1. Analysez comment Jo et Maurice s’adaptent à leur
nouvelle vie quand ils doivent quitter Paris.
Plan
• Para 1 : L'héritage de la débrouillardise familiale. Les garçons utilisent leur ingéniosité
innée pour transformer des situations difficiles en opportunités de profit ou de survie.
◦ Jo échange son étoile jaune contre un sac de billes avec Zérati avant même de partir.
◦ Maurice devient passeur à Hagetmau et gagne 20 000 francs en ramenant 40 personnes.
• Para 2 : L'art du mensonge et de l'improvisation. La survie dépend de la capacité des
garçons à inventer des histoires crédibles face aux autorités.
◦ Jo ment aux gendarmes à Marseille en prétendant que son père possède le cinéma.
◦ Jo improvise un itinéraire vers Roanne devant l'interprète de l'Excelsior à Cannes.
• Para 3 : L'indépendance par le travail précoce. Les garçons s'intègrent dans chaque
nouvelle ville en trouvant immédiatement un emploi.
◦ Maurice travaille à la boulangerie et Jo à la ferme des Viale à Menton.
◦ Jo devient coursier pour la librairie Mancelier à Rumilly.
• Para 4 : L'exploitation du marché noir et du troc. Ils utilisent les pénuries de guerre pour
sécuriser leur quotidien.
◦ Le troc de tomates contre de l'huile avec les soldats italiens à Nice.
◦ La falsification des tickets de rationnement pour obtenir du sucre à Rumilly.
Markscheme
• Jo and Maurice have inherited what seems to be a family trait of being resourceful and
are usually able to get by in difficult situations, and even occasionally profit from them.
• Even before they leave Paris, Jo’s yellow star, the wearing of which is compulsory for
Jews under Nazi law in Occupied France, becomes an item of trade which he uses to
gain his bag of marbles.
• The two boys befriend fellow travellers on the train to Dax, which gains them drink
from
an old lady with lemonade and the life-saving intervention by a priest who says they
are travelling with him when the German police start checking travel permits.
• Jo constantly thinks on his feet and relies on his wits. He and Maurice make up
background stories of their lives at several points in the narrative to ensure their safety.
• In Hagetmau the boys bargain with Raymond, who will reduce the fee for getting them
across the demarcation line if they do his afternoon deliveries.
• Maurice turns getting people across the demarcation line into a profitable venture by
returning to Hagetmau and helping 40 others to cross.
• Both boys are quick to find jobs in Menton, where their brothers now live. Maurice
works in a bakery and Jo is employed at the Viale farm.
• In Nice they use their skills at bartering to set up a black-market scheme with the
Italian soldiers.
,• At Moisson Nouvelle they are quick to use their positions as kitchen staff to set up a
further black-market scheme.
• When they are arrested and taken to the Gestapo headquarters at the Excelsior Hotel,
they once again use a false background story to hide their true past and the fact that
they are Jews.
• Despite the difficulties of their interrogation the boys also remember what their father
told them, and they never admit, despite temptation to do so on occasion, that they
are Jews.
• In the town of R. where the boys spend the final years of the war, they continue to
adapt to their situation and use their resourcefulness to survive. Maurice is employed
in the local hotel and continues to run a black-market operation. Jo gets a job as a
delivery boy and accommodation at the home of the anti-semitic Mancelier.
, 2.« En écrivant ce roman, Joffo paraît raconter son passé
d’une manière plutôt détachée des événements. » Dans
quelle mesure êtes-vous d’accord avec ce jugement ?
Mark scheme:
Students are likely to argue that, far from being detached, Joffo remains totally
immersed in and emotionally engaged with the events that his adult-self recounts.
• The story is told entirely in the first-person and is seen, except for a brief epilogue,
through the eyes of Jo between the ages of ten and twelve.
• We see Paris, even under Occupation, as a playground where he and Maurice make
their own games in the maze of its streets.
• We experience the innocence and naivety of Jo at first hand when he is confronted
with anti-Jewish propaganda and the discriminatory laws imposed in Occupied France
by the Nazis.
• We share his childlike incomprehension of what it means to be a Jew and incredulity
that, by wearing a yellow star, he has become a victim of bullying at school, where
even the teachers now ignore him.
• We experience the real sense of adventure, in Jo’s eyes, of the crossing of the
demarcation line and his deep disappointment that there are no watchtowers or patrols
and no barbed wire.
• We share the emotional and physical low of Joseph at the Hotel Excelsior in Nice,
where he is not only interrogated but also weakened by meningitis and is
semi-delirious.
• We see Jo’s first stirrings of love for Françoise Mancelier, who is out of his reach since
she is two years older than him.
• We share his recurrent pain throughout the novel as he relates the loss of his
childhood, stolen from him by the Nazis, and how they have also taken away his father.
• We witness at first hand through Joffo’s narrative the senseless persecution of the
Jews and their deportation to concentration camps.
• The novel is emotionally charged throughout, and we are constantly reminded of the
close relationships that exist between each of the Joffo family members and in
particular between Jo and Maurice.
• Even in the epilogue to the story, recounted by the now 42-year-old Jo, Joffo maintains
his emotional response and engagement with the events of his childhood, expressing
hope that this sort of persecution, repression and genocide will not occur again – but if
it does « les musettes sont au grenier ».
, Plan
• Para 1 : La perspective de l'enfant comme filtre protecteur. Le narrateur utilise ses yeux
de garçon de 10 ans pour transformer la tragédie en aventure ludique.
◦ La traversée de la ligne de démarcation est vécue comme un jeu de "Cow-boys et
Indiens".
◦ Paris est décrit comme un labyrinthe de rues idéal pour les jeux et les explorations.
• Para 2 : L'utilisation de l'humour pour créer une distance. Joffo insère des scènes
comiques pour briser la tension des moments les plus sombres.
◦ La scène avec Samuel le brocanteur qui entre dans le salon pendant que les SS sont
coiffés.
◦ L'ironie de loger chez l'antisémite Mancelier sans qu'il ne s'en doute.
• Para 3 : L'immersion totale dans l'émotion et la peur. Contrairement à l'idée de
détachement, le récit plonge le lecteur dans l'angoisse pure des protagonistes.
◦ La terreur des interrogatoires et le délire de la méningite à l'Hôtel Excelsior.
◦ La douleur de la séparation avec les parents : « C'en était fait de l'enfance ».
• Para 4 : L'engagement émotionnel du narrateur adulte. L'épilogue montre que Joffo reste
profondément marqué par ces événements trente ans plus tard.
◦ La crainte exprimée pour ses propres fils : « Les musettes sont au grenier... peut-être ».
◦ La prise de conscience du vol de son enfance par les nazis.
nouvelle vie quand ils doivent quitter Paris.
Plan
• Para 1 : L'héritage de la débrouillardise familiale. Les garçons utilisent leur ingéniosité
innée pour transformer des situations difficiles en opportunités de profit ou de survie.
◦ Jo échange son étoile jaune contre un sac de billes avec Zérati avant même de partir.
◦ Maurice devient passeur à Hagetmau et gagne 20 000 francs en ramenant 40 personnes.
• Para 2 : L'art du mensonge et de l'improvisation. La survie dépend de la capacité des
garçons à inventer des histoires crédibles face aux autorités.
◦ Jo ment aux gendarmes à Marseille en prétendant que son père possède le cinéma.
◦ Jo improvise un itinéraire vers Roanne devant l'interprète de l'Excelsior à Cannes.
• Para 3 : L'indépendance par le travail précoce. Les garçons s'intègrent dans chaque
nouvelle ville en trouvant immédiatement un emploi.
◦ Maurice travaille à la boulangerie et Jo à la ferme des Viale à Menton.
◦ Jo devient coursier pour la librairie Mancelier à Rumilly.
• Para 4 : L'exploitation du marché noir et du troc. Ils utilisent les pénuries de guerre pour
sécuriser leur quotidien.
◦ Le troc de tomates contre de l'huile avec les soldats italiens à Nice.
◦ La falsification des tickets de rationnement pour obtenir du sucre à Rumilly.
Markscheme
• Jo and Maurice have inherited what seems to be a family trait of being resourceful and
are usually able to get by in difficult situations, and even occasionally profit from them.
• Even before they leave Paris, Jo’s yellow star, the wearing of which is compulsory for
Jews under Nazi law in Occupied France, becomes an item of trade which he uses to
gain his bag of marbles.
• The two boys befriend fellow travellers on the train to Dax, which gains them drink
from
an old lady with lemonade and the life-saving intervention by a priest who says they
are travelling with him when the German police start checking travel permits.
• Jo constantly thinks on his feet and relies on his wits. He and Maurice make up
background stories of their lives at several points in the narrative to ensure their safety.
• In Hagetmau the boys bargain with Raymond, who will reduce the fee for getting them
across the demarcation line if they do his afternoon deliveries.
• Maurice turns getting people across the demarcation line into a profitable venture by
returning to Hagetmau and helping 40 others to cross.
• Both boys are quick to find jobs in Menton, where their brothers now live. Maurice
works in a bakery and Jo is employed at the Viale farm.
• In Nice they use their skills at bartering to set up a black-market scheme with the
Italian soldiers.
,• At Moisson Nouvelle they are quick to use their positions as kitchen staff to set up a
further black-market scheme.
• When they are arrested and taken to the Gestapo headquarters at the Excelsior Hotel,
they once again use a false background story to hide their true past and the fact that
they are Jews.
• Despite the difficulties of their interrogation the boys also remember what their father
told them, and they never admit, despite temptation to do so on occasion, that they
are Jews.
• In the town of R. where the boys spend the final years of the war, they continue to
adapt to their situation and use their resourcefulness to survive. Maurice is employed
in the local hotel and continues to run a black-market operation. Jo gets a job as a
delivery boy and accommodation at the home of the anti-semitic Mancelier.
, 2.« En écrivant ce roman, Joffo paraît raconter son passé
d’une manière plutôt détachée des événements. » Dans
quelle mesure êtes-vous d’accord avec ce jugement ?
Mark scheme:
Students are likely to argue that, far from being detached, Joffo remains totally
immersed in and emotionally engaged with the events that his adult-self recounts.
• The story is told entirely in the first-person and is seen, except for a brief epilogue,
through the eyes of Jo between the ages of ten and twelve.
• We see Paris, even under Occupation, as a playground where he and Maurice make
their own games in the maze of its streets.
• We experience the innocence and naivety of Jo at first hand when he is confronted
with anti-Jewish propaganda and the discriminatory laws imposed in Occupied France
by the Nazis.
• We share his childlike incomprehension of what it means to be a Jew and incredulity
that, by wearing a yellow star, he has become a victim of bullying at school, where
even the teachers now ignore him.
• We experience the real sense of adventure, in Jo’s eyes, of the crossing of the
demarcation line and his deep disappointment that there are no watchtowers or patrols
and no barbed wire.
• We share the emotional and physical low of Joseph at the Hotel Excelsior in Nice,
where he is not only interrogated but also weakened by meningitis and is
semi-delirious.
• We see Jo’s first stirrings of love for Françoise Mancelier, who is out of his reach since
she is two years older than him.
• We share his recurrent pain throughout the novel as he relates the loss of his
childhood, stolen from him by the Nazis, and how they have also taken away his father.
• We witness at first hand through Joffo’s narrative the senseless persecution of the
Jews and their deportation to concentration camps.
• The novel is emotionally charged throughout, and we are constantly reminded of the
close relationships that exist between each of the Joffo family members and in
particular between Jo and Maurice.
• Even in the epilogue to the story, recounted by the now 42-year-old Jo, Joffo maintains
his emotional response and engagement with the events of his childhood, expressing
hope that this sort of persecution, repression and genocide will not occur again – but if
it does « les musettes sont au grenier ».
, Plan
• Para 1 : La perspective de l'enfant comme filtre protecteur. Le narrateur utilise ses yeux
de garçon de 10 ans pour transformer la tragédie en aventure ludique.
◦ La traversée de la ligne de démarcation est vécue comme un jeu de "Cow-boys et
Indiens".
◦ Paris est décrit comme un labyrinthe de rues idéal pour les jeux et les explorations.
• Para 2 : L'utilisation de l'humour pour créer une distance. Joffo insère des scènes
comiques pour briser la tension des moments les plus sombres.
◦ La scène avec Samuel le brocanteur qui entre dans le salon pendant que les SS sont
coiffés.
◦ L'ironie de loger chez l'antisémite Mancelier sans qu'il ne s'en doute.
• Para 3 : L'immersion totale dans l'émotion et la peur. Contrairement à l'idée de
détachement, le récit plonge le lecteur dans l'angoisse pure des protagonistes.
◦ La terreur des interrogatoires et le délire de la méningite à l'Hôtel Excelsior.
◦ La douleur de la séparation avec les parents : « C'en était fait de l'enfance ».
• Para 4 : L'engagement émotionnel du narrateur adulte. L'épilogue montre que Joffo reste
profondément marqué par ces événements trente ans plus tard.
◦ La crainte exprimée pour ses propres fils : « Les musettes sont au grenier... peut-être ».
◦ La prise de conscience du vol de son enfance par les nazis.
