NCERT Solutions For Class 12 English
Flamingo
The Last
Lesson(Alphonse
Daudet)
Long
Answer type Questions
Q1. The people in
this story suddenly realize how precious their language is to them. What shows
you this? Why does this happen?
Ans: M. Hamel informed the students and villagers that from now on,
only German would be taught in Alsace and Lorraine schools. Those who claimed
to be Frenchmen would be unable to speak or write the language. He praised
French as the world's most beautiful, clearest, and logical language. He
claimed that the enslaved people's language was the key to their captivity. The
people then realized how valuable their language was to them. This illustrates
people's emotional connection to their own culture, traditions, and country.
Pride in one's mother language reflects pride in one's motherland.
Q2. “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.”
Can you think of examples in history where a conquered people had their language
taken away from them or had a language imposed on them?
Ans A person's mother tongue allows him to express his feelings and
thoughts most clearly and intimately. Conquerors attempt to subdue and control
the people of the enslaved territory through a variety of techniques, including
the use of force to crush dissent and the imposition of their own language.
Victorious
nations have imposed their own language on conquered peoples and taken their
own language away from them since time immemorial. The Romans conquered much of
Europe, replacing local languages with their own language, Latin. Latin later
gave rise to Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and French. The Muslim invaders
imposed Arabic and Persian on the Asian countries they conquered.
Q3. Is it
possible to carry pride in one’s language too far? Do you know what “linguistic
chauvinism” means?
Ans 'Linguistic chauvinism' refers to the aggressive and unreasonable belief
that your native language is superior to all others. This demonstrates an
excessive or biassed support for one's native language. When pride in one's own
language becomes excessive, linguistic enthusiasts can be easily identified by
their zeal for the preservation and spread of their language. In their
enthusiasm, love, and support for their native language, they often forget that
other languages have their own merits, as well as a long history of art,
culture, and literature. Excessive pride in one's own language, instead of
bringing unity and gaining others as friends, breeds ill will and
disintegration.
Q4. What order
had been received from Berlin that day? What effect did it have on the life at
school?
Ans: Only German
would be taught in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine, according to a directive
from Berlin. This order had far-reaching consequences for school life. M.
Hamel, who had taught French at the village school for the previous forty
years, would give his final lesson that day.
M. Hamel, the
teacher, had dressed to the nines in honour of the last lesson. Old men from
the village sat quietly in the back of the classroom. They were both sad and
sorry for not attending school any longer. They had come to thank the master
for his forty years of faithful service and to show their respect for their
country.
The teacher
addressed the students solemnly and gently. He asked them to be quiet and
patiently explained everything. He pleaded with them to keep French alive among
them. During slavery, it served as the prison's key. He was overcome with
emotion and was unable to properly bid farewell.
