Insert
The source that follows is:
- Source A: 19th-century prose fiction
- Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
An extract from a work first published in 1861.
This extract is taken from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (1861), where young Pip is seized in a bleak marshland churchyard by an escaped convict who threatens him into agreeing to bring a file and food, establishing a tense mood and a stark power imbalance.
Source A
1 After darkly looking at his leg and me several times, he came closer to my tombstone, took me by both arms, and tilted me back as far as he could hold me; so that his eyes looked most powerfully down into mine, and mine looked most helplessly up into his.
6 “Now lookee here,” he said, “the question being whether you’re to be let to live. You know what a file is?” “Yes, sir.”
11 “And you know what wittles is?” “Yes, sir.” After each question he tilted me over a little more, so as to give me a
16 greater sense of helplessness and danger. “You get me a file.” He tilted me again. “And you get me wittles.” He tilted me again. “You bring ’em both to me.” He tilted me again. “Or I’ll have your heart and liver out.” He tilted me again.
21 I was dreadfully frightened, and so giddy that I clung to him with both hands, and said, “If you would kindly please to let me keep upright, sir, perhaps I shouldn’t be sick, and perhaps I could attend more.”
26 He gave me a most tremendous dip and roll, so that the church jumped over its own weathercock. Then, he held me by the arms, in an upright position on the top of the stone, and went on in these fearful terms:— “You bring me, to-morrow morning early, that file and them wittles. You bring
31 the lot to me, at that old Battery over yonder. You do it, and you never dare to say a word or dare to make a sign concerning your having seen such a person as me, or any person sumever, and you shall be let to live. You fail, or you go from my words in any partickler, no matter how small it is, and your heart and your liver shall be tore out, roasted, and ate. Now, I ain’t alone, as you
36 may think I am. There’s a young man hid with me, in comparison with which young man I am a Angel. That young man hears the words I speak. That young man has a secret way pecooliar to himself, of getting at a boy, and at his heart, and at his liver. It is in wain for a boy to attempt to hide himself from that young man. A boy may lock his door, may be warm in bed, may tuck himself up,
41 may draw the clothes over his head, may think himself comfortable and safe, but that young man will softly creep and creep his way to him and tear him open. I am a keeping that young man from harming of you at the present moment, with great difficulty. I find it wery hard to hold that young man off of your inside. Now, what do you say?”
46 I said that I would get him the file, and I would get him what broken bits of food I could, and I would come to him at the Battery, early in the morning. “Say Lord strike you dead if you don’t!” said the man.
51 I said so, and he took me down. “Now,” he pursued, “you remember what you’ve undertook, and you remember that young man, and you get home!”
56 “Goo-good night, sir,” I faltered. “Much of that!” said he, glancing about him over the cold wet flat. “I wish I was a frog. Or a eel!”
61 At the same time, he hugged his shuddering body in both his arms,—clasping himself, as if to hold himself together,—and limped towards the low church wall. As I saw him go, picking his way among the nettles, and among the brambles that bound the green mounds, he looked in my young eyes as if he were
66 eluding the hands of the dead people, stretching up cautiously out of their graves, to get a twist upon his ankle and pull him in. When he came to the low church wall, he got over it, like a man whose legs were numbed and stiff, and then turned round to look for me. When I saw him
71 turning, I set my face towards home, and made the best use of my legs. But presently I looked over my shoulder, and saw him going on again towards the river, still hugging himself in both arms, and picking his way with his sore feet among the great stones dropped into the marshes here and there, for stepping-places when the rains were heavy or the tide was in.
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 did the man look at several times?
- the man's leg and the narrator
- the tombstone and the narrator
- the man's leg and the tombstone
[1 mark]
1.2 What does the man do to the narrator after moving closer to the narrator's tombstone?
- Takes the narrator by both arms and tilts the narrator back as far as the man can hold
- Grabs the narrator by one arm and pushes the narrator forward onto the tombstone
- Steps behind the narrator and forces the narrator to kneel beside the tombstone
[1 mark]
1.3 What did the man take the narrator by?
- both shoulders
- both arms
- the collar
[1 mark]
1.4 Which way did the narrator's eyes look?
- most helplessly up into the man's eyes
- most powerfully down into the man's eyes
- most helplessly down into the man's eyes
[1 mark]
Question 2
Look in detail at this extract, from lines 6 to 15 of the source:
6 “Now lookee here,” he said, “the question being whether you’re to be let to live. You know what a file is?” “Yes, sir.”
11 “And you know what wittles is?” “Yes, sir.” After each question he tilted me over a little more, so as to give me a
How does the writer use language here to build a threatening mood and show the narrator’s helplessness? 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 beginning of a novel.
How has the writer structured the text to create a sense of menace?
You could write about:
- how menace intensifies throughout 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, where the convict hugs his own shivering body as he leaves, he seems weak and pathetic. The writer suggests that underneath all the threats, he is actually a frightened and desperate man.
To what extent do you agree and/or disagree with this statement?
In your response, you could:
- consider your impressions of the convict
- comment on the methods the writer uses to suggest the convict's desperation
- support your response with references to the text.
[20 marks]
Question 5
A city newspaper is publishing a feature on the lives of night workers and wants creative pieces from young writers.
Choose one of the options below for your entry.
-
Option A: Describe the bustle of a bakery in the middle of the night from your imagination. You may choose to use the picture provided for ideas:
-
Option B: Write the opening of a story about an unexpected discovery made during a night shift.
(24 marks for content and organisation, 16 marks for technical accuracy)
[40 marks]