Into The Wild Extract 2 KEY PDF

Into the Wild – extract 2 KEY TO THE written expression, listening and reading comprehension exercises I- Watch the first minute of this extract and answer the questions below. 1- Fill in the gaps in the transcript of McCandless sentences spoken during this first minute, and translate them int...

Into the Wild – extract 2 KEY TO THE written expression, listening and reading comprehension exercises I- Watch the first minute of this extract and answer the questions below. 1- Fill in the gaps in the transcript of McCandless sentences spoken during this first minute, and translate them into French: a- “So now, after two rambling years, comes the final and greatest adventure: the climactic battle to kill the false being within and victoriously conclude the spiritual revolution.”  « Ainsi, après deux années de vagabondage, voici la dernière et la plus grande des aventures: l’ultime combat mené pour tuer l’être intérieur factice et conclure victorieusement la révolution spirituelle. » b- “No longer to be poisoned by civilization, he flees, and walks alone upon the land, to become lost in the wild. Alexander Supertramp, May 1992.”  “Afin de ne plus être empoisonné par la civilisation, il s’enfuit, et marche seul à travers le pays, pour se perdre dans la vie sauvage. » 2- Explain the irony in this sequence through two examples. Irony first sets in through the scene of the reindeer he refuses to kill because it turns out to be a female with a calf. The scene ironically counterpoints his carvings in the magic bus, one of which proclaims that he has killed his false civilized self and is now ready to live in the wild. His failure to kill the reindeer rather ominously suggests that he remains too civilized and sensitive to survive in the wild. Soon after, as he is lying on his back in the snow, a point of view shot of military airplanes contradicts and mocks his claim that he has fled civilization. II- Watch the following section of the excerpt: 1’00’’  4’25’’. 1- What aspects of the graduation ceremony does the film seem to emphasize? Does the sequence do justice to the symbolism of graduation ceremonies described on the website of the University of Washington at: https://www.washington.edu/ceremony/tradition/symbols-meanings/. ? Explain. The scene of the graduation ceremony opens on the Scottish-styled Atlanta pipe band marching in military procession while leading the crowd of academics and new graduates dressed up in their ceremonial gowns and mortars1. The formality and solemnity of the occasion are brought out2 through a series of medium close-ups3 of the people in the crowd, including Chris’s parents. The military culture informing the US university system is foregrounded through those medium close-ups of the solemn, determined faces combined with the military music, and the band seemingly moving towards the viewers, in a self-assured, conquering manner. Soon after, an aerial 1 Or : caps 2 To bring sth out = emphasize sth, highlight sth 3 Plans rapprochés (close-ups = gros plans) shot4 displays the crowd now sitting in well-ordered, tightly packed rows to watch and wait for the awarding of degrees5. Again, it highlights the culture of regimentation, social control and conformism that informs American university traditions. The scene reflects the values of conservatism, tradition, strict social hierarchy and order symbolized by the ceremonial dress code of universities like Emery College or Washington university. As explained on the Washington University website, ceremonial caps and gowns6 are symbols of the freedom and democracy of scholarship. In the movie, these values seem to be overshadowed7 by those of social control and regimentation8. The following account by University historian Gary Hauk confirms the militaristic spirit that graduation or commencement ceremonies9 at Emory are imbued with10: “ From the back of the gathered crowd a single bagpipe wails11 its first martial notes, followed by a roll of drums and a crashing skirl12 from the rest of the Atlanta Pipe Band. The chief marshal of the University steps out in stately time, followed by the bagpipers13, then University trustees, officers, and honorary degree recipients. Immediately preceding the president is the bedel14, carrying the University’s silver and gold mace15, symbol of the institution as a corporate body of scholars16. At the same time, deputy marshals begin to lead in the faculty from two directions, and faculty marshals lead in the degree candidates from every school. The processions converge on the Quadrangle from all directions, like some grand medieval army on parade, bright gonfalons17 waving aloft, faculty resplendent in antiquated garb18, black-cloaked graduates19 regaled20 in colored hoods21 distinctive to their degrees. Commencement at Emory once again is underway22.” 4 Prise de vue aérienne 5 A degree = a diploma => the awarding of degrees = la remise de diplômes 6 gaxnz = robes, toges 7 = eclipsed 8 (redGqmFn)teiHFn  Strict social control 9 commencement ceremony [kF)mensmFnt )serFmFnq] = cérémonie de rentrée 10 qm)bju:d wqD To be imbued with sth => be filled with sth, permeated with sth 11 weql  emit a sound of lament 12 skE:l = bagpipes sound (son de la cornemuse) (crashing skirl = sudden, tumultuous sound of a bagpipes band) 13 Joueurs de cornemuse 14 “The bedel (from medieval Latin pedellus or bidellus, occasionally bidellus generalis, from Old High German bital, pital, "the one who invites, calls"; cognate with beadle) was, and is to some extent still, an administrative official at universities in several European countries, and often had a policiary function at the time when universities had their own jurisdiction over students.” Source: Wikipedia : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedel 15 meqs =Masse (cérémonielle) 16 )skolFz  érudits, chercheurs universitaires 17 )gonfFlFnz  gonfalons (bannières à fanions) 18 Clothes, attire, dress 19 des néo-diplômés portant des capes noires 20 Wearing traditional clothes 21 hxdz  capuches 22 Source: Emory university website at: https://commencement.emory.edu/history/essay.html  2- The following text is the poem by the American poet Sharon Olds that Chris reads to his sister Carine inside the car. Listen to and read it carefully before answering the questions below. I Go Back to May 1937 you are going to do bad things to children, By Sharon Olds you are going to suffer in ways you have not heard of, I see them standing at the formal gates of their colleges, you are going to want to die. I want to go I see my father strolling out up to them there in the late May sunlight and say it, under the ochre sandstone arch, the her hungry pretty face turning to me, red tiles glinting like bent her pitiful beautiful untouched body, plates of blood behind his head, I his arrogant handsome face turning to me, see my mother with a few light books at her hip his pitiful beautiful untouched body, standing at the pillar made of tiny bricks, but I don’t do it. I want to live. I the wrought-iron gate still open behind her, its take them up like the male and female sword-tips aglow in the May air, paper dolls and bang them together they are about to graduate, they are about to get married, at the hips, like chips of flint, as if to they are kids, they are dumb, all they know is they are strike sparks from them, I say innocent, they would never hurt anybody. Do what you are going to do, and I will tell about it. I want to go up to them and say Stop, don’t do it—she’s the wrong woman, Sharon Olds, “I Go Back to May 1937” from Strike Sparks: he’s the wrong man, you are going to do things Selected Poems 1980-2002. Copyright © 2004 by Sharon you cannot imagine you would ever do, Olds. a- In the first twelve lines of the poem, which images and phrases link society to violence, oppression and imprisonment? Explain them as well as their connection to the title of the poem. “standing at the formal gates of their colleges” => Instead of the freedom of mind and movement that one would normally associate with college education, the image hints at fixity (“standing”) and lack of freedom, segregation, since “formal gates” are meant to exclude certain people and protect or seclude others. The adjective “formal” emphasizes the idea of institutional, official or collectively accepted control and authority denoted by the term “gates”. “strolling out / under the ochre sandstone arch” => Again, the poet contrasts an image of freedom – the father “strolling out” – with one of physical confinement or separation from the sky or the cosmos: “under the ochre sandstone arch”. The image also implies that the institution of the college and all that it stands for weighs upon the strolling student’s shoulders, like a heavy “ochre sandstone arch”. His freedom is but an illusion. “red tiles glinting like bent / plates of blood behind his head” => This simile23 introduces the theme of suppressed, hidden violence into the poem. The decorative tiles that are meant to adorn and embellish the building, are associated to blood by the poet’s imagination to indicate that beyond the appearance of magnificence and luxury lie dangerous, violent truths most probably related to American socio-political history and the second world war that was about the break out in 1937. The term “glinting” also hints at violence since having a “glint” in one’s eye is often used to refer to an aggressive, mean look. “standing at the pillar made of tiny bricks” => While the father is remembered standing next to the formal gates of the college, the mother is represented standing next to another symbol of institutional rigidity, permanence and authority. The tiny bricks connote industry and painstaking, repetitive labour, as well as unimaginative rationality. Both parents are thus connected to symbols of alienating social structure. 23 = comparaison (figure de style) “the wrought-iron gate” => The image echoes that of the “formal gates” of the first line. Here, the poet specifies the gate is made of “wrought-iron”, which suggests sturdiness24, hence a gate that is very hard to go through once it is closed. The college is again implicitly equated to a place of exclusion and seclusion. The description of the gate as “still open behind her” also symbolically implies that it is about to close behind her and put an end to the illusions of freedom and hope the mother may still hold had as a young student. “sword-tips aglow in the May air” => Again, latent institutional violence and bellicosity are highlighted. Note also the link between this image of potential violence and light (“aglow”), which recalls the glinting blood-red tiles of a previous line. The reference to the “May air”, which evokes regenerated life and springtime, contrasts ironically with the potentially lethal or destructive sword tips. b- “they are kids, they are dumb, all they know is they are / innocent, they would never hurt anybody.” Explain the irony in this passage and what the poet means. The poet obviously means the contrary of what she claims about the young students. By writing that they dumbly consider themselves innocent and harmless, she actually means that they are unknowingly internalizing the violence of their society and culture. c- Translate those first twelve lines into French. Je reviens à mai 1937 par Sharon Olds Je les vois debout près des portails pompeux25 de leurs universités, Je vois mon père sortir en flânant26 sous l’arc de grès ocre, le carrelage rouge étincelant comme des plaques27 de sang tordues derrière sa tête, Je vois ma mère, quelques livres minces28 sur une hanche, debout au pied d’une colonne en briques minuscules, la grille en fer forgé29 encore ouverte derrière elle, ses pointes d’épée brillant dans l’air de mai, Ils sont sur le point d’être diplômés, sur le point de se marier, Ce sont des enfants, ils sont idiots, tout ce qu’ils savent c’est qu’ils sont Innocents et ne peuvent faire de mal à personne. 24 Or : toughness, stoutness – sth that is sturdy is hard and strong and cannot be easily broken or damaged. 25 Formal [)fc :mFl]  depending on the context of use, formal can mean : official, solemn, serious, conventional, smart, ceremonial etc… 26 Strolling out = schéma résultatif ici => out exprime le résultat de l’action « stroll » (= se promener, flâner). Il faut recourir à une transposition en anglais pour traduire les schémas résultatifs : le résultat exprimé par un adverbe (ce peut être aussi un adjectif ou un groupe prépositionnel) dans l’énoncé anglais, doit le plus souvent être traduit par un verbe d’action en français, tandis que la cause exprimée par le verbe anglais pourra être traduite par un nom, un adverbe ou un verbe au participe présent selon les cas. Comparez avec : He drove away.  il est parti en voiture / She ran in.  elle est entrée en courant / Jane elbowed her way out of the room Jane est sortie de la pièce en jouant des coudes) / They shouted the lioness off.  Ils ont fait fuir la lionne en hurlant. / He has sung us deaf.  Il nous a assourdis à force de chanter. / They drank themselves under the table.  Ils ont bu jusqu’à rouler sous la table.) 27 Le terme « plate » a de nombreuses significations en anglais : assiette, plaque, couche de métal (recouvrant qqch), lamelle (pour microscope) etc. Ici, on peut considérer que la poétesse compare les carreaux de faïence étincelant au soleil à des couches de sang encore frais. 28 Livres légers serait ambigu en français. 29 Attention à la prononciation de wrought-iron => rc :t aqFn (wrought est dérivé d’une forme ancienne du participe passé du verbe work – Dans des emplois littéraires, il peut signifier changer, transformer qqch => Time has wrought change in him. / The disease wrought havoc on the livestock (exemple tiré de Collins Cobuild dictionary) d- Explain Olds’s final comparison and translate it into French : “… I / take them up like the male and female / paper dolls and bang them together / at the hips, like chips of flint, as if to / strike sparks from them …”  “ Je les soulève comme les poupées de papier homme et femme et les cogne l’une contre l’autre, sur les hanches, tels des éclats de silex, comme pour en faire jaillir des étincelles … »  Olds’s comparison suggests a desire to revive the parental figures that she can only remember as alienated, dehumanized social beings. Instead of trying to go back in time and warn them or tell them off30, she explains that she has chosen to tell about them and “bang them together” like “paper dolls”. Through this image, the poet may mean that she has chosen to revive31 them on the page, as paper creatures, and write about them critically and violently, probably to express the sparks32 of life that they suppressed by choosing to live normal, dumbly33 innocent and submissive34 lives. III- Final sequence: family lunch and Carine’s voice-over portrayal of her brother : 4’26’’  end. 1- Fill in the gaps in the following transcript of the dialogue and Carine’s voice-over commentary: Billie McCandless (Mother): (at the restaurant) Here they are, Walt. Okay? Carine McCandless (sister): (in the car) Who wrote that? Christopher McCandless: (in the car) Well, could have been either one of us, couldn't it? Walt McCandless (father): (at the restaurant) Why is he letting Carine drive his car? Chris: There's a lot of great poems in here. Walt: I have to speak to her about it. Billie: (to Walt) Sit down. (to a woman) Excuse me. I'm going to get my son. He’s just graduated from Emory College. (to a waitress) I'll get it. I'll get it. Chris, hi! We've been waiting and waiting. You scared me half to death jumping up there on that stage like that. Chris: - Hi, Dad. Walt: Congratulations, Son. This is a big step. Chris: Thank you, Dad. (sitting down) All right. Walt: (to Carine) You're not supposed to be driving in Georgia. Carine: Why? I have my permit. Walt: 'Cause it's against the law for a learner’s permit to drive in another state than one’s home state. That's why. Carine: I didn't know that. I thought that if I was with a legal driver that it'd be okay. Billie: Well, let's... (cut off by the entrance of rowdy baseball fans) Billie: Are they going to continue? Waitress: No. Billie: I guess everybody is celebrating today. Walt: They're going to stay in the bar, right? Waitress: That's right. Chris: My grades have been good enough , I think, to get into Harvard Law. Billie: Chris, that's wonderful. 30 To tell sbdy off = gronder, réprimander qqn 31 rq)vaiv  Redonner vie à qqn/qqch 32 spa:ks  étincelles 33 )dymlq 34 sFb)mqsqv = meek [mi:k], passive, obedient [F)bi :dqFnt] Walt: That is a big deal. How much do you have left in the college fund ? Chris: Exactly $24,500.68. Billie: Well, that's specific. Chris: I had to go to the bank this morning, Mom. Walt: Your mother and I will be glad to contribute to balance for Harvard. Billie: That's right. Chris: I've got to figure out what I'm going to do. I've got a lot of things to pack and organize here first. Billie: Your father and I, we want to make a present to you. We want to get you out of that junker35. Chris: What junker? Billie: That. Walt: We want to buy you a new car. Billie: That's right. Chris: A new car? Why would I want a new car? Datsun runs great. Do you think I want some fancy boat? Are you worried what the neighbours might think? Billie: Well, we weren't going to get you a brand new Cadillac, Chris. We just want to get you a nice new car that’s safe to drive. And you never know when that thing out there just might blow up. Chris: Blow up. Blow up? Are you guys crazy? It's a great car. I don't need a new car. I don't want a new car. I don't want anything. Billie: Okay. Chris: These things, things, things, things. Billie: Okay. Walt: Everything has to be difficult. Chris: Thank you. Thank you. Billie: Maybe that's not what he means. Maybe he just wants his old car. It's not such a big deal. Chris: Thank you. I just don't want anything. Carine (voice-over): Chris measured himself and those around him by a fiercely rigorous moral code. Carine (waving at Chris): Bye, Chris! Carine (voice-over): He risked what could have been a relentlessly lonely path but found company in the characters of the books he loved from writers like Tolstoy, Jack London and Thoreau. He could summon their words to suit any occasion, and he often would. I forgot to ask what quote he had picked for his graduation dinner, but I had a good idea of who the primary target would be. It was inevitable that Chris would break away. And when he did, he would do it with characteristic immoderation. 35 )dGynkF  Ici : guimbarde, tas de ferraille (voiture) 2- Translate Carine’s voice-over commentary highlighted at the end of the transcript. Il se risquait à s’engager sur ce qui aurait pu être une voie cruellement36 solitaire, mais trouvait de la compagnie parmi les personnages des livres qu’il aimait, ceux de Tolstoï, Jack London et Thoreau. Il pouvait les citer37 à propos en toute occasion et s’en privait38 rarement. J’ai oublié de lui demander quelle citation il avait choisie pour son dîner de gala de remise de diplômes, mais je voyais très bien qui en serait39 la cible principale. Chris allait forcément rompre les amarres. Et quand il le ferait, ce serait avec la démesure qui le caractérisait. 36 Ou bien : implacablement, inexorablement 37 To summon sth = convoquer, invoquer 38 Reprise par auxiliaire ‘would’ : le verbe ‘summon’ de la proposition précédente est repris par l’auxiliaire ‘would’. ‘would’ n’exprime pas un conditionnel ici, mais est employé à une forme dite fréquentative ou itérative: il sert à exprimer une répétition passée de l’événement décrit par le verbe ‘summon’. 39 Would be = conditionnel présent ici.