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The Last Lesson
Franz thinks : “Will they make them sing in German, even the pigeons ?” What could this mean ? (There could be more than one answer).
The districts of Alsace and Lorraine were under the regime of France. During the Franco-Prussian war (1870-1871) France was defeated and both these districts became the part of Prussia (Germany). Earlier they were reading their own language, i.e. the French.
With the new set up, an order was issued from Berlin to teach only the German in these two districts. M. Hamel was a teacher who had been teaching the French for the last 40 years.
In his last lesson, he told that from the next day the students would be learning the German from a new teacher. They won’t be learning their own most beautiful, clearest and the logical language which is quite foreign to them. In a way he told the significance of their own language and aroused their patriotic feelings. The old villagers too endorsed his views. There came a sudden changes in Franz.
He developed a sort of great disliking for German. He heard and saw the pigeons cooing on the roofs. He immediately remarked : “Will they make them sing in German, even the pigeons ?” It is worthnoting here that the Germans can impose German language on the people of Alsace and Lorraine powerfully but they can’t impose this language on the birds, etc. They can enslave the people but have no authority to compel the cooing pigeons. Any forceful imposition will cease their love for them.
Some More Questions From The Last Lesson Chapter
‘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.” Can you think of examples in history where a conquered people had their language taken away from them or had a language imposed on them?
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
Is it possible to carry pride in one’s language too far? Do you know what linguistic chauvinism means?
English is a language that contains words from muny 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
Notice the underlined words in these sentences and tick the option that best explains their meaning:
“What a thunder clap these words were to me !”
The words were:
“What a thunder clap these words were to me !”
The words were:
“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
Don’t go so fast, you will get to your school in plenty of time. “You will get to your school.”
I never say him look so tall. M. Hamel
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. Ilamel’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.
Write a notice for your school bulletin- board. Your notice could be an announcement of a forthcoming event, or a requirement to be fulfilled, or a rule to be followed.
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Mock Test Series
Mock Test Series