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The Classroom
The French language is a symbol of French cultural identity. Franz’s teacher, M. Hamel, lectures the gathered pupils and villagers—who have just received news that Prussian occupiers have banned the teaching of French in the schools of Alsace-Lorraine—on the beauty of the French language, telling them that it is the clearest and most logical in the world. As M. Hamel himself argues, the French language is the key to French identity—so long as the villagers hold onto their language, then they can also hold onto their identity, and thus to their freedom, even in the face of foreign occupation. As such, the language is not only an embodiment of the villagers’ French identity, it is also the key to their liberation.
French Quotes in The Last Lesson
The The Last Lesson quotes below all refer to the symbol of French. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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The Last Lesson Quotes
[…] M. Hamel mounted his chair, and in the same grave and gentle tone which he had used to me, said, “My children, this is the last lesson I shall give you. The order has come from Berlin to teach only German in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine. The new master comes tomorrow. This is your last French lesson. I want you to be very attentive.”
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After Franz takes his seat, M. Hamel makes a stunning announcement: the Prussian authorities have issued an order from Berlin, their seat of power, mandating the teaching of German from the next day onward in the schools of Alsace-Lorraine. This therefore, will be the pupils’ last French lesson and M. Hamel’s last time teaching them. M. Hamel’s shocking announcement reveals the limitless extent of the Prussian occupiers’ desire for control. Not only have they invaded the region of Alsace-Lorraine, a territory of France, they also seek to re-shape the very cultural identity of the region by forcing its residents to Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Volupt
My last French lesson! Why, I hardly knew how to write! I should never learn any more! I must stop there, then! Oh, how sorry I was for not learning my lessons, for seeking birds’ eggs, or going sliding on the Saar! My books, that had seemed such a nuisance a while ago, so heavy to carry, my grammar, and my history of the saints, were old friends now that I couldn’t give up. And M. Hamel, too; the idea that he was going away, that I should never see him again, made me forget all about his ruler and how cranky he was.
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Franz is shocked by M. Hamel’s announcement that the Prussian authorities are about to ban the teaching of French in the schools of Alsace-Lorraine. This devastating news leads him to reassess the value of his education. In particular, the prospect of his French education coming to an end awakens him to the great benefits of his schooling. School teaches him valuable things, things which he had taken for granted, as reflected in his propensity to neglect his lessons in favor of play and other distractions. It is only in this moment, for instance, that he realizes that he hardly knows Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Vo
“I won’t scold you, little Franz; you must feel bad enough. See how it is! Every day we have said to ourselves, ‘Bah! I’ve plenty of time. I’ll learn it tomorrow.’ And now you see where we’ve come out. Ah, that’s the great trouble with Alsace; she puts off learning till tomorrow. Now those fellows out there will have the right to say to you, ‘How is it; you pretend to be Frenchmen, and yet you can neither speak nor write your own language?’”
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When Franz is called on in class to recite the rule for participles he was supposed to have learned, he is unable to. M. Hamel, however, doesn’t scold him. Instead, he uses Franz’s failure to illustrate the larger failure of all the French natives of Alsace-Lorraine. These French citizens, according to M. Hamel, have not taken their education seriously enough. As a result, they lack a sound grasp of their own language. By neglecting their education, and thereby their own language, they allow the Prussian invaders to justify their occupation of the region. If the French citizens of Alsace-Lorraine do Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Prov
“Your parents were not anxious enough to have you learn. They preferred to put you to work on a farm or at the mills, so as to have a little more money. And I? I’ve been to blame also. Have I not often sent you to water my flowers instead of learning your lessons? And when I wanted to go fishing, did I not just give you a holiday?”
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M. Hamel, lecturing the pupils and villagers gathered in the classroom on the dire consequences of their negligence of education, casts the blame on the adults of Alsace-Lorraine, including himself. Parents have been more concerned about using their children to earn money, contends M. Hamel, than having them learn. M. Hamel’s words thus suggest that the people of the region have privileged labor over education, and their children have suffered as a result. Notably, M. Hamel doesn’t excuse himself from the blame, recognizing that he has often compromised his pupils’ education by privileging his own needs and whims. M. Hamel’s Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipi
[…] M. Hamel went on to talk of the French language, saying that it was the most beautiful language in the world—the clearest, the most logical; that we must guard it among us and never forget it, because 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.
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In speaking to the congregated pupils and villagers on the importance of devoting themselves to their education, M. Hamel’s passion for the French language becomes apparent. The superlatives he uses—praising the language as the “most beautiful in the world,” “the clearest, the most logical,” reflect his deep love and admiration for the language, and by extension, the deep love and admiration he has for his culture. Indeed, the link between language and culture is implied in M. Hamel’s comment that “when a people are enslaved, as long as they hold fast to their language it is as if they had Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus
After the grammar, we had a lesson in writing. That day M. Hamel had new copies for us, written in a beautiful round hand—France, Alsace, France, Alsace. They looked like little flags floating everywhere in the school-room, hung from the rod at the top of our desks.
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In this passage, M. Hamel assigns the class what initially appears to be an exercise in writing. However, this task is also an exercise in patriotism, for the words “France, Alsace,” that the students and villagers copy out assert the identity of the Alsace-Lorraine region as French. In doing so, these words challenge the claim that the foreign Prussian occupiers are making on the land. The patriotic underpinnings of this exercise are further highlighted in Franz’s comment that M. Hamel’s copies hanging around the room “looked like little flags floating everywhere”—flags, of course, which assert the primacy of French identity.
After the writing, we had a lesson in history, and then the babies chanted their ba, be bi, bo, bu. Down there at the back of the room old Hauser had put on his spectacles and, holding his primer in both hands, spelled the letters with them. You could see that he, too, was crying; his voice trembled with emotion, and it was so funny to hear him that we all wanted to laugh and cry.
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As the last lesson comes to a close, M. Hamel has the very youngest of the pupils—the infants—chant the alphabet. One of the elder villagers in the class that day, Hauser, uses his old primer, a reading book, to help the babies along. Old Hauser’s action shows how, under the peril of Prussian foreign occupation, the French villagers come together as community, and in solidarity. The old help the young along, supporting them and participating in their education, as Hauser does here. Furthermore, Hauser’s own emotions infect those around him—the rest of class wants to cry along with him, and Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita
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French Symbol Timeline in The Last Lesson
The timeline below shows where the symbol French appears in The Last Lesson. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The Last Lesson
...crowd that he wants them to be very attentive, as this will be their last French lesson.
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...as a shock to Franz because he suddenly realizes how little he knows of the French language. He barely knows how to write in French, and he is devastated that he...
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...now the Prussian occupiers have the right to say to them, “you pretend to be Frenchmen, and yet you can neither speak nor write your own language?”
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M. Hamel then goes on to speak about the beauties of the French language. He encourages the class to guard the language carefully, because, he tells them, when...
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The teacher then proceeds to the French grammar lesson, reading from a book to the students. Franz understands everything M. Hamel says...
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