Mistakes are common - all of us, whether old or young, may make numerous mistakes. For example, little Franz is careless, indisciplined and unpunctual while the vagabond, who is much older than Franz, remains greedy and chooses to engage in petty thievery.
If not corrected in time, our mistakes bring our growth to a standstill. As in the case of Franz, since he does not take Mr Hamel’s classes seriously, he is unable to learn French despite being present in the classroom. The man with the rattrap, on the other hand, is not satisfied by people’s kindness to him. Instead, he steals from compassionate people like the old crofter who shared his meal with him and gave him a place to rest, without any remorse. He also greedily pretends to be the master blacksmith’s longlost acquaintance, hoping for money from the blacksmith.
However, when they are confronted with their respective situations, they realise their mistakes. Franz attends the last lesson only to realise that he had lost the only opportunity to learn his mother tongue while the vagabond who pretended to be Captain Von Stahle was taken aback by the goodness of Edla.
Upon this realisation, Franz is filled with remorse and tries his best to recite the lesson. He is unable to do so and feels guilty, so he listens to the remaining part of the lesson with rapt attention. Similarly, inspired by Edla’s kindness to him, the rattrap man returns the stolen money.
Both of these characters thus realise their mistakes and take initiative to fix them. They make the choice to evolve into better people by learning from their mistakes, something that makes a difference in their lives.
