Previous
Bell
The Secretary of the Examinations Board arranges for McLeery to oversee Evans’s exam. Although he’s initially surprised by the Governor’s request to have a prisoner sit for an O-level German exam, the Secretary is happy to oblige. The Secretary is warm and friendly; despite the peculiarity of the request, he thinks they should give Evans “a chance,” and he laughs “politely” and “good-naturedly” throughout his conversation with the Governor. Since the Governor is the one to contact the Examinations Board in the first place, it seems that the Secretary is a real employee of the Examinations Board and not one of Evans’s accomplices, though one of Evans’s “friends” later poses as the Assistant Secretary.
The Secretary Quotes in Evans Tries an O-Level
The Evans Tries an O-Level quotes below are all either spoken by The Secretary or refer to The Secretary . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Evans Tries an O-Level Quotes
“There’s no record of violence. Quite a pleasant sort of chap, they tell me. Bit of a card, really. One of the stars at the Christmas concert. Imitations, you know the sort of thing: Mike Yarwood stuff. No, he’s just a congenital kleptomaniac, that’s all.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
This passage appears at the very beginning of the story, when the Governor is telling the Secretary of the Examinations Board about one of his prisoners, James Evans, who wants to take the final exam in O-level German. The Governor paints Evans as a fairly harmless—if ridiculous—man who is more interested in making people laugh than actually committing crimes. The Governor describes Evans as a “congenital kleptomaniac,” meaning that he is genetically predisposed to stealing and doesn’t actually want to do so. This makes Evans seem like a fairly innocent criminal and allows readers (and the prison officers) to instead Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos.
Get the entire Evans Tries an O-Level LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
The Secretary Character Timeline in Evans Tries an O-Level
The timeline below shows where the character The Secretary appears in Evans Tries an O-Level. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Evans Tries an O-Level
In March, the Secretary of the Examinations Board receives a call from the Governor at Oxford Prison, asking if one of his prisoners...
(full context)
The Secretary bends to the Governor’s request to let Evans take the exam, agreeing that they should...
(full context)
