Aufgabe HT 1 - Aufgabe 1 · Abitur NRW Englisch LK · Haupttermin · Weiterbildungskolleg 2021

Klausurteil A: Leseverstehen und Schreiben integriert

Klausurteil A

Ovo Adagha

The Plantation

This passage comes from the opening of the short story. At dawn, Namidi makes his way to his rubber tree plantation, which is located somewhere in the Niger Delta.

This place was an emblem of life to him – the high-pitched whistle of the birds; the cold

drizzle of early morning dew; the soft, earthy, muskiness of the air; the endless reams of

foliage and the rubber trees that glistened with sap. The plantation seemed to glow with a

curious mysteriousness which followed him about as he moved abstractedly, slashing at the

5 banners of plant-leaves that heaved across his path, his face a picture of dark brooding.

There followed a small moment of prickling silence, when it seemed as if the murmur of the

plantation was suspended in a state of waiting; as though giving audience to some novelty

event. Namidi’s nostrils pricked up an odd, sickly smell that set his stomach on edge as he

moved about; and with it floated an alien, trickling sound. He paused in mid-stride and cocked

10 his ears at the trees. He stood still for a long time, listening, watching and sniffing, until,

perhaps touched by an uncertain impulse, he looked behind a thicket a few feet away.

If the trees had started talking to him he would not have been more surprised. A stream of

fluid burst forth from the ground and splashed all around in a wayward arc. It flowed across

the adjoining greenery, which seemed to shrink away from the onslaught. He watched as a

15 puddle of fluid gathered around him and washed across the plantation. With his senses

invaded by the strong stench, he realized it was petrol.

Once, many years ago, some men from the city in khaki uniforms had come to the village

with long pipes and heavy trucks. Their spectacle had held the attention of the village people

for many days. They had dug across the village grounds, through the plantation and the nearby

20 forests; buried the pipes and then left. A pipe must have broken, was the first thoughts that

came to Namidi; he must ask the village head to do something about it.

But such noble thought soon evaporated as he turned the matter over in his mind. Yes, it was

surely petrol, but of what benefit would this be to him? There was an opportunity here, if

only the meddling of the villagers would let him. Then a small grin lit up his face. Yes, he

25 knew what to do.

He filled the rubber gourd with some petrol and then started towards the village. When he

emerged from the plantation the early morning sun was rising confidently in the skies. […]

Namidi moved as quickly as he could, his heart full of intent. Some riches are too hard won,

he thought to himself, too long waited for to be shared, especially in this village where no

30 man lacked the capacity for greed and treachery. Of what use is it to come upon a herd of

bush meat, if it will only serve the main course of a public feast? For long he had wandered

and waited in the plantation for a chance to redeem himself from the poverty that had beset

his adult life. Now it was within his grasp to settle it. He would not share his discovery with

anyone, he decided. […]

35 ‘What is it?’ his wife, Mama Efe, enquired as she emerged from the hut. She was a thin,

shrivelled woman with a hardened look about her. Years and years of toiling in the sun had

drawn the skin taut over her cheek-bones so that time and suffering seemed etched on her

features.

‘What’s that smell you brought home today?’ she asked, with a wary, suspicious frown on

40 her face.

Namidi was gazing at his hut; at the lines of rotten bamboo that stuck out of its window panes.

It seemed like the thatched roof and clay-red walls were cowering before him and the smell

of new money. He turned around with a perspiring face and told her about his findings.

‘We must go there now before the busybodies get wind of it,’ he added, trying to infect her

45 with a sense of urgency.

‘What if a fire starts, eh?’ she queried, worriedly. In her mind, there appeared a flash of

blurred images writhing inside a great flame; of grotesque-looking figures being planted in

the ground; and of grey-clothed people standing around the fresh mounds of soil, with a

charged, funereal quality.

50 Looking at her, at the doubt and anxiety that suddenly clouded her face, Namidi experienced a

brief pang of foreboding; but he tossed the thought away quickly from his mind, without

repining, and said:

‘It won’t, I am the only one who knows.’ His eyebrows arched menacingly, admonishing her

to say no more.

55 She asked no further questions, but she thought within herself: this thing is a ghoulish business

and will come to no good.

Namidi, his wife and three children carved an odd, almost patriarchal procession as they left

the house with huge, empty cans. Namidi led the line, towering and frowning, as he strode

determinedly down the bush path; his children followed, awe-struck and excited by the scent

60 of adventure, picking their way bare-footed over the rough path; his wife completed the

moving line of ancient slave-rite figures, tagging along on hardened feet, her face brooding

and disturbed. Their advance took them to where they were greeted by an ensemble of

close-knit trees that stretched and heaved into the track, forming an intimidating profusion

of branches, fronds and creepers. The air was stale and thick with damp sweat. Yet Namidi

65 retained all the doggedness that was upon him since the time he made the discovery. It was

the road that would lead them to riches, he thought cheekily to himself. And as his wife and

children trudged mechanically behind him, his mind was closed to all else except his

destination.

In the stroking brightness of the sun, an owl in full glide flapped its brown-streaked wings,

70 turned its head and then sounded a doleful note as it flew past the trudging party below.

Annotation:

26 rubber gourd – here: a container made from the hard dry skin of a gourd fruit (Zierkürbis)

1. Outline what life is like in the Niger Delta and under which conditions Namidi lives. (Comprehension) [12 Punkte]