The Last Lesson NCERT Questions and Answers Class XII CBSE

NCERT QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

SHORT QUESTIONS

1.What was Franz expected to be prepared with for school that day?

Ans. That day Franz was expected to be prepared with participles because M. Hamel had said that he would question them on participles . Franz did not know anything about participles.

2.What did Franz notice that was unusual about the school that day?

 Ans. Usually, when school began, there was a great bustle, which could be heard out in the street. But it was all very still that day. Everything was as quiet as a Sunday morning. There was no opening or closing of desks. His classmates were already in their places. The teacher’s great ruler instead of rapping on the table, was under M. Hamel’s arm.

3.What had been put up on the bulletin-board?

For the last two years all the bad news came from the bulletin-board. An order had come from Berlin to teach only German in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine. The Germans had put up this notice on the Bulletin board.

4.What change did the order from Berlin cause in the school that day?

Mr. Hamel had put on his best dress – his beautiful green coat, his frilled shirt and the little black silk cap, all embroidered. The whole school seemed so strange and solemn. On the back benches that were always empty, the elderly village people were sitting quietly like the kids.

5.How did Franz’s feelings about M. Hamel and the school change?

Franz came to know that it was the last lesson in French that M. Hamel would give them. From the next day they will be taught only German. Then he felt sorry for not learning his lessons properly. His books, which seemed a nuisance and a burden earlier were now old friends. His feelings about M. Hamel also changed. He forgot all about his ruler and how cranky he was. 

LONG ANSWER QUESTIONS

1..“When a people are enslaved, as long as they hold fast to their language it is as if they have the keys to their prison.” What could this mean?

Ans. Language is an important aspect of the culture of any nation. Native language unites the people of a particular area or nation. During colonization colonizers enforce political domination by exerting their rules and regulation over the people of colonized nation and enforce cultural domination by imposing their own language on them. In some cases, colonizers prohibit the teaching  of the native language and try to deprive the people of their identity.

In such cases ,when people are attached to their native language, their identity would be kept intact. Their language is the key to their prison as their language keeps them united against the invaders and urge them to fight against the enslavement.

2. Franz thinks, “Will they make them sing in German, even the pigeons ?” What could this means?

Ans. Alphonse Daudet's 'The Last Lesson' very prominently raises the question of linguistic and cultural hegemony of the colonial and imperial powers and their lust for controlling the world and influencing their cultures and identities.

 Prussians acquired the districts of Alsace and Lorraine in Franco-Prussian War , but they were not satisfied with mere political domination ,they desired to enforce their own language on the people of the defeated nation. They released the order that from now German would be taught in schools rather than French.

Franz wondered whether they would make even pigeons sing in German. It means that they had grown up using French as their language and now snatching away their language from them would be unfair and unkind. The language was as natural to them as cooing is to the pigeon. So, compulsion to speak another language is like dominating the force of nature and enslaving it. As it is next to impossible to alter the way pigeons sing, in the same way it is difficult for people to accept a language which is forcibly imposed on them. Adopting a new language causes pain and discomfort.