Think As You Read
Q1. What was Franz expected to be prepared with for school that day?
Ans. Franz was expected to be prepared with the rule of participles for his French Lesson. He had not prepared it. He was later asked to recite it in the class as he had feared.
Q2. What did Franz notice that was unusual about the school that day?
Ans. Usually, when the school began there would be a great bustle which could be heard out in the street, the opening and closing of desks, lessons being repeated in unison and the great ruler of the teacher rapping on the table. But that day, it was quiet as a Sunday morning, as if the class was not being held. When he entered the class, Franz noticed that M. Hamel was dressed in his fine Sunday clothes. He did not scold him late. The village elders were sitting solemnly at the back of the classroom.
Q3. What had been put up on the bulletin board?
Ans. A bulletin board had been put up at the townhall for all important news and announcements. It had been a place of great importance for the last two years due to German occupations. All their bad news had come from there. The details for lost battles, drafts and orders of the commanding officer, all were put up on the bulletin board. A huge crowd used to gather there to learn all kinds of new information. But that day, there was a notice from the Prussian Government with an order that the French Language would no more be taught in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine. Instead, the pupils would learn German.
Q4. How did Franz’s feelings about M. Hamel and school change?
Ans. Earlier, Franz used to dread facing his professor due to his incompetence in French. But seeing the patience and dedication with which his teacher had taught the value of their native language, he developed respect for his teacher. He also felt empathy for him as he was leaving behind the place he had spent forty years of his life teaching in. His grammar and history of the saints books that had seemed such a nuisance a while ago, as they were heavy to carry, were old friends that he could not give up. He also couldn’t comprehend the idea of seeing M. Hamel for the last time and made him forget all about his ruler and how cranky he was.
Franz felt guilty for not paying more attention to his earlier classes at school. He realized that it had been a privilege to learn French.
Understanding The Text
Q1. The people in this story realise how precious their language is to them.
• What shows you this?
Ans. For the last lesson, M. Hamel came dressed in his finest clothes and attempted to impart as much knowledge as he could before leaving his designation. He said that the French language was the most beautiful language in the world – the clearest and the most logical. He exclaimed that their language held the key to their prison as it tied them with their culture, beliefs and roots. No brute force could take over them as their language held them close to their identity.
The students paid no attention to distractions while completing their worksheets. Even the younger students traced their fishhooks with concentration as that could play a role in preserving French.
The village elders who were old Hauser, former mayor and former postmaster had gathered at the back of the classroom for they regretted not being more competent in French and to pay respect to M. Hamel who had dedicated 40 years of his life to teach this language.
• Why does this happen?
Ans. This change in attitude happened when the people of Alsace and Lorraine were taken away the right to speak or write in French. Their language held the key to their culture and freedom and it was being snatched away from them.
Q2. Franz thinks, ‘Will they make them sing in German, even the pigeons?’ What could this mean?
Franz think that the orders from Germany could be imposed on the people of Alsace and Lorraine. The tyranny of the German rule could force nature to act on their wishes but could not force nature to act on their wishes. Here the author makes the comparision that brute force could not alter the nature of things, such as persuading the people of France to give up their language or forcing the pigeons to sing in French.
Franz also thinks that the birds are more fortunate as they do not have to face the rule of a dictatorship. If birds are not allowed sing in their own language, not only will they lose their medium of communication but also a part of their identity.