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MIND MAPS

These “MIND MAPS” are taken from Book:

ISBN No. of Pages Price

9789388373135 212 190
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CHAPTER-WISE
MIND MAPS
S.No Chapter Book/Section
1. The Last Lesson FLAMINGO: Prose
2. Lost Spring FLAMINGO: Prose
3. Deep Water FLAMINGO: Prose
4. The Rattrap FLAMINGO: Prose
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FLAMINGO: PROSE MIND MAP

SUMMARY OF THE STORY

“The Last Lesson” is the tender story of a young Alsatian boy and his last French lesson. The setting is an unnamed town
in Alsace. The French districts of Alsace and Lorraine went into Prussian hands. The new Prussian rulers discontinued the
teaching of French in the schools of these two districts. The French teachers were asked to leave. Now M. Hamel could no
longer stay in his school.
One such student of M. Hamel, Franz who dreaded French class and M. Hamel’s iron ruler, came to the school that day
thinking he would be punished as he had not learnt his lesson on participles. But on reaching school, he found Hamel dressed
in his fine Sunday clothes and the old people of the village sitting quietly on the back benches. Franz was unable to figure
anything out as everything about the day was unusual. He sat down there wondering what was going on when M. Hamel
announced that today was the last French lesson that he was going to give as an order had come from Berlin to teach only
German in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine. Even though Franz feared his master and had no idea about French participles,
this news came as a shock to him. That was the first day when he realized that how important French was for him, but it was
his last lesson in French.
When M. Hamel asked Franz to recite the rules of participles, he wanted to get it right but he was too nervous and mixed
everything up. M. Hamel did not scold him for not being able to answer correctly. Instead he said that it is because the students
have often postponed their learning till tomorrow. They always feel that there is time to learn. He further adds that Franz’s
identity as a Frenchman did not have any weightage as he could neither speak nor write his own language. M. Hamel does not
only blame the students for this situation. He feels that the parents are not very interested in their children’s education. Hamel
goes on to describe the French language as the clearest and the most logical language in the world. He felt that people should
always cling to their own language as he believes that when people are enslaved, it is through their language that they can
find the key to their prison. He further said about the French language that it was the most beautiful, clearest and most logical
language of the world. Finally with a very heavy heart, M. Hamel stood up; he was very sad as he walked to the blackboard,
took a chalk and wrote on it “Vive La France” which means “Long Live France” and declared the class dismissed.

1. THE LAST LESSON

by Alphonse Daudet

CHARACTER SKETCH: M. Hamel CHARACTER SKETCH: Franz

M. Hamel is an experienced teacher who has been teaching
in school for forty years. He imparts primary education
in all subjects. He is a hard task master and students like
Franz, who are not good learners, are in great dread of being
scolded by him. The latest order of the Prussian rulers upsets
him. He has to leave the place for ever and feels heartbroken.
He feels sad but exercises self-control. His performance
during the last lesson is exemplary. He is kind even to a
late comer like Franz. He uses a solemn and gentle tone
while addressing the students. He has a logical mind and
can analyze problems and deduce the reasons responsible
for it. He knows the emotional hold of a language over its
users. He is a good communicator and explains everything
patiently. Partings are painful and being human, M. Hamel
too is no exception. He fails to say goodbye as his throat is
choked. On the whole, he is a patriotic gentleman.
Franz was a student in one of the schools in the districts of
Alsace. His schoolmaster was M. Hamel and he was much
scared of him. Franz enjoyed spending much of his time
outside. He liked the warm and bright day and loved to
listen to the chirping of the birds and to watch the drilling
of the Prussian soldiers.
In addition to this, the boy had an acute sense of
understanding, feeling, recognition and respect. At first,
he did not show any interest in M. Hamel’s teaching. He
didn’t even prepare his lesson on participles. However,
Franz was forced to change his opinion about M. Hamel.
When he got to know that M. Hamel would not able to
take any French lessons after the order from Berlin
pronouncing that only German language would be taught
in the schools of French districts of Alsace and Lorraine,
he felt sad. He started respecting the man who had spent
forty years in the same school.
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MIND MAP

SUMMARY OF THE STORY

The story, “Lost Spring” deals with the deplorable condition of poor children who get forced to miss the simple joyful moments
of childhood because of their socio-economic conditions. These children are not given the opportunity of schooling and are
compelled to start working early in life. The author Anees Jung strives hard to advocate elimination of child labour through her
book.
I – Sometimes I find a rupee in the garbage.
The first part talks about the writer’s impressions about the life of the unfortunate rag pickers. The rag pickers migrate from
Dhaka and find a settlement in Seemapuri.
The story is of Saheb – a rag picker. The author meets him and asks why he does not go to school. On getting a reply that there
was no school in his locality, she makes a false promise that she would open a school for him. She talks to the boy and gets to
know that his parents came to the city in search of better life and he ended up living on the streets. Saheb is the son of parents
who migrated from Bangladesh. They came to Delhi in 1971 as their house and fields were destroyed by storms. Then they began
to live in Seemapuri, a slum near Delhi. The author explores the life in the slums of Seemapuri – the place where Saheb lives.
They live without any identity like the ration card, or voter card – after all filling the stomach is more important than having an
identity. It is a very sad thing that the garbage that others throw away is like gold to them and they look for food and livelihood
in that. The story explores the problems Saheb faces – getting exposed to hazardous waste in the garbage dumps, walking about
barefoot, no nourishment or clothes on his body.
The author then comments on the discrepancy between Saheb’s desire and the reality. He yearns to be comfortably off, enjoy
pleasures of life, play tennis and wear shoes but ends up working in a tea-stall. He no longer remains a free bird nor a master of
his own.
II – I want to drive a car.
In the second part, the author meets a boy called Mukesh. Mukesh stays in Firozabad and belongs to a family of bangle makers.
Firozabad is popular for its glass-blowing industry. The working environment and the living conditions are pathetic there.
Children work in dingy cells and around hot furnaces that make them blind early in adulthood. Since they are weighed down by
debt, they cannot think or find any way to escape this trap.
Mukesh wanted to be a driver and a motor-mechanic, and was not at all eager to continue bangle making. But the people thought
that it was their karma that they were born into the caste of bangle-makers. So they were destined to make bangles and they
could not do anything else. Thousands of children were engaged in bangle making and many of them lost their eyesight before
becoming adults. aevery family. Mukesh took the writer to his house where the writer came to know that his grandfather had
become blind working in the factory. Similarly in another family, the author came to know how the husband was happy that he
had been able to make a house for his own family to live in but the wife complained that she did not get a full meal in her whole
life. Hundreds of years of slavery had killed the initiative of people to think of a better life. They carried on their miserable life
as they did not have the courage to rebel against tradition. They did not have money to start their own new kind of enterprise. If
someone dared to start a new line, there were police, middle-men, sahukars and politicians to persecute them.
But Mukesh is different from rest of the folks there. He dreams to become a motor mechanic aand the author is happy to know about
that.

2. LOST SPRING
by Anees Jung

CHARACTER SKETCH: Saheb-e-Alam CHARACTER SKETCH: Mukesh

Shaeb-e-Alam was a rag-picker who lived in Seemapuri.
His family had migrated from Dhaka to India with the
hope of finding better life conditions. Every morning, he
roamed about streets collecting garbage. Many other boys
also accompanied him. His family lived in miserable
conditions. He used to search valuable things in garbage to
earn his livelihood but despite being poor, he was full of
hope. Later, he was employed in a teastall. He now became
a labourer and lost his carefree life. He was burdened with
responsibility of the job. He lost his childhood due to his
poverty which made him work as a child labour.
Mukesh lived in Firozabad and was born in the family of
bangle makers. He aspired to become a motor mechanic.
Unlike others in Firozabad who were burdened in the
stigma of caste in which they were born, Mukesh did not
want to follow the traditional profession. In this way, he
was a path breaker and had a determination to change his
circumstances. Mukesh was born in a very poor family.
To increase the income of the family, he also worked
with his father in glass furnaces, making bangles. There
was a spark of rebellion in him. He was confident and
determined to become a motor mechanic. His dreams and
aspirations were practical. He dreamt only of what he
could achieve or what was within his reach.
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MIND MAP

SUMMARY OF THE STORY

“Deep Water” is an extract taken from the book, ‘Of Men and Mountains’ written by William Douglas. In this extract, the author
talks about his fear of water and thereafter, how he finally overcame it.
The writer begins the story by informing us that he had decided to learn swimming at the Y.M.C.A in Yakima when he was ten or
eleven years old. The Y.M.C.A pool was not dangerous as it was only two or three feet deep at the shallow end and nine feet deep
at the other. The author reveals his first fearful experience in the water when he was barely three or four years old and his father
took him to the beach in California. He hung on to his father but still the powerful waves knocked him down and swept over him,
leaving him breathless. Terror of the overpowering force of waves was inflicted in his heart.
The second incident happened when he was 11 years old. He was at YMCA pool sitting by the pool side. A big bully boy threw
him into the deep end of the pool. The narrator nearly drowned.
These two incidents developed fear of water in the narrator’s mind. He had to work very hard to overcome his deeply ingrained
fear of water that he had got infected with at the YMCA pool after the tragic incident. The fear spoilt all his excursions with his
friends. Whenever he accompanied his friends to Cascades, Tieton, Warm lake, the fear of water seized him, his legs paralysed
and icy horror clutched his heart.
Finally, one October, he decided to learn swimming from an instructor. He practised in a pool five days a week, an hour each day.
The instructor put a belt around him and attached a rope to it. He held on to the end of the rope as the author swam across the pool.
The terror returned to the author every time his instructor relaxed his hold on the rope.
Gradually, he learnt to exhale under water and then raise his nose and inhale. Eventually, the fear of putting his head under water
left him and then the instructor taught him to kick with his legs. At first, his legs didn’t work properly, but then bit by bit he
could command them. Finally, in April, the instructor was convinced that he could swim the length of the pool. He had created a
swimmer.
Despite the approval of his instructor, the author was dubious whether he would still be traumatised when he was alone in the
pool. The fear did come back when he tried swimming alone but he fought it by swimming longer. He was still not fully satisfied
and decided to go to Wentworth in New Hampshire. He dived off a dock and Triggs island and swam two miles across the lake to
Stamp Act Island. Only once he felt the terror return when he was in the middle of the lake. But he paid no heed to it. At his first
opportunity, he went up the Tieton to Comrad Meadows, up the Conrad Creek Trail to Medade Glacier and camped in the high
meadow by the side of Warm Lake. The next morning, he swam across to the other shore and back. For the first time, he was sure
that he had conquered his fear.
This experience gave Douglas great perspectives. He felt that only those who have known terror and conquered it can understand
how he felt. He realized that there is peace in death and that the terror is only in the fear of death. He experienced both the feeling
of dying and the terror that the fear of death can produce. Now that he had conquered his fear, he felt absolutely free and released.

3. DEEP WATER
by William Orville Douglas

CHARACTER SKETCH: William Douglas CHARACTER SKETCH: Instructor

William Douglas had great passion for water. Since childhood he The instructor has no name in the account “Deep water”,
had a mind for swimming but had for aversion for water when a but comes across as a man of strong will and determination
wave swept over and buried him. On the second occasion, at the age who plays an instrumenal role in making Douglas a confident
of ten or eleven, a big boy tossed him up and threw deep in the pool
that created stark fear in his mind. swimmer. It was due to his efforts that William Douglas was
The terror of water followed him everywhere he went. But he was able to overcome his fear. The instructor built a swimmer
determined to get rid of his fear and was able to do so through his out of Douglas piece by piece. For three months he held him
continuous efforts. high on a rope attached to his belt so that he could go back
To get rid of it, he made a strong resolve. He decided to overcome his and forth. He also taught him the technique of inhaling and
fear through his will. He engaged an instructor who perfected him in exhaling in water.
swimming. The instructor gave him hundreds of exercises and taught
him to inhale and exhale. Then after three months or so, he was able to
dive, swim back and across the lake and recede his terror.
Thus, through his efforts, Douglas was able to overcome it. Getting
terrible fear and having conquered it, his will to live became intense.
He started enjoying every minute of living. His experience and
ultimate conquest of his far is a lesson for all the readers.
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MIND MAP

SUMMARY OF THE STORY

“The Rattrap” is a short story about an old disheartened peddler and thief who is taken in and shown generosity by a young
woman whose kindness changes his bitter attitude to life. The peddler is a man who has fallen upon misfortune and now resorts
to selling rattraps, begging, and thievery.
The story begins like a fairytale. The central character is a beggar and petty thief who goes about selling rattraps of wire to make
a small living. The peddler led a lonely life. One day while he was thinking about his rattraps, an idea struck him. He thought that
the world itself was a rattrap. As soon as anybody touched it, the trap closed on them. He was amused to think of some people
who were already trapped, and some others who were trying to reach the bait in the trap. The story unfolds gradually with the
various baits being offered to the beggar. One evening, the rattrap peddler took shelter in an old man’s cottage who had been a
crofter at Ramsjö Ironworks. The amiable and generous man offered him dinner and tobacco. He even showed him the thirty
kronor bills, earned by selling his cow’s milk, kept in a leather pouch that hung near the window. However, the next morning, the
rattrap peddler stole the money and made his escape through the forest. But as he got lost in the woods, he realised that the thirty
kronor bills had been a bait to trap him in the huge rattrap that the world is.
Next at the Ramsjö ironworks, while seeking shelter for the night, the tramp bites the bait offered to him by the owner (though
he initially refuses it), the ironmaster. Edla, the ironmaster’s daughter offers yet another bait for the tramp by asking him to stay
over Christmas even after his truth dawns on the hosts. At the church, the ironmaster and Edla were shocked to know that a certain
rattrap seller had robbed one of their old crofters. As they returned, the father wondered what the rattrap peddler would have
robbed them of. The daughter, however, felt dejected.
On returning home, they were informed, by the valet, that the man had left empty-handed. On the contrary, he had left a package,
as a Christmas present, for Edla.The peddler left a package containing a small rattrap with the three ten kronor bills that he had
stolen from the crofter. Along with that he left a letter thanking Edla for her generosity and asking her to return the bills to the
crofter. He wrote, “The rattrap is a Christmas present from a rat that would have been caught in this world’s rattrap if he had not
been raised to captain, because in that way he got power to clear himself.” It was signed as “Caption von Stahle”.
Thus, ‘The Rattrap’ is a story that gives us a psychological insight into human nature. The author highlights how greed for
material things entrap human beings. The story upholds the belief that the essential goodness of a human being can be awakened
through love and understanding. It brings into focus the idea that the world is a rattrap.

4. THE RATTRAP
by Selma Lagerlöf

CHARACTER SKETCH: The Peddler CHARACTER SKETCH: The Crofter

Selma Lagerlöf draws the character of the peddler with all The crofter was an old man without a wife or a child. He
sympathy and understanding. The rattrap peddler was a tall man was lonely but trusting. He was hospitable and gullible.
who had his own imagination and meditation. He lived by making He was a man of liberal beliefs, so he gladly allowed the
and selling rattraps from scrap materials he got by begging. His peddler to stay in his cottage for the night. Not only that, he
life was sad and monotonous. Since the world had never been
kind to him, he was full of bitterness and malice against it. The served him with supper and tobacco for his pipe and amused
peddler experienced unwanted joy at everyone else’s discomfort, him with the game of cards also. He showed him the thirty
pain at being ensnared by the devilish ways of the world. He kronor from his pouch which he received as a payment. He
was also philosophical and thoughtful. While plodding along was happy to get someone to talk to in his loneliness. He
the road, left to his own meditations, the peddler was struck by valued the presence of the peddler so much that he shared
the idea that this world around him with its lands and cities is a his confidences generously with him.
big rattrap. It had never existed for any other purpose than to set
baits for its people. On the other hand, begging and petty thievery
occasionally were his means of livelihood.
He is not morally upright. He does not even spare his host, the old
crofter and steals his 30 kronors. He is an opportunist; takes advantage
of situations. But the essential goodness in him is awakened through
love and understanding of Miss Elda Willmansson.