Devoir de Philosophie

SOLITUDE IN NEW YORK

Publié le 07/02/2012

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new york

 

Never having bad a friendship on his own, Joe knew nothing of how to bring such a situation about. His way of proceeding was to pick out a person he liked and then do a lot of hanging around in the hope that a friendship would come into being. He tried this method on: the grocer's widow, two gas station attendants, the girl who issued money orders at the Rio Pharmacy, an old immigrant shoemaker, an usher at the World movie theater. But they never seemed to understand what he hoped to achieve. Gradually it became clear to him that conversation ....

new york

« was a necessary part of the development of personaUties, but Joe rarely bad anything to say, and on occasions when he did dredge up (1) a few words, his listener as a rule remained unmoved and the effort went for nothing.

He was simply no talker.

His best conversations were with Sally, but even they were conducted on the run.

He'd be sitting, say, on the edge of the bath-tub, watching ber paint herself in the mirror over the sink; the greater part of her attention would be given over to the considerable task of getting sorne twenty years erased (2) from ber face, and very Uttle would be Ieft over for her grandson.

JAMES LEO HERLIHY, Midnight Cowboy.

( 1) to dredge up: to formu/ate with difficulty.

( 2) to erase: to suppress.

A 1.

Commentaire dirigé 1) With whom does Joe live? Are they very close friends and why? 2) What sort of people did Joe try to make friends with in New York and why was it a failure? 3) Is life in a big town likely to make those conditions more favourable than life in a village, for example? 4) According to you, what are the conditions making possible a really deep close friendship? 2.

Version Translate from " ...

and on occasions when he did dredge up a few words ...

", to" ...

for her grandson".

1) With whom does Joe live? Are they very close friends andwhy? • Joe lives alone with his ~and-mother in New York.

• They are close friends because: • They belong to the same family,. »

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