CHAPTER -1 ‘THE LAST LESSON’

Questions:
Q1. Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow briefly (4
marks).

a) “What a thunderclap these words were to me ! Oh , the wretches that was what
they had put up at the town hall”
i) Who is the speaker here? Which words had shocked him?
ii) What does the word ‘wretches’ mean here? Who are referred to as
wretches ?
iii) What was the political change that had occurred in their lives?
iv) Which language was imposed on them as a result of that change ?
b) “Bah, I’ve plenty of time . I will learn it tomorrow . Now you see where we’ve
come out. Ah, that’s the great trouble with the Alsace she puts off learning till
tomorrow”
i) Who is the speaker here? Who is he speaking to ?
ii) Who does he refer to by ’I’? What is the ‘I’ guilty of ?
iii) What is the bad habit that children of Alsace have?
iv) ‘Put off’ is a phrasal verb . What do the following phrasal verbs mean?
Put on , Put up with .
c) “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 “
i) Who is the speaker here? Who is he speaking to ?
ii) What is their mother tongue? What does the speaker say about it ?
iii) What does “as long as they hold fast to their language” mean here ?
iv) ‘Enslaved’ has ‘en’ as a prefix .Form two new words using ‘en’ as a prefix.
d) “Will they make them sing in German even the pigeons ?
i) Who does the speaker here?
ii) Who does ‘they’ refer to?
 iii) Who will force whom to sing German ?and why?
iv) What are pigeons symbolic of here ?

Q2. Short questions – (30-40 words) (2 marks each)

a) Who was Franz? Why was he reluctant to go to school ?

b) What were the temptations on the way to school that were holding him back?
c) What did he see at the town hall?
d) What used to be the usual scene in their class room?
e) What was the unusual scene that day that surprized little Franz?
f) What accounted for the visit of the old people to the school that day ?
g) What was the shocking announcement that M.Hamel made that day?
h) What was the quick change perceptible in little Franz?
i) What ,according to M.Hamel accounts for lack of learning on the part of
students , parents and teachers ?
j) How does M.Hamel try to instil a strong feeling of patriotism among his students.
k) What are his last words? What do they signify ?

Q3. Long questions (6 marks)

a) The story ‘ The Last Lesson’ describes the pain that is inflicted on the people of a
territory by its conquerors by taking away the right to study or speak in their
own language .Discuss.
b) What is linguistic chauvinism ? How is it detrimental to international peace in
today’s globalised world where the borders are vanishing ?
c) Attempt a brief character sketch of M.Hamel .