NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Flamingo Prose Chapter 1:The Last Lesson

The Last Lesson is written by the French novelist and short story writer Alphonse Daudet. The story revolves around a French boy named Franz, who is also the narrator of the story. He dislikes going to school and studying. He is a lazy lad who likes to play. He detests his French teacher M. Hamel. The historical background of the story mentions how Berlin overpowered the French and turned them into their colonies. The Germans wanted everyone to and started learning German as their mother tongue instead of French.

M. Hamel had been teaching French in the school for forty long years. On the last day of his tenure, the whole village attended his last lesson to pay respect to the teacher. They had high admiration for him because of his sincerity and devotion towards their mother tongue and the school. Franz was shocked at the news; he did not know French. He repented at his ignorance of his mother tongue. He went to attend the teacher's last lesson.

The teacher was deeply grieved at not being able to instil a love for French in his students. Until the last day of service, he was patriotic and praised the French language for being the world's most beautiful language. He tried to make the whole village aware that the Germans are ruling over them only because they do not love their mother tongue. They have been colonised because of their ignorance and illiteracy. Towards the end of the story, we see Franz realise that one's language cannot be snatched away from him as it is intrinsic right from birth.