Sujet Anglais — Terminale — Polynésie — Bac 2010

Rose poured more tea as Eilis quietly left the room. […] When she returned she realized that Father Flood had heard about her job at Miss Kelly’s, had found out about her pay and had expressed shock at how low it was. He inquired about her qualifications. 5 ‘In the United States,’ he said, ‘there would be plenty of work for people like you and with good pay.’ ‘She thought of going to England,’ her mother said, ‘but the boys said to wait, that it wasn’t the best time there, and she might only get factory work.’ ‘In Brooklyn, where my parish is, there would be office work for someone who was 10 hard-working and educated and honest.’ ‘It’s very far away, though,’ her mother said. ‘That’s the only thing.’ ‘Parts of Brooklyn,’ Father Flood replied, ‘are just like Ireland. They’re full of Irish.’ He crossed his legs and sipped his tea from the china cup and said nothing for a while. The silence that descended made it clear to Eilis what the others were thinking. She 15 looked across at her mother, who deliberately, it seemed to her, did not return her glance, but kept her gaze fixed on the floor. Rose, normally so good at moving the conversation along if they had a visitor, also said nothing. She twisted her ring and then her bracelet. ‘It would be a great opportunity, especially if you were young,’ Father Flood said finally. 20 ‘It might be very dangerous,’ her mother said, her eyes still fixed on the floor. ‘Not in my parish,’ Father Flood said. ‘It’s full of lovely people. A lot of life centres round the parish, even more than in Ireland. And there’s work for anyone who’s willing to work.’ Eilis felt like a child when the doctor would come to the house, her mother listening 25 with cowed respect. It was Rose’s silence that was new to her; she looked at her now, wanting her sister to ask a question or make a comment, but Rose appeared to be in a sort of dream. […] In the silence that had lingered, she realized, it had somehow been tacitly arranged that Eilis would go to America. Father Flood, she believed, had been invited to the house because Rose knew that he could arrange it. 30 Her mother had been so opposed to her going to England that this