paper 1 part 1 - whitworth€¦ · • pushing through and twisting its head (verbs) imagery...

Paper 1 Part 1Quickly glance at the questions (particularly 2, 4 and 5)

Jot down the focus

Read the extract with structure in mind

The resources in this power point are based on the following mock exam papers:Propping up the line (Alfed and the rat)Brighton Rock (Hale)

First read - Annotations

• The first read through is crucial

• You need a clear idea of plot, character and tone/atmosphere

• You need to be looking for the changes that occur

• You need to be looking for the different perspectives

• Seek the connections that can be made

• You should be reading steadily to get a clear picture of what is going on

• Get each paragraph clear in your head

Always read actively with a pen in your hand at the least or a range of highlighters if you want to be effective and save yourself time!

Use the ‘Propping up the line’ source first as a practice and have a go at the process outlined

on the next slide…

StructureThis is a good question to start with as it requires you to consider the whole extract which means you can use your first read to prepare this answer. Beginning What is focussed on?

What effect is created?Why does the writer focus on this?Why begin this way?

IntroduceConnectionSympathy/antithesisAnticipateForeshadow

Develop What is developed or contrasted or added?What effect does this have?

Why does the writer develop/contrast/add?How was the bit before important?

DevelopBuildIncreaseZoom inComplicationConflict

Turning points/ structural features

What is the major structural change?What structural features are included?

Why does the writer use these changes and features?How do they impact on what you have read?

ForeshadowFlashbackRepetitionInside/outsideShift in perspective

End What kind of ending is it? Why did the writer end this way? ReturnCliff-hangerResolution

Some thoughts

• Did you identify the character Alfred and the air of uncertainty or mystery as the focus of the beginning?

• Did you pick up on the fact that you were made to wait for the reveal and see from Alfred’s perspective?

• Did you spot the contrast between the rat and Alfred which creates the tension?

• Did you see the irony of the connection as they were both living in the same space?

• Did you spot the flashback and label it this time or last time?

• Did you spot the development of the horror of war and the dehumanisation?

• Did you spot the way the connection is reinforced between Alfred and the rat and Alfred and the war? Both of these disgust him. Why is a connection made?

Start by…

• Re-reading the extract

• Checking your notes

• Getting ready to contribute to a discussion about the structure• Beginning

• Development

• End

• Structural features

Structure - Beginning

• What or who is the focus at the beginning?

• What kind of beginning is it?

• What is it designed to achieve?

Key thoughts

• Alfred

• Mystery

• Irritation/disgust

• Perspective is shared

• Experience his frustration and disgust

Structure - Development

• After the beginning what is then added or developed?

• Is it a continuation or a contrast?

• step back to describe – no detail

• What are the aims of these shifts and changes• Development

• Building

• Conflict

• Tension

Key thoughts

• Reveal the rat

• Create contrast

• Sudden change in attitude

• Flash back

• Repeating sentence openers

• Revulsion

• Shared disgust

• Development of uncertainty

• Sense that it is overwhelming

• Suggest the beginning of the dehumanising process

Structure – turning points/structural features

• What are the main shifts or changes

• Is there anything structural?• Flash back

• Dialogue

• Repetition

• Return

Key thoughts

• Flash back

• Repeating sentence openers

• Sense that it is overwhelming

• Suggest the beginning of the dehumanising process

Structure - Ending

• How does the text end?

• Are there any surprises?

• Are there any connections?

• What is the reason for ending this way?

Key thoughts

• Connection between soldiers and the rat

• Emphasise the dehumanising qualities of war

Writing the answerPoint The writer begins by focussing on….

Evidence Describe and include quotations

Explain This makes the opening seem….

Effect The writer begins this way in order to….

Point The writer then (develops/creates a contrast/uses a )…. You may want to do more than one of these.


Explain As a result the reader is encouraged to notice….

Effect The writer has used this in order to….Because of the beginning, the reader….

Point At the end of the extract, the writer choses to….


Explain After everything that has come before, the reader would….

Effect The writer ends this way in order to….

Paragraph 1 – example response

The extract opens with a sense of uncertainty at the beginning. The first sentence describes how ‘Alfred felt something move’. The reader is introduced to this from Alfred’s perspective as a soldier who is ‘cold and drowsily slumped’ against a trench wall and encourages sympathy. As a result, when Alfred jumps up in ‘revulsion’ the reader feels connected to his perspective. Through this opening the writer creates tension and builds a connection between the reader and Alfred’s perspective through sympathy.

Paragraph 2

The writer then develops the reader’s sense of disgust towards the rat through the description of its ‘wet greasy fur’ and the reveal that the writer develops of the rat being ‘sluggish’ because it has been feeding on the carcasses of ‘dead soldiers’. The result is increased sympathy for Alfred’s anger towards the rat. The flashback describes the men going over the top, but then includes their dead bodies as meat like the ‘display in an awful butcher’s shop window’ and reminds the reader that Alfred had ‘shared a fag’ with them emphasising the way that he has to deal with traumatic events every day. The structure therefore develops strong emotions of sympathy and disgust.

Paragraph 3

The writer then uses a powerful structural feature to emphasise the dehumanising way that the soldiers are affected by the war. The writer repeats the phrase, ‘Almost used’ three times before making this ‘used’ to. The repetition and the change emphasise the way that Alfred has had to become desensitised to suffering. The writer uses the structure to demonstrate how the war has overwhelmed the character.

Paragraph 4

The writer then zooms back to the present with the rat and Alfred chasing it. He goes into detail as he feels, ‘its tiny backbone crack under his boot’ and then describes the rat as ‘another of God’s creatures that had given up the ghost in the mud like so many others,’This creates a connection back to the soldiers who are connected through the structure to the dead rat under Alfred’s boot. This structural effect develops the sense of loss and injustice as the disgust felt earlier for an animal that is often associated with disease is now connected to the soldiers and this feels uncomfortable. The reader is made to feel some of Alfred’s discomfort through the effect of the structure.

Language • Start your planning with a clear focus on what evidence is relevant to

the chosen detail

• Start your answer from an idea that comes from the text, not from a word class or feature of language.

He saw it there, pushing through and twisting its head, saw the wet greasy fur and its mean red eyes. He kicked at it and missed. The rat scuttled out from the tiny gap between the slat supports and ran across the mud. Normally Alfred would have let it go. Rats were, after all, commonplace but something, whether pent-up anger… hate… loss… pain… boredom, whichever it was made him give chase after it.

The creature appeared sluggish, as if it were weighed down with overeating. It had most likely been feeding on what was caught, left behind, in the lines and coils of barbed wire which stretched for miles beyond the trench. The terrible sad debris of dead soldiers. The remains that were left behind after a 6am push.

Sense of disgust Persistent threat

Writing an answer

Point The writer choses to use……to…..

Evidence (Quotation)

Analysis The use of the (word level/technique), ‘…………’ may make

Development This use of the………… would connect with…………As a part of the ….(technique)…….the writer has createdFurther to this, the …………… is developed through the use of……….

Evaluate Language such as this is used by the writer in order to………..

The writer chooses to use imagery that creates disgust when describing the rat.

• wet greasy fur (adjectives/imagery)• Scuttled out (verb – associations with fears)• Creature appeared sluggish, as if it were weighed down

with overeating (imagery of greed connected to death and grease – noun/pronoun other and disgust)

• feeding on what was caught, left behind…dead soldiers (verb – feeding – shocking image)

Imagery draws on features of revulsion and offence.

The writer chooses to make the imagery suggest conflict and danger.

• mean red eyes (colour symbolism)• Pushing through and twisting its head (verbs)

Imagery emphases the sense of competition and aggression as well as an evil intent.

The writer chooses to use imagery that creates disgust when describing the rat. To begin with the rat is described having ‘wet greasy fur’. The associated images of wet and greasy build an impression of something unclean, but may also imply the idea that this animal is comfortable in this kind of context. When the writer then uses the verb ‘scuttled’ to describe how it moves it is clear that he is drawing on movements that associate the rat with unpredictable movements. These kinds of movement as well as the wet greasy imagery are often associated with creatures from horror and from human phobias. This is then developed as the rat is described as ‘a creature’ and as ‘it’ these nouns make the rat seem like the ‘other’ and as something so repulsive that it defies description. The further description of its movements add to the horror as it ‘appeared sluggish, as if it were weighed down with overeating’ and the writer then reveals the full image as the rat feeding on ‘what was caught, left behind…dead soldiers’ The connection between the repulsive image of a greedy overfed animal and the soldiers as meat which feeds the rat, exaggerates the horrific nature of the animal. The imagery draws on features of revulsion fear and offence to make the reader feel disgust.

The writer also adds to this by choosing to make the imagery suggest conflict and danger. He describes the ‘mean red eyes‘ using the symbolism of red to imply danger, anger and even evil. The intentions of the rat are made to seem persistent as it is described ‘Pushing through and twisting its head’ The verb ‘pushing’ has connotations of conflict and aggression. The verb twisting creates an image of something distorted and ugly as well as having persistent and selfish motivations. As a result the imagery emphases the sense of competition and aggression as well as an evil intent.

Question 4

Focus this part of your answer on the second half of the Source from line 17 to the end.

A student said: ‘This part of the text where Alfred remembers the battle shows the horror of war and the dreadful effect it has on him.’

To what extent do you agree? In your response, you could:

• consider your own impressions of what Alfred remembers and its effect on him

• evaluate how the writer shows the horror and dreadful effect war has on Alfred

• support your response with references to the text.

This question is worth 20 marks, where the language and structure questions were only worth 8 each. It is a big question and you need to understand what it is asking first before you attempt it.

Question 4







You can refer to structural features such as the fact something is repeated from earlier, or the way this is a development of an idea built up from the beginning, but the core of your answer and your starting point should be these lines.

This question is unlikely to be about the whole extract. Check!

Question 4







There are 2 parts to this question and to many of the question 4’s that we have seen from the exam board. Make sure you consider both ideas.

Question 4







You should be exploring possibilities – You should be looking for both Developmentsand juxtapositions.

Question 4







This means a large part of the mark scheme is going to be expecting analysis as proof of what you think.

Know what you are doing

Evaluate Reasoning Proof

AgreeingDisagreeingMostlyFullyPartly

IdeasWhy do you agree/disagree?

AnalysisLanguageStructureWriter’s choices

I would agree/disagree that…. because….. The writer chooses….Which may make the reader….

Structuring an answer

Agree/disagree (mostly/fully/partly) ideaReason

I would agree that……..because………

Evidence An example of…………… can be seen…………

Analysis The use of……..Further to this, the……

Explain Consequently…..

Link/juxtapose Further to this……/However,………

Evidence This is evident…..

Analysis The use of…..The……..

Explain This may make….

Agree/disagree (mostly/fully/partly) ideaReason

As a result, I would…………. because……

Have a brief planThe horror of war Dreadful effect on Alfred

Agree/ disagree

Simile compares soldiers to meatImages of horrorAlliteration on hooked and hanging disturbingNoun display suggesting he can’t avoid• bits of men hooked up and hanging there for

all to see, like the display in an awful butcher’s shop window

Repetition and change – dehumanisingContrast second and forever – inescapable guilt• Almost used…used to• He knew it was wrong to be even remotely

used to such sights, or to any of it, even for a second, let alone for ever…..

Develop/ juxtapose

Verb and adjective devalueExtended metaphor of meatImagery of horror in verb stare• remains chucked around among the living

like so much discarded offal.• seeing legs, hands, heads and sometimes

faces stare up at him blankly from the grey mud.

He still feels emotionsContrast to his actionsConnection between soldiers and rat – de-sensitised• he had a moment of fleeting sympathy for

it; just another dirty dead thing, another of God’s creatures that had given up the ghost in the mud like so many others

• He twisted his boot on the rat, pushing its bloated little body further into the mire

This might seem like quite a big plan, but bare in mind that you would not need to write out the quotes as I have done as you can just highlight the text!

I would agree that the writer demonstrates the horror of war because his use of imagery creates a sense of shock and anger.

I would also agree that Alfred is dreadfully affected by the conflict because he becomes increasingly desensitised to the horror that the reader is deeply affected by.

An example of this imagery can be seen in the description of what Alfred sees outside of his trench: ‘bits of men hooked up and hanging there for all to see, like the display in an awful butcher’s shop window’

An example of his changing attitude can be seen in the way the writer uses repetition at the start of a number of lines. Alfred is described becoming ‘Almost used’ to the horrors of war, before the sentence starter changes to ‘Used to’

The use of the image of ‘bits of men’ suggests gruesome destruction and the alliteration on the verbs ‘hooked’ and ‘hanging’ emphasise the sense of disgust at the image through the extended stress on the initial sound that is almost breathless. Further to this, the simile of these body parts compares the image to the ‘display’ in a ‘butchers shop’. This comparison makes horror even greater as the verb display emphasises the idea that this gruesome act is supposed to attract and the link to the shop implies men’s bodies treated like a saleable commodity to be eaten.

The use of the repetition itself perhaps emphasises the way that the conflict slowly overwhelms Alfred and wears him down through repetition.Further to this, the contrasts between the images and his state of mind would make the reader feel that Alfred has become unnaturally desensitised to horror and in fect lost part of what makes him human.

Consequently the imagery can be said to draw on deep seated revulsions such as cannibalism. It seems reflective of horror films where human life is devalued by a malevolent enemy.

Consequently, the writer could be said to have created tension between the reader and what Alfred has become.

Further to this the sense that life is devalued is developed to suggest the horror of war. A brief contrast to this change, is suggested when Alfred again feels emotions at what he is doing. As he crushes the rat the writer describes how

This is evident in the image of remains chucked around among the living like so much discarded offal.

‘moment of fleeting sympathy for it’

Again, the use of an extended metaphor in the simile comparing men to offal, makes the reader feel uncomfortable as human life is linked to meat. The use of the noun ‘offal’ also suggests the waste products, or the parts of an animal that are in themselves repulsive to look at. The writer then adds the verb ‘chucked’ to imply the dismissive attitude to death which would in itself create moral anger.

The use of the noun ‘sympathy’ could be used to suggest that Alfred has a core humanity that means he can overcome the effects of war. However the use of the adjective ‘fleeting’could be said to emphasise the way that the dehumanising effects of war are more powerful. Ultimately, the writer shows how he ‘twisted his boot on the rat, pushing its bloated little body’ creating an image of overwhelming force and a sense of power which seems excessive. Further to this the use of the verbs echoes the actios of the rat at the beginning which was also ‘pushing’ and twisting’. These verbs imply a persistent, distorted nature that the two creatures share.

This may make the reader feel morally disgusted as well as shocked by the unpleasant images and connections.

This may make the reader feel that the war has had a profound effect on Alfred as well as the rat. The pair are linked by their experience.

As a result, I would have to agree because the imagery deliberately creates uncomfortable repulsive connections to deep seated moral and social fears and phobias.

As a result, I would have to agree because although there is a glimmer of humanity in Alfred’s thoughts, the writer has shown the way Alfred has had to become desensitised. His distorted view of survival also suggests the way he is irreversibly dehumanised.

Focus this part of your answer on the second part of the Source from line 16 to the end.

A student, having read this section of the text, said: “This part of the text, explaining what Hale is doing, shows how nervous and unsafe he feels. It reminds me of the first line.”

To what extent do you agree?

In your response, you could:

• consider your own impressions of how Hale feels

• evaluate how the writer creates an unsafe atmosphere

• support your opinions with references to the text.

This question is not so clearly divided into two separate ideas for your two paragraphs.

Make sure you have a couple of different reasons why you agree/disagree or have mixed feelings.

There may be more option for doing paragraphs about your contrasting feelings about agreement/disagreement instead.

Plan – nervous and unsafe/reminder of the first lineAgree because there are reminders that the threat has not gone away regularly throughout the piece

Agree because the language and imagery reflects histhreatened state of mind

‘bitten nails and inky fingers’‘yesterday Southend, today Brighton, tomorrow – ‘‘reasons he didn’t feel too safe in Brighton…’

Structural reminder of the opening and the fact ‘they meant to murder him’Dash on the end of the sentence implies tomorrow is not inevitable.Ends of paragraphs return to the fear and the threat

‘duty’ is repeated‘the big prize was reserved for whoever challenged Hale.’ (‘remain unchallenged’)‘the crowd uncoiled past him like a twisted piece of wire’‘the ghost train diving between the grinning skeletons.’

Repetition of duty/challenged/inky fingers suggests his mind ruminatingThe use of words like duty imply a sense of sacrificeChallenge includes aggressive connotationsImagery of the crowd is distorted and aggressiveImages of the funfair focus on images of death

The reader would be likely to agree with the students because the writer has created echoes of the opening and returns to the threat throughout.

Another reason a reader would be likely to agree is that the imagery used by the writer reflects Hale’s perception of the world around him as a threatening place.

At the end of the extract it comments that Hale had ‘bitten nails and inky fingers’

The description of the crowd, for example, includes the imagery of how it ‘uncoiled endlessly past him like a twisted piece of wire’

This image is clearly using the bitten nails as a sign of his anxiety as this is and action that is associated.

The simile comparing the crowd to a ‘twisted’ piece of wire suggests something that is painfully or aggressively distorted.

Further to this, the writer has created a structural connection as these same words are used in the opening. The effect is to make the reader realise that the threat has not gone away.

The fact that this has been coiled would imply connotations of something that surrounds or even imprisons. The reader may be encouraged to imagine how Hale has felt trapped and now appears, in this image to be exposed.

The writer creates other echoes of the threat that ‘they meant to murder him’ throughout this section, most noticeably in the phrase, ‘yesterday Southend, today Brighton, tomorrow –’

The writer goes on to describe how the funfair has a ‘ghost train diving between grinning skeletons.’

The deliberate use of the dash on the end signifies the idea that his future may not continue and that tomorrow is not an inevitability he can count on.

The symbolism of ghosts and skeletons makes the reader think of death. The fact that the skeletons seems to be ‘grinning’ implies a threat as if they are enjoying Hale’s fear.

As a result, I would have to agree with the student as the text continually returns to Hale’s sense of anxiety about the future and creates echoes of the opening threat of murder throughout.

As a result, I would have to agree that Hale feels unsafe and nervous as the crowds of happy people and the funfair all include images which are threatening implying that his mind perceives danger in everything.

paper 1 part 1 - whitworth€¦ · • pushing through and twisting its head (verbs) imagery...

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