Being There

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 4

Being There by Jerzy Kosinsky

the author

biography

You can expect questions about the author in the test

chapter 1

1. In what way is the garden secluded from the life outside it?
   
2. Does Chance have much contact with the maid or the Old Man?
   
3. What does Chance do in his free time?
   
4. What does Chance believe about himself from the TV?
   
5. Did Chance have any education? How do you know?
   
6. What do you learn about the maid?
   
7. How long has Chance been with the Old Man? Why did he come to live with him?
   
8. Is Chance mentally sound? How do you know?
   
9. Why is he called Chance
   
10. What do you learn about Chance’s mother?
    

answers

1. There is a wall around the garden and no noises from the city can be heard inside the garden.

2. No, he only sees the maid when she brings him his food. he has not spoken to the Old Man in years.

3. Chance watches TV.

4.  "By turning the dial,
Chance could bring others inside his eyelids. Thus he came 

to believe that it was he, Chance, and no one else, who made himself be."

5. No because he cannot read or write, and he has never left the house and garden.

6.  She is fat and does not speak good English because she is from abroad.

7.  He has been with the Old Man since he was a child. he wa san orphan because his mother died in childbirth and his father is unknown.

8. No because he is unable to learn to ead or write. In the book it says his mind is as damaged  as his mother's was. 

9.  Because he was born by chance.

10.  She was pretty. her mind was damaged and she died giving birth to Chance.

chapter 2

1. What happened to the Old Man?
   
2. What does he hope will happen now?
   
3. What do Thomas Franklin and Miss Hays tell Chance?
   
4. How long at least has Chance lived with the Old Man? So, hHow old do you think Chance is?
   
5. How does Chance get new clothes?
   
6. Has Chance ever left the house?
   
7. Why doesn’t Chance tell the lawyer that he cannot read?
   
8. Why doesn’t he sign the paper?
   

answers

1. The Old Man died.
2. He hoped that he would see more people now 
3. They tell him that there is no evidence that he ever lived there or was employed by the Old Man.
4.  The Old Man retired 25 years ago and this was after Chance had been with him for some time. Chance came to live with the Old Man when he was still a child. So Chance is probably in his early 40s.
5. He can go to the attic and get old clothes and shoes that were once the Old Man's.
6. no
7. because he has seen on tv that people who are illiterate are made fun of,
8.  because he can't write not because he doesn't agree with what the paper says

chapter 3

1. On what day does chance leave the Old Man's house?
   
2. How did the accident happen?
3. What kind of car was it and who drove it?
4. Why does the woman want Chance to come to her house?
5. Who is the woman?
6. In what way does the woman misunderstand Chance when he introduces himself?
7. What does chance want to do when he is in the car?
8. What happens when the car breaks sharply?
9. Is Chance seriously hurt according to the doctor?
10. Why does EE invite Chance to stay with them?

answers

1. Tuesday
2. He got stuck between a parked car and a limousine that was backing into a parking spot.
3. It was a limousine that was driven by a driver
4. Her husband is ill and  there is a doctor and some nurses at her home, who can examine him.
5. Elizabeth Eve Rand / E E Rand
6. She thinks he says Chauncey Gardiner instead of Chence the gardiner.
7.  He wants to watch TV.
8. Pain pierced his leg and he lost conciousness
9. no. It is only tender and bruised. .
10.  Because she does not want him to be alone.
11. 
    

chapter 3

11. What does Benjamin Rand do for a living?

12. What conversational trick has Chance learnt from watching TV?

13. Why is Chance not afraid that he must leave the Rands?

14. How does he know how to behave at dinner?

15. What does Benjamin think Chance is talking about when he is talking about the garden?

16. What is a metaphor?

17. What does Benjamin mean when he talks about the room upstairs?

18. To whom does Benjamin want to introduce Chance?

answers

11. businessman

12. He repeats people's words back to them.

13. What would happen was still hidden, There would be a sequel as on TV.

14. From a TV show in which a young businessman often dines with his boss and his daughter.

15. the economy / his business

16. It is a comparison without the word as / like.

17. death / heaven

18. to the board of the First American Financial Corporation

Wat wordt bedoeld met een metafoor?

Een metafoor is een stijlfiguur; een vorm van overdrachtelijk (figuurlijk) taalgebruik. Een heel bekende metafoor is het schip der woestijn voor de kameel. De kameel wordt vergeleken met een schip, waarschijnlijk mede vanwege zijn schommelende gang. Metaforisch taalgebruik is een vorm van betekenisoverdracht: met wat je zegt (het schip der woestijn) schilder je een beeld; het gaat erom dat dat beeld (een schip dat deinend over de oceaan vaart) een overeenkomst heeft met wat je bedoelt (een kameel, die langzaam en schommelend een grote vlakte doorkruist). Hoe treffender de overeenkomst, hoe beter de beeldspraak. Meer voorbeelden van bekende metaforen:

Sylvia Toth is een bekend voorbeeld van een vrouw die het glazen plafond heeft doorbroken.

Het leven is een weg met kuilen en hobbels.

Het leven is een pijp kaneel, elk zuigt eraan en krijgt zijn deel.

Voetbal is oorlog.

De samenleving is ziek.

Kijk die Machteld nou toch eens: het lelijke eendje is een zwaan geworden!

Nederland is nog steeds een land van melk en honing in vergelijking met de meeste andere landen.

chapter 4

1. What day is it?
   
2. What does Benjamin tell Chance?
3. In what city are they?
4. What is it that the Rands admire in Chance?
5. Where had Chance seen the President before?
6. Why does Chance look directly into the President's eyes?
7. Why does CHance think Benjamin and the President speak a different language for security purposes?
8. How does Chance respond when he is asked for his opinion of the state of the economy (Wall Street)?

answers

1. Wednesday
2. The president is coming to the Rands'house for a visit.
3. New York
4. his marvellous balance
5. on TV
6. The president always looks straight into the camera when he is on TV.
7. He doesn't understand what they are saying.
8. He talks about the garden.

9. Why doesn't the president announce any measures despite the decline in productivity?

10. Why is the media interested in Chauncey Gardiner?

11. How did the interview with Tom Courtney go?

12. What did Benjamin Rand say to the media about Chance?

13. Why does THIS EVENING want Chance to be on their talkshow?

14. What do they think is Chance's profession?

15. What does Chace talk about on TV?

16. Does Thomas Franklin recognise Chance when he sees him on TV?

17. Benjamin asks Chance to do him a favour. What is it?

18. When EE makes a move on him he does not know what to do. Why?

answers

9. Because of what Chance had said to him.

10. Because the President mentioned Chance's  name in his speech.

11. good. Chance  does not give any straight answers (as if he were a politician )

12. Chance would join the board of the First American Financial Corporation.

13. Because the vice-president cannot come.

14. a financier

15.  Chance talks about the garden.

16. no

17. He asks Chance to accompany EE to a UN reception and to look after EE when he is dead.

18. Because you do not see what actually happens when two people have sex on TV.

19. What did the maintenance man show him?

20. Does Chance know where babies come from?

21. What does EE think Chance does not react to her attempt to seduce him?

22. What does EE say to Chance about her feelings?

answers

19. he showed him some pornographic pictures.

20. no

21. She thinks he restraints himself because he does not want to take advantage of her.

22. She says she is in love with him.

chapter 5

1. What day is it?
2. How is Chance described in the newspapers?
3. Who does Chance hire when EE asks him to stay with them longer?
4. Does Chance understand what Vladimir Skrapinov is talking about? How do you know?
5. What time is the story set? Clues in this chapter: they talk of West Germany, the US is involved in a war and Gaufridi and Skarapinov met in WW 1.
6. What is the interviewer surprised about?
7. Why is EE upset?
8. What happens when the President asks the Intelligence Office to find information on Chance?

answers

1. Sunday

2. He is described as one of the chief architects of the President's policy speech.

3. EE asks him to stay with them longer and she arranges for Chance to hire a secretary, Mrs Aubrey

4. No. He just gives very literal answers such as our chairs almost touch, he smiles, laughs etc. 

5. in the early 1980s. They talk of West Germany (Germany still separated, fall Berlin Wall 1989), Skrapinov and Gaufridi first met in World War 1. 

6. He is surprised about the fact that he admits that he doesn't read newspapers but watches TV.

7.  Because Chance smiles at a female photographer. She is jealous.

8.  They cannot find any information about him.

9. What order does Skrapinov give when he returns to the Russian Embassy?

10. At the party an editor asks Chance to ...........

11. Does he take it seriously when Chance says he cannot write or read?

12. When Chance doesn't understand a man's questions and says yes ;what was the man asking him?

13.  What does the man think Chance wants to do when he says he wants to watch?

14. What does he do when the man starts to have sex with him?

15. What does Chance think is happening?

16. What does EE do when they get home?

17. What happend when EE wants to have sex?

18. Chance promises to accompany EE to ................   the next day.

answers

9. To gather information about Chauncey Gardiner.

10. write a book.

11. No, he thinks Chance means he has no time to write or read a book.

12. The man asks him to have sex with him.

13. He thinks Chance wants to watch him masturbate.

14. Chance  does nothing at all.

15.  he thinks the man is ill and having a fit.

16.  EE climbs into Chance's bed and wants to make love to Chance.

17.  Chance tells her he wants to watch her. He does not react sexually to her at all.

18. the Capitol Hill Ball

chapter 6

1. What does Mrs Aubrey tell Chance?
2. What does Karpatov report about Chance to Skrapinov?
3. What does Sulkin tell Skrapinov?
4. What is Chance's codename?
5. Who does Sulkin think Chance is?
6. What is reported about Chance to the President?

answers

1. Media from across the world want to talk to Chance.
2. There is no record for Chance. It is as if he had never existed before
3. Nothing can be found and his ethnic background or accent cannot be determined.
4. Blank Page
5. He thinks that Chance is a member of an elitist faction that is planning a coup d'état.
6. No information on Chance is available

chapter 7

1. What has Duncan decided?
2. How many days has Chance been at the Rands?
3. Why is Chance proposed as a replacement for Duncan?
4. Where does Chance go when he is at the ball?
5. How does he feel?

answers

1. He has decided not to run.
2. 4
3. Because Chance has no background
4. He goes into the garden
5. peaceful

Has there ever been a President of the United States of America before Donal Trump who was also compared to Chance in Being There?
( answer can be found in the following article)

1. no
2. yes, Barack Obama
3. yes, Ronald Reagan
4. yes, F.D. Roosevelt

https:

Why did people compare Reagan to Chance? (answer can be found in the following article)

1. He often quoted from films he had played in because his image was derived from films
2. he loved gardening and started out his career as a gardiner in new York.
3. He was in a car accident just before he decided to run for president
4. He also often compared the state of the economy with seasons

https:

read ( a few of) the articles below.

Discuss why the journalists in the articles compare Donald Trump to Chance.

Write a short essay comparing Chance to  Donald Trump and explaining why a book which is 50 years old can still be relevant today.

THIS IS A HINT FOR A QUESTION IN THE TEST!

HINT

The articles also give you background information on the book and an analysis of Chance's character.

Make notes on these things as you read the articles because there could be a question in the test which asks you to describe the character of the protagonist.

TASK (while reading the articles)

1. List all the arguments why you can compare Donald Trump to Chance.
   
2. List all the arguments why you cannot compare Donald trump to Chance.
   
3. Write down all the information you find on the character of Chance.
   
4. Write down all the information you can find on the background of the book and its deeper meaning.

https:

1st article

The article says that Trump is an example of the village idiot who would be king. In the book Cance is literally an idiot who would be (vice-)president.

Like Chance, the article says that Trump has no recognizable oratory skills, business or political accumen (scherpzinnigheid) or even basic leadership prowess (dapperheid).

Like Chance, Trump prefers watching TV to reading.

Like Chance, the article says that Trump has a lack of aptitude for the job of president.

https:

2nd article

Both Chance and Trump owe their success to TV.

Trump has no record ( in politics), like Chance

According to the article Trump, like Chance, doesn't say anything of substance: only slogans and soundbites

Chance is a retard. Trump is not a retard; he is quick and clever, and opportunistic.

Chance has no command of his destiny nor any interest in it. Trump has command of his destiny and he certainly has an interest i it.n

https:

3rd article

Trump watches Fox News and believes it. 

Whereas Trump's tweets fire up the opposition, Chance just makes benign comments on the garden.

https:

4th article

Chance: he held forth on issues because everyone seemed eager to listen. 

Trump: he held forth on certain issues because his fans seemed eager to listen.

https:

5th article

The media opted to pretend Trump's antics (bokkesprongen) are done purposely and with great skill.

The people around Chance  believe his non-sensical answers are brilliant metaphors.

https:

6th article

Chance was naive and childlike. Chance was kindhearted, innocent and full of humility, honest and lacking in pretense. 

This can't be said of Trump.

https:

7 th article

According to the article: both Chance and Trump are geniuses; Chance in softness and Trump in malignity.

https: