Question

What changes did the order from Berlin cause in school that day ?

Answer 1

Hint: The question is based on the story ‘The Last Lesson’ which is written from the author’s experience as a young student in the Franco-Prussian War era, a short while before the First World War.

Complete answer:
On reaching the school building, Franz did not hear the typical bustling which surrounds it in its class hours. There was no loud recitation of lessons or the teacher’s taps of the ruler on the desk. He was taken aback by the silence and got to his seat with a certain embarrassment. His French teacher, M. Hamel was dressed in a special manner that day - green coat, frilled shirt and a silk cap. The back seats were occupied by some of the village people.

After Prussia’s occupation of Alsace, which was where Franz lived, an order had been given from Berlin that from the next day onwards, only German will be taught in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine. Therefore, it was the last lesson of French which M. Hamel was about to teach the children of the school.

The entire environment of the school was very solemn and sad. As M. Hamel narrated the lesson, everyone listened with rapt attention. The teacher put all his efforts as well into explaining the lesson, as if he wanted to give away whatever he knew to his students through the last lesson. He also handed them beautiful copies on which were written “France, Alsace”.

These were the changes which the order from Berlin caused in school that day.

Note:
The most important lesson which the story conveyed was the importance of today in our lives. We often push away things for tomorrow, hoping we would have a lot of time. However, it is best to live the present moment fully without relying too heavily on the future.