1. Tackling a Set Text Question
The Cone Gatherers
Tackling a Set Text Question

2. From Page 32: “‘You’ll be going into talk to Peggy
From Page 32: “‘You’ll be going into talk to Peggy?’” to the end of the chapter (P35)
This section of the text is roughly about the same length of extract you will get in the Set Text question in the exam.
You will be asked 20 marks worth of questions: 10 on the extract; 10 on your wider knowledge of the text. (Higher) 12 on extract; 8 on wider knowledge of the text (N5)
At Higher, for the questions on the extract you will be asked to:
Explain – pick out information from the text (quote) and explain what this helps us to understand about the character/ setting/ themes/ action etc. This type of question will normally be worth 2 marks.
Analyse – look closely at the language (imagery, word choice, sentence structure) and show how it is used to convey a particular aspect of character/ setting/ themes/ mood/ atmosphere etc. This type of question is usually worth 4 marks. You may be asked to refer to at least 2 examples.
NOTE: You will not get marks for quotation/ reference, as you did at N5. Marks will be based solely on the quality of your analysis or explanation.

3. At N5…. You will be asked to:
Identify: pick out an example (quotation or reference to a technique) for 1 mark. These questions are usually worth 2 marks, so you will usually have to pick out two examples.
Explain: pick out information from the text (quote) – 1 mark; explain what this helps us to understand about the character/ setting/ themes/ action etc – 1 mark. This type of question will normally be worth 2 – 4 marks.
Show how: Explain HOW the writer conveys an idea/ aspect of character/ setting/ theme etc. You will have to refer to a technique or quote an example – 1 mark; and show how this is used to achieve a particular effect – 1 mark. This type of question will normally be worth 2 – 4 marks.

4. Final Question: N5
The final question, where you are expected to show a wider knowledge of the text, is worth 8 marks. You should structure your answer under the following headings:
Commonality (2 marks):
1 mark for identifying something from elsewhere in the text + quote or reference
1 mark for showing how it relates to this extract + quote or reference
Extract (2 marks):
2 marks for identifying 2 examples from the extract and relating this to the question
Wider Knowledge (4 marks):
2 references to ELSEWHERE in the text that relate to the question (2) + 2 quotations (2)

5. Final Question: Higher
The final question, where you are expected to show a wider knowledge of the text, is worth 10 marks. You should structure your answer under the following headings:
Commonality (2 marks):
1 mark for identifying something from elsewhere in the text + quote or reference
1 mark for showing how it relates to this extract + quote or reference
Extract (2 marks):
2 marks for explaining 2 examples from the extract and relating this to the question (no marks for quotation/ reference alone.)
Wider Knowledge (6 marks):
3 detailed and insightful references to ELSEWHERE in the text that relate to the question + quotation OR
6 more straightforward references to ELSEWHERE in the text that relate to the question + quotation
NOTE: You will not get marks for quotation/ reference alone, as you did at N5. Marks will be based solely on the quality of your analysis or explanation.

6. Now let’s try an example
The extract we are going to look at is, from Page 32: “‘You’ll be going in to talk to Peggy?’” to the end of the chapter (P35)
Re-read this section carefully before we start to look at the questions

7. Question 1
Look closely from “’You’ll be going in to talk to Peggy’” (P32) – as he opened the door and went out. “ (P33)
HIGHER:
By referring to two features of the writer’s language, analyse how he makes clear Mrs Lochie’s feelings about Duror (4 marks)
(Must refer to two different aspects of language e.g. word choice, imagery, sentence structure) N5
Show how the writer uses two examples of language to make clear Mrs Lochie’s feelings about Duror. (4 marks)
(Can be two examples of the same aspect of language e.g. two examples of word choice, imagery or sentence structure.)

8. Possible answer: Higher
By referring to both word choice and imagery, analyse how the writer makes clear Mrs Lochie’s feelings about Duror (4 marks)
Use of the question “You’ll be going in…” is not really meant as a question but a statement showing that she expects him to pay attention to her daughter.
Use of metaphor: “I ken a heart with thorns in it”: just as a thorn is jagged/ prickly and inflicts pain, she suggests Duror is filled with bitterness, is unloving and he causes pain to others
Word choice: “fester”: suggests something that is decaying and turning bad. Mrs Lochie warns Duror that his ability to love/ feel emotion could also decay and be destroyed (Could also describe this as a metaphor: image of a heart festering – heart is associated with love; festering heart suggests that his ability to love has decayed/ been destroyed)
Word choice: “retribution”: suggests Mrs Lochie believes Duror should be punished

9. Possible answer: N5 N5
Show how the writer uses two examples of language to make clear Mrs Lochie’s feelings about Duror. (4 marks)
Use of the question “You’ll be going in…” (1)
not really meant as a question but a statement showing that she expects him to pay attention to her daughter. (1)
Use of metaphor: “I ken a heart with thorns in it” (1)
Just as a thorn is jagged/ prickly and inflicts pain, she suggests Duror is filled with bitterness, is unloving and he causes pain to others (1)
Word choice: “fester” (1)
suggests something that is decaying and turning bad. Mrs Lochie warns Duror that his ability to love/ feel emotion could also decay and be destroyed (1)

10. Question 2
Look closely at P33 “The air was keen with frost…That dismissal might be his own liberation.”
HIGHER and N5:
Explain fully how Duror feels about his plan. (2 marks)

11. Possible Answer Higher:
Described plan as “a conscious surrender to evil” which suggests Duror knows his plan is wicked but he has allowed himself to give in to it and go with it anyway (1)
He knows the effect it will have on Calum “ driven…into a drivelling obscenity” but is prepared to go ahead nevertheless (1)
N5:
Described plan as “a conscious surrender to evil” (1)
which suggests Duror knows his plan is wicked but he has allowed himself to give in to it and go with it anyway (1) OR
“ driven…into a drivelling obscenity” (1)
He knows the effect it will have on Calum but is prepared to go ahead nevertheless (1)

12. Question 3
Look closely at the section beginning “All the time that he was ministering…” (P33) – bottom of page 34.
Higher:
By referring to at least 2 examples, analyse how the writer conveys Duror’s capacity for cruelty. (4 marks)
N5:
By referring to at least 2 examples, show how the writer helps us to understand Duror’s cruel nature. (4 marks)
By referring closely to P35, show how the writer conveys Duror’s troubled/ tormented mind. (2 marks)

13. Possible answers: N5
By referring to at least 2 examples, show how the writer helps us to understand Duror’s cruel nature. (4 marks)
Contrast: “ministering” (1)
suggests the gentle care and attention given to his dogs, (1)
“ensnare” (1)
suggests that his thoughts about the cone-gatherers are different – plans to trap them like animals (1) OR
“planning”/ “preparing”/ “considering” (1) suggests that his scheme to destroy the cone gatherers is carefully/ thoroughly thought through (1)
thrashing”/ “maddest cruelty”/ “dripped faithful blood” (1) suggests the brutality he imagines inflicting on his dogs (1)
:“smiled” (1) suggests his pleasure in his wife’s suffering (1)

14. N5
By referring closely to P35, show how the writer conveys Duror’s troubled/ tormented mind. (2 marks)
“It’s too late, he muttered (1) suggests that he knows he has gone too far but can’t stop/ change things (1)
“terrified”/ “desolate” (1) suggests he is in total despair/ feels completely lost (1)
“ terrified and desolate as an infant separated from his mother” (1) suggests that, like the terror a lost child would feel, he too feels a sense of terror/ panic at what is happening to him (1)

15. Possible answer: Higher
By referring to at least 2 examples, analyse how the writer conveys Duror’s capacity for cruelty. (4 marks)
Contrast: “ministering” suggests the gentle care and attention given to his dogs, but “ensnare” suggests that his thoughts about the cone-gatherers are different – plans to trap them like animals (2)
Word choice e.g. “planning”/ “preparing”/ “considering” suggests that his scheme to destroy the cone gatherers is carefully/ thoroughly thought through (1)
Word choice: “thrashing”/ “maddest cruelty”/ “dripped faithful blood” suggests the brutality he imagines inflicting on his dogs (1) despite their loyal affection for him
Contrast between his actual actions (“continued to pat/ speak consolingly”) and his brutal imaginings “thrashing” suggests that Duror is obsessed with cruelty (2)
Word choice: “smiled” suggests his pleasure in his wife’s suffering (1)

16. Final Question Higher:
By referring to this extract, and to elsewhere in the novel, explain how the writer makes us feel a mixture of sympathy and loathing for Duror.
10 marks
NOTE: You will not get marks for quotation/ reference alone, as you did at N5. Marks will be based solely on the quality of your analysis or explanation.

17. Final Question: N5
By referring to this extract, and to elsewhere in the novel, explain how the writer makes us feel either sympathy or loathing for Duror.
8 marks

18. Possible answer: Higher
By referring to this extract, and to elsewhere in the novel, explain how the writer makes us feel a mixture of sympathy and loathing for Duror.
Commonality:
In this extract, Duror demonstrates that he is character worthy of sympathy, because he is clearly suffering a great deal of torment – Mrs Lochie “caught another glimpse of his torment” but at the same time, he shows an evil side to his character when he imagines beating his dogs, and smiles when he hears his wife sobbed herself to sleep. (1)
Earlier in chapter 2, we also see that he is a character worthy of sympathy when the doctor notes, “he had been fighting his own war for years”, but also, he shows an evil side in chapter 1 when we see his hatred of Calum “icy sweat of hatred” (1)

19. Higher
Extract:
Duror shows that he is capable of affection in the way he tends to his dogs: “handled them with unwonted gentleness” (1)
But also of great nastiness when we learn of his plan to make Calum take part in the deer drive even though he knows it will be traumatic for Calum. (1)
Wider knowledge:
In chapter 1 we see evidence of an evil side of Duror, which makes us loathe him, when he imagines Calum and Neil having an accident “he had imagined them missing their footing in the tall tree” (1)
Also in chapter 1 we learn that he has a revulsion for anything that is not perfect “repelled by anything living that had an imperfection or deformity” which suggests that he is intolerant of others and lacking in compassion, but even worse than that, he despises them because of their disability. (2)
His treatment of his wife also reveals his lack of human kindness and he shows no sympathy for her situation: “He saw the appeal in her streaming eyes, but he could not respond to it.” (1)
However, Duror is also a character to feel sympathy for. He has had to harden himself as a way of coping with his wife’s disability, and doesn’t allow himself to feel emotion “once it had sent him away with his own eyes wet.” (2)

20. Possible Answer: N5 Commonality:
In this extract, Duror demonstrates that he is character worthy of sympathy, because he is clearly suffering a great deal of torment (1) Mrs Lochie “caught another glimpse of his torment” (1)
Earlier in chapter 2, we also see that he is a character worthy of sympathy when the doctor notes, “he had been fighting his own war for years” (1 OR
He shows an evil side to his character when he imagines beating his dogs, and smiles when he hears his wife sobbed herself to sleep. (1)
he shows an evil side in chapter 1 when we see his hatred of Calum “icy sweat of hatred” (1)

21. Possible answer: N5 Extract
Duror shows that he is capable of affection in the way he tends to his dogs (1)
“handled them with unwonted gentleness” (1) OR
Duror shows nastiness when we learn of his plan to make Calum take part in the deer drive even though he knows it will be traumatic for Calum. (1)
“a conscious surrender to evil” (1)

22. Possible answer: N5 Wider Knowledge
Duror is a character to feel sympathy for. He has had to harden himself as a way of coping with his wife’s disability, and doesn’t allow himself to feel emotion (1)
“once it had sent him away with his own eyes wet.” (1)
He also has qualities, such as he never speaks badly of people (1)
“Never had she heard him say an indecent or false word” (1) OR
In chapter 1 we see evidence of an evil side of Duror, which makes us loathe him, when he imagines Calum and Neil having an accident (1)
“he had imagined them missing their footing in the tall tree” (1)
Also in chapter 1 we learn that he has a revulsion for anything that is not perfect (1)
“repelled by anything living that had an imperfection or deformity” (1)