overly "The trouble with being poor is that it takes up all your time." Willem de Kooning FOCUS The texts are taken from two autobiographical books, both of which describe conditions of extreme poverty. One author writes about Ireland in the 1930s and 40s, and the other writes about Paris in the 1930s. Discuss • Can you imagine what extreme poverty was like in the 1930s? Have you read any books or seen any films that would give you an idea of this? • What images of extreme poverty do you have? Are they based on circumstances in your country? LIS TENING 14 1 BEFORE YOU LISTEN Read the synopsis of the story on the right. Word Bank Turn to page 120. 2 NOW LISTEN Listen and answer the following questions: a) Who is the person referred to as he at the beginning of the extract? b) What was he trying to do? c) How did the people around him feel about what he was doing? d) What was the reaction of other boys at school the next day? e) What did the teacher do about this reaction? 3 FIRST IMPRESSION a) Which of the following emotions do you think the boy feels in this extract? Where in the narrative does he feel them (beginning, middle or end)? • amusement • shame • embarrassment • relief • anger • gratitude b) Which words and phrases tell you how he's feeling? Angela's Ashes is a sad but funny autobiographical account of the extreme poverty of life in Ireland in the 1930s. The McCourts lived in a house which flooded easily. At times like this, they lived upstairs, which was comparatively warm and dry. As a result, they called the downstairs Ireland and the upstairs Italy. 'OutRo%Doj,Ics U XVI j margarVSste« W3s maud *v 4 4 LISTEN AGAIN a) Explain in your own words what Frank McCourts father did to try to repair his children's shoes. b) Look at the words underlined below. Using mime, try to show what the words describe. • He takes Mam's sharp knife and he hacks at the tire ... • He pounds away with the hammer, driving the nails through the rubber pieces and into the shoes ... • The soles and heels are covered with squares of rubber tire which stick out on each side of the shoe and flop, before and behind... • The tire pieces are so lumpy we stumble when we walk ... • There is sneering here. There is jeering at the misfortunes of others ... . READING Down and Out in Paris and London, by George Orwell, is an account of the times when he was poor and living in each of the two capital cities. 1 BEFORE YOU READ Read the first three sentences of the text. Predict why Orwell describes being poor as extraordinarily complicated. Word Bank Turn to page 120. 2 FIRST IMPRESSION Read the complete text and think about the following: a) Do Orwell's problems seem like the problems of a poor person today? Why? Why not? b) Are Orwell s experiences similar to Frank McCourts? If not, how are they different? 3 READ AGAIN Explain the following references: a) it is all so utterly and prosaically different. What is? b) of course you dare not admit it. Admit what? c) the laundress catches you in the street and asks you why. What exactly does she ask? d) This wastes you a franc a day. What does? e) with such fearful results. Results of what? Pover DOWN AND OUT IN PARIS AND LONDON I t is altogether curious, your first contact with poverty. You have thought so much about poverty - it is the thing you have feared all your life, the thing you knew would happen to you sooner or later; and it is all so utterly and prosaically different. You thought it would be quite simple; it is extraordinarily complicated. You thought it would be terrible; it is merely squalid and boring. It is the peculiar lowness of poverty that you discover first; the shifts that it puts you to, the complicated meanness, the crust-wiping. You discover, for instance, the secrecy attached to poverty. At a sudden stroke you have been reduced to an income of six francs a day. But of course you dare not admit it - you have got to pretend that you are living quite as usual. From the start it tangles you in a net of lies, and even with the lies you can hardly manage it. You stop sending clothes to the laundry, and the laundress catches you in the street and asks you why; you mumble something, and she, thinking you are sending the clothes elsewhere, is your enemy for life. The tobacconist keeps asking why you have cut down your smoking. There are letters you want to answer, and cannot, because stamps are too expensive. And then there are your meals - meals are the worst difficulty of all. Every day at meal-times you go out, ostensibly to a restaurant, and loaf an hour in the Luxembourg Gardens, watching the pigeons. Afterwards you smuggle your food home in your pockets. Your food is bread and margarine, or bread and wine, and even the nature of the food is governed by lies. You have to buy rye bread instead of household bread, because the rye loaves, though dearer, are round and can be smuggled in your pockets. This wastes you a franc a day. Sometimes, to keep up appearances, you have to spend sixty centimes on a drink, and go correspondingly short of food. Your linen gets filthy, and you run out of soap and razor blades. Your hair wants cutting, and you try to cut it yourself, with such fearful results that you have to go to the barber after all, and spend the equivalent of a days food. All day you are telling lies, and expensive lies. () You discover what it is like to be hungry. With bread and margarine in your belly, you go out and look into the shop windows. Everywhere there is food insulting you in huge, wasteful piles; whole dead pigs, baskets of hot loaves, great yellow blocks of butter, strings of sausages, mountains of potatoes, vast Gruyěre cheeses like grindstones. A snivelling self-pity comes over you at the sight of so much food. Poverty Language Check Reported speech 2 Using reporting verbs makes your writing more interesting. Exercise 1 Look at the box below and choose a suitable reporting verb for each sentence. Use a dictionary to help you if you need to. For example: 'Clearyour room up, it's a disgrace!' (told) He told his son to tidy up his room. a) 'How old is she? I've no idea!' b) 'I'm sorry. I stole your money. Please forgive me.' c) 'Would you like me to carry your bags?' d) 'This food is cold.' e) 'Can I sit down here, please?' f) 'Do your homework immediately!' Exercise 2 We use an infinitive to express purpose, and a clause to express fact. For example: He told me to go home, (infinitive) He told me his name was George, (clause) Put in a verb from Exercise 1 and put the verb in brackets into the correct tense. a) He___________how old the lady___________(be). b) The robber___________he ____(steal) the money. asked complained confessed offered wondered told c) Jeff____ (carry) his sister's bags. d) The man___________that his food___________(be) cold. e) She________if she_______(sit) next to him. (For more information, turn to page 92.) LET'S TALK a) Both the texts are written in the present tense. Why did the authors choose to write their stories this way? b) What comparisons and contrasts can you make between the poverty described by the two different writers? c) Why did Orwell make such elaborate attempts to stop people knowing that he had no money? d) Orwell uses the word you throughout the extract. Why does he do this? Would the piece have been as effective if he had used I instead oíyouí e) Poverty is still a worldwide problem, even in the 21st century. Divide into groups and discuss one of the following questions: • What are the causes of poverty in the world? • What are the solutions to this problem? • Why have governments and international organisations failed to solve the problems of poverty? ROLE-PLAY You are members of the St Vincent de Paul Society and the following people come to you for help, but you only have the funds to assist one family. Read their stories and discuss which family to help. One of the families is the McCourts. Family 1 A woman is living with her four sons. Three of her other children have died of consumption (tuberculosis). Her husband is working in England, but never sends any money back. She doesn't work. She needs furniture and winter clothes for the children. Family 2 The family consists of mother, father and two sons. The father is a heavy smoker and is very ill, and rarely leaves his bed. His two sons are notorious for stealing, but they usually steal only food. The mother works three hours a day as a cleaner. She is hoping that the society will find them accommodation which is less damp. Family 3 There are seven children in this family. One of them is handicapped but extremely intelligent. The father works but the mother has to stay home to look after the handicapped child and the other young ones. The family would like some money so they can send their handicapped child to a fee-paying school. WRITING a) Look at the picture of Limerick in the 1930s. Describe the scene. b) Read this extract from Angela's Ashes: I sit on a bench in the schoolyard and take off my shoes and stockings but when I go into the class the master wants to know where my shoes are. He knows I'm not one of the barefoot boys and he makes me go back to the yard, bring in the shoes and put them on. Rewrite this extract in the past tense beginning: I sat on a bench. Then continue the story in your own words for another paragraph. Describe what happened next (you can change the original story, if you like) and how you felt. c) Write a composition suggesting reasons why the McCourts and families like them lived in such poverty in Ireland in the 1930s. d) You are an inspector from the St Vincent de Paul Society, and you have been sent to inspect the house where the McCourts live. Using all the information you have, write a report about your findings. Refer to the following: • the house itself (read the information on page 54 again) • the state of the children's clothes • your recommendations about what should be done. Poverty Limerick in the 1930s (right) Limerick today (below) PROJECT Find out more about Limerick. When you have some information, produce a leaflet about the city. Here are some places where you can find information: • atlases and encyclopaedias • the City Hall in Limerick • the Internet: you can find information on www.irishtouristboard.com If you write to the tourist board or the City Hall, tell them that you have read an extract from Angela's Ashes, and you are interested to know how the city has changed. Word roughage Prxiia^l (n) coarse food, such as bran cement /si'ment/ (n) a material used to hold stones and bricks together when building bridges, walls etc. calcium /'kaelsiam/ (n) an element which is good for strengthening bones and teeth tender /'tendar/ (adj) soft, sweet Reading (GeneraL American) The Man who Listens to Horses Page 51 pen /pen/ (n) an enclosed area where animals are exercised to keep an eye on (someone) /,ki:p an 'ai ,a:n/ (v) to look after someone, make sure they are not in danger, e.g. a child merely /'mirli/ (adv) simply to cajole /ks'd30ul/ (v) to try to persuade gently gelding /'geldirj/ (n) a young male horse which has had its testicles removed to stand on tiptoes /,stcend a:n 'tiptouz/ (v) to stand on the ends of your toes to try to make yourself taller no rhyme or reason /,nou raim o:r 'nizan/ no explanation to accomplish (something) /a'kaimplij"/ (v) to manage to do something, to succeed in doing something to mess around /,mes g'raund/ (v) to behave in a silly way reluctance /n'Uktans/ (n) not wanting to do something to raise /reiz/ (v) to bring up (children) stall-chain /'sto:l ,tjem/ (n) a chain used for restraining horses to burst into /,b3:rst 'intu;/ (v) to come in quickly and suddenly buttocks /'bAtaks/ (npl) the parts of the human body that you sit on to wield /wi:ld/ (v) (here) to swing to writhe /raiö/ (v) to move backwards and forwards, usually because of pain, to wriggle submission /sab'mijsn/ (n) acceptance of someone's authority resentment /ri'zentmant/ (n) unhappiness and bad feeling due to someone's actions allegiance /s'li^sns/ (n) loyalty to instil /m'stil/ (v) to teach something over a long period of time obedience /ou'bkdians/ (n) doing what one is told to do 13 Poverty Page 54 Listening (Standard British English) Angela's Ashes Page 54 last /la:st/ (n) something you put a shoe on to repair it to hack /ha;k/ (v) to cut powerfully (usually with an axe, saw or knife) sole /soul/ (n) the bottom part of a shoe, where it touches the ground (the same word is used for feet) heel /hi:l/ (n) the back part of the bottom of a shoe (the same word is used for feet) to pound away /,paund a'wei/ (v) to hit hard, repeatedly The St Vincent de Paul Society /Ö9 sant ^insant di 'po:l S9,sai9ti/ a charitable institution that provides support for poor people to stick out /,stik 'aut/ (v) to be visible because it is too big or long to trip /trip/ (v) to fall over something lumpy /'Umpi/ (adj) uneven to stumble /'stAmbgl/ (v) to nearly fall down The Leamy's National School /Ö9 ,li:miz ,najri9l 'sku:l/ the school attended by Frank McCourt and his brother barefoot ľbesfutl (adj) wearing no shoes to fight your own battles /,fait J9r gun 'batglz/ (v) to stand up for yourself, defend yourself to sneer /snig/ (v) to make fun of with an unkind smile or remark to jeer I&513I (v) to make fun of someone in an unpleasant way money galore /,mAni gg'b:/ (nph) lots of money Reading (Standard British English) Down and Out in Paris and London Page 55 curious /'kjuariss/ (adj) (here) strange, bizarre poverty /'povsti/ (n) the state of being poor, having little or no money utterly /'Atali/ (adv) completely, totally prosaic /prsu'zenk/ (adj) uninteresting squalid /'skwolid/ (adj) dirty and unpleasant at a stroke /,£et 9 'strauk/ (adv) immediately to tangle /'t