Ejercicio 2B · Inglés PAU La Rioja Ordinaria 2023

Text B- Four Months Later (July 2014)

Marianne says nothing. It's true they did bully her. Eric called her 'flat-chested' once, in front of everyone, and Rob, laughing,... whispered something in Eric's ear, some affirmation, or some further insult too vulgar to speak out loud. At the funeral back in January everyone talked about what a great person Rob had been, full of life, a devoted son, and so on. But he was also a very insecure person, obsessed with popularity, and his desperation had made him cruel. Not for the first time Marianne thinks cruelty does not only hurt the victim, but the perpetrator also, and maybe more deeply. You learn nothing very profound about yourself simply by being bullied; but by bullying someone else you learn something you can never forget.

After the funeral she spent evenings scrolling through Rob's Facebook page. Lots of people from school had left comments on his wall, saying they missed him. What were these people doing, Marianne thought, writing on the Facebook wall of a dead person? What did these messages, these advertisements of loss, actually mean to anyone? What was the appropriate etiquette when they appeared on the timeline: to 'like' them supportively? But everything made Marianne angry then. Thinking about it now, she can't understand why it bothered her. None of those people had done anything wrong. They were just grieving. Of course it didn't make sense to write on his Facebook wall, but nothing else made sense either. If people appeared to behave pointlessly in grief, it was only because human life was pointless, and this was the truth that grief revealed. She wishes that she could have forgiven Rob, even if it meant nothing to him. When she thinks of him now it's always with his face hidden, turning away...

'Did you accept the apology?', says Connell.

She nods, looking down at her nails. 'Of course I did', she says. 'I don't go in for grudges.'

(Adapted from: Sally Rooney, Normal People, 2018, London: Faber and Faber, pp. 225-226)

2B. Answer these questions in no more than 8 words. (1 point, 0.25 each)

a)

How was Marianne bullied?

b)

How did everyone describe Rob at his funeral?

c)

What did Marianne think about people writing on Rob's Facebook wall after his death?

d)

How does Marianne picture Rob after dying?