Insert
The source that follows is:
- Source A: 20th-century prose fiction
- Odour of Chrysanthemums by D. H. Lawrence
An extract from a work first published in 1911.
This extract is from D. H. Lawrence’s 1911 short story Odour of Chrysanthemums, set in a Nottinghamshire mining community. In a dark, cramped cottage a mother and her children wait for the father, revealing domestic strain and the symbolic weight of chrysanthemums, firelight and silence.
Source A
1 They sat down to tea. John, at the end of the table near the door, was almost lost in the darkness. Their faces were hidden from each other. The girl crouched against the fender slowly moving a thick piece of bread before the fire. The lad, his face a dusky mark on the shadow, sat watching her who was transfigured in the red glow. "I do think it's beautiful to look in the fire,"
6 said the child. "Do you?" said her mother. "Why?" "It's so red, and full of little caves--and it feels so nice, and you can fair smell it."
11 "It'll want mending directly," replied her mother, "and then if your father comes he'll carry on and say there never is a fire when a man comes home sweating from the pit.--A public-house is always warm enough." There was silence till the boy said complainingly: "Make haste, our Annie."
16 "Well, I am doing. I can't make the fire do it no faster, can I?" "She keeps wafflin' it about so's to make 'er slow," grumbled the boy. "Don't have such an evil imagination, child," replied the mother. Soon the room was busy in the darkness with the crisp sound of crunching. The mother ate very little. She drank her tea determinedly, and sat thinking. When she rose her anger was
21 evident in the stern unbending of her head. She looked at the pudding in the fender, and broke out: "It is a scandalous thing as a man can't even come home to his dinner. If it's crozzled up to a cinder I don't see why I should care. Past his very door he
26 goes to get to a public-house, and here I sit with his dinner waiting for him--" She went out. As she dropped piece after piece of coal on the red fire, the shadows fell on the walls, till the room was almost in total darkness. "I canna see," grumbled
31 the invisible John. In spite of herself, the mother laughed. "You know the way to your mouth," she said. She set the dustpan outside the door. When she came again like a shadow on the hearth, the lad repeated, complaining sulkily: "I canna see." "Good gracious!" cried the mother irritably, "you're
36 as bad as your father if it's a bit dusk!" Nevertheless she took a paper spill from a sheaf on the mantelpiece and proceeded to light the lamp that hung from the ceiling in the middle of the room. As she reached up, her figure displayed itself just rounding with maternity.
41 "Oh, mother--!" exclaimed the girl. "What?" said the woman, suspended in the act of putting the lamp glass over the flame. The copper reflector shone handsomely on her, as she stood with uplifted arm, turning to face her daughter. "You've got a flower in your apron!" said the child, in a little rapture at this unusual event. "Goodness me!" exclaimed the woman, relieved.
46 "One would think the house was afire." She replaced the glass and waited a moment before turning up the wick. A pale shadow was seen floating vaguely on the floor. "Let me smell!" said the child, still rapturously, coming forward and putting
51 her face to her mother's waist. "Go along, silly!" said the mother, turning up the lamp. The light revealed their suspense so that the woman felt it almost unbearable. Annie was still bending at her waist. Irritably, the mother took the flowers out from her apron-band. "Oh, mother--don't take them out!" Annie cried, catching her hand and trying to replace the sprig.
56 "Such nonsense!" said the mother, turning away. The child put the pale chrysanthemums to her lips, murmuring: "Don't they smell beautiful!" Her mother gave a short laugh. "No," she said, "not to me. It was chrysanthemums when I married him, and chrysanthemums when you were born, and the first time
61 they ever brought him home drunk, he'd got brown chrysanthemums in his buttonhole." She looked at the children. Their eyes and their parted lips were wondering. The mother sat rocking in silence for some time. Then she looked at the clock.
66 "Twenty minutes to six!" In a tone of fine bitter carelessness she continued: "Eh, he'll not come now till they bring him. There he'll stick. But he needn't come rolling in here in his pit-dirt, for I won't wash him. He can lie on the floor--Eh, what a fool I've been, what a fool. And this is what I came here for, to this dirty hole, rats and all, for him to slink past his very door.
71 Twice last week--he's begun now-" She silenced herself, and rose to clear the table.
Questions
Instructions
- Answer all questions.
- Use black ink or black ball point pen.
- Fill in the boxes on this page.
- You must answer the questions in the spaces provided.
- Do not write outside the box around each page or on blank pages.
- Do all rough work in this book. Cross through any work you do not want to be marked.
- You must refer to the insert booklet provided.
- You must not use a dictionary.
Information
- The marks for questions are shown in brackets.
- Time allowed: 1 hour 45 minutes
- The maximum mark for this paper is 80.
- There are 40 marks for Section A and 40 marks for Section B.
- You are reminded of the need for good English and clear presentation in your answers.
- You will be assessed on the quality of your reading in Section A.
- You will be assessed on the quality of your writing in Section B.
Advice
- You are advised to spend about 15 minutes reading through the source and all five questions you have to answer.
- You should make sure you leave sufficient time to check your answers.
Section A: Reading
Answer all questions in this section. You are advised to spend about 45 minutes on this section.
Question 1
Read again the first part of the source, from lines 1 to 5.
Answer all parts of this question.
Choose one answer for each question.
1.1 What is John almost lost in?
- The darkness
- The red glow
- The shadow
[1 mark]
1.2 Where is the girl positioned?
- Against the fender
- Near the door
- At the end of the table
[1 mark]
1.3 What is the lad doing?
- Sitting and watching the girl
- Crouching by the fender
- Moving a thick piece of bread before the fire
[1 mark]
1.4 What do John, the girl and the lad do at the start?
- Sit down to tea
- Hide their faces from each other
- Look in the fire
[1 mark]
Question 2
Look in detail at this extract, from lines 6 to 15 of the source:
6 said the child. "Do you?" said her mother. "Why?" "It's so red, and full of little caves--and it feels so nice, and you can fair smell it."
11 "It'll want mending directly," replied her mother, "and then if your father comes he'll carry on and say there never is a fire when a man comes home sweating from the pit.--A public-house is always warm enough." There was silence till the boy said complainingly: "Make haste, our Annie."
How does the writer use language here to present the child's delight in the fire and the mother's irritation? You could include the writer's choice of:
- words and phrases
- language features and techniques
- sentence forms.
[8 marks]
Question 3
You now need to think about the structure of the source as a whole. This text is from the start of a story.
How has the writer structured the text to create a sense of despair?
You could write about:
- how despair builds by the end of the source
- how the writer uses structure to create an effect
- the writer's use of any other structural features, such as changes in mood, tone or perspective.
[8 marks]
Question 4
For this question focus on the second part of the source, from line 16 to the end.
In this part of the source, when the mother rejects the chrysanthemums, she could be seen as harsh. The writer suggests this is because the flowers are a painful reminder of her difficult life with her husband.
To what extent do you agree and/or disagree with this statement?
In your response, you could:
- consider your impressions of the mother and her difficult life
- comment on the methods the writer uses to suggest the significance of the chrysanthemums
- support your response with references to the text.
[20 marks]
Question 5
A national walking charity’s website is inviting young writers to share creative pieces about memorable journeys in wild places.
Choose one of the options below for your entry.
-
Option A: Describe a cliff path in high wind from your imagination. You may choose to use the picture provided for ideas:
-
Option B: Write the opening of a story about a journey on foot that tests someone’s resolve.
(24 marks for content and organisation, 16 marks for technical accuracy)
[40 marks]