The Chapter “The Last Lesson” from NCERT Flamingo, Class 12th CBSE board. Below you can find Questions and Answers. Let’s see.
The Last lessons: Short Question Answers
Ans: Franz was expected to be prepared with participles that day as Mr Hamel had told the class that he would be taking a test on the topic that day.
Ans: Usually, when school began there would be a lot of commotion. But that day everything was quiet and it appeared to be like a Sunday, but the students were at their places, and Mr Hamel was walking up and down with his terrible iron ruler under his arm.
Ans: It was because they were sorry too that they had not gone to school more. It was their way of thanking their master for his forty years of faithful service and of showing their respect for the country that was theirs no more.
Ans: The bulletin board notified the general public about an order from Berlin. It stated that only German was to be taught to students in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine.
Ans. M. Hamel told the Students and Villagers that henceforth only German would be taught in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine. Those who called themselves Frenchmen would neither be able to speak nor write it. He praised French as the most beautiful, clearest, and most logical language in the world. He said that for the enslaved people, their language was the key to their prison. Then the people realized how precious their language was to them. This shows people’s love for their own culture, traditions, and country. Pride in one’s language reflects pride in the motherland.
Ans: This sentence could possibly mean that however hard the authorities try to embed the German language in the culture of Alsace and Lorraine, The natural status of French, for them will remain unchanged. French flows in the air and the entire place is imbued with its effect. Even though they train students in German, the basic mode of Communication would remain unchanged like the cooing of the pigeons.
Ans: Some examples of the native language taken away from its people or imposition of the language of the conqueror are-
a. Portuguese becoming the lingua franca of Angola.
b. English imposed on the various Celtic peoples.
c. Spanish imposed on the Basques and the Catalans.
d. Turkish imposed on the Kurds.
Ans: Franz was reluctant to go to school because he was in great dread of scolding especially because M. Hamel had said that he would question him on participles and he did not know the first word about them.
The outside scene tempted him more than the rules for participles. The bright weather, chirping of birds at the edge of woods and drilling of Prussian soldiers in the open field back of the sawmill attracted him to spend the day out of the door.
Ans: Franz did not learn the rules of the participles that day. When his name was called he stood there holding the desk, his heart was beating and was not daring to look up. He was thinking and want to recite the rules of participles very loud and clear but it couldn’t happen.
Ans: The order was thunderclap to him. He hardly knew about the French and he would never learn French according to the order. He felt regret for not paying attention to classes. For him, the books had become his old friends which he couldn’t give up. It was also sad for him that M. Hamel was going away.
The Last lessons: Long Question Answers
Question: How did M. Hamel feel and behave during the last lesson?
Ans: M. Hamel was feeling very bad and was full of emotions due to the order that came from Berlin. He was sitting motionless in his chair and gazing first at one thing then at another as if he wanted to fix in his mind just how everything looked in that little schoolroom. The order that came from Berlin broken his heart as he was teaching there for forty long years. For forty years he had been there in the same place, with his garden outside the window and his class in front of him just like that. Only the desks and benches had been worm smooth, the walnut trees in the garden were taller, and thee hoping that he had planted himself twined about the windows to the roof.
Question: Is it possible to carry pride in one’s language too far? Do you know what ‘linguistic chauvinism‘ means?
Ans: Yes, it is possible to carry pride in one’s language too far if one is found one’s own language at the cost of others. Indifference towards other languages is not healthy for any democracy like India. When the sense of belonging to one’s own language crosses the thin line between ‘pride’ and ‘proud’, it becomes linguistic chauvinism. If people feel good about their languages and traditions, they must have tolerance for other languages too. Everybody has the right to follow the religion as well as speak the language as per his/her desire. In fact, it is disparaging to distort the names of communities, for example, Bongs for Bengali’s, Gujju for Gujarati’s, etc.