Free OCR GCSE English Literature (J352) Exam Questions and Answers

A Christmas Carol extract (Ghost of Christmas Past takes Scrooge to the village where he grew up) In this extract the Ghost of Christmas Past takes Scrooge to the village where he grew up. "The school is not quite deserted," said the Ghost. "A solitary child, neglected by his friends, is left there still." Scrooge said he knew it. And he sobbed. They left the high-road, by a well-remembered lane, and soon approached a mansion of dull red brick, with a little weathercock-surmounted cupola, on the roof, and a bell hanging in it. It was a large house, but one of broken fortunes; for the spacious offices were little used, their walls were damp and mossy, their windows broken, and their gates decayed. Fowls clucked and strutted in the stables; and the coach-houses and sheds were over-run with grass. Nor was it more retentive of its ancient state, within; for entering the dreary hall, and glancing through the open doors of many rooms, they found them poorly furnished, cold, and vast. There was an earthy savour in the air, a chilly bareness in the place, which associated itself somehow with too much getting up by candle-light, and not too much to eat. They went, the Ghost and Scrooge, across the hall, to a door at the back of the house. It opened before them, and disclosed a long, bare, melancholy room, made barer still by lines of plain deal forms and desks. At one of these a lonely boy was reading near a feeble fire; and Scrooge sat down upon a form, and wept to see his poor forgotten self as he used to be. How does Dickens present Scrooge as lonely in this extract and elsewhere in the novel?

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‘A Christmas Carol is a story about poverty.’ How far do you agree with this view? Explore at least two moments from the novel to support your ideas.

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A Christmas Carol extract (Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come shows Scrooge that Tiny Tim has died) In this extract the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come shows Scrooge that Tiny Tim has died. Bob was very cheerful with them, and spoke pleasantly to all the family. He looked at the work upon the table, and praised the industry and speed of Mrs Cratchit and the girls. They would be done long before Sunday, he said. “Sunday! You went to-day, then, Robert?” said his wife. “Yes, my dear,” returned Bob. “I wish you could have gone. It would have done you good to see how green a place it is. But you'll see it often. I promised him that I would walk there on a Sunday. My little, little child!” cried Bob. “My little child!” He broke down all at once. He couldn't help it. If he could have helped it, he and his child would have been farther apart perhaps than they were. He left the room, and went up-stairs into the room above, which was lighted cheerfully, and hung with Christmas. There was a chair set close beside the child, and there were signs of some one having been there, lately. Poor Bob sat down in it, and when he had thought a little and composed himself, he kissed the little face. He was reconciled to what had happened, and went down again quite happy. How does Dickens present suffering and loss in this extract and elsewhere in the novel?

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‘The descriptions of the ghosts in A Christmas Carol represent the different roles they play in Scrooge’s transformation.’ How far do you agree with this view? Explore at least two moments from the novel to support your ideas.

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Anita and Me by Meera Syal and The Woman Who Walked into Doors by Roddy Doyle Read the two extracts below and then answer both part a) and part b). For part a), you should focus only on the extracts here rather than referring to the rest of your studied text. Extract 1 from: Anita and Me by Meera Syal Meena is remembering her seventh birthday trip to Wolverhampton. My father showed he was sorry by buying me a hot dog on the way home. I sat in the back of the Mini and concentrated on licking the tomato sauce off my fingertips whilst singing ‘Bobbing Along on the Bottom of the Beautiful Briney Sea’ in between slurps. Mummy and papa were talking again, soft whispers, sss sss sss, my mother’s bracelets jingled as she seemed to wipe something from her face. This was my birthday and they were leaving me out again. I squeezed my hot dog and suddenly the sausage shot into my mouth and lodged firmly in my windpipe. I was too shocked to move, my fingers curled uselessly into my fists. They were still talking, engrossed, I could see papa’s eyes in the mirror, darting from my mother’s face to the unfolding road. I thought of writing SAUSAGE STUCK on the windscreen and then realised I could not spell sausage. I was going to die in the back of the car and somewhere inside me, I felt thrilled. It was so dramatic. This was by far the most exciting thing that had ever happened to me. The car went over a bump in the road and the offending chipolata slipped out of my mouth and into my lap, leaving a red stripe across my yellow satin dress. When my mother looked round, my face was wet with tears and I was panting and pointing the sausage at her like a gun. ‘Just look what you’ve done to your dress! Can’t you be careful?’ I did not tell her what had happened. This was my near death experience and I would make damn sure I’d use it on her one day. Extract 2 from: The Woman Who Walked into Doors: by Roddy Doyle This extract is about a young girl, Paula, growing up with her sisters (Carmel and Denise) and brother (Eddie). I remember lying in my cot just below the bedroom curtain that was blowing in and out over me; the curtain had flowers on it. The sun was on the wall when the curtain blew into the room. There were noises from downstairs, the radio and my mammy humming and putting things on the table. I was warm. Carmel was asleep in her bed. Denise wasn’t born. That’s the first thing I can remember. I think it’s all the one memory, that it all happened at the same time. I think it’s true. I’m not sure but I think there’s another part – my father in the coal shed scraping coal off the floor into the bucket, the screech of the shovel on the concrete. If it did happen then it must have been the weekend because the fire was never lit on weekday mornings. I don’t trust that bit, because I always loved that noise, something about it, even now – maybe knowing that there was a lovely big fire coming. The cot was white, chipped so that some of the wood underneath showed. There was a picture of a fawn at the end where my head was. I thought it was a dog until years later when my daddy took it down out of the attic for Eddie. When I saw it again – I was eleven – it was a fawn. I checked the chips where the white was missing to see if it was the same cot. When I think of happy and home together I see the curtain blowing and the sun on the wall and being snug and ready for the day, before I start thinking about it like an adult. I see flowers on the curtains – but there were never flowers on the curtains in our room. I asked my mammy when I was over there last week did we ever have flowery curtains and she said No, they’d never changed them, always stripes. Compare how these two extracts present memories of early childhood. You should consider: • the situations and experiences faced by the characters • how the characters react to these situations and experiences • how the writers’ use of language and techniques creates effects.

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Anita and Me by Meera Syal Explore another moment in Anita and Me where childhood is memorably described.

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Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro and The Foundling by Stacey Halls Read the two extracts below and then answer both part a) and part b). For part a), you should focus only on the extracts here rather than referring to the rest of your studied text. Extract 1 from: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro In this extract, Tommy and Kathy have visited Madame to ask her about deferrals. Madame has just called in Miss Emily to talk to them. ‘When we still had Hailsham, we’d get two or three couples each year, trying to get in to talk to us. One even wrote to us. I suppose it’s not so hard to find a large estate like that if you mean to break the rules. So you see, it’s been there, this rumour, from long before your time.’ She stopped, so I said: ‘What we want to know now, Miss Emily, is if the rumour’s true or not.’ She went on gazing at us for a moment, then took a deep breath. ‘Within Hailsham itself, whenever this talk started up, I made sure to stamp it out good and proper. But as for what students said after they’d left us, what could I do? In the end, I came to believe – and Marie‑Claude believes this too, don’t you, darling? – I came to believe that this rumour, it’s not just a single rumour. What I mean is, I think it’s one that gets created from scratch over and over. You go to the source, stamp it out, you’ll not stop it starting again elsewhere. I came to this conclusion and ceased to worry about it. Marie‑Claude never did worry about it. Her view was: “If they’re so foolish, let them believe it.” Oh yes, don’t show me that sour face of yours. That’s been your view of it from the beginning. After many years of it, I came not exactly to the same viewpoint. But I began to think, well, perhaps I shouldn’t worry. It’s not my doing, after all. And for the few couples who get disappointed, the rest will never put it to the test anyway. It’s something for them to dream about, a little fantasy. What harm is there? But for the two of you, I can see this doesn’t apply. You are serious. You’ve thought carefully. You’ve hoped carefully. For students like you, I do feel regret. It gives me no pleasure at all to disappoint you. But there it is.’ Extract 2 from The Foundling by Stacey Halls Six years earlier, the narrator Elizabeth Bright had left her baby daughter at a children’s hospital because she couldn’t look after her. In this extract, Elizabeth has returned to the hospital to take her daughter back. She is talking to the hospital clerk. He frowned, and looked very hard at me. ‘You are Elizabeth Bright?’ I stared at him. He pushed the bundle of papers to me across the desk. ‘Miss, have you seen these documents before?’ ‘I can’t read.’ I plucked at the blue ribbon. Fear was rising in me, filling me like a rain bucket. ‘Are these hers? Is she dead?’ Elegant script curled meaninglessly over the heavy cream paper, but I saw the numbers six and two and seven, which to me was like reading her name. Mr Simmons looked at me for what felt like a full minute. Then he blinked, and pulled the papers back to his side of the desk. The ribbon lay sprayed between us, and inexplicably all I could think was what a waste it was that something so fine should be shut up in a drawer. ‘Mr Simmons, I don’t understand,’ I said. ‘Has she died?’ The clerk shifted uneasily in his chair and put his eyeglass¹ down carefully. ‘Child 627 was collected many years ago, by her mother.’ There was complete silence, but for a pounding in my ears. I opened my mouth, then closed it and swallowed. ‘Her mother? I’m sorry, sir, I don’t understand. Are we talking about my daughter Clara?’ ¹eyeglass = old fashioned spectacles. Compare how a shocking discovery is presented in these two extracts. You should consider: • the situations and experiences faced by the characters • how the characters react to these situations and experiences • how the writers’ use of language and techniques creates effects.

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Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro Explore another moment in Never Let Me Go where something unexpected happens.

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Animal Farm by George Orwell and Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr Read the two extracts below and then answer both part a) and part b). For part a), you should focus only on the extracts here rather than referring to the rest of your studied text. Extract 1 from: Animal Farm by George Orwell This extract describes Old Major telling the other animals of his strange dream. ‘All the habits of Man are evil. And above all, no animal must ever tyrannise over his own kind. Weak or strong, clever or simple, we are all brothers. No animal must ever kill any other animal. All animals are equal. ‘And now, comrades, I will tell you about my dream of last night. I cannot describe that dream to you. It was a dream of the earth as it will be when Man has vanished. But it reminded me of something that I had long forgotten. Many years ago, when I was a little pig, my mother and the other sows used to sing an old song of which they knew only the tune and the first three words. I had known that tune in my infancy, but it had long since passed out of my mind. Last night, however, it came back to me in my dream. And what is more, the words of the song also came back – words, I am certain, which were sung by the animals of long ago and have been lost to memory for generations. I will sing you that song now, comrades. I am old and my voice is hoarse, but when I have taught you the tune you can sing it better for yourselves. It is called Beasts of England.’ Old Major cleared his throat and began to sing. As he had said, his voice was hoarse, but he sang well enough, and it was a stirring tune, something between Clementine and La Cucaracha. Extract 2 from: Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr In this extract, Marianne is a young girl who has been told by the doctor she has to stay in bed for six weeks and miss the rest of the school term – including the school play in which she had a part. She lay down in a tight, uncomfortable ball, and wondered if she would sleep because she was so tired, or would lie awake and cry because she was so miserable; in fact, she was asleep before the door had shut. Marianne dreamed. She was in a great open stretch of country, flat like a prairie, covered, as far as she could see, with the long dry grass in which she was standing more than knee deep. There were no roads, no paths, no hills and no valleys. Only the prairie stretched before her on all sides till it met the grey encircling sky. Here and there it was dotted with great stones or rocks, which rose just above the level of the tall grass, like heads peering from all directions. Marianne stood and looked. There seemed to be nothing to do and nowhere to go. Wherever she looked she saw nothing but grass and stones and sky, the same on every side of her. Yet something, a nagging uneasiness which she could not account for, drove her to start walking; and because at one point on the skyline she thought she could see something like a faint trickle of smoke, she walked towards that. The ground under her feet was rutted and uneven, and the grass harsh and prickling. She could not move fast, and it seemed that she had walked a long way before she saw that she had been right about the faint line in the sky. It was a wavering stream of smoke, rising in the windless air from the chimney of a house. It was a curious‑looking house, with leaning walls, its windows and door blank and shut. It rose unexpectedly straight from the prairie: a low uneven fence separated its small plot from the surrounding ground, though the coarse grass was the same within and without. Compare how a character’s dreams are presented in these two extracts. You should consider: • the situations and experiences faced by the characters • how the characters react to these situations and experiences • how the writers’ use of language and techniques creates effects.

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Animal Farm by George Orwell Explore another moment in Animal Farm where the animals think about the future.

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