AQA English Literature GCSE 2015 JUNE SUMMER OFFICIAL THREAD OMAM AIC

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username1941491

the relationship between candy And candys dog hasn't come up yet either
So it could be that??
That could link to part b saying 'describe relationships in the novel'

Ooooh smart! Hadn't thought of that - but there isn't much evidence for Candy's relationship with the dog - you can interpret but not provide much evidence :/ (at least that's what I think, i'm willing to be proved wrong :wink:

) BUT there's loads to write about for relationships in general!!

Reply 241

$Avatar for \\\$

\\\

Original post by iamlucy

No that's fab - thank you! Hmm, in the same boat there - "you'll be fine - you have a natural aptitude for English literature" - eurgh not went there are two books you have to know off the back of your hand and be prepared for ANY question, about ANY character or ANY theme.

We did Curley's wife for our coursework, so finger's crossed it will be her, but no - you're right, Crooks and Curley haven't come up recently....some people have said Carlson could be a character up for analysis, but apart from his shooting the dog and grabbing his rifle, I swear there's nothing else he does and not much else you could really deduce from his involvement in the book.

For the woman in black, i'm very unsure to be honest, I missed a lot of school when we went through it, and i read it a year ago, but so far i've just been on websites looking at analysis - I'm not sure what the format of WIB questions are? Is it character, theme or chapter - or any of the 3? I know there are two questions and you get to choose(?)

These are the previous questions on WIB that I can find. The questions can be on anything, but they like to stick to a pattern. Knowing the main themes- isolation, fear, revenge, Gothic supernatural etc, the characters and where everything is in the book would help. It is a choice, but I've often spent too long in mocks choosing- so know which sort you'd prefer! All the questions are in essence looking for the same thing, unless the examiners go crazy and try out something completely new...
Specimen
How does Hill use the fog in Chapter 2 to create tension and show what is to come in the rest of the novel? (Chapter)
or
How does Hill present Samuel Daily? (Character)

Jan 2011
How does Hill create a sense of isolation in the novel? (Themes)
or
How does Hill present the setting of Eel Marsh House? (not any of the three really. An interesting question because it's easy to find quotes for but also quite limited)

June 2011
In Chapter 3 how does Hill's description of the train journey prepare the reader for what is to come in the novel (Chapter- a nice one I think because of the short chapter length)
or
How do you respond to Hill's presentation of the Woman in Black in the novel? (character)

Jan 2012
How does Hill present Arthur in chapter 5 (chapter)
or
How does Hill leave the reader with a sense of horror at the end of the book (chapter/theme)

June 2012
How do you think Hill creates sympathy for Arthur? (character)
or
How does Hill create a sense of terror for the reader towards the end of chapter 9? (chapter/theme)

Jan 2013
How do you think Hill creates threat and danger in her presentation of Eel Marsh House? (theme/setting)
or
How successful do you find the WIB as a ghost story and how does Hill make you think as you do by the way she writes? (themes one, but you could write about anything here)

June 13
How does Hill create tension and suspense in the second chapter? (chapter)
or
How does Hill present children in WIB? How do they add to the sense of horror? (theme)

And last year's ones (they won't come up)
How does Hill present a change in Arthur over the book? (character)
or
Do you think chapter 1 is an effective opening? (chapter)

Reply 242

THEPROLORD98

Original post by ��

Any good online revision resources for OMAM/AIC?? :bl:

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/micemen/

http://www.langley-sec.solihull.sch.uk/Eng%20Lit%20Revision%20Inspector%20Calls.pdf

These are goods websites!!!

Reply 243

Katie Lockheart

Do you think a question could come up about nature and setting? I really hope not!!!!

Reply 244

bellamullarkey

Original post by iamlucy

) BUT there's loads to write about for relationships in general!!

Ahhh aha thank you, just a idea! I suppose there isn't much evidence for their relationship but in of mice and men they will give out a passage and you just to do close anyalsis and can quote the text, mice and men is more of your interpretation and poetic than section A (I'm doing inspector calls) and I think that relates quite nicely with relationships for part b, but that's just my logic behind the prediction but I'm not sure aha

Reply 245

username1941491

Original post by \\\

WOW. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this! x

Reply 246

$Avatar for \\\$

\\\

Original post by bellamullarkey

the relationship between candy And candys dog hasn't come up yet either
So it could be that??
That could link to part b saying 'describe relationships in the novel'

Hmm. Sounds like a good link, but I think last year's B question was on relationships (with a passage on the introduction of George and Lennie). Maybe something on the Dream, or Candy in general, which wouldn't be quite so specific. Candy's dog's death could also symbolise how Candy himself is soon to be 'canned' as, like his dog, he is becoming worthless to the ranch- I can see a question with a part b on attitudes toward those with disabilities which could link to that.

I like the Curley idea mentioned above- there are a couple of passages that could be used for him, such as his first description or the fight scene and a part B that could ask us to explain the importance of different people on the ranch at the time. Examiners don't like to be that specific though, so they don't end up limiting the variety of answers. I agree that there simply isn't enough on Carlson to warrant a whole question- but you can link to him when discussing relationships as he represents the ideas and ambitions of ranch workers, particularly as he doesn't understand G and L relationship.

The part B markscheme makes AO4- context- the most important part of the part B answer, and part a is basically using the extract they give you. As long as you know enough context; life on the ranch, racial prejudices, Depression, women in society, relationships and those sort of things you should be fine.

If anyone wants me to go through a part a passage I will (it's one we went through in class - I wouldn't trust my own work that much).

Reply 247

metrize

Original post by bellamullarkey

How dogmatic he is about ww1/2 and the titanic being 'unsinkable absolutely unsinkable' makes audience immediately dislike him
only cares about social class and climbing the social ladder by boasting to Gerald and the inspector about being lord mayor and hoping to get a knighthood 'just a knighthood of course'
Highlights Priestleys views on how bad capitalism is
No sense of social responsibility for the death of Eva which makes the audience dislike him even more and prefer the inspector and shelias socialist views which was Priestleys aim of the well made play
hasnt changed attitudes by end
attitues to to women and treating them as 2nd class citizens

hope this his helps, if you write about stuff like that then I think you will be okay this is was I'm going to write about for mine if Mr Birling comes up

Thanks a lot, it really helped me. I normally found it quite difficult to find points but now I see these points, it can show what type of points I need to make. Thanks man!

Reply 248

inkling6789

HELLO COULD SOMEBODY GIVE ME A ROUGH GRADE FOR THIS, THANKS!

Q) Arthur Birling says “If you don’t come downhard on these people they’ll soon be asking for the earth” How do Priestleyshow that Arthur Birling is conceited and selfish in An Inspector Calls?

Priestley’s intention of creating Arthur Birling is for theaudience to despise him, which we do. Arthur Birling is created to be hated andwith this he is a clear representative of a middle class citizen, he neverchanges and is stubborn and obnoxious. Mr Birling is of a high social statusand puts lower class citizens such as Eva Smith down, as he is used to being incontrol because he owns a major factory, which brings in high income. He isalso noveau riche.
It could be said that the class system has destroyed andcorrupted the character of Arthur Birling. Evidence supporting this is that theaudience knows Arthur has acquired his success by being a ‘hard-headedpractical man of business’, he is self-mad unlike the other higher classcharacters in the play as they have been born into a family with money and highclass. So this interprets that Arthur Birling was once like Eva Smith and Ednaor at least similar implying that he was once also treated with disregard andwas ignored. This then would suggest how vile and inhumane Mr Birling is as acharacter as even though he is aware of the pain and agony of being a workingclass citizen he still treats Eva Smith in such a vile and rude manor. Alternativelythis could also show that the class system has made him this way as it could beimplied that Arthur Birling has had to act to get to where he is and to becomeaccepted by society, which would explain how he would have to ‘hold histongue’. Evidence of this theory is that when he finishes his meal he says‘good dinner, Edna’ however he is then put in line by Sybil as she tells him‘Arthur, you’re not supposed to say such things’. Arthur Birling could alsohave tried to forget his past as it may have been so traumatising which we asthe audience know that the living conditions of working class citizens istraumatising due to the death of Eva Smith. Extending upon this, yet another possibility could be that Mr Birlingwas actually happy about Eva Smith’s death because he knows how hard theworking class life is and was happy that it had all ended for her. HerePriestley has demonstrated that some discrimination could have potential hiddenmeanings that the person denies throughout their life but instead takes outtheir anguish on others.
The character Mr Birling uses oxymorons such as ‘friendly rivals’,‘little war’ and ‘celebrating quietly’ to build a wall between the classes.This is because oxymorons are words that are totally different, the contrast ofone and other, and Arthur uses these to demonstrate the contrasting life stylebetween him and the people lower than hi. The word ‘celebrating;’ shows that MrBirling is a care free person who has little worries due to his social statusand supposed superiority. This foreshadows that further on in the play, oncethey find out about Eva’s death he still does celebrate as he is a continuouscharacter who doesn’t change throughout the play. The continuous use of theseoxymorons may alternatively be Priestley’s way of representing the Birlings’thoughts of them being higher up in the hierarchy than others however inreality they are just the same as the words are close together, just like thesimilarities between people in different classes. This also shows that MrBirling thinks he is superior compared to everyone else.
Arthur Birling’s marriage is a fraud, and is unreal as himand Sybil Birling are in fact very far apart even though they are both mutuallysickening and vile. Evidence supporting this is that in the stage directions,Priestley describes the setting as a table in the dining room with ‘ArthurBirling at one end, his wife at the other’. This is a metaphor for how closethey are as in this setting Arthur and Sybil as far apart. This could suggestthat Sybil is far apart from him in a social respect, as she is higher up inthe hierarchy than him because she was born into the class, whereas Arthur hashad to work his way up which in my opinion should mean that Arthur should bemore respected. This shows how disorientated the class system is. Alternativelythe distance between them could also give evidence that they are nothing alikeand Arthur has married Sybil Birling to gain more social respect as without herhe wouldn’t be nothing. This would then support my previous point of Arthurhaving to fight and risk everything to get where he is today as he has comefrom the lower class and is now in a much better position. The potential factthat Arthur needs Sybil is ironic as in the time of 1912 women were treated ata lower respect than men and women were the sex that needed men for money,support and food. This point tells me that Arthur Birling could be being untrueto himself for social superiority, which reflects how desperate he must’ve beento marry someone he doesn’t necessarily adore. This point may also tell us thatalthough the pair of Arthur and Sybil are very different, they are very alikein their attitudes which tells the audience that Arthur has adapted, changedand could be possibly mimicking Sybil Birling.
In evaluation I can interpret that the character of MrBirling is created to be hated and his actions are of high dislike by theaudience. Although it is possible that Mr Birling has tried to initially fit inwith a higher class he has eventually become one of them, with no feelings ofpity, sadness or sympathy. He has adapted into an emotionless robot and hassuccessfully now become one of the people who used to put him down, which showshow bad the working class must’ve been for him to commit his actions…

Reply 249

joe909990

What are your predictions for this year, for OMAM, AIC and Confict Poetry? Please help

Reply 250

a_hussain15

Got a feeling its either Crooks in OMAM and Mrs Birling in AIC.
Our English teacher predicted this passage 'Lennie looked helplessly at George, and then he got up and tried to retreat.............George ran down the room. "Leggo of him, Lennie. Let go."'

Reply 251

kxylah

Original post by parker13

I have B coursework, is an A/A* still possible?

Definitely, A* might be very difficult but A is definitely doable. Coursework is only 25% of your total literature grade x

Reply 252

bellamullarkey

Original post by \\\

Yes perhaps, the idea on disabilities is smart because i not quite sure that has come up before and maybe links to the isolation theme and how the people with the disabilities and who are lonely and discriminated against are the ones with the biggest dream, bringing in the context they look for.
The idea of Curley is good too but there isn't much to say about him to right an essay on, and the idea of importance of the ranch workers i think that came up a couple of years ago.
I was thinking and what also could come up in the passage is the opening scene that sets the play, as this could link to outside and inside comparison question in part b??

Reply 253

bellaap

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3330249
Please can someone help me on kinder transport by Diane Samuels/ mister pip by Lloyd Jones please 😥

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 254

hacker10101

Could you tell me how I could improve this paragraph and if the other paragraphs were like this what mark the response would get approximately?

Steinbeck uses the character of Candy to voice the injustices and wrongs of people in 1930s America. He is a very candid character who is very open about his feelings and criticisms towards others. Candy is the first character in the novella to introduce Curley’s wife and his first description of her is “jail bait”. This represents how people at the time at which the novella is set used to discriminate against people before they even got to know them. This makes us as readers judge the character of Curley’s wife before we first meet her. However, he also criticises also criticises other characters such as Curley for discriminating against others because of their appearances, “he hates big guys”. This makes us prejudge Curley as well. Steinbeck could be using these presumptions to present to the reader how both modern and 1930s America’s societies are flawed in judging people before we get to know them.

Thanks :smile:

Reply 255

hacker10101

What kinds of things could you say about Gerald for AIC?

Reply 256

hacker10101

Oh and could you also look at thus paragraph on Crooks and tell me how to improve and what sort of mark a similar full response would get? and if this is fine for an intro?

Steinbeck uses the character of Crooks to represent the themes of racism, fate and isolation throughout the novella. Crook is fated to never achieve the American Dream as he is a black man born into a racist society and thus he is isolated from the rest of the ranch men for being black.

Crooks is symbolic of the racism in 1930s America as he is a black man who is born into a racist society. Crooks “kept his distance and demanded other people kept theirs” thus suggesting that he knew that he was not seen as an equal to the other ranchmen because of his colour. The use of the noun “distance” could represent the huge racial divide at the time in which the novella is set in. Furthermore, the verb “demanded” could suggest that he tries to make the most of the smallest bits of power which are made available to him. This could also suggest that at the time in which the novella is set society tried to strip the black people of as much power and freedom as possible and so they were left at a “distance” from society. This makes us as readers feel sympathetic towards the black people in 1930s America. Steinbeck could therefore be using the character of Crooks to criticise society for prejudicing against people before getting to know them.