DIPLOME NATIONAL DU BREVET SESSION 2010 OPTION

DIPLOME NATIONAL DU BREVET
SESSION 2010
OPTION INTERNATIONALE
EPREUVE DE LITTERATURE EN AMERICAIN
Sujet J1
Durée de l’épreuve: 2 heures 30
Coefficient: 2
Barème : 40 points
Part A – Comprehension and Use of Language: 20 points
Part B – Written Expression: 20 points
Le sujet comporte 6 pages
L’usage du dictionnaire et de la calculatrice n’est pas autorisé
DNB : Option Internationale
Epreuve : Littérature en Américain
Repère : J1
Page : 1/6
PART A
COMPREHENSION AND USE OF LANGUAGE (10 points)
In this extract the African American writer, Alice Walker, looks back on her birthplace while
she is now living in California.
MY HEART HAS REOPENED TO YOU: THE PLACE WHERE I WAS BORN
5
I am a displaced person. I sit here on a swing on the deck of my house in Northern
California admiring how the fog has turned the valley below into a lake. For hours nothing
will be visible below me except this large expanse of vapor; then slowly, as the sun rises and
gains in intensity, the fog will start to curl up and begin its slow rolling drift toward the ocean.
People here call it the dragon; and, indeed, a dragon is what it looks like, puffing and coiling,
winged, flaring and in places thin and discreet, as it races before the sun, back to its ocean
coast den. Mornings I sit here in awe and great peace. The mountains across the valley come
and go in the mist; the redwoods and firs, oaks and giant bays appear as clumpish spires,
enigmatic shapes of green, like the stone forests one sees in Chinese paintings of Guilin*.
10
It is incredibly beautiful where I live. Not fancy at all, or exclusive. But from where I
sit on my deck I can look down on the backs of hawks, and the wide, satiny wings of turkey
vultures glistening in the sun become my present connection to ancient Egyptian Africa. The
pond is so still below me that the trees reflected in it seem, from this distance, to be painted in
its depths.
15
All this: the beauty, the quiet, the cleanliness, the peace, is what I love. I realize how
lucky I am to have found it here. And yet, there are days when my view of the mountains and
redwoods makes me nostalgic for small rounded hills easily walked over, and for the look of
big leaf poplar and the scent of pine.
20
25
30
I am nostalgic for the land of my birth, the land I left forever when I was thirteen moving first to the town of Eatonton, and then, at seventeen, to the city of Atlanta.
I cried one day as I talked to a friend about a tree I loved as a child. A tree that had
sheltered my father on his long cold walk to school each morning: it was midway between his
house and the school and because there was a large cavity in its trunk, a fire could be made
inside it. During my childhood, in a tiny, overcrowded house in a tiny dell below it, I looked
up at it frequently and felt reassured by its age, its generosity despite its years of brutalization
(the fires, I knew, had to hurt), and its tall, old-growth pine nobility. When it was struck by
lightning and killed, and then was cut down and made into firewood, I grieved as if it had
been a person. Secretly. Because who among the members of my family would not have
laughed at my grief?
I have felt entirely fortunate to have had this companion, and even today remember it
with gratitude. But why the tears? my friend wanted to know. And it suddenly dawned on me
that perhaps it was sad that it was a tree and not a member of my family to whom I was so
emotionally close.
DNB : Option Internationale
Epreuve : Littérature en Américain
Repère : J1
Page : 2/6
35
40
45
As a child I assumed I would always have the middle Georgia landscape to live in, as
Brer Rabbit*, a native also, and relative, had his brier patch. It was not to be. The pain of
racist oppression, and its consequence, economic impoverishment, drove me to the four
corners of the earth in search of justice and peace, and work that affirmed my whole being. I
have come to rest here, weary from travel, on a deck—not a southern front porch—
overlooking another world.
I am content; and yet, I wonder what my life would have been like if I had been able
to stay home? I remember early morning fogs in Georgia, not so dramatic as California ones,
but magical too because out of the Southern fog of memory tramps my dark father, smiling
and large, glowing with rootedness,and talking of hound dogs, biscuits and coons. And my
equally rooted mother bustles around the corner of our house preparing to start a wash, the
fire under the black wash pot extending a circle of warmth in which I, a grave-eyed child,
stand. There is my sister Ruth, beautiful to me and dressed elegantly for high school in gray
felt skirt and rhinestone brooch, hurrying up the road to catch the yellow school bus which
glows like a large glow worm in the early morning fog.
Alice Walker, “My Heart has Reopened To You: The Place Where I Was Born”,
from Her Blue Body Everything We Know, 1991
* Annotations
1. * Guilin (l.9) = a picturesque city in China known for its unique scenery and scented trees
2. * Brer Rabbit (l.35) = a trickster character that figures prominently in Indian and AfricanAmerican folklore tales of the South.
DNB : Option Internationale
Epreuve : Littérature en Américain
Repère : J1
Page : 3/6
PART A
COMPREHENSION (10 points)
Understanding the writer’s ideas
Answer the following questions IN YOUR OWN WORDS. Your answers must be in
TWO or THREE FULL sentences.
Line numbers are indicated.
1. Describe the setting in the first paragraph. Pick out two features of the Northern
California environment. (par. 1)
(1 point)
2. What does the author admire about the place where she lives? (l. 10-15)
(1 point)
3. Where does the author actually come from and how does she feel about her
birthplace?
(1 point)
4. Explain the contrast between the landscape of her childhood and the landscape of
California. Pick out two features. (l. 17-18)
(1 point)
5. Give two reasons why the tree is important for the author. (l. 21-26)
(1 point)
6. How did the author express her grief about the tree and why? (l. 27-29)
(1 point)
7. Why did the author leave her childhood homes? (l. 35-37)
(2 points)
8.
Why does Alice Walker consider Georgia’s fog so ‘magical’? (l. 40-48)
(2 points)
Turn over
DNB : Option Internationale
Epreuve : Littérature en Américain
Repère : J1
Page : 4/6
USE OF LANGUAGE (10 points)
Understanding the writer’s techniques
For questions 10, 11, and 12, you need to write a full paragraph of three or four lines.
9. Explain the underlined words in the passage by providing a synonym or by explaining
the meaning of the word as it is used in the passage.
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
displaced (l. 1)
awe (l. 7)
cavity (l. 23)
impoverishment (l. 36)
rootedness (l. 43)
(2.5 points)
10. Examine carefully the description of the fog in Northern California:
…then slowly, as the sun rises and gains in intensity, the fog will start to curl up and
begin its slow rolling drift toward the ocean. People here call it the dragon; and, indeed,
a dragon is what it looks like, puffing and coiling, winged, flaring and in places thin and
discreet, as it races before the sun, back to its ocean coast den. (l.3-7)
Pick out TWO phrases in bold italics with verbs or images and explain how the language
is effective in creating a sense of mystery, movement and magic.
(3 points)
11. Look closely at the description of the birds and the pond which the author views from
her porch:
But from where I sit on my deck I can look down on the backs of hawks, and the wide,
satiny wings of turkey vultures glistening in the sun become my present connection to
ancient Egyptian Africa. The pond is so still below me that the trees reflected in it seem,
from this distance, to be painted in its depths. (l.10-14)
How does the writer skillfully build up a sense of the beauty of nature? You need to
choose TWO phrases in bold italics and explain why they are effective.
(2 points)
12. Study the sentence below which describes Alice Walker’s sister. How is the vivid
memory of her sister built up by the writer’s choice of language? Explain what effect is
created by the words or images in bold italics i.e. what atmosphere, emotion, or attitude is
conveyed.
......There is my sister Ruth, beautiful to me and dressed elegantly for high school in gray
felt skirt and rhinestone brooch, hurrying up the road to catch the yellow school bus
which glows like a large glow worm in the early morning fog…. (l.46-48)
(2.5 points)
END OF PART A: COMPREHENSION AND USE OF LANGUAGE
DNB : Option Internationale
Epreuve : Littérature en Américain
Repère : J1
Page : 5/6
PART B
WRITTEN EXPRESSION (20 POINTS)
Choose either option A or option B and write a composition of approximately 350-450
words (at least two full pages). Your paper will be graded according to the quality of the
ideas expressed as well as the punctuation, spelling and the variety of sentence structure used.
A) Personal or Creative Writing
Describe with sensory details a childhood event, real or imagined, in which you
experience loss, joy or anger. You should build up a sense of atmosphere and tone in your
description.
OR
B) Expository Essay
Write a persuasive article for your school magazine in order to promote a favourite place
you know very well, be it a seaside resort, a country haven or a city. Describe the
attractions of the area and persuade your readers that this ideal place can offer an
educational and interesting day out for students with different interests.
END OF PART B: WRITTEN EXPRESSION
DNB : Option Internationale
Epreuve : Littérature en Américain
Repère : J1
Page : 6/6