Annales gratuites Bac S : O'Brien

     The classroom was in a muddle. Miss Moriarty was bent over a book and Baba was arranging the lilac (my lilac) on the little May altar at the top of the classroom. The smaller children were sitting on the floor mixing all the separate colours of plasticine(1) together ; and the big girls were chatting in groups of three or four.
     Delia Sheehy was taking cobwebs out of the corners of the ceiling. She had a cloth tied to the end of the window pole and as she moved from one corner to another she dragged the pole along the whitewashed walls and the dusty, faded grey maps. Maps of Ireland and Europe and America. Delia was a poor girl who lived in a cottage with her grandmother. She got all the dirty jobs at school. In winter she lit the fire and cleaned the ashes every morning before the rest of us came in ; and every Friday she cleaned the closets with a yard brush and a bucket of Jeyes Fluid water. She had two summer dresses and she washed one every second evening, so that she was always clean and neat and scrubbed looking. She told me that she would be a nun when she grew up.
     'You're late, you're going to be killed, murdered, slaughtered,' Baba said to me as I came in. So I went over to apologize to Miss Moriarty.
     'What ? What's this ?' she asked impatiently, as she lifted her head from her book. It was an Italian book. She learnt Italian by post and went to Rome in the summertime. She had seen the Pope and she was a very clever woman. She told me to go to my seat ; she was annoyed that I had found her reading an Italian book. On my way down Delia Sheehy whispered to me, 'She never missed you'.
     So Baba had sent me to apologize for nothing. I could have gone to my desk unnoticed. I took out an English book and read Thoreau's 'A Winter Morning' - 'Silently we unlatch the door, letting the drift fall in, and step abroad to face the cutting air. Already the stars have lost some of their sparkle, and a dull leaden mist skirts the horizon' - and I was just there when Miss Moriarty called for silence. ''We have great news today,' she said and she was looking at me. Her eyes were small and blue and piercing. You would think she was cross but it was just that she had bad sight from over-reading.
     'Our school is honoured,' she said and I felt myself beginning to blush.
     'You, Caithleen, ' she said, looking directly at me, 'have won a scholarship.' I stood up and thanked her and all the girls clapped. She said that we wouldn't do much work that day as a celebration.
     'Where will she be going ?' Baba asked. She had put all the lilac in jam-jars and placed them in a dreary half-circle around the statue of the Blessed Virgin. The teacher said the name of the convent. It was at the other end of the county and there was no bus to it.
     Delia Sheehy asked me to write in her autograph album and I wrote something soppy. Then a little fold of paper was thrown up from behind, on to my desk. I opened it. It was from Baba. It read :
               I'm going there too in September. My father has it all fixed. I have my uniform got.
               Of course we're paying. It's nicer when you pay. You're a right-looking eejit(2).
               Baba

Edna O' Brien, The Country Girls, 1960

Edna O' Brien is an Irish novelist.

(1) plasticine : pâte à modeler
(2) eejit : idiote

1. The action takes place in : (Circle the right answer)

Justify your choice by quoting from the text.

Justify your choice by quoting from the text.

2. a) List the characters or the groups of characters that are present in the scene.

b) Match occupations with the main characters.

3. a) Who do the underlined words refer to ?

Baba was arranging the lilac (my lilac)

"You, Caithleen," she said, looking directly at me, "have won a scholarship." I stood up and...

"Where will she be going ?" Baba asked. She had put all the lilac in jam-jars...

b) In your opinion, what type of narrative is the text ?
................ ...................... ...................... ......................

4. Pick out four phrases that show "the classroom was in a muddle".
.............. ...................... ...................... ...................... ......................

5. "You, Caithleen" she said; looking directly at me, "have won a scholarship."
a).Find the meaning of scholarship. (Circle the right answer)

b) What does the winning of this scholarship reveal about the narrator's personal qualities ?
Tick the right answer(s).

c) "I felt myself beginning to blush".
This reaction shows that the narrator is :

6.
a) One of the following characters does not get on well with the narrator. (Circle the right answer.)
     Caithleen - Miss Moriarty - Baba - Delia Sheehy
Justify your choice by quoting from the text (two examples).
...................... ...................... ...................... ...................... ...................... ......................

b) Among the following adjectives, which one describes the character best ?
Tick the right answer.

1. The action takes place in : (Circle the right answer)

2. a) List the characters or the groups of characters that are present in the scene.

b) Match occupations with the main characters.

3. a) Who do the underlined words refer to ?

Baba was arranging the lilac (my lilac)

"You, Caithleen," she said, looking directly at me, "have won a scholarship." I stood up and...

"Where will she be going ?" Baba asked. She had put all the lilac in jam-jars...

5. "You, Caithleen" she said; looking directly at me, "have won a scholarship."
a).Find the meaning of scholarship. (Circle the right answer)

b) What does the winning of this scholarship reveal about the narrator's personal qualities ?
Tick the right answer(s).

c) "I felt myself beginning to blush".
This reaction shows that the narrator is :

b) Among the following adjectives, which one describes the character best ?
Tick the right answer.