The Last Lesson : UP Board Text Book : Class 12

UP Board English Full Solution

 

The Last Lesson Summary in English

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. Hamels 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 honor 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.

Question- Answer Of The Lesson "Last Lesson"

Q1. What was Franz expected to be prepared with for school that day?

Ans:  That 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.

Q2. What did Franz notice that was unusual about the school that day?

Ans: 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. Everything was as quiet as Sunday morning. There was no opening or closing of desks. His classmates were already in their places. The teacher’s great ruler instead of rapping on the table, was under M. Hamels arm.

Q3. What had been put up on the bulletin-board?

Ans: 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.

THINK AS YOU READ

Q1. What changes did the order from Berlin cause in school that day?

Ans: M. Hamel had put on his best dress—his beautiful green coat, his frilled shirt and the little black silk cap, all embroidered. The whole school seemed so strange and solemn. On the back benches that were always empty, the elderly village people were sitting quietly like the kids.

Q2. How did Franz’s feelings about M. Hamel and school change?

Ans: 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.

UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT

Q1. The people? in this story suddenly realise how1 precious their language is to them. What shows you this? Why does this happen?

Ans: M. Hamel told the students and villagers that henceforth only German would be taught in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine. Those who called themselves Frenchmen would neither be able to speak nor write it. He praised French as the most beautiful, the clearest and most logical language in the world. He said that for the enslaved people, their language was the key to their prison. Then the people realised how precious their language was to them. This shows people’s love for their own culture, traditions and country. Pride in one’s language reflects pride in the motherland.

Q2. Franz thinks, “Will they make them sing in German, even the pigeonsT’ What could this mean?(There could he more than one answer.)

Ans: This comment of Franz shows a Frenchman’s typical reaction to the imposition of learning German, the language of the conquerors. Being deprived of the learning of mother tongue would mean cutting off all bonds with the motherland. Teaching the pigeons to sing in German indicates how far the Germans would go in their attempts of linguistic chauvinism.

TALKING ABOUT THE TEXT

Q1. “When a people are en slaved, as long as th ey hold fast to their language it is as if they had the key to their prison.”

Can you think of examples in history where a conquered people had their lan¬guage taken away from them or had a language imposed on them?

Ans: Mother tongue helps a person to express his feelings and thoughts most lucidly and intimately. Conquerors try to subdue and control the people of the enslaved territory by enforcing many measures such as use of force to crush dissent and imposing their own language on them.

From time immemorial the victorious nations have imposed their own language on the conquered people and taken away their own language from them. The Romans conquered many parts of Europe and replaced the local languages by their own language— Latin. Later on Spanish, Pourtuguese, Italian and French developed from Latin. The Muslim invaders imposed Arabic and Persian in the countries of Asia overpowered by them. In many Arab countries the local religion and language have disappeared. In India, a new language Urdu developed from the mixture of Persian and Hindi.

Q2. What happens to a linguistic minority in a state? How do you think they can keep their language alive? For example:

Punjabis in     Bangalore

Tamilians in   Mumbai

Kannadigas in  Delhi

Gujaratis in     Kolkata

Ans. The linguistic minority in any state is easily marked and faces the same discrimination as the religious, social or ethnic minorities. There is, however, a pronounced difference in the treatment meted out and the level of acceptance displayed by the majority community in that region/city. Some cities like Delhi, Mumbai are cosmopolitan in outlook.

The linguistic minority tries to preserve its identity through an intimate contact, interaction and preservation of their language in social get-togethers, family functions and festivals of their own region. Adherence to social customs and traditions in family gatherings/group meetings of women also promote the unity between members of the linguistic minority.

In short, they create a mini-Punjab in Bangalore, mini-Chennai in Mumbai, mini-Bangalore in Delhi and mini-Surat in Kolkata.

Q3. Is it possible to carry pride in one’s language too far? Do you know what “lin¬guistic chauvinism” means?

Ans. ‘Linguistic chauvinism’ means an aggressive and unreasonable belief that your own language is better than all others. This shows an excessive or prejudiced support for one’s own language. Sometimes pride in one’s own language goes too for and the linguistic enthusiasts can be easily identified by their extreme zeal for the preservation and spread of their language. In their enthusiasm, love and support for their own language, they tend to forget that other languages too have their own merits, long history of art, culture and literature behind them. Instead of bringing unity and winning over others as friends, having excessive pride in one’s own language creates ill-will and disintegration. The stiff-resistance to the acceptance of Hindi as national language by the southern states of India is a direct outcome of the fear of being dominated by Hindi enthusiasts. The result is that ‘One India’ remains only a slogan.

WORKING WITH WORDS

Q1. English is a language that contains words from many other languages. This inclusiveness is one of the reasons it is now a “world language”. For example’.

petite – French

kindergarten – German

capital – Latin

democracy – Greek

bazaar – Hindi

Find out the origins of the following words:

tycoon barbecue zero

tulip veranda ski

logo robot trek

bandicoot

Ans.Word Origin Word Origin

Tycoon Japanese Veranda Portuguese

Tulip Persian Robot Czech

Logo Greek Zero Arabic

Bandicoot Telugu Ski Norwegian

Barbecue Spanish Trek South African Dutch

Q2. Notice the underlined words in these sentences and tick the option that best explains their meaning:

(a) “What a thunderclap these words were to me!”

The words were

(i)loud and clear.

(ii)startling and unexpected.

(iii) pleasant and welcome.

(b)“When a people are enslaved, as long as they hold fast to their language it is as if they had the key to their prison.”

It is as if they have the key to the prison as long as they

(i)do not lose their language.

(ii)are attached to their language.

(iii)quickly learn the conqueror’s language.

(c)Don’t go so fast, you will get to your school in plenty of time. You will get to your school.

(i)very late.

(ii)too early.

(iii)early enough.

(d)I never saw him look so tall.

M. Hamel (i) had grown physically taller.

(ii) seemed very confident.

(iii) stood on the chair.

Ans. (a) (ii) startling and unexpected.

(b) (ii) are attached to their language.

(c)(iii) early enough.

(d)(ii) seemed very confident.

NOTICING FORM

1.Read this sentence:

M. Hamel had said that he would question us on participles.

In the sentence above, the verb form “had said” in the first part is used to indicate an “earlier past”. The whole story is narrated in the past. M. Hamel’s “saying” happened earlier than the events in this story. This form of the verb is called the past perfect.

Pick out five sentences from the story with this form of the verb and say why this form has been used.

Ans. (i)For the last two years all our bad news had come from there.

Reason: The ‘coming’ of bad news happened earlier than the bulletin in the story.

(ii)Hauser had brought an old primer.

Reaeon : The event of ‘bringing’ happened earlier than Franz noticed it.

(iii) That was what they had put up at the town-hall!

Reason’. The ‘putting up’ of bulletin happened earlier. Now it is recalled.

(iv)they had not gone to school more.

Reason’. The action of ‘not going* happened much earlier.

(v)the hopvine that he had planted himself twined about the windows to the roof.

Reason’. The ‘planting’ of hopvine happened earlier than its twining about the windows.

Download Text Book Next Lesson