CBSE Class 12 Chapters: Flamingo and Vistas
Class 12 English Core uses Flamingo and the supplementary reader Vistas. Every prose chapter and the play from both is covered here in book order. The Last Lesson and The Rattrap, the two European classics in Flamingo, are out of copyright and are explained in full with the ending and quotations. The rest is twentieth-century writing still in copyright, so those chapters are summarised and analysed without quotation, with the themes, characters and question patterns the board paper rewards.
Read Flamingo first, then Vistas; the two books are examined together. Each guide ends with the questions that recur in the board paper.
- The Last Lesson by Alphonse Daudet (Flamingo, Chapter 1): The Last Lesson by Alphonse Daudet: a complete summary with the ending, the characters, themes of language and loss, and how the story's quiet craft works.
- Lost Spring by Anees Jung (Flamingo, Chapter 2, prose): Lost Spring by Anees Jung, CBSE Class 12 Flamingo chapter 2: Saheb the ragpicker of Seemapuri, Mukesh and the bangle makers of Firozabad, themes, characters and exam answers.
- Deep Water by William Douglas (Flamingo, Chapter 3, prose): Deep Water by William Douglas, CBSE Class 12 Flamingo chapter 3: the YMCA pool at Yakima, the fear of water, the instructor's training, Lake Wentworth, themes, exam answers.
- The Rattrap by Selma Lagerlöf (Flamingo, Chapter 4): The Rattrap by Selma Lagerlöf, summarised with the ending: the peddler's world-as-rattrap theory, Edla's kindness, the stolen thirty kronor and the themes.
- Indigo by Louis Fischer (Flamingo, Chapter 5, prose): Indigo by Louis Fischer, CBSE Class 12 Flamingo chapter 5: Rajkumar Shukla, Gandhi in Champaran 1917, the trial at Motihari, the 25 percent refund, themes and exam answers.
- Poets and Pancakes by Asokamitran (Flamingo, Chapter 6, prose): Poets and Pancakes by Asokamitran, CBSE Class 12 Flamingo chapter 6: Gemini Studios, Pancake make-up, Kothamangalam Subbu, the legal adviser, Stephen Spender, exam answers.
- The Interview by Christopher Silvester (Flamingo, Chapter 7, prose): The Interview, CBSE Class 12 Flamingo chapter 7: Christopher Silvester on the interview as a form, then Mukund Padmanabhan asks Umberto Eco about interstices and his novel.
- Going Places by A. R. Barton (Flamingo, Chapter 8): Going Places by A. R. Barton, CBSE Class 12 Flamingo chapter 8: Sophie's fantasies, Jansie, Geoff, Danny Casey, the canal, themes, character sketch and exam answers.
- The Third Level by Jack Finney (Vistas, Chapter 1): The Third Level by Jack Finney, CBSE Class 12 Vistas chapter 1: Charley at Grand Central, Galesburg 1894, Sam Weiner's letter and the first-day cover, themes and exam answers.
- The Tiger King by Kalki (Vistas, Chapter 2): The Tiger King by Kalki, CBSE Class 12 Vistas chapter 2: the prophecy, the hundred tigers, the wooden toy tiger, satire on power, characters, themes and exam answers.
- Journey to the End of the Earth by Tishani Doshi (Vistas, Chapter 3, prose): Journey to the End of the Earth by Tishani Doshi, CBSE Class 12 Vistas chapter 3: the Akademik Shokalskiy, Students on Ice, Gondwana, Antarctica and climate, exam answers.
- The Enemy by Pearl S. Buck (Vistas, Chapter 4): The Enemy by Pearl S. Buck, CBSE Class 12 Vistas chapter 4: Dr Sadao Hoki, Hana, the wounded American prisoner, the General, the escape by boat, themes and exam answers.
- On the Face of It by Susan Hill (Vistas, play): On the Face of It by Susan Hill, CBSE Class 12 Vistas chapter 5: Derry's burnt face, Mr Lamb's garden and tin leg, the crab apples, the ending on the ladder, exam answers.
- Memories of Childhood by Zitkala-Sa and Bama (Vistas, prose): Memories of Childhood, CBSE Class 12 Vistas chapter 6: Zitkala-Sa's The Cutting of My Long Hair and Bama's We Too Are Human Beings, summaries, themes and exam answers.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working writers. Updated September 2026.
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