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TRANSCRIPT
• Une grande écrivain noire de la li/érature contemporaine américaine, Prix Nobel de la Li/érature en 1993 : Toni Morrison
• Ici, elle peint un tableau de mœurs de l’Ohio dans les années 1920, et de la discrimina<on raciale à l’époque de la Ségréga<on.
• Elle raconte l’histoire de deux femmes noires.
• Incipit du roman impact et importance contexte socio-‐culturel et historique
• Descrip<on du lieu de l’ac<on évoca<on d’un décor couleurs et tableau histoire et évolu<on du lieu
• Le ton de la voix narra<ve amertume nostalgie ironie
• Visualising the scene
• Understanding the cultural references
• SeKng the context
• Apprecia<ng the connota<ve power of language
• Seeing how it’s done
• Detec<ng the tone
• Apprecia<ng “ the joke ”
• Irony and structure
Definite lines are drawn between : blacks and whites rich land and poor land Heaven and Earth jus<ce and injus<ce civilisa<on and nature then and now
• Represent the scene descibed in a drawing, pain<ng, poster or diagram
• Time seKng = 1920s (you could look at some art work from the period to get a feel for the style – reac<on against impressionism -‐ Art nouveau, surrealism…)
• h]p://www.passion-‐estampes.com/litho/dilleyelegante.html
• Poster style of the 1920s and 30s • (NB: this will draw out the symbolic value of the wri]en text and introduce the theme of irony : the Bo]om)
Ramon Dilley
Deauville : bord de mer
The Bo/om/ Heaven/ Blacks / Neighborhood / wild fruit / shacks /big old trees /hills/ people singing and playing
banjos and dancing/ children in trees laughing
A tree-‐lined road/ Pool Hall / Beauty parlour/
Diner / shade from the sun
Medallion/the valley / the river/ white people / valley houses / rich farmland /
relentless sun
“ a dark woman in a flowered dress doing a bit of cakewalk, a bit of black bo/om, a bit of ‘messing around’ to the lively notes of a mouth organ. ”
“feet in long tan shoes once pointed down from chair rungs”
“bunion-‐split shoes”
“frayed lapels”
“knee-‐slapping, wet-‐eyed laughter”
• Origins in slavery and the plantaOon south.
• The Cakewalk was a send-‐up of the rich folks in the "Big House”; it mocked the aristocra<c mannerisms of southern high-‐society.
• Couples lined up to form an aisle, down which each pair would take a turn at a high-‐stepping promenade through the others.
• In many instances the Cakewalk was performance, and even compeOOon.
• The dance was held at the master’s house on the plantaOon and he was the judge.
• The dance’s name comes from the cake awarded to the winning couple.
• In pairs (boy + girl if possible), devise a “cakewalk dance” to the following music h]p://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nqkXIHQgCU&feature=related
• Individually or in pairs or groups, devise a black bo]om dance • Show footage from the internet of these dances which bring the 1920s’ seKng to
life. • h]p://youtu.be/KeQ7H8w3-‐gA
• h]ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-‐XtxTv62Ec&feature=player_embedded
• h]p://youtu.be/RGPnPHrrZeA
• Links in with the theme of irony to be treated (cf: doc origins of cakewalk)…
• The cakewalk fes<vi<es turned conven<on on its head.
• Slaves and servants were encouraged to mock the masters.
• The black dancers wore fine clothes and adopted high-‐toned manners.
• BUT because the dance was sponsored and judged by the planta<on owner, he became master of ceremonies, and became master of the joke as well.
• In allowing him to name a winner he became the master of even his symbolic overthrow.
• “They are going to raze the Time and a Half Pool Hall, where feet in long tan shoes once pointed down from chair rungs..” etc (nostalgia).
• “A steel ball will knock to dust Irene’s Palace of Cosmetology…” (bi/erness)
• “Men in khaki clothes will pry loose the slats of Reba’s grill…” (bi/erness)
• Two different points of view but makes them all laugh
• The whites use it to cheer themselves up when “looking for a li/le comfort somewhere”
• The blacks tell it as a moral tale, an ironic take on their own condi<on when “looking for a li]le comfort somehow.”
• This “joke” symbolises the gulf between the two communiOes. They both laugh but for very different reasons.
• The Bo/om is situated at the top of the hill and the “top” or best posi<on is at the bo]om of the hill.
• The black people look down on the white people but to no purpose – they are too busy trying to survive.
• The black people are closer to Heaven but this is of no use to them -‐ they need to work the earth to live.
• The black people laugh in spite of their pain ; the white people have no pain but don’t know how to enjoy themselves
• Make a list of all the ac<vi<es the black people do
• Make a list of all the ac<vi<es the white people do
• Imagine you are one of those children playing in the pear trees, watching life go on from above. Write a diary entry of a typical day.
• The discussion will not be complete without situa<ng the extract in its wider context – point of view of the author, authorial inten<ons, social and historical context of Segregated America. These points may arise and be dealt with at any point in discussions.
Other documents :
N. Rockwell, “The Problem we all live with” (a pain<ng)
T. Chapman, “Across the Lines” (a song) Frederick Douglass, Narra<ve of the Life of Frederick Douglass
(autobiography)
Bob Dylan, Only a Pawn in their Game, The Lonesome Ballad of HaKe Carrol, The Hurricane…(songs)
M.L.King « I have a dream… » (a speech)
Andrea Levy, Small Island (a novel)
Maya Angelou, S<ll I Rise (a poem) , I know why the caged bird sings…(autobiography)
Kathryn Stocke/, The Help (a novel) + film