Oral blanc en anglais - A writer in his time

Bonsoir, j'ai un oral blanc de littérature en anglais dans deux semaines et je dois préparer les deux dossiers correspondants aux deux notions que j'ai choisi. Dans l'ensemble je pense avoir compris comment préparer mes dossiers mes tout de même quelques doutes étant donné que la prof n'a pas été très claire. J'ai donc commencé à faire mon dossier sur la notion : "A writer in his time", pour cela je pensais prendre deux des textes étudiés en classe à savoir la nouvelle de Kate Chopin, Désirée's baby => https://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/DesiBaby.shtml
et un extrait de La Ferme des Animaux de George Orwell =>

The human beings did not hate Animal Farm any less now that it was prospering; indeed, they hated it more than ever. Every human being held it as an article of faith that the farm would go bankrupt sooner or later, and, above all, that the windmill would be a failure. They would meet in the public-houses and prove to one another by means of diagrams that the windmill was bound to fall down, or that if it did stand up, then that it would never work. And yet, against their will, they had developed a certain respect for the efficiency with which the animals were managing their own affairs. One symptom of this was that they had begun to call Animal Farm by its proper name and ceased to pretend that it was called the Manor Farm. They had also dropped their championship of Jones, who had given up hope of getting his farm back and gone to live in another part of the county. Except through Whymper, there was as yet no contact between Animal Farm and the outside world, but there were constant rumours that Napoleon was about to enter into a definite business agreement either with Mr. Pilkington of Foxwood or with Mr. Frederick of Pinchfield–but never, it was noticed, with both simultaneously.

It was about this time that the pigs suddenly moved into the farmhouse and took up their residence there. Again the animals seemed to remember that a resolution against this had been passed in the early days, and again Squealer was able to convince them that this was not the case. It was absolutely necessary, he said, that the pigs, who were the brains of the farm, should have a quiet place to work in. It was also more suited to the dignity of the Leader (for of late he had taken to speaking of Napoleon under the title of "Leader") to live in a house than in a mere sty. Nevertheless, some of the animals were disturbed when they heard that the pigs not only took their meals in the kitchen and used the drawing-room as a recreation room, but also slept in the beds. Boxer passed it off as usual with "Napoleon is always right!", but Clover, who thought she remembered a definite ruling against beds, went to the end of the barn and tried to puzzle out the Seven Commandments which were inscribed there. Finding herself unable to read more than individual letters, she fetched Muriel.

"Muriel," she said, "read me the Fourth Commandment. Does it not say something about never sleeping in a bed?"

With some difficulty Muriel spelt it out.

"It says, 'No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets,'" she announced finally.

Curiously enough, Clover had not remembered that the Fourth Commandment mentioned sheets; but as it was there on the wall, it must have done so. And Squealer, who happened to be passing at this moment, attended by two or three dogs, was able to put the whole matter in its proper perspective.

"You have heard then, comrades," he said, "that we pigs now sleep in the beds of the farmhouse? And why not? You did not suppose, surely, that there was ever a ruling against beds? A bed merely means a place to sleep in. A pile of straw in a stall is a bed, properly regarded. The rule was against sheets, which are a human invention. We have removed the sheets from the farmhouse beds, and sleep between blankets. And very comfortable beds they are too! But not more comfortable than we need, I can tell you, comrades, with all the brainwork we have to do nowadays. You would not rob us of our repose, would you, comrades? You would not have us too tired to carry out our duties? Surely none of you wishes to see Jones back?"

The animals reassured him on this point immediately, and no more was said about the pigs sleeping in the farmhouse beds. And when, some days afterwards, it was announced that from now on the pigs would get up an hour later in the mornings than the other animals, no complaint was made about that either.

By the autumn the animals were tired but happy. They had had a hard year, and after the sale of part of the hay and corn, the stores of food for the winter were none too plentiful, but the windmill compensated for everything. It was almost half built now. After the harvest there was a stretch of clear dry weather, and the animals toiled harder than ever, thinking it well worth while to plod to and fro all day with blocks of stone if by doing so they could raise the walls another foot. Boxer would even come out at nights and work for an hour or two on his own by the light of the harvest moon. In their spare moments the animals would walk round and round the half-finished mill, admiring the strength and perpendicularity of its walls and marvelling that they should ever have been able to build anything so imposing.

Je compte donc y rajouter une analyse générale du roman de Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, parce que l'extrait d'Orwell montre la soumission des autres animaux aux cochons, la perte de leur droit ; celui de Chopin montre quant à lui la perte également de l'affection du mari de Désirée parce qu'il se rend compte qu'elle est noire. Je pensais donc que Mansfield Park, pouvait bien compléter les deux autres textes car dans ce roman, Fanny Price est traité assez mal par ses tantes et cousins parce qu'elle est plus pauvres qu'eux alors qu'ils sont de la même famille (sur les trois textes c'est la notion de discrimination qui est abordée, par rapport à la race, la couleur de peau, et pour élargir je pensais que parlais de la discrimination par rapport à l'argent pouvait être intéressant). Mansfield Park évoque également l'esclavage, qu'on pourrait relier avec le travail qu'effectue les animaux et qui est d'une certaine manière reliée à la condition des noirs que l'on retrouve dans Désirée's baby.

J'aimerai donc avoir des conseils : est-ce que mon choix est judicieux, selon vous ? Je crains seulement d'être hors sujet, même s'il me semble que Mansfield Park complète bien les autres textes, j'aimerai votre avis, histoire que je sois vraiment sûre. Enfin, si vous avez d'autres idées par rapport aux choix des comparaisons entre les différents textes, je suis prête à les étudier !

Merci d'avance.

NON! Désirée n'est pas noire. Attention. Tu n'as pas compris l'intrigue laquelle se dénoue sur la fin.
Le choix de ces livres pour évoquer la discrimination est un peu ambigu selon moi, mais il faut savoir faire preuve d'originalité.

Personnellement, j'aurais volontiers mentionné la manipulation mentale à laquelle se livrent les méchants protagonistes afin que les victimes admettent leur infériorité. Les cochons mentent et Armand se trompe lourdement (le résultat est le même). Dans le livre "la ferme des animaux" nous lisons notamment cet extrait que je cite à nouveau (j'ai beaucoup aimé ce roman) :

Curiously enough, Clover had not remembered that the Fourth Commandment mentioned sheets; but as it was there on the wall, it must have done so. And Squealer, who happened to be passing at this moment, attended by two or three dogs, was able to put the whole matter in its proper perspective. "You have heard then, comrades," he said, "that we pigs now sleep in the beds of the farmhouse? And why not? You did not suppose, surely, that there was ever a ruling against beds? A bed merely means a place to sleep in. A pile of straw in a stall is a bed, properly regarded. The rule was against sheets, which are a human invention. We have removed the sheets from the farmhouse beds, and sleep between blankets. And very comfortable beds they are too! But not more comfortable than we need, I can tell you, comrades, with all the brainwork we have to do nowadays. You would not rob us of our repose, would you, comrades? You would not have us too tired to carry out our duties? Surely none of you wishes to see Jones back?"

De la même façon, on retrouve dans le second extrait (histoire dont je n'ai jamais entendu parler - merci) une tension terrible - une forme de persuasion mentalement difficile à supporter - un jeu cynique dont les origines nous sont révélées sur la fin - les dernières lignes, et l'on comprend alors la source d'inspiration de l'auteure (la mixité des races). Je cite les passages en question :

A quick conception of all that this accusation meant for her nerved her with unwonted courage to deny it. "It is a lie; it is not true, I am white! Look at my hair, it is brown; and my eyes are gray, Armand, you know they are gray. And my skin is fair," seizing his wrist. "Look at my hand; whiter than yours, Armand," she laughed hysterically.
My mother, they tell me I am not white. Armand has told me I am not white. For God's sake tell them it is not true. You must know it is not true. I shall die. I must die. I cannot be so unhappy, and live (…) She disappeared among the reeds and willows that grew thick along the banks of the deep, sluggish bayou; and she did not come back again.

Objectivement, tout ceci n'est pas loin de la quatrième dimension. C'est très oppressant. Néanmoins, il y a un hic ! Les cochons savent bien ce qu'ils font et cela est dans leur intérêt. Ils veulent, par le mensonge, dominer sur les autres animaux, mais Armand ignore les raisons pour lesquelles l'enfant est métisse. Ses parents lui ont menti. La torture mentale qu'il inflige à son épouse n'a pas la même origine que les ambitions des cochons. La manipulation volontaire et involontaire - voici un bon sujet de philosophie. Bon courage pour la suite ++

Bonjour, merci de votre réponse ! Je suis désolée, je me suis mal exprimée, je voulais dire que son mari pensait qu'elle était noire et donc il l'a rejeté, mais qu'elle était en effet noire.
Sinon, vous aviez peut-être d'autres idées, je dois avouer que je me perd un peu, je n'ai pas envie que mon travail soit trop ambigu comme vous m'aviez dit qu'il risquait de l'être. Parce qu'individuellement Orwell et Kate Chopin sont des écrivains bien ancrés dans leurs époques mais je ne vois pas comment les relier et quel auteur pourrais-je rajouter …

On ne sait pas qui sont les vrais parents de Désirée. Il faut relire le dernier paragraphe et ce qui est écrit dans la lettre coincée dans le tiroir pour apprendre ce qu'ignorait Armand.

Il faut bien choisir ses mots. Un mot moderne comme discrimination ne va pas convenir quand on a une situation où il faut parler d'esclavage. Je ne vais pas faire d'autres commentaires car je ne sais pas ce qui est demandé.