Essay Questions

What can teachers learn from the book?

Teachers can learn several things, especially from the Marin’s failures instead of his good work. He didn’t focus on all his students, instead giving the most outspoken ones a lot his time. This meant that some children learnt a lot more than others, which is evident in the scene where Marin asks his pupils what they had learnt, where the student that he nearly hadn’t noticed himself was the only one without an answer.

How did the teacher’s personality affect his working environment?

The teacher, Monsieur François Marin is the teacher of 25 pupils. Therefore, his working environment is the classroom. Marin’s personality is quiet, alone and careful. He might be described as a loner, even together with his fellow colleagues. This heavily affects the children, as his weaknesses shine through unto them. He has no authority as he is very self-conscious, seemingly afraid to speak up to even the people that are beneath him.

How are immigrants represented in the book?

There are several immigrant children in the book, as well as children of immigrants. This is why the class is so divided, both in rank, money and intelligence. Some of the children are very bad at French, which is later revealed to be because their parents don’t speak French. This is a prime example of how the book presents these people; first with the biased facts: the immigrant child is not as good as the French one, before finding out more about this child, and thus finding a good reason for the differences.