20-11-2012, 04:41 PM
Flamingo notes – Robin Eappen
English notes.docx (Size: 33.32 KB / Downloads: 24)
THE LAST LESSON
1.Why was Franz tempted to play truant from school?
A. The French teacher M Hamel was going to ask questions on participle which Franz had not prepared. To avoid being scolded he was tempted to play truant from school and spend the day out doors in a pleasurable manner.
2.What was unusual about the school that Franz noticed when he entered the school?
A. On entering the school Franz noticed there was unusual silence. There was no usual bustle of opening and closing of desks. The village elders had occupied the last benches that usually remain empty.
3.Why was it the last lesson? How did Franz react to it?
A. As the order from Berlin had come to teach German in all schools of Alsace and Lorraine there would be no French lesson form the next day M Hamel announced in the class. The announcement was like a thunderclap to Franz. He felt sorry for not learning French. The French books, which earlier were nuisance, became attractive. He felt he could not give up his French books.
4.What reasons did M Hamel give for their lack of interest in learning French?
A. The lack of interest in learning French was due to the parents who wanted their children to work in farm or mill to earn, due to the students who were reluctant to learn and often put off the lesson for the next day and due to himself as he asked them to water the flower and gave them off when he had to go for fishing
5. Why does not M Hamel want the people to forget French?
A. M Hamel wanted them not to forget French as it is the most beautiful and logical language and as long as they hold fast to their language it would be as if they had the key to the prison.
6.Describe how M Hamel conducted the last lesson.
A. In his last French class though M Hamel was emotional he fully involved himself in the teaching learning process. He heard every lesson to the last sitting motionless in the chair. When the church bell struck twelve he stood up pale and wrote ‘Vive La French’ and with a gesture he communicated that the school is dismissed.
LOST SPRING
1.Seemapuri a place on the periphery of Delhi yet miles away from it metaphorically. Justify this statement.
A. Seemapuri the rag pickers shanty is just in the outskirt of Delhi but it is far away from Delhi so far as Delhi’s glitter and amenities are concerned. Here the squatters of Bangladesh who came after 1971 war live in structures of mud with roof of tin or tarpaulin. There is no sewerage, drainage or pipe water that Delites enjoy.
2.Through the years rag picking has acquired the ‘proportion of a fine art’ in Seemapuri. Justify the statement.
A. The means of survival of migrants of Bangladesh in Seemapuri is rag picking. Garbage to them is gold. Like a fine art that has no end in appealing the sense of beauty the rag picker’s scrounging the garbage is a never ending process which provide them their daily bread day after day.
3.Does the rag picking mean the same thing for parents and children? Give reasons for your answer.
A. No, rag picking is not the same for parents and children. For children it is wrapped in wonders where as for parents it is the means of survival.