1. The Last Night
By Sebastian Faulks

2. Background This story is an extract from the novel ‘Charlotte Gray’
The setting is a transit camp near Paris during the Second World War, where a group of people, including two small children, André and Jacob, await transport to take them to a concentration camp outside France. Although the ‘deportees’ of the extract are not fully aware of this, they face certain death.

3. Historical Background
From your prior knowledge, what year must this extract be set in?
Sometime between May 1940 and September 1944
World War 2 began when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939.
In May 1940 he invaded France, and by June had captured Paris. It only took 6 weeks.
The French Marshal, Philippe Pétan, signed an armistice with Germany, and France was divided up, with Germany controlling the north and west, Italy the south-east, and Pétan the ‘zone libre’

4. Historical Background

5. Historical Background
It would have been during this time that Jewish people in France would have been deported, or sent to concentration camps.

6. Discussion Topic
In Pairs, discuss the impact that war can have on children, and share your ideas with the class.
Death
Injury
Disability
Illness
Psychological Suffering
Moral and Spiritual Impacts
Social and Cultural Losses
Child Soldiers

7. Reading of Text
In this text, the people seem unsure of their fate but the writer gives clues to the reader of what is going on. As you read highlight
A. Any vocabulary that is unfamiliar
B. Look for words which carry a meaning that is clear to the reader, but not to the people involved.

8. Important Vocabulary sobbing (line 6) to cluster (line 10)
gratitude (line 12)
limbs (line 15)
to slump (line 17)
to rouse (line 36)
ferocity (line 44)
to cram (line 54)

9. Page 62 in book
Complete the table on page 62, outlining some words and phrases that carry a meaning for the reader, but not the people involved.

10. Clues for the reader about what is happening
The deportees have a postcard on which to write a ‘final message’. (line 2)
The last message before they leave?
The last message before they die?
Camp orders forbid posting the cards, so they must be left or thrown out of the train. (line 3)
They are going to a ‘camp’. We can assume a concentration camp, because of the context.
In this ‘camp’ they will not be allowed keep the postcard (it must be thrown away first)

11. Clues for the reader about what is happening
Only ‘two or three pencils had survived the barracks search’. (line 4)
Even in the place where they are before deportation they are strictly controlled, and even pencils are taken away from them.
The pencils are personified using the word ‘survive’. It makes the reader wonder whether any of the people involved will also survive.
The buses carried the ‘number of a wagon on the eastbound train’ instead its normal ‘suburban destination’. (line 34)
The reader knows they will be taking a train, and travelling further afield.

12. Clues for the reader about what is happening
‘She was looking to remember, for ever.’ (line 48)
Maybe this woman will never see her child again.

13. Think about all the people involved in the story and complete the table on page 63
Complete the table, making a comment on each person or group, explaining how they are presented and how this adds to our understanding of the situation. Finally, find a quotation which demonstrates each key point.

14. Table on page 63 People Key Question Comment Key Quotations
 André, the older of the two children
What is his importance in this passage?
 The writer tends to focus on what he sees and thinks. He begins to understand what is really happening.
It came to André that she was not looking in hatred… (line 45)
 Jacob, the younger brother of André, and the other children
How does the way they are described and their actions help to shape the reader’s reactions?
 - They seem more reliant on the people around them
They are less aware of the dangers to come than the adults
 -’Jacob’s limbs were intertwined in his (André’s) for warmth.’ (l.15)
‘He held on hard to Jacob’ (l.49)
‘One of the older boys embraced her in his gratitude.’ (l.11)
-’The children were spared the last hours of their wait by their ability to fall asleep.’ (l.19)
 The adult deportees
In what ways is their behaviour different?
 - They were more aware of the dangers awaiting them than the children
-’Many of the adults refused to drink because they knew it meant breakfast, and therefore the departure.’ (l.22)

15. Table on page 63 People Key Question Comment Key Quotations
 Jewish orderly (line 1), a deportee who is employed to supervise
Is he betraying his own people or helping them?
 -Yes. He should not help the Nazis to persecute them.
-No, He makes their difficult lives slightly more pleasant by allowing them to write postcards.
 ’a Jewish orderly came with postcards on which the deportees might write a final message.’
(line 1)
 The women who throw food down (line 41).
Who are these women?
These are probably the mothers of the children. They have not themselves been deported yet.
 ’women wailing and calling out their names.’ (line 41)
 The woman who looks with terrible ferocity (line 44) – she is the mother of a child who is being deported
 What does her look mean?
 She is trying to stamp her child’s image in her mind, in case she never sees him again.
‘she… had kept her eyes so intensely open in order to fix the picture of her child in her mind.’ (line 47)

16. Table on page 63 People Key Question Comment Key Quotations
 The French officials – the commandant and the policemen (also called gendarmes) – who are supercising what is happening
What responsibility do they bear for this happening?
 They are keeping lists of all the people and ensuring they get on the buses. They pull the children out, and drag them to the buses.
‘the gendarmes were sent up to fetch them. In the filthy straw they dug in their heels and screamed….’ (line 38)
 The bus driver (line 56) who is taking the deportees to the station.
Is he just doing his job?
 what do you think?

17. Language
Complete the worksheet about the language in ‘The Last Night’, giving at least one example for each technique and a comment on the effect.

18. Language worksheet Use of Language Example Effect Contrasting words
‘the soft bloom of his cheek laid, uncaring, in the dung.’ (line 14)
‘some wrote with sobbing passion, some with punctilious care.’ (line 6)
‘homely thudding of Parisian bus.’ (which will bring them to camp) (line 28)
Beauty of a child’s cheek against the situation he’s in
Different reactions of people
Familiar in contrast to the unknown 
Words or phrases that suggest sound or movement
‘a sudden ripple, a quickening of muscle and nerve…’ (line 26) 
‘dug their heels in and screamed.’ (line 38)
-adds drama and tension
-allows the reader to imagine the fear the children are feeling
Complex words and heightened language
 the look of terrible ferocity André noticed in the face of the woman. (line 44)
Punctilious care (line 6)
 -emphasises the intense feelings underlying the situation.
-emphasises the enormity of the situation

19. Language worksheet People Example Effect Personification
‘pencils (that) had survived the… search’ (line 4)
the buses ‘stood trembling’ (line 31)
‘the bus roared’ (line 56)
Implies that the situation is so terrifying that even the pencils and buses feel the tension.
The adjectives applied to the pencils and buses also apply to the people. 
Oxymoron
‘sobbing passion’ (line 6)
 Emphasises the power of the emotions
Ellipsis
Parisian bus…. (line 29)
Builds up tension 

20. Language Worksheet People Example Effect Colloquial language
‘gendarmes’
 Personalises the situation and reinforces the location.
Emphasises how these people are being betryed by their own city and people (also, Parisian buses)
Questions
‘Why did she stare at him as though she hated him?’
Gives us an insight into Jacob’s confusion and fear. 

21. Overall
The text ‘The Last Night’ is written in a matter-of-fact way, with Faulks describing the plight of the deportees in a straight-forward way. This is contrasted with the horror of the situation make it especially poignant and sad.