorraine. M. Hamel is stern and intimidating to his pupils, among them the narrator of the story, Franz. He has been teaching at the school for forty years. In his classroom, he carries a ruler which he raps against his table threateningly. On the day the story is set, he is dressed in his best finery: a green coat, a shirt with frills, and a silk cap—clothes reserved for special occasions. Besides his frightening demeanor, M. Hamel also has a gentle side, revealed on the day he announces to those gathered in his classroom that Prussian authorities have banned the teaching of French in the schools of Alsace-Lorraine. On this day of the last lesson, M. Hamel not only reveals his empathy and kindness, but also his dignity and patriotism, lecturing the gathered crowd on the importance of protecting their language and culture in the face of foreign occupation.

OLD HAUSER- One of the elder villagers who gathers with the children in M. Hamel’s classroom to hear the last lesson. He brings his old primer, an elementary reading textbook with him to the class, and uses it to help the youngest students read their letters. Like the other villagers and school children, including the story’s narrator Franz, Hauser is devastated at the news that the Prussian authorities who have occupied the French region of Alsace-Lorraine, where the village is located, have forbidden the teaching of French in schools. He cries as he helps the young children read and makes everyone else in the classroom want to cry and laugh at once.

PRUSSIAN SOLDIERS- Forces of the occupying Prussian power, which has invaded the French region of Alsace-Lorraine and claimed it for Prussia (then consisting of Germany, Poland, and parts of Austria). Franz passes the soldiers doing their drills as he hurries to the school on the morning of the last lesson. The end of the lesson is also marked by the trumpet call of the soldiers returning from their exercises.

MINOR:

WACHTER- A blacksmith in a village in the French region of Alsace-Lorraine. As he hurries to the school, the narrator, Franz, passes Wachter standing in front of the town hall bulletin-board. Wachter tells him not to go so fast, and Franz thinks the blacksmith is making fun of him.

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