Anglais Bac Pro : "Junk" de Melvin Burgess : donner un conseil avec "should"

JUNK DE Melvin BURGESS (1996)

OBJECTIFS : réaliser une activité de lecture/écriture autour du thème de la drogue ;

                      être capable de donner un conseil avec should . Possibilité de lire ensuite

                      une œuvre de littérature de jeunesse (la traduction française de Junk,

                     éditée par Gallimard, coll. « Scripto », se trouve généralement au CDI).

1. Les élèves commentent la première de couverture : What’s the title ? What does « junk » mean ?

     Who’s the author ? Who’s the editor ? What does the picture represent ? What does it suggest ?

     What prizes did this novel receive ?

                                                                         

    puis la quatrième de couverture : résumé de l’intrigue : en compréhension écrite, distinguer résumé et

    critiques (bonnes ou mauvaises : justifier en surlignant et explicitant les adjectifs) ; identifier par

    surlignage les différents personnages et indiquer les relations qu’ils entretiennent entre eux, mettre en

    évidence les événements négatifs auxquels ils doivent faireface.

2. Lecture d’un extrait réécrit: chapitre 19 p. 174-218.

Chapter 19

Gemma

WHEN SOMEONE TEMPTS YOU YOU CAN’T REFUSE

IT’S GETTING COLDER AND YOU KNOW YOU’VE

GOT NOTHING TO LOSE

YOU NEED IT

NO YOU GOT NOTHING TO LOSE

YOU NEED IT

                                                                                  The Only Ones

Lily was in her pyjamas. She almost never goes out these days, so she doesn’t need to get dressed. She was looking at herself in the mirror. Then she turned round to watch Sally push down the needle and smiled.

       ‘Yeah ! Sal ?’

       ‘Better’, said Sally. She took the needle out of her arm. She wiped it carefully on the tissue and put it down. Sally is always so neat and delicate.

        We always use separate needles. These days I only ever share with Tar. If I got something like Aids, he’d get it anyway.

        Then Lily said this thing right out of the blue. She said, ‘I’m going to have a baby.’

        Christ !

        ‘Oh, my God ! What are you going to do, what are you going to do ?’

         ‘Oh, Lils,’ said Sally sadly.

It was so awful. Sally was pregnant a while ago and she had an abortion and she felt dreadful for ages after.

        I said, ‘Have you told the doctor yet ? Has he given you a date ?’

        Lily leaned across to me. ‘Listen, you know what dead babies do. They come back and haunt you. They’re all over the place, I see ‘em. Yeah – dead babies floating on the ceiling looking for their mums ‘cause their mums had ‘em scraped out and they never had a life … I’m not gonna kill my baby. That’s my baby. No one’s gonna kill my baby.’

       ‘I didn’t say kill it.’

       ‘I said, I’m going to have a baby. I’m going to have it.’

        I glanced at Sally. She said, You are a junkie, Lily. You ought to have an abortion.’

        ‘Are you telling me to kill my baby ? Are you telling me … ?

        ‘You ought to have an abortion for the sake of your baby.’

        ‘You want to kill my baby ? You wanna ? You wanna kill it ? Come on,

come on, you kill it then, you do it now.’

         ‘Your baby is a junkie. Your baby is inside you and it’s full of junk, same as you. You want to give birth to a junkie ? Is that what you want ?

Is that how much you love your bloody baby ?’

         Lily’s eyes were absolutely bulging out of her head. ‘I’m a fucking junkie, are you telling me I’d be better off dead because I’m a junkie ? Are you telling me that ? ‘

         I just held my breath. When those two start, you take cover. I was getting ready to disappear under the table.

         Finally Lily got it out. ‘I can give it up any time I want …’

        Sally just laughed. The number of times we’d tried to give up – I’d lost count. I dunno why. It used to be easy. Maybe the comedown’s worse when you’ve been using for a while. First you get the shivers. Then you get the aches, then the cramps start in your guts, then it’s the squits and you’re diving into the bog every five minutes. Then your teeth start aching, and your bones begin to hurt, and then you feel sick in the pit of your stomach and then you’re throwing up.

         And all it takes is one little needle and Lady Heroin makes you feel … mmmmm. The days when you could say what Lily said – they were long gone.

         It never occurred to me she might want a baby. I mean, apart from the junk, well, it could be anyone’s.

         Lily got up and started walking up and down. ‘There’s gonna be a baby, right ? It’s a fact. Right … a baby. Right ? I’m gonna be a mother. Everything’s gotta change. Right ? Like Sal says, I can’t do junk if I’m a mother. See ? I can’t. Sal’ I’m gonna have a baby. I’m gonna be a mother and you’re gonna be its mother and so’s Gemma and we’re all gonna get clean and live the real life …’

         A baby.

         It means you have to live another life… Out of solidarity to Lily. Out of solidarity to the baby.

                                          Adapted from Junk by Melvin Burgess, p. 174-178

Vocabulary : needle = aiguille

                      to put down = poser

                      neat = méticuleuse

                      Aids = SIDA

                      out of the blue = de manière inattendue

                      pregnant = enceinte

                      to have an abortion = se faire avorter

                      to lean across = se pencher vers

                      to scrape out = cureter

                      for the sake of your baby = dans l’intérêt de ton enfant

                      her eyes were bulging out of her head = elle avait les yeux exorbités

                      Finally Lily got it out : Pour finir, Lily a lâché   

                      Maybe the comedown’s worse when you’ve been using for a while. =

                      Peut-être que les descentes deviennent plus dures une fois qu’on est accro.

                      the squits = la diarrhée

                      the bog (vulgaire) = les toilettes

                      then you feel sick in the pit of your stomach and you start throwing up = on a

                     des nausées et on se met à vomir

3. Questions de compréhension globale :

     How many characters are there ? (4) What are their names ? (Gemma, who is

     the narrator, Lily, Sally and Tar who is mentioned once.) What is their 

     problem ? (drug) What is Lily’s problem ? (She is expecting a baby.)

4. Questions de compréhension détaillée (selon le niveau de la classe, possibilité de donner les arguments dans le désordre ou d’associer arguments et formulations extraites du texte) :

LILY’S ARGUMENTS AGAINST ABORTION	SALLY AND GEMMA’SARGUMENTS FOR ABORTION
When you have an abortion, you feel dreadful for ages after. Killed babies haunt their mothers. Abortion is a murder. She believes she can stop taking drugs. If the baby is born, all three girls will feel obliged to give up drugs.	For the sake of the baby because he is a junkie too and perhaps he has Aids. He won’t have a father (“it could be anyone’s”). If a junkie woman gives birth to a baby, she is a bad mother.

What is your own opinion on this issue ?

5. Imagine an end to this story (3 lines) : do you think Lily will give birth to her baby and her friends will stop taking drugs ?

6. Lecture d’une lettre “Problem page” et de sa réponse.

    Les élèves écrivent ensuite la lettre que Sally pourrait écrire, et la réponse.

    You should  … You ought to … I suggest you …