What is the theme of the …

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• Genius

This chapter is about love for one’s mother-tongue. France lost districts of Alsace and Lorraine to the Prussians in the Franco-Prussian War. As a result, German was imposed in the schools of these districts.

Suddenly, all the Frenchmen realized how much they loved their mother-tongue; they did not want to part with it. M. Hamel, the village teacher who taught French, taught last lesson to his countrymen.

He tried to teach them as much as he could. He told them they had not taken French learning seriously. He did not blame his students alone for poor learning. He also held himself responsible for the same. He was very patriotic as he appealed to his countrymen to hold fast to their mother tongue to be free from the Prussians. According to him the French language was the most beautiful, the clearest and the most logical language in the world. He appealed to his countrymen to guard it and never forget it. He was emotionally attached to the school and all his students. However, he was very brave and strong. He was really sorry for not making sincere efforts to teach French to his countrymen. At the end, he became so emotional that he could not speak. At last he wrote ‘Vive La France’ and gestured the dispersal.