The Last Lesson

By Alphonse Daudet
Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow:
I. For a moment I thought of running away and spending the day
out of doors.
a. Who is referred to as ‘I’ in the extract? Why did he think of running away
and spending the day out of doors?
Ans: Little Franz who is the narrator is referred to as ‘I’ in the extract.
Franz was late to school and was afraid of being scolded by the teacher. The
class was told that they would be questioned on participles and he did not
know anything about it and so he thought of running away and spending the
day outdoors.
b. What did Franz notice as he passed the town hall? What had come from
the bulletin-board for the last two years?
Ans: Franz noticed that there was a crowd in front of the bulletin-board as he
passed the town hall. For the last two years, all their bad news had come
from there-the lost battles, the draft and the orders of the commanding
officer.
c. According to the narrator, how were things usually, when school began?
Ans: When school began, there was a great bustle which could be heard in the
street, the opening and closing of desks, lessons repeated in unison and the
teacher’s great ruler rapping on the table.
d. How was the scene different when Franz went late to class that day?
Ans: On the day when Franz went late to class, it was very quiet as Sunday
morning. Through the window, he saw his classmates already in their places.
Monsieur Hamel was walking up and down with his terrible iron ruler under his
arm. Franz had to enter the class in the midst of silence which embarrassed him.
M Hamel saw him and said very kindly to go to his place very quickly and that
they were about to begin the class without him. The whole school seemed so
strange and solemn.
e. What was unusual about the teacher on that day?
Ans: On the day Franz was late, the teacher did not show any sign of anger.
The teacher had worn his beautiful green coat, frilled shirt and the little black
silk cap, all embroidered that he wore only on inspection and prize days.
 f. What surprised Franz the most when he entered the class?
Ans: Franz was surprised to see some men from the village on the back
benches that were always empty. Some of those men were old Hauser with
his three -cornered hat, the former mayor, the former postmaster and several
others besides. Everybody looked sad and Hauser had brought an old
primer(an old book with basics of a subject) and held it open on his knees
with his great spectacles lying across the pages.
II. “My children, this is the last lesson I shall give you.”
a. Who is the speaker? Why was it the last lesson?
Ans: It was Monsieur Hamel who said it was the last lesson because orders
had come from Berlin to teach only German in the schools of Alsace and
Lorraine and that the new master would arrive the following day.
b. What were Franz’s feelings on knowing it was the last French lesson?
Ans: : The news that it was the last lesson in French which M. Hamel would
give them, was a thunder-clap (shocking surprise) to Franz. He hardly knew
how to write and felt sorry for not learning his lessons properly, for seeking
birds’ eggs or going sliding on the Saar(a river). His books, which seemed a
nuisance, so heavy to carry, his grammar and his history of the saints were old
friends he could not give up.
His feelings about M. Hamel also changed on realising he was going away and
he(Franz) should never see him again, made him forgot all about his ruler and
how cranky he was.
c. Why were the old men of the village sitting at the back of the room?
Ans: The old men of the village were sitting at the back of the room because
they were sorry that they had not gone to school more. It was their way of
thanking M Hamel for his forty years of faithful service and of showing their
respect for the country that was not theirs any more.
d. How did Frantz feel when it was his turn to recite?
Ans: Frantz felt as if he would have given anything to say that dreadful rule for
the participles very loud and clear and without a mistake but he got mixed up on
the first words and stood there, holding on to the desk, his heart beating. He did
not dare to look up.
e. What is the great trouble with Alsace, according to M Hamel?
Ans: The great trouble with Alsace is that she puts off learning for the next
day as the people feel there is plenty of time.
f. How did M Hamel consider the parents and himself responsible for the
students’ inability to either speak or write their own language?
Ans: The parents were not anxious enough to have their children learn .
They preferred to put them to work on a farm or at the mills, to have a
little more money.
M Hamel had also often sent them to water his flowers instead of making
them learn their lessons. When he wanted to go fishing, he just gave them
a holiday.

g. What did Monsieur Hamel say about the French language? Why? What
was his advice to his students?
Ans: Monsieur Hamel said that the French language was the most beautiful
language in the world- the clearest, the most logical; that we must guard it
among us and never forget it because when people are enslaved, as long as
they hold fast to their language, it is as if they had the key to their prison.
The teacher advised his students to preserve the French language and never
forget it.
h. How did Franz find learning of French on the last day?
Ans: Franz was amazed to find how well he understood when his teacher
opened a grammar and read their lesson. All he said seemed so easy and
in the past he had not listened so carefully. The teacher too had never
explained everything with so much patience. It seemed as though the
teacher wanted to teach them all he knew before going away and to put it
all in their heads at one stroke.

i. What were the lessons done by the teacher that day after their lesson in
grammar?
Ans: Refer (pg 170, last paragraph) and (pg 171, 2nd paragraph)

j. Why was it heart breaking for M Hamel?

Ans: M Hamel had served the school for forty years. He had been in the
same place, with his garden outside the window and his class in front of
him.( only the desks and benches had been worn smooth, the walnut trees in
the garden were taller and the hop-vine he had planted, twined about the
window to the roof).It was heart breaking that he had to leave all the things
 which were so dear to him and go away from the province forever, the next
day.
III. “My friends,” said he, “I, I….” But something chocked him. He
could not go on.
a. What happened when the church clock struck twelve? Why was M
Hamel unable to speak?
Ans: The trumpets of the Prussians, returning from drill, sounded .M Hamel
stood up very pale, in his chair and said, “My friends, I…” but was unable to
speak as he was choked with emotion.
b. What did he write on the blackboard and how did he dismiss the school?
What does his writing on the board symbolize?
Ans: The teacher wrote “Vive La France!” which means “Long live
France!”He then stopped and leaned his head against the wall and without a
word, he gestured with his hand that the school was dismissed and that they
might go.
It symbolizes M Hamel’s patriotism, his love for France, how he deeply
loved teaching French and was sad to give it up.
c. Justify the title and mention the theme of the story.
Ans: ‘The Last Lesson’ is the most appropriate title for the story by
Alphonse Daudet because the entire story revolves around the last lesson
in French given by the teacher M.Hamel on the last day of his forty-year
service in a school in Alsace, France.
Theme:
i. Language as a symbol of identity
ii. The value of education
iii. Patriotism towards ones country
(Note: Elaborate with points from the text)

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