THELASTLESSON

By
Al
phonseDaudet

TheLastLesson i sashortst
ory
,seti ntheday soft heFr
anco Prussi
anWar( 1870–1871) .
Ger
manycapt uredt woFrenchdistri
ctsofAl saceand Lor rai
ne.Byanor derf r
om Berlin,
Ger
manl anguagewasi mposedont hepeopleoft hesetwodistr
ict
s.Thestoryhighli
ght
st he
di
smay anddi str
essofM.Hamel ,his studentsandt hev
il
lager
s,causedbythatorderfrom
Ber
li
n.

Twomai
nchar
act
ers-1-M.Hamel(
teacher
) 2-Fr
ance(
Thenar
rat
orandst
udent
)

1- FrancelateforSchool–Francedidnotli
kehi sschool,lear
ninghi
slanguage&spent
muchofhi st i
meout si
det heschool
.Hest ar
tedf orschoolthatmorningverylate
becausehewasgi v
enhomewor konParti
cipl
es( Grammar ).
Hedidnotev enknow the
fir
stwordaboutt hem.Hefearedascol
dingfrom histeacherM.Hamel.M.Hamelwasa
veryteacher.

Francedi
dnotpr epar
ehishomeworkand histeacherwasv
erystri
ct.That
’swhyhedi dnot
wanttogot oschoolandwantedt
o spend hi
sdayoutofdoor s,That’
swhyher eachedhis
schooll
ate.

2-CrowdinfrontoftheBULLETIN–BOARD-AsFr anzwal kedpastthetownhall

, hesawa
bi
gcrowdinf rontoft
hebullet
inboard(meansint hosedaysMedi awasnotav ail
abl
eso
peopl
ereceived newsatbul let
inboard).Peoplewer estandingtheret
or ead news.
Theygotthenewsoft helostbatt
lesandotherimpor tanti
nformati
ononlyfrom ther
e
.ButFr
anzcoul dnotunder
standwhypeoplewer et her
e.

3- Thr
eet
hingssur
pri
sedFr
anzmost
-(I
MPORTANT)

1)-Unusualcalm atschool–WhenFr anzreachedhi sschoolpanti

ng,henot i
cedt here
wascompl etesilencelikeSundaymor ni
ng.Usually
,whent heschoolbegant herewasa
l
otofhustleandbust le.Theopeningandcl osi
ngofdesksandl essonsor al
l
yr epeated
l
oudlyingroups, creat
edal otofcommot i
on.Nowi twasal lsosti
ll
.Hecoul ddependon
thenoise ofst udentst ogettohisseatwithoutbeingnoticedbyhisteacher.Whenhe
reachedhi
scl ass, hewasbl ushedandwasqui tefr
ightenedbuthisteachersaidnothing
tohim.M.Hamel sawandaskedhi mv er
ykindlytotakehisseat.

2)
-Hamelworefor
malclot
hes-Fr
anznot
icedthatM.Hamelwor
efor
malcl
othesthathe
woreonl
yoni
nspect
ionandpri
zeday
s.Butthatdayhewaswear
ingf
ormal
clothes.

3)-PresenceoftheVi l
lageeldersintheclass- Themostsurprisi
ngthi
ngwasthe
presenceofthevil
l
ageel der
sont hebackbenchesintheclass.
Franzcoul
dnotmake
outwhyt heywer
epresentthere.
Theyallwer
esadandsilent
,
 4-BERLI NORDER-M.Hamelannouncedi nagr aveandgentl
etonethatthiswast hei
rlast
l
esson
andnewmast erwouldcometomor r
owandt heywouldlear
nGermanl anguageinst
eadof
French
Language.M Hamelwouldleavetheschoolnextdayforgood.Hetoldthem thatanorder
had
comef rom Berli
n.OnlyGermanwoul dbetaughtint
heschoolsofAlsace.Itwasthei
rlast
l
esson
inFrench.Hewantedthem t
obev eryatt
ent
ive.

5)-SuddenReal i
sat
ionhowpr ecioustheirlanguagewas– ( I
MPORTANT)
Theor derfrom Berl
inimposedGer manont heFr enchspeaki
ngpeopl eofAlsace.I
tmade
al
lt hediff
erence.Theor derar ousedpat rioti
cf eeli
ngs andl ovef orFr
enchamongt he
people.Suddenlytheyrealizedhow pr ecioust heirlanguagewast ot hem.Thepeopleof
Alsacewer eearli
erindif
ferentt otheirlanguage.Theydi dnotgi vei mpor
tancetothei
r
Frenchlanguage.Butnowt heydev el
opedanew-f oundloveforFrench.

Whenhecamet oknowt hatitwasthelastlessonofM. Hamel ,hi

sviewsabouthim changed.
He begant orespecthi
m.M. Hamel hadservedf ai
thf
ullyf
or40y earsinthesameschool.
Franzf el
tsorr
yf ornegl
ecti
ng hislessonsinFr ench.Henev erli
kedhisbooksnorGr ammar
andhi stor
y.Hedi dnotl i
kehisteacher,M.Hamelbecauseofhi scrankynatur
e.Ev enhe
start
ed l i
ki
ngM.Hamel .Butnowhedev elopedaf ascinat
ionforbooks.

M.Hamelwashi ghlyrespect
edbot
hbyhisstudentsandthevi
ll
ageel
der
s.Hehadser ved
fai
thf
ull
yfor40y earsinthesameschool
.Thev i
ll
ageel
derscametopaythei
rrespectto
suchagrandteacher.

6)-Tr
ibut
etot
heFr
enchl
anguage-

1-Hamel
decl
aredt
hatFr
enchLanguagewast
hemostbeaut
if
ull
anguagei
nthewor
ld.

2-I
twast
hecl
ear
estl
anguage.

3-
Itwast
hemostl
ogi
calofal
ll
anguages.

Heaskedthepeopl etoguardi
tamongthemselvesandneverf
orgetit
.Headvi
sedthem t
olearn
andwrit
etheirownl anguageanddev
eloplov
ef orthei
rownlanguage..
Aslongaspeoplehold
fastt
otheirlanguagetheyhavethekeytofreedom.Hence,theymustloveandrespectthei
r
ownlanguage.

Not
e -wecanunder
standany
thi
ngbet
teri
nourmot
hert
onguer
.Leader
sdel
i
vert
hei
r
speechesi
nmot
hert
ongue.

Gautam Buddha,
Mahav i
rSwamiandotherrel
igi
ouspersonal
i
tiesdel
i
ver
edt
hei
rser
monsi
n
mothert
onguesot hatcommonpeopl
eunder
stoodinbet
terway.

Massinvolvement
ofpubli
ccould bepossibl
ejustbecauseofMot hertongueinIndiafor
f
reedom st
ruggl
e.Pat
ri
oti
cfeel
i
ngswerearousedamongpeoplet
hroughthei
rownlanguage.
  Tomorrow wewil
llear
nther estpor
ti
onofthechapt
er.Foranydi
ff
icul
tyregar
dingt
he
chapt
er,y
oufeel
freetoclearyourdoubt
sthr
oughmail
s,messagesorcal
lme.

Thanky
ou

Dr
.Ghazal
aRashi
d