Question

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.

Ah, that’s the great trouble with Alsace; she puts off learning 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 neither speak nor write your own language?’ But you are not the worst, poor little Franz. We’ve all a great deal to reproach ourselves with.

1. What do you learn about the narrator? (Analysis)
2. What is the regret in his mind? (Understanding)
3. Who are ‘those fellows’? How would they mock at the villagers? (Understanding)
4. Who, according to the speaker, were to be blamed for the present situation? (Understanding and Analysis)
5. Later, what does the speaker say about the French language? (Recall)

Answer 1

1. The narrator is Franz, a young French boy from Alsace. He had earlier been careless about learning French but now realises its importance and feels regret over his neglect.
2. M. Hamel regrets that the people of Alsace had kept postponing learning French. He also regrets that they had not valued their language and education while they still had the freedom to learn it.
3. ‘Those fellows’ refers to the Prussians/Germans who have taken control of Alsace. They could mock the villagers by pointing out that they called themselves French but could neither speak nor write their own language properly.
4. M. Hamel says that everyone was responsible - the students, their parents and the teachers. The people had neglected learning French and kept putting it off until it was too late.
5. M. Hamel says that French is the most beautiful, clear and rich language in the world. He urges the people to guard and preserve it because their language is an important part of their identity.