Sujet Bac S LV1 Anglais 2014

Document A
[The narrator recalls his sea voyage to England as a child.]
His name was Mr Fonseka and he was travelling to England to be a teacher, I would visit him
every few days. He knew passages from all kinds of books he could recite by heart, and he sat at
his desk all day wondering about them, thinking what he could say about them. I knew scarcely
a thing about the world of literature, but he welcomed me with unusual and interesting stories,
stopping abruptly in mid-tale and saying that s 5 omeday I should find out what happened after
that. ‘You will like it I think. Perhaps he will find the eagle.’ Or, ‘They will escape the maze
with the help of someone they are about to meet...’ Often, during the night, while stalking the
adult world with Ramadhin and Cassius, I’d attempt to add to the bare bones of an adventure Mr
Fonseka had left unfinished. [. . .]
10 I tried to coax him up on deck a few times, but his porthole and what he could see through it
seemed enough nature for him. With his books [. . .] as well as a few family photographs, he had
no need to leave his time capsule. I would visit that smoky room if the day was dull, and he
would at some point begin reading to me. It was the anonymity of the stories and the poems that
went deepest into me. And the curl of a rhyme was something new. I had not thought to believe
15 he was actually quoting something written with care, in some far country, centuries earlier. He
had lived in Colombo1 all his life, and his manner and accent were a product of the island, but at
the same time he had this wide-ranging knowledge of books. He’d sing a song from the Azores or
recite lines from an Irish play.
I brought Cassius and Ramadhin to meet him. He had become curious about them, and he
20 made me tell him of our adventures on the ship. He beguiled2 them as well, especially Ramadhin.
Mr Fonseka seemed to draw forth an assurance or a calming quality from the books he read. [. . .]
Mr. Fonseka would not be a wealthy man. And it would be a spare life3 he would be certain to
lead as a schoolteacher in some urban location. But he had a serenity that came with the choice of
the life he wanted to live. And this serenity and certainty I have seen only among those who have
25 the armour of books close by.
Michael Ondaatje, The Cat’s Table, 2011