Compréhension De Texte

[Marie31*]

Bonjour,

J'aurais besoin d'aide pour la compréhension du texte suivant :

IT WAS MY FIRST DAY. I had come the night before, a gray-black and cold night before – as it was expected in the middle of January, though I didn’t know that at the time – and I could not see anything clearly on the way in from the airport, even though there were lights everywhere. As we drove along, someone would single out to me a famous building, an important street, a park, a bridge that when built was thought to be a spectacle. In a daydream I used to have, all these places were points of happiness to me; all these places were lifeboats to my small drowning soul […]. Now that I saw these places, they looked ordinary, dirty, worn down by so many people entering them in real life, and it occurred to me that I could not be the only person in the world for whom they were a fixture of fantasy. It was not my first bout with the disappointment of reality and it would not be my last. The undergarments that I wore were all new, bought for my journey, and as I sat in the car, twisting this way and that to get a good view of the sights before me, I was reminded of how uncomfortable the new can make you feel. I got into an elevator, something I had never done before, and then I was in an apartment and seated at a table, eating food just taken from a refrigerator. In the place I had just come from, I always lived in a house, and my house did not have a refrigerator in it. Everything I was experiencing – the ride in an elevator, being in an apartment, eating day-old food that had been stored in a refrigerator – was such a good idea that I could imagine I would grow used to it and like it very much, but at first it was all so new that I had to smile with my mouth turned down at the corners. I slept soundly that night but it wasn’t because I was happy and comfortable – quite the opposite; it was because I didn’t want to take in anything else. That morning, the morning of my first day, the morning that followed my first night, was a sunny morning. It was not the sort of bright sun- yellow making everything curl at the edges, almost in fright, that I was used to, but a pale-yellow sun, as if the sun had grown weak from trying too hard to shine; but still it was sunny and that was nice and made me miss my home less. And so, seeing the sun, I got up and put on a dress, a gay dress made out of madras cloth – the same sort of dress that I would wear if I were at home and setting out for a day in the country. It was all wrong. The sun was shining but the air was cold. It was the middle of January, after all. But I did not know that the sun could shine and the air remain cold; no one had ever told me. What a feeling that was! How can I explain? Something I had always known – the way I knew my skin was the color brown of a nut rubbed repeatedly with a soft cloth, or the way I knew my own name – something I took completely for granted, “ the sun is shining, the air is warm”, was not so. I was no longer in a tropical zone, and this realization now entered my life like a flow of water dividing formerly dry and solid ground, creating two banks, one of which was my past – so familiar and predictable that even my unhappiness then made me happy now just to think of it – the other, my future, a gray blank, an overcast seascape on which rain was falling and no boats were in sight. I was no longer in a tropical zone and I felt cold inside and out, the first time such a sensation had come over me.

Jamaica Kincaid, Lucy (1990)

Voici les questions où j'ai du mal :

1. What sort of narrative is it ?

-> J'hésite entre un roman et une autobiographie, car je n'arrive pas à déterminer si si il s'agit d'une histoire vraie ou pas ...

3. When does the scene take place ?

-> Dire que c'est au milieu du mois de janvier suffit, ou faut-il essayer de "deviner" l'époque ?

4. Where is the scene set ?

-> Dans un appartement ? Parce qu'au début, elle n'y ait pas ...

5. Right or wrong? Justify by quoting from the text.

b. It was the narrator’s dream to come to this new place.

-> Vrai "In a daydream I used to have, all these places were points of happiness to me"

d. The narrator was disappointed with the different sights.

e. The narrator couldn’t sleep after discovering so many new things.

-> Faux "I slept soundly that night but it wasn’t because I was happy and comfortable – quite the opposite; it was because I didn’t want to take in anything else."

f. The narrator missed home.

-> Vrai "

9. In your own words explain why the narrator wrote “it was all wrong” (ligne 14)

10. The narrator wrote line 34-35, “I felt cold inside and out, the first time such a sensation had come over me.” Explain what she means in your own words.

11. To express what she felt at home and in this new place the narrator uses images referring to the sea.

a. Pick out these images. (two quotes)

-> J'ai trouvé : "these places were lifeboats to my small drowning soul " et "this realization now entered my life like a flow of water dividing formerly dry and solid ground, creating two banks, one of which was my past – so familiar and predictable that even my unhappiness then made me happy now just to think of it – the other, my future, a gray blank, an overcast seascape on which rain was falling and no boats were in sight"

b. Explain their meaning. (40 words)

-> Je ne comprends pas trop leur sens ...

Merci beaucoup d'avance.

[Jean B]

Bonjour,

Bonjour,

J'aurais besoin d'aide pour la compréhension du texte suivant :

Jamaica Kincaid, Lucy 1990

Voici les questions où j'ai du mal :

1. What sort of narrative is it ?

-> J'hésite entre un roman et une autobiographie, car je n'arrive pas à déterminer s'il s'agit d'une histoire vraie ou pas ...

- Pourquoi l'histoire ne serait-elle pas vraie ? Elle donne pourtant pas mal de détails personnels, non ?

3. When does the scene take place ?

-> Dire que c'est au milieu du mois de janvier suffit, ou faut-il essayer de "deviner" l'époque ?

- L'époque, tu l'as déjà.

4. Where is the scene set ?

-> Dans un appartement ? Parce qu'au début, elle n'y ait est pas ... <Oh la vilaine faute !

- Le décor général est la grande ville où elle pénètre en venant de l'aéroport puis l'appartement.

5. Right or wrong? Justify by quoting from the text.

b. It was the narrator's dream to come to this new place.

-> Vrai "In a daydream I used to have, all these places were points of happiness to me"

- Faux. Ne t'arrête pas à "daydream". Ce rêve éveillé, elle le faisait avant (In a daydream I used to have...) de venir dans la grande ville. Maintenant qu'elle la voit de ses yeux dans toute sa réalité, quelle est sa réaction ?

d. The narrator was disappointed with the different sights. Oui, forcément. Trouve les arguments, c'est facile.

e. The narrator couldn't sleep after discovering so many new things.

-> Faux "I slept soundly that night but it wasn't because I was happy and comfortable – quite the opposite; it was because I didn't want to take in anything else." OK

f. The narrator missed home.

-> Vrai " OK N'oublie pas de le justifier en citant le texte.

9. In your own words explain why the narrator wrote "it was all wrong" (ligne 14)

- On pourrait rendre ça par "J'avais tout faux". Les justifications se trouvent juste avant et juste après, logique.

10. The narrator wrote line 34-35, "I felt cold inside and out, the first time such a sensation had come over me." Explain what she means in your own words.

- "J'avais froid ("intérieurement et superficiellement"), c'était la première fois que j'éprouvais pareille sensation".

On te demande d'expliquer à ta façon ce qu'elle veut dire.

11. To express what she felt at home and in this new place the narrator uses images referring to the sea.

a. Pick out these images. (two quotes)

-> J'ai trouvé : "these places were lifeboats to my small drowning soul " et "this realization now entered my life like a flow of water dividing formerly dry and solid ground, creating two banks, one of which was my past – so familiar and predictable that even my unhappiness then made me happy now just to think of it – the other, my future, a gray blank, an overcast seascape on which rain was falling and no boats were in sight" OK

b. Explain their meaning. (40 words)

-> Je ne comprends pas trop leur sens ... Pas de dictionnaire ?

lifeboats = des canots de sauvetage...etc.

Merci beaucoup d'avance.