CIE IGCSE: The Passage Question Tuesday, 16 December 14 Jonathan Peel JLS 2014

Format  Paper 1 examines Poetry and Prose  You have to answer 2 questions: 1 on each genre  You can choose between a passage question and an essay question.  The paper is “closed book” Jonathan Peel JLS 2014

From the syllabus Jonathan Peel JLS 2014

Assessment: equal weighting Jonathan Peel JLS 2014

Approaching the passage  Focus only on the passage  Question is about writer’s craft  No need to tell the story, but show knowledge of the context  Use the SCASI approach to focus your writing. Jonathan Peel JLS 2014

How does Hill create atmosphere in this passage?  Note that you should place the passage in context in your introduction and then write.  There is no need for generic waffle in the “Hill creates atmosphere through the use of a range of literary devices…” This is obvious and wastes time better spent telling us about them. Jonathan Peel JLS 2014

Passage Jonathan Peel JLS 2014

Setting  Look for all ideas relating to setting that have been chosen to create an effect:  “Kingshaw stood at the gate…” Gates are barriers that once crossed can open new horizons- good and bad.  He enters a church – to cool off and to pass time. What might a church signify?  Note the description of the “clipped” and “neat” grass and the “straight” hedge – a sense of order and tamed nature  The gargoyle suggests some threat although in daylight he is not scared of them  The smell (always be on the lookout for sensory imagery) –creates a threatening and sad atmosphere – note the simile about “no living or breathing person”  Decay is suggested by the hymn books with “some of the spines hanging off them”  The “white marble warrior” suggests coldness, death and possibly purity  The tiles cause pain  He longs to escape to the “sunlight” Jonathan Peel JLS 2014

Character  Kingshaw – give brief context: moved to Warings as mother takes a job; hated/hates Hooper the son of the house; has recently been involved in an accident caused by climbing on a castle walls and ending with Hooper falling and breaking his leg. Feels guilty. Jonathan Peel JLS 2014

Character: Ideas to explore  At a loose end and bored: “nothing happening, nothing to see”  Childish: sticks tongue out at gargoyles  Guilt and fear predominate: “things came back on you. You were never safe” short sentences for individual thoughts  Panic? “Oh God I didn’t mean it – yes I did…”  Honest with self – confessional? “He wanted Hooper to be dead because then things would have been better”  Punishment: his guilt is obvious? Is this leading to his eventual suicide? “He feared Hooper more than he feared anything in the world” No escape Jonathan Peel JLS 2014

Action  A boy looks at a field and decides not to enter it across a boundary gate  He enters a church  He falls to his knees and prays  He is scared of his past and of the church  He is surprised by a second voice (Fielding) who tells him that he is transgressing - he is “not supposed to go inside those railings.”  “spun round” “struggle to his feet” Jonathan Peel JLS 2014

Style  Section opens with Kingshaw alone - repetition of “nothing” confirms the negativity of the sequence  Uses reader’s senses  Generally omniscient Third Person Narration  Range of sentence length – focus on the short sentences for the frightened individual thoughts and the long sentence for the outpouring of frightened thoughts, with Imperatives and repetition of “Sorry”.  Kingshaw is not speaking in “” form: why? Maintains narrative… thoughts in head? Not out loud?  Pleads and despairs: “Please… please…never… never… o God…” (173.8)  Direct speech is used for Fielding’s interruption Jonathan Peel JLS 2014

Ideas  Boy is troubled and seeks solace in God, though this is not intentional. The confessional nature of a church allows him to share his guilt  He acknowledges that he is not really sorry and recognises that he wishes his “friend” were dead.  His final “O God…” – despair or mere interruption?  His realisation of his guilt may be the beginning of his journey to suicide  Voice at end is also threatening – will be relief but short lived. Jonathan Peel JLS 2014

TASK  Read the passage that begins on page : “He found the clearing again…” and ends on 105.9: “he was afraid of Hooper dying”  How does Hill create an atmosphere of danger and fear in this passage? Jonathan Peel JLS 2014