AQA A-Level French (7652)

## Learning Outcomes

- Understand how _No et moi_ works as both a **roman d’apprentissage** and a social critique
- Identify the main themes of homelessness, exclusion, friendship, grief and adolescence
- Analyse the importance of Lou’s first-person narration and its limits
- Explain how key characters shape the novel’s ideas and emotional impact
- Build stronger French essay responses for AO3 and AO4 with relevant argument and precise vocabulary
- Avoid common exam mistakes such as plot summary, irrelevant quotations and pre-learned essays

## AQA A-Level French (7652) Syllabus

For the AQA A-Level French (7652), you are expected to understand _No et moi_ as a literary set work, with a focus on the following syllabus points:

- Know that _No et moi_ is a novel by **Delphine de Vigan**, published in **2007**
- Identify the novel as both a **roman social** and a **roman d’apprentissage**
- Explain how **Lou**, as first-person narrator, shapes the reader’s understanding of **No**, **Lucas** and Lou’s family
- Understand how the novel presents **l’exclusion sociale**, especially homelessness and marginality
- Analyse relationships in the novel, especially Lou and No, Lou and Lucas, and Lou’s family dynamics
- Explain how grief and emotional absence affect Lou’s development
- Evaluate why the ending resists a simple or happy resolution
- Use accurate French and a structured analytical argument in response to essay questions

## Test Your Knowledge

_Attempt these questions before reading this article. If you find some difficult or cannot remember the answers, look more closely at that area during your revision._

1. In what ways is _No et moi_ a **roman d’apprentissage**?
2. How does Lou’s first-person narration affect what the reader understands about No?
3. Why is the relationship between Lou and No more complex than a simple friendship?
4. How does Delphine de Vigan present homelessness as a social issue rather than just a personal tragedy?
5. Why does the ending matter so much in an essay on the novel?

## Introduction

For Paper 2, you are not rewarded for retelling the story of _No et moi_. You are rewarded for answering the exact question in French, using precise knowledge of the novel and analysing how Delphine de Vigan presents her ideas. That means you need secure knowledge of themes, characters and narrative methods, but you also need to know how to turn that knowledge into a short, focused literary essay.

_No et moi_ is a strong exam text because it combines clear themes with real complexity. On the surface, it is the story of Lou, a gifted thirteen-year-old girl, and No, a young homeless woman she tries to help. But the novel is also about **l’exclusion sociale** (social exclusion), **la solitude** (loneliness), **le deuil** (grief), **l’adolescence** (adolescence), and the painful discovery that good intentions do not always change reality.

> **Key Term: roman d’apprentissage**
> A novel of development in which a character grows through experience and moves from innocence towards greater awareness.

### Why No et moi is more than a simple story of friendship

A common weak reading of the novel is: “Lou meets No, helps her, and learns important life lessons.” That is partly true, but it is too simple for A-level. The novel does explore **l’amitié** (friendship), yet it also questions whether Lou really understands No fully. Lou wants to help, but she also idealises No, projects onto her, and sees her through an adolescent middle-class perspective.

This matters because the novel is not just about kindness. It is about the limits of kindness in the face of **la précarité** (precarious living conditions), trauma and exclusion. No is not a problem that Lou can solve. The failure of the “rescue” is one of the book’s main ideas.

> **Key Term: exclusion sociale**
> The process by which individuals are pushed to the margins of society and cut off from stability, support and full participation in social life.

The exam often rewards students who can hold two ideas together at once. For example:

- Lou and No do form a meaningful bond
- but that bond is unequal and unstable

Or:

- the novel shows the value of compassion
- but it also shows that compassion alone is not enough

That kind of balanced argument is much stronger than a one-sided essay.

> **Test Tip:** In Paper 2, avoid starting with plot summary. Begin with a direct argument that answers the question, for example: _À mon avis, Delphine de Vigan présente Lou comme une adolescente en pleine évolution, mais aussi comme une narratrice limitée qui ne peut pas vraiment sauver No._

### Themes and characters: what the novel is really exploring

Lou Bertignac is central because she is both protagonist and narrator. She is intelligent, observant and emotionally vulnerable. Her gifted mind makes her notice details others miss, but it does not protect her from loneliness. In fact, her difference increases her isolation. She struggles socially, feels separate from other teenagers and grows up in a family marked by silence after the death of her baby sister.

No, by contrast, represents another kind of marginality. She is homeless, vulnerable and unstable, but she is not only a symbol. A good essay should avoid reducing her to “the homeless girl.” She is also a damaged young woman whose past has shaped her distrust, fear and inability to settle into the kind of life Lou imagines for her.

Lucas is important because he brings warmth, humour and emotional intelligence. He prevents the novel from becoming too closed or abstract. He also helps reveal Lou’s growth: through him, she begins to enter more ordinary adolescent experiences such as attachment, confidence and affection.

Lou’s parents are not just background figures. Her mother, trapped in depression after grief, creates an atmosphere of emotional absence. Her father provides patience and support, but he cannot fully repair the family’s fracture. This domestic context matters because Lou’s interest in No does not come from nowhere. Lou is drawn to brokenness partly because she lives with it already.

> **Key Term: deuil**
> Grief after the death of someone close, often shaping behaviour, relationships and emotional life.

A strong essay links character to theme. For example:

- Lou’s loneliness helps explain why she becomes attached to No
- No’s instability helps explain why the rescue narrative fails
- the mother’s depression shows that exclusion can exist inside the home, not only on the street
- Lucas offers a contrast to the silence and tension elsewhere in the novel

This is better than discussing characters one by one with no clear line of argument.

### Narrative voice and authorial methods

One of the most useful ways to raise an essay from descriptive to analytical is to discuss **how** Delphine de Vigan tells the story. The most important method is the **first-person narration**.

> **Key Term: narration à la première personne**
> A narrative told using “I”, giving direct access to one character’s thoughts and perceptions.

Because Lou narrates the story, the reader experiences events through her mind. This creates intimacy. We understand her sensitivity, awkwardness and emotional shock very closely. It also helps the novel function as a **récit initiatique** because we learn with her. As Lou discovers more about suffering, injustice and adult complexity, the reader does too.

But this narrative choice has limits. We do not get direct access to No’s interior life in the same way. We know No through Lou’s interpretation. That means the novel invites sympathy for No, while also reminding us that she remains partly unknowable. This is a subtle but important point. Some students write as if Lou’s view is fully objective. It is not. It is sincere, but partial.

This distinction can shape an excellent essay. If a question asks about No, you can still discuss Lou’s narrative voice. For example, Delphine de Vigan may present No as elusive partly because Lou cannot fully grasp trauma, social exclusion or adult experience. The gap between Lou’s wish to understand and her actual understanding becomes part of the meaning of the novel.

Another key method is **contrast**. The novel repeatedly sets one world against another:

- home and street
- safety and danger
- adolescence and adulthood
- theory and lived reality
- desire to help and inability to change things fully

Lou begins with intellectual curiosity. She studies homelessness almost as a school topic. But the novel moves from abstraction to lived reality. This movement matters. It shows that social problems are not ideas on paper. They affect real bodies, choices and futures.

The novel’s realism is also important. Delphine de Vigan avoids an easy resolution. If No had simply recovered and remained safely integrated into Lou’s family, the novel would become a comforting story about generosity. Instead, the ending shows that social damage and personal trauma cannot be solved by affection alone. That gives the book its moral force.

> **Test Tip:** If you want higher AO4 marks, mention methods such as _la narration à la première personne_, _le contraste_, _le réalisme_ or _le ton_. Do not only discuss “what happens”.

### How to build an essay that scores well

AQA essays on set works reward two things at once: critical response and quality of French. That means your answer needs both a clear line of argument and controlled language.

A useful structure is:

1. Brief introduction answering the question directly
2. Paragraph 1 on the main argument
3. Paragraph 2 developing or qualifying the argument
4. Paragraph 3 on a complication, contrast or limit
5. Short conclusion returning to the exact wording of the question

For example, if the question is about friendship, do not just list all friendships in the novel. Ask what kind of friendship the novel presents. Is friendship healing? Unequal? Temporary? A source of growth? A source of misunderstanding? Once you decide that, each paragraph should prove part of your answer.

Good analytical phrasing in French includes:

- _Tout d’abord, on constate que..._
- _Ce qui me frappe, c’est..._
- _D’une part..., d’autre part..._
- _L’auteur utilise... afin de montrer que..._
- _Cette évolution souligne..._
- _Cependant, il ne faut pas oublier que..._

The best essays also use brief, precise textual reference rather than long quotation. You do not need quotation-heavy answers. In fact, forced quotations can weaken the response if they interrupt the argument or do not match the question.

A common examiner criticism is the pre-learned essay. Students memorise a general answer on homelessness or friendship and then adapt it badly. This causes two problems. First, parts of the essay become irrelevant. Second, the response often sounds unnatural in French because the student is trying to recall chunks rather than think clearly.

A stronger approach is to prepare flexible ideas, not fixed essays. Revise around themes, characters, methods and debate points. Then shape them to the question on the day.

Common essay mistakes on _No et moi_ include:

- retelling Lou’s meetings with No instead of analysing their significance
- treating Lou as a fully reliable narrator
- presenting No as simply “saved” or “helped”
- forgetting the role of Lou’s family grief
- ignoring Lucas because he seems less dramatic
- writing generally about homelessness without tying points to the novel
- using memorised quotations with no explanation

### How to structure an evaluative answer

For a stronger AO4 response, build evaluation into every paragraph rather than adding it only at the end. A simple pattern is:

- make a claim
- support it with precise knowledge from the novel
- analyse the method or effect
- qualify the point if needed

For example:

Lou’s relationship with No appears at first to be an act of solidarity. However, Delphine de Vigan also shows its limits, because Lou’s desire to help is shaped by innocence and projection. The first-person narration encourages the reader to admire Lou’s compassion, but also reveals how little control she really has over No’s future.

This kind of answer is evaluative because it does not stop at “they are friends.” It weighs the relationship and judges its complexity.

## French Language Toolkit

### Topic vocabulary

| French                              | English                   |
| ----------------------------------- | ------------------------- |
| le roman d’apprentissage            | coming-of-age novel       |
| le roman social                     | social novel              |
| l’exclusion sociale                 | social exclusion          |
| les sans-abri                       | the homeless              |
| les SDF                             | homeless people           |
| la précarité                        | precariousness            |
| la solitude                         | loneliness                |
| le deuil                            | grief                     |
| l’adolescence                       | adolescence               |
| l’amitié                            | friendship                |
| la marginalité                      | marginality               |
| la vulnérabilité                    | vulnerability             |
| la narration à la première personne | first-person narration    |
| le point de vue                     | point of view             |
| le regard de Lou                    | Lou’s perspective         |
| la critique sociale                 | social critique           |
| le réalisme                         | realism                   |
| l’évolution psychologique           | psychological development |
| le lien affectif                    | emotional bond            |
| l’échec du sauvetage                | failure of the rescue     |

#### Complex sentence patterns

- _Bien que Lou soit très intelligente, elle reste émotionnellement fragile._  
  Although Lou is very intelligent, she remains emotionally fragile.

- _On peut dire que le roman est un récit d’apprentissage dans la mesure où Lou perd peu à peu son innocence._  
  One can say that the novel is a coming-of-age story insofar as Lou gradually loses her innocence.

- _Si Lou essaie d’aider No, cela ne veut pas dire qu’elle la comprend totalement._  
  If Lou tries to help No, that does not mean she fully understands her.

- _Ce qui est frappant, c’est que la narration à la première personne rapproche le lecteur de Lou tout en limitant sa vision de No._  
  What is striking is that first-person narration brings the reader closer to Lou while limiting her view of No.

- _Delphine de Vigan montre que, même lorsque la solidarité existe, elle ne suffit pas toujours à vaincre l’exclusion._  
  Delphine de Vigan shows that, even when solidarity exists, it is not always enough to overcome exclusion.

- _D’une part, No représente la souffrance sociale ; d’autre part, elle reste un personnage complexe qu’on ne peut pas réduire à sa condition._  
  On the one hand, No represents social suffering; on the other hand, she remains a complex character who cannot be reduced to her condition.

- _À mesure que le roman avance, Lou devient plus lucide sur les injustices du monde adulte._  
  As the novel progresses, Lou becomes more clear-sighted about the injustices of the adult world.

#### Opinion and argument phrases

- _À mon avis..._  
  In my opinion...

- _Je suis convaincu(e) que..._  
  I am convinced that...

- _Il faut reconnaître que..._  
  It must be acknowledged that...

- _Cependant, on ne peut pas nier que..._  
  However, one cannot deny that...

- _Tout bien considéré..._  
  All things considered...

## Key Point Checklist

_This article has covered the following key knowledge points:_

- _No et moi_ is a novel by **Delphine de Vigan**, published in **2007**
- The novel can be read as both a **roman d’apprentissage** and a **roman social**
- Lou’s encounter with No drives her emotional and moral development
- The novel explores homelessness as **l’exclusion sociale**, not just as an individual misfortune
- Lou’s first-person narration creates intimacy but also limits the reader’s access to No
- The relationship between Lou and No is meaningful but unequal and unstable
- Lou’s family grief, especially her mother’s depression, shapes the emotional world of the novel
- Lucas is important as a source of warmth, realism and contrast
- The ending rejects a simple rescue narrative and supports the novel’s realism
- High-mark essays analyse methods such as narrative voice, contrast and realism
- For Paper 2, relevance to the exact question matters more than memorised quotations
- Strong responses balance AO4 argument with AO3 accuracy and range in French

## Key Terms and Concepts

- roman d’apprentissage
- exclusion sociale
- deuil
- narration à la première personne


Set works - Delphine de Vigan: No et moi