The Last Lesson
Summary
Franz started for school very late that morning. His French teacher, M Hamel, had announced that he would question the class on participles. Franz did not know even a single word about them and was afraid of a scolding. It was a bright sunny day; the chirping of birds and the marching of the Prussian soldiers was much more tempting than the rules of participles. On his way to school, Franz noticed a crowd in front of the bulletin board. For the past two years, all the bad news had come from it. As he was hurrying past, Wachter, the blacksmith, called out to him and said that there was plenty of time to reach the school. Franz thought that he was making fun of him and reached the school panting.
When Franz reached the school, he was very surprised to find that everything was quiet. What surprised and confused him more was that, instead of scolding him, M Hamel spoke very kindly to him and told him to take his seat. After Franz had calmed down, he noticed that M Hamel was wearing a special attire, which he wore only on special occasions.
M Hamel announced that it was their last French lesson. The
order had come from Berlin to teach only German in the schools of Alsace and
Lorraine and he would be leaving the school the next day. Franz was totally
shocked. He regretted not having learnt his lessons when there was time. He had
wasted his precious time, engaging himself in useless activities like seeking
bird's eggs, going sliding on the Saar river and so on. His books, which were a
nuisance to him, suddenly felt like old friends. His feelings for his teacher
too started changing.
While Franz was thinking of all this, he heard his name
called out; it was his turn to recite, unfortunately he got mixed up on the
first words. He was ashamed and stood holding his desk. M Hamel said that he
would not scold him. He criticised the people of Alsace for their habit of
putting off learning for some time in the future. He blamed their parents for
not taking interest in their studies. He also blamed himself for this. Often,
he sent the students to water his plants or gave them a holiday when he had
wanted to go fishing.
M Hamel then talked about the French language. According to him, whenever the people
of a particular nation are enslaved, as long as they are attached to their
language. it is as if they have the key to their prison. M Hamel opened a grammar book and
taught them their last lesson. Franz was amazed to see how well he understood
everything. After that they had a lesson in writing. Finally, they had a lesson in history.
Everybody became emotional
towards the end. Finally, as the church-clock struck twelve, M Hamel stood up.
It was very evident that he had become emotional too. He tried to speak, but
choked. Then he turned to the blackboard and wrote as large as he could ‘Vive
La France’ which means ‘long live France’. He then dismissed the class,
signalling everyone to leave.
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