The Last Lesson Class 12 Notes: In this article, students can find complete revision notes for CBSE Class 12 English Flamingo (Prose) Chapter 1, The Last Lesson. These handwritten notes of class 12 The Last Lesson have been prepared by the subject experts, in accordance with the updated and revised CBSE Syllabus 2024. You can also find a PDF download link below for future reference.
Revision Notes are an amalgamation of all the important topics, concepts, and definitions along with their explanations, gathered in a single place for easy reference. Students should prepare notes while reading the chapters. It is also an effective memorizing tool that keeps the information stored in your brain cells for a longer duration of time and accelerates the process of recalling during revision. As the name itself suggests, revision notes are prepared for revising the concepts and topics of the chapter, mostly during the examination.
Related:
CBSE Class 12 English Syllabus 2023-2024
CBSE Class 12 English Sample Paper 2023-2024
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Flamingo (Prose) All chapters
Revision Notes for CBSE Class 12 English Flamingo (Prose) Chapter 1 The Last Lesson are:
About the Author:
Alphonse Daudet is the author of Class 12 English Flamingo (Prose) Chapter, The Last Lesson. Born in 1840, he was a French novelist and short-story writer.
About the Story/ Synopsis of the Story
The Last Lesson is based on the backdrop of the Franco-Prussian War of the 1870s. During the war, France was defeated by Prussia which consisted of Germany, Poland, and various parts of Austria. The France cities Alsace and Lorraine have been conquered by the Prussian men and it’s the last lesson of M.Hamel in France. Check the summary below for a complete and brief explanation of the chapter, The Last Lesson.
Theme of The Last Lesson
The Last Lesson aims at showcasing the longing for your mother tongue, and culture when lost in the war. It tries to explain the pain, sadness, and grief of all those who lose their lands, language, culture during wars. The lesson further takes a step ahead in showing what impact the political situation of a country has on children. Here, Franz suddenly developed love and affection for his mother tongue, culture, and teacher. It explains that it is the behavior of a human to feel attached to something that he/she is about to lose, and that same thing isn’t given much importance, love, and attention when is freely and readily available.
Character Sketches:
M Hamel- A dedicated and determined teacher who wished to teach French to his french kids. Very passionate about his work. Strictly in nature, Franz was afraid of him and he carried an iron ruler to scare the children. Nationalist and the feeling of patriotism since he took great pride in introducing the French language and culture to his students. Courageous since he took the last lesson even after the order from Berlin. Though he was a strict teacher with a shaped mind, since he kept the students hooked to his conversations
Franz- Franz is a fun and active boy who likes to do a variety of activities. He is disinterested in learning French but is usually eager to explore new things and learn new activities. He is sort of ignorant and unaware of the political situation in his country since he didn’t know about the orders from Berlin and chose to run to the class instead of looking at the bulletin. He is observant since he observes M Hamel very closely and knows about his reactions, behaviour, and occasions when M Hamel wore his Sunday suit. He is emotional by nature since he suddenly developed a soft corner for his language, nation, and M Hamel after acknowledging that he is neither going to learn French from next day nor he is going to be the student of M Hamel.
Summary (Important Points)
- In 1870, during the France-Prussian War, Prussia (Germany, Poland, and parts of Austria) conquered two French districts, Alsace and Lorraine. After the conquer, Berlin ordered the French districts to stop teaching French in all the schools across the districts and hire new teachers who could teach German, instead of French.
- Franz, as usual, is late for the class and on the way notices Prussian soldiers drilling, people hanging on the bulletin board to check the updates of the war, and a solemn classroom. He notices that the area around the school is very silent.
- M Hamel, the teacher in a school of the Prussia conquered states informs his students that this was his last French lesson because of the orders from higher authorities. M Hamel does not scold Franz that day for being late to the class and for not learning his lessons. Instead, he starts recalling memories when he used to scold students for doing the same and how all of them behaved in a manner that they had sufficient time to learn French. He further talks about French being a beautiful language. M Hamel wears his special suit, the one he carries on Sunday morning and on special occasions only.
- After entering the class, Franz notices that the last benches that were usually empty were that day filled by the villagers. On hearing about the orders from Berlin, he realized that all of them were there to applaud M Hamel for his dedicated forty years of faithful service, and to feel sorry for not taking French classes and not going to school.
- That day all of them did their class work and listened to M Hamel with full attention, dedication, and devotion since they were aware of the fact that they were never going to learn French again and M Hamel was never going to teach them again.
- As the clock struck twelve and noises of Prussian soldiers were audible to them, M Hamel with a very heavy hard wanted to bid goodbye to his classroom, his students, his French lessons. But the tears in his eyes and heaviness in his heart choke him and force him to not say a word.
- He takes the chalk in his hand and writes on the blackboard ‘Vive La France’, which means Long Live France’. With utter anger and grief, he asked the students to go and said that the class was dismissed.
Important Lines from the Text with Their Meanings
1. “Don’t go so fast, bub; you’ll get to your school in plenty of time!”
Answer. The watchman says this to Franz as he sees him running for the class. The watchman through these words wishes to inform Franz with sadness that now there’s a lot of time for him to reach the school to learn French lessons and that he does not have to hurry for the lessons, since they would now not be taught in the school.
2. When a people are enslaved, as long as they hold fast to their language it is as if they have the key to their prison.
Answer. By this sentence, M Hamel wishes to tell the students that they must hold onto their language and guard it/protect it so that it can never be forgotten. The line says that when a country is enslaved by some other countrymen, they leave the impact of their language and culture all over the place since language is a matter of pride.
3. “Will they make them sing in German, even the pigeons?”
Answer. By this line, Franz wants to express the fear of being under German possession. He wishes to say that will the oppression from the Germans be so engraved in their roots that the birds (pigeons) will also start speaking German. Birds are free animals who have their own language and persona. Will Germany be so influential on Alsace and Lorraine, and will they steal away the essence of France so much that the pigeons will also start speaking their language?
To download the complete Revision Notes in PDF, click on the link below
| Download Revision Notes for Class 12 English The Last Lesson |
These revision notes have been prepared for students of Class 12, keeping in mind the latest syllabus and question paper pattern. For 2024, CBSE is aiming to introduce competency-based questions in a high volume. The additional practise questions released by them also indicate an inclination towards practical questions and hence students will have to read the chapters carefully.
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