Lycée de la Côtière

On the threshold of a new world

Read the text and answer the following questions. 1.Introduce the document 2.Where and when do you think the story takes place? Justify? 3.Comment on the title of the excerpt ‘On the Threshold of a new world’. 3. Say in a few words who the narrator is. (probable origin / age / occupation) 4.This text can be divided into three parts. Find these three parts and give each one a short title summing up the main idea. 5. After reading the first paragraph, how would you define the way the narrator feels immigrants were treated at Ellis Island? Comment on the verb forms to justify. 6. What disease are they looking for? Why? 7. Which of the following adjectives best applies to the fat man? Pick out one sentence to justify your choice: powerful – indifferent – friendly – sympathetic – wary 8. How does the narrator react to the fat man’s orders? Why? 9. What does the fat man mean when he says: ‘Because when we sing our National Anthem, we bend over”(l16) ? 10. Read from line 22 to line 43 – Pick out at least five words showing the woman’s feelings and attitude towards the narrator. 11. How far can you say that the woman’s feelings and attitude are paradoxical? 12. How does he react? 13. What does the letter she wrote on his back mean? 14. What does the narrator understand? 15. Read line 42 to the end. Which verb form is repeated several times? What does it suggest? 16. What vision of New York and Manhattan does the narrator have? Pick out elements to justify your answer. 17. What does it show about him and his representation of America?