Class 12 C.B.S.E english core guide. English guide for the session 2020-21. Guide aand summary for the book flamingo

THE LAST LESSON:

The last lesson by Alphonse Daudet conveys us the importance and power of our mother language. It also conveys the importance of freedom and self decision making. In the story we can see how the boy Franz who has least interest in studies gets a thunderclap when he comes to know about his last French lesson that day. The story  takes us to the era of the Franco Prussian war where France had been defeated by Prussia led by Bismarck. The districts of Alsace and Lorraine was handed over to the winning nation. And through this story the author wants to convey us with the various messages as mentioned above. 

The first paragraph deals with Franz's feelings towards his studies and school. Here we also get hold of an important character in the story his teacher Mr. M. Hamel. He had said he would be asking questions on the French participles and Franz didn't know a word about it. This was holding him back away from school. He also thinks of running way and enjoying his  day outdoors since the day was also quite tempting for him, it was bright and warm and the birds were chirping at the edge of the woods; and in the open field behind the sawmill the Prussian soldiers were marching. Although he finds them very tempting, he regains  back some strenght to rush for the school. The second paragraph tells us what he observed in his way to school. He observes a crowd in front of the bulletin board which had been giving only bad news since two years. He thinks to himself that what could be the matter now and moves on for school again, when a blacksmith, Watcher reading the board with his apprentice calls on him and tells not to rush as he would reach on time. Franz ignores his words as he feels he was making fun of him.

He reaches to the school but finds something very strange unlike the normal days. The school was silent and peaceful when the other days there was a lot of hustle amd bustle, the sounds of opening and closing of the desks, the lessons being read on unison amd the teacher tapping his ruler on the table. He peeped inside his classroom through the window where his mates were in their seats and Mr. M. Hamel walking up and down with his iron ruler on his arms. He calls Franz and tells him to  move and sit on his bench very kindly. Franz then observes his teacher on green coat, frilled shirt and the little black silk cap,  all embroidered. He wore his special clothes only during occasions like the inspection or prize days. The last bench was occupied by the village people like the old Hauser, the former mayor, the former post master and many others.

M. Hamel then tells everyone that it was their last French lesson and he would go away from the city leaving the school in the hands of a new German teacher who would be teaching from tomorrow. These worders were a thunderclap to Franz. He then regrets for considering going his books to be very heavy and his teacher to be cranky. He was now feeling pity on his teacher and himself for healthy would have to leave an dtheu wouldn't learn from him anymore.

M. Hamel asks Franz questions on participles but he is unable to answer amd then afraid, when Mr M. Hamel doesn't scold him. Franz again is astonished at his teacher's polite behaviour. He rather tells people of how they had been keeping their tasks for tomorrow and now they have no time to complete them or learn something new. He balmes Franz's parents for they were the ones who put him into the field or the mill to earn somemore money. He even blamed himself for healthy sent Franz to water his plants during the class hours and gave the school a holiday when he went for fishing. He then talks about French being the most beautiful, logical and the clearest language on Earth and requests others to preserve it for he believes  when people are enslaved their key to the prison becomes their mother language. The poor man seems very patient and the students very attentive as well. Everything seemed very easy that day. 

Franz during his lesson listens to the pigeons and asks a question within himself that "Will they make them sing in German, evenue the pigeons? " this shows how much he loved his language and symbolically how humans couldn't beat nature.

All at once the church clock struck twelve. At the same moment the trumpets of the Prussian returning from the drill, sounded under their school windows when M. Hamel stood up very upset but confident in his chair. He tried to say something but chocked and wrote "Vive La France!" Which meant long live France. The school was dismissed.

SOME IMPORTANT POINTS TO REMEMBER:

1) the  tempting view outside Franz's window in the morning.

2) the question Mr. M. Hamel was to ask.

3)the strange changes in the school.

4) Mr. M. Hamel's strange clothing that day and the presence of the village people at the lasti bench. 

5)  people who were to be blamed for Franz's poor performance in school and the reason behind it.

6) what seemed to be a thunderclap and why?

7) what was Franz's reaction towards his books and his teacher after knowing that it was his last French class.

8) M. Hamel's thought regarding the French language. 

9) describe the meaning of " will they make them sing in German, even the pigeons?"

10)why did M. Hamel seem so tall when the class dismissed and what did he write on the board?