Aufgabe NT 1 - Aufgabe 1 · Abitur NRW Englisch LK · Nachtermin 2021

Klausurteil A

Robert Ford

The King of Spain

The novel takes place in the United Kingdom in the near future. Hal and his colleagues Rachel, Sam, Ted, Spike and Alan live and work at Edge Hill, a rural retirement home for affluent residents. Hal used to run the residents’ library, but the new director has just shut it down. The scene is set in the Rec, a staff lounge with a bar.

Towards the back of the room, in their usual position, half-sprawled upon the sofas, were

Sam, Rachel, Ted, Spike and Hal. The group looked dour, having been subjected for some

time to Hal’s prattling.

‘It’s a disgrace. For this guy to come in and close the library – it’s bordering on an abuse of

5 the patients’ civil liberties. Against their human rights.’

‘Not being funny, Hal, but since when did you give a toss about the patients’ civil rights?’

Spike regretted the comment almost as soon as it had left his mouth, wishing that he could

have somehow recalled his words.

Hal glared at him from across the small table. ‘Of course I care … but it’s not just that, it’s

10 not just the library. It’s this whole thing. Don’t you see? Now Daniels is gone, that’s it.

Party’s over, mate. And I’m not too proud to admit it.’ Hal looked around the other faces of

the group, drawing blanks from all. ‘I thought we had something here, a community or a

way of life that was different, separate from everything. Special. Ah, fuck it …’ Hal trailed

off, slumping back into the ragged cushions behind him.

15 ‘I don’t mean to be rude,’ Rachel said. ‘And we’d miss you, but … would you think about

leaving?’

It was a good question, a reasonable question, and also the one that no one dared put to Hal.

Not ever.

‘Leave?’ said Hal. ‘Leave to where exactly?’

20 There was a pause, a communal intake of breath: who would say anything when he was in

this kind of mood? At the back of the room behind the bar, Alan began to hiccup, his noisy

diaphragm punctuating the tense atmosphere.

‘Back to the city. Back to … real life, I guess,’ Spike offered.

All eyes turned to Hal. But the explosion of rage that everyone was expecting failed to

25 materialise. Instead, he leaned forward and retrieved his cigarettes, lighting up with slow

deliberate movements.

‘To the city,’ he said, repeating Spike’s words, chewing them over. ‘Only an imbecile would

say such a thing. Or worse – an Australian.’

‘Steady on, mate,’ said Spike.

30 ‘Do you know what’s it’s like out there? Really – what life is like out there in the city? Do you?’

‘Not for a while, but …’

‘Well, let me tell you. Other than the noise and the filth and the overcrowding and the crime

and the rats and the disease and the pigeons and the government and the police and the jobs

that scorch your soul, do you know what the really bad thing about living in the city is?’

35 ‘The smell?’

‘The people.’

‘The people?’

‘The people. They are the single biggest reason why I could never move back there, […].

There’s just no way.’

40 ‘What d’you mean?’ asked Sam.

‘I mean that the whole place is rotten. To the core. To the core.’ Hal took a long draw on

his cigarette, a pause in which to gather. ‘Do you know the best thing to ever happen to us,

to our civilisation? No? Well let me tell you. Global warming, that’s what.’

Blank looks about the table.

45 ‘Don’t you see? The idea that our actions were directly affecting the world in a most negative

way – that our lifestyles were sending us to the brink of disaster. It was a wake-up call. A

big fucking sign that said: Come on guys, this isn’t working. Think about it. Change. And

the worst thing that’s ever happened to us? The worst thing was that we found out how to

mitigate these effects through technology. Not through thought or restraint or care. The

50 appliance of science. Boom. Done. There you go. As you were. Carry on regardless.

‘And now … now look where we are. There’s no community, no empathy, no interest. People

live in a way that is completely inhuman, leading insular lives, preening, homogenised,

confused, self-obsessed illiterates surrounded by the devices that have made it possible to

live without structure or engagement or conscience, that have placed people one step

55 removed from morality – and when I say that, I mean morality in the old-fashioned sense,

based on one’s principles of behaviour within a network of individuals and not within an

electronic vacuum whereby actions are practically devoid of meaning. It’s wrong, all

wrong. They are stricken. And it’s sad. And it’s ugly. And I want no part in it.’

Hal’s eyes shone in the gloom. His words had rung some kind of truth with the group. They

60 knew what he meant; had experienced it first hand. And in a way, that was the reason why

most of them had ended up within the snug confines of Edge Hill – a place as removed as it

was possible to be from the painful realities of the world.

‘It is sad,’ Rachel said dreamily, thinking, probably, of her parents out there somewhere in

the city.

65 ‘But that’s wrong, isn’t it?’ Sam started.

From the other side of the table Hal looked up, his face fixed into something of a snarl.

‘I mean, just because you don’t understand something … that’s not an excuse to just not

engage with it, or to abandon it completely. That’s just as bad.’

‘What?’ Hal spat the word out, livid.

70 ‘You can’t just write people off like that. People aren’t just bad or uncaring. You talk about

interest – well, that’s just it, isn’t it? To be interested. To be involved. That’s not what we

are doing here at Edge Hill. This is a hiding place. You said it. And there’s no future in

that, either.’

Sam took a large slug from his drink and sat back in his chair, awaiting the inevitable

75 backlash. But it never came. Instead, Hal got up from the sofa and straightened his tunic.

Then without saying a word to anyone, he crossed the room and took a seat at the bar,

where he ordered a large scotch from Alan.

Annotations:

10 Daniels – former director of Edge Hill

28 Australian – Spike comes from Australia

1. Outline how Hal sees urban life and society. (Comprehension) [12 Punkte]