Annales Bac L : Compréhension du texte

Otis Godberry said "We've got some kids here from the projects in Dorchester" - he said "projects" in a certain way, meaning ghetto - "and I'd appreciate it if you could make them feel especially welcome. They find it awfully hard to fit in with the other kids".
"Because they're horrid little beasts. You might have to employ persuasion", Mr Phyllis said.
"They're part of our target audience, "Mr Mazzola said in a stern voice.
"I'll keep them in mind", Millroy said.
"You'll be lucky if you can just shut them up," Mr Phyllis said. "Paradise Park has never had a live audience before, and I don't see any reason to start now."
"This'll just be a pilot program," Miss Spitler said, "See how it goes."
Then we all walked into the studio, and Millroy went to the centre of the stage, opened his box of tricks, and took charge, silencing the studio by dropping his chainsaw (1) and making an enormous crash.
He now had everyone's attention.
Millroy next produced a puppet, and the puppet conjured (2) Boobie the chicken, feathers and all. The puppet clapped a silver dome over Boobie - shrieked "Lonny !" - the name of a boy in the front row - and when he removed the dome there were ten pieces of fried chicken where Boobie had been. The children loved it, and cheered.
He had placed the puppet on a table where it lay like a broken doll. Millroy said the puppet had been so helpful, he wanted to make it into a real kid. The puppet wore a red shirt and a baseball hat and blue jeans.
"He deserves (3) to be a real boy," Millroy said.
I knew my signal, and where to go and how to vanish by bunching myself up (4) in the box off stage. I did not see Millroy make the puppet disappear, but I could hear him asking the kids whether he should make the puppet into a real boy.
The children screeched "Yes" over and over and went on squawking like parrots as Millroy persisted with his questions, winding the kids up(5), and the next thing I knew Millroy was whacking the top off (6) my box with a hammer. I stood up, dressed like the puppet, whom I resembled, in the red shirt and baseball hat and blue jeans I had put on in the box.
Millroy calmed the cheering and whistling, while I dropped out of sight, and he said that Uncle Dick had some questions for them - Uncle Dick's history lesson.
"How many of you know what grandparents are ?"
A boy in the front row answered that they were your Dad's and Mom's parents.
"And what are their parents called - you're grandparents' folks ?"
"Great - grandparents !" Several children competed to shout this.
"And if you've got four grandparents and each of them has parents how many great-grandparents does that make ?"
Eventually they got it right - eight great-grandparents.
"Now Uncle Dick has a real interesting question for you youngsters," Millroy said.
Even the adults were listening closely to this - Mr Mazzola, Mrs Spitler, Otis Godberry and the frowning Mr Phyllis.
"How many of you can say that all eight of your great-grandparents were born in the USA ? If one of them was born in Ireland or Puerto Rico or Italy, or somewhere else, just sit there.
But if you know that all eight of your great-grandparents were born in the USA I want you to stand up."
There was a little shuffling and then - how did Millroy know this ? - twelve black children stood up, smiling proudly. And a big person was standing, too, the last man on the judging panel, and he was black too, Otis Godberry.
"You were here first, guys," Millroy said." "You were waiting for us. Let's have a cheer for these early Americans."
Everyone began to clap, with Millroy leading the applause.

Paul THEROUX, Millroy the Magician, 1994.

1 - In what country does the scene take place ? Justify with two quotations from the text.

2 - a. In your own words, compare Otis Godberry's and Mr Phyllis's attitudes towards the children.

b. What does Mr Phyllis really mean he says "You might have to employ persuasion" ?


3 - The passage falls into three parts. Suggest a title for each of them.

Part one : from .......... to ..........

Part two : from .......... to ..........

Part three : from .......... to ..........


4 - Describe the three magic tricks performed by the magician.


5 - Pick out four words used to describe the chidren's enthusiasm for Millroy's magic tricks ?

What do these words have in common ?


6 - a. Who wonders, "-how did Millroy know this ?-"

b. What does it reveal about the character's perception of Millroy ?


7 - Show how the situation is completely reversed at the end.
Justify with a few quotations. (60 words)


8 - Millroy the magician : in your opinion, to what extent is the title relevant to the passage ?
Is Millroy's art limited to performing magic tricks ? (80 words)


9 - In the following examples, say what "it" announces or refers to :

a. "I would appreciate it !"

b. "The children loved it "

c. "he wanted to make it into a real kid"

d. "Eventually they got it right"


10 - Choose from the list below the words and expressions used to designate the characters- the children

- the magician
- the chicken
- the twelve black children and the big person
- the boy sitting in the front row
- the narrator

and write them in the appropriate boxes :

our audience / I / Lonny / the kids / Uncle Dick / Boobie / some kids / horrid little beasts / a real boy / Millroy / Early Americans.