SÉQUENCE 1 : ART ET CONTESTATION

SYNTHÈSE

Chapter 1: the great depression

In this chapter, you learned about the Great Depression, which started in October 1929 after the stock market
crash and lasted until the late 1930s. The Great Depression led to massive unemployment and bank failures.
Farmers in the Southern Plains region of the United States were particularly hard hit during the Dust Bowl.
During the Dust Bowl, widespread drought led to crops failing.
You studied John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath, in which the Joad family is forced from their farm
during the Oklahoma Dust Bowl. They set out for California along with thousands of others in search of jobs
and hope for a brighter future. Steinbeck’s novel made America aware of the hardships endured by many
during the Great Depression.
You also worked on the photographs of Dorothea Lange, an American documentary photographer and
photojournalist, best known for her Depression-era work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA).
Lange’s photographs influenced the development of documentary photography and humanized the
consequences of the Great Depression. Her most famous photograph, Migrant Mother, is a compelling image
showing the despair of a destitute pea picker mother and her children in California.
You also learned about the Works Progress Administration (WPA), an American New Deal agency, which
provided jobs to millions of unemployed people. The WPA was created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
In order to improve your English, you worked on modal verbs, literary devices and improved your Great
Depression vocabulary.

Modal Verbs
Function Modal Verbs
Ability Can, Could
Possibility May, Might, Could, Can
Permission Can, Could, May
Advice Should
Obligation Must
Conditional Would

Literary Devices
Metaphor used to make a comparison between two things that aren’t alike
but do have something in common. 
Simile A comparison of two things using “like” or “as”.
Personification Attributing human characteristics to objects or non-humans such
as animals.

Hyperbole Using language to exaggerate or emphasize a point.

Writing a Newspaper Article

You learned how to write a newspaper article, here are the main steps:
1. Identify the objective(s) of the letter

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2. Prepare
• Brainstorm
• Think about arguments, examples, anecdotes
• Make a mind map to organize the brainstorming words
• Make a detailed plan. One paragraph = one idea.
• Choose linking words and logical connectors
3. Writing
• Identify the main ideas
• Structure your article
• Think of a catchy title

Chapter 2: Anti-war literature

In this chapter you studied anti-war literature, which is literature that frequently uses first-person portrayals
of the horrors of combat and its destructive aftermath. The objective is to stop people from glorifying war by
exposing the horror and brutality of it.
Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage tells the story of a young soldier during the American Civil War
who flees from battle due to fear. Because of his shame, he longs for “a red badge of courage”, a wound to
prove that he was brave.
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller is a satirical novel that highlights the senselessness and absurdity of war,
particularly through the paradoxical catch-22. A catch 22 in the novel refers to an Air Force rule whereby
a pilot who wants to fly combat missions is regarded as insane, but if he doesn’t want to fly dangerous
missions, he is considered sane enough to continue flying. A catch 22 has come to mean a situation where
one is trapped by two contradictory conditions. It’s more broadly used for a “paradox” or “dilemma” in
general.
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut focuses on the protagonist’s capture by the German Army and his
survival of the Allied firebombing of Dresden as a prisoner-of-war, an experience which Vonnegut himself
lived through as an American serviceman. The work has been called an example of “unmatched moral
clarity” and “one of the most enduring antiwar novels of all time”.
The short story “On the Rainy River” by Tim O’Brien is a fictionalized account about the author considering
fleeing to Canada after receiving a draft notice to report for the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War was highly
controversial in America and many Americans didn’t understand why young men were being sent to a fight a
war on the other side of the world.
You also studied artists Bob Dylan and Banksy who protest war through their art.

Dossier composé
You learned how to create a “dossier composé” in order to prepare for the bac. To accomplish this, you
studied strategies to present and analyze literary extracts, press articles and works of art. You also practiced
writing key questions.

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Chapter 3: Indian literature
In this chapter you studied Indian authors. These authors are masters at interweaving Indian history and
culture throughout their novels. In order to better understand these novels, you learned about Indian history.
The Emergency was one of the most controversial periods of independent India’s history, during which
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had a state of emergency declared across the country. It allowed elections
to be suspended and civil liberties to be curbed. The Partition of India was the division of British India into
India and Pakistan in 1947. The partition was based on religion, whether there was a Muslim majority or
not. It caused widespread violence and created a refugee crisis. The caste system is illegal in India yet it still
continues with devastating social effects. The caste system groups people into different castes and what they
can and cannot do is dictated by which caste they are in. The Untouchables are the lowest caste and face
discrimination and oppression; they are doomed to a life of poverty and hardship.
The first novel you studied was Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie. The novel is a loose allegory for
events in India both before and, primarily, after the independence and partition of India. Saleem Sinai, the
protagonist and narrator of the story, was born at the exact moment when India became an independent
country. Rushdie fuses actual historical events with the fictional story.
You revised literary genres so that you would be better able to identify magical realism, the genre of
Midnight’s Children. As you recall, magical realism incorporates fantastic or magical elements into
otherwise realistic fiction. It allows authors to show an alternative to an accepted reality.
The other novel you studied by an Indian author was The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. It is a story
about the childhood experiences of fraternal twins whose lives are destroyed by the caste system, known as
the “Love Laws” in the novel.
Through their writing, Rushdie and Roy protest the inequalities that exist in India. Yet at the same time
they showcase Indian culture. Their novels are complex and richly layered although they require a good
knowledge of Indian history to fully appreciate them.

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