On a beautiful day in a village in nineteenth-century
Alsace-Lorraine, a region of France, the young schoolboy Franz, is in a
rush to get to class. He is particularly anxious because he has not learned
the French grammar
lesson he was assigned by his stern teacher, M. Hamel. Resisting the temptation to skip school and linger
outdoors, where Prussian soldiers are drilling, Franz passes the town hall.
There, he sees a crowd congregated around the bulletin-board.
Something must be wrong: the Prussian forces occupying the region communicate
their oppressive commands to the subjugated French villagers through the
bulletin-board.
But Franz has no time to stop and check. He rushes on his
way, finally arriving to find the school eerily
free from the commotion that normally marks the beginning of the day. Blushing,
Franz enters the classroom under
the gaze of the students who have already assembled at their desks. To his
surprise, M. Hamel teacher speaks to him kindly, simply telling him to take his
seat.
Franz notices that his teacher is wearing a beautiful green coat
and shirt—clothes for a special occasion—and that elder villagers have
assembled at the back of the room. As Franz tries to make sense of it all, M. Hamel
makes a shocking announcement: this will be the last lesson that he will give.
From tomorrow onwards, the teaching of French will be banned, under orders of
the Prussian authorities.
Franz, like everyone else in the room, is devastated. He
realizes that this is the news that had been posted on the bulletin-board
outside the town hall. The knowledge that he must stop learning his own
language—which he has hardly begun to master—gives him a new appreciation for
his education, and he regrets all the time he spent procrastinating on his
school work.
The moment that Franz has dreaded arrives: he is called on by M.
Hamel to recite the grammatical rule he was meant to learn. Franz stumbles and
stammers. M. Hamel, rather than scolding Franz, uses the opportunity to lecture
the gathered crowd on the evils of neglecting their education. It is this
neglect, he says, that now allows the Prussian invaders to question the
villagers’ French identity. How can the villagers claim to be French, he says,
when they don’t even know their own language?
M. Hamel goes on to extol the beauties of the French language,
telling the class that they must guard it carefully, for it is the key to their
freedom. He explains the grammar lesson to the class, and Franz finds himself
listening more intently than he ever has before. For the lesson in writing, M.
Hamel has the class write out the words “France, Alsace,” over and over again.
Everyone in the room applies themselves to the exercise with diligence and
concentration.The church-bell strikes twelve, and the trumpets of the Prussian
soldiers sound, marking the end of their drilling exercises. It is the end of
the last lesson. M. Hamel, pale, turns to the blackboard and
writes in large letters, “Vive La France!” With a gesture of his hand, he
dismisses the class.
CHARACTER
SKETCHES:
Franz:
1.
Careless
2.
Conscious of his duties
3.
Admirer of nature
4.
Observant
5.
Sensitive and innocent
6.
Thinker.
M. Hamel :
1.
French teacher
2.
Strict
3.
Selfish at times
4.
Honest and Sensitive man
5.
Proud of being French
6.
Passionate about the French language
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