OCR A Level English Literature Comparative and contextual study June 2024 question paper H472/02

Write a critical appreciation of this passage, relating your discussion to your reading of American

Literature 1880–1940.

This story concerns two married couples, the Hallorans and the McCorkerys. Mrs Halloran (born Lacey Mahaffy) disapproves of Mr McCorkery and his wife, Rosie. Mr McCorkery is involved in the world of city politics in New York.

The McCorkerys for years had invited [Mr. Halloran] and Lacey to come
over to the house and be sociable with the crowd, but Lacey would not.
‘You can’t run with that fast set and drink and stay out nights and hold
your job,’ said Lacey, ‘and you should know better than to ask your wife to
associate with that woman.’ Mr. Halloran had got into the habit of dropping
around by himself, now and again, for McCorkery still liked him, was still willing
to give him a foothold in the right places, still asked him for favors at election
time. There was always a good lively crowd at the McCorkerys, wherever
they were; for they moved ever so often to a better place, with more furniture.
Rosie helped hand around the drinks, taking a few herself with a good word
for everybody. The player piano or the victrola¹ would be going full blast, with
everybody dancing, all looking like ready money and a bright future. He would
get home late these evenings, back to the same little cold-water walk-up flat,
because Lacey would not spend a dollar for show. It must all go into savings
against old age, she said. He would be full of good food and drink, and find
Lacey, in a bungalow apron², warming up the fried potatoes once more, cross
and bitterly silent, hanging her head and frowning at the smell of liquor on his
breath. ‘You might at least eat the potatoes when I’ve fried them and waited
all this time,’ she would say. ‘Ah, eat them yourself, they’re none of mine,’ he
would snarl in his disappointment with her, and with the life she was leading
him.
He had believed with all his heart for years that he would one day be
manager of one of the G. and I. chain grocery stores he worked for, and when
that hope gave out there was still his pension when they retired him. But two
years before it was due they fired him, on account of the depression, they
said. Overnight he was on the sidewalk, with no place to go with the news but
home. ‘Jesus,’ said Mr. Halloran, still remembering that day after nearly seven
years of idleness.
The depression hadn’t touched McCorkery. He went on and on up the
ladder, giving beefsteaks and beanfests and beer parties for the boys in Billy’s
Place, standing in with the right men and never missing a trick. At last the
Gerald J. McCorkery Club chartered a whole boat for a big excursion up the
river. It was a great day, with Lacey sitting at home sulking. After the election
Rosie had her picture in the papers, smiling at McCorkery; not fat exactly, just
a fine figure of a woman with flowers pinned on her spotted fur coat, her teeth
as good as ever. Oh, God, there was a girl for any man’s money. Mr. Halloran
saw out of his eye-corner the bony stooped back of Lacey Mahaffy, standing
on one foot to rest the other like a tired old horse, leaning on her hands waiting
for the iron to heat.
Katherine Anne Porter, ‘A Day’s Work’ (1940)

¹The player piano or the victrola: both means of playing music ²bungalow apron: a kind of overall

In your answer to Question 2, you must compare at least two texts from the list. At least one text must be from the two texts at the top of the list in bold.

F Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby

‘American literature shows us that the most attractive characters are also the most dangerous.’

By comparing The Great Gatsby with at least one other text prescribed for this topic, discuss how

far you agree with this view.

John Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath

‘American literature suggests that equality will always be a distant dream.’

By comparing The Grapes of Wrath with at least one other text prescribed for this topic, discuss

how far you agree with this view.

‘American literature shows us characters who need something to believe in.’

By comparing at least two texts prescribed for this topic, discuss how far you have found this to be the case.

In your answer you must include discussion of either The Great Gatsby and/or The Grapes of

Wrath.

The Gothic

Answer Question 3. Then answer Question 4(a) or 4(b) or 4(c). You should spend about 1 hour and 15 minutes on each question.

3 Write a critical appreciation of this passage, relating your discussion to your reading of the

Gothic.

The narrator of this story is Rev. Dr Gottlieb Michael Gosschen, a Catholic priest. Gosschen has gone into a prison to hear the confession of a young man who is to be executed for murder.

The man under sentence of death was, in all the beauty of youth,
distinguished above his fellows for graceful accomplishments, and the last of
a noble family. He had lain a month in his dungeon, heavily laden with irons.
Only the first week he had been visited by several religionists, but he then
fiercely ordered the jailor to admit no more ‘men of God,’ – and till the eve of
his execution, he had lain in dark solitude, abandoned to his own soul.
It was near midnight when a message was sent to me by a magistrate,
that the murderer was desirous of seeing me. I had been with many men in his
unhappy situation, and in no case had I failed to calm the agonies of grief, and
the fears of the world to come. But I had known this youth – had sat with him
at his father’s table – I knew also that there was in him a strange and fearful
mixture of good and evil – I was aware that there were circumstances in the
history of his progenitors¹ not generally known – nay, in his own life – that
made him an object of awful commiseration² – and I went to his cell with an
agitating sense of the enormity of his guilt, but a still more agitating one of the
depth of his misery, and the wildness of his misfortunes.
I entered his cell, and the phantom struck me with terror. He stood erect
in his irons, like a corpse that had risen from the grave. His face, once so
beautiful, was pale as a shroud, and drawn into ghastly wrinkles. His black-
matted hair hung over it with a terrible expression of wrathful and savage
misery. And his large eyes, which once were black, glared with a light in which
all colour was lost, and seemed to fill the whole dungeon with their flashings. I
saw his guilt – I saw what was more terrible than his guilt – his insanity – not in
emaciation³ only – not in that more than death-like whiteness of his face – but
in all that stood before me – the figure, round which was gathered the agonies
of so many long days and nights of remorse and phrenzy⁴ – and of a despair
that had no fears of this world or its terrors, but that was plunged in the abyss
of eternity.
For a while the figure said nothing. He then waved his arm, that made his
irons clank, motioning me to sit down on the iron frame-work of his bed; and
when I did so, the murderer took his place by my side.
A lamp burned on a table before us – and on that table there had been
drawn by the maniac – for I must indeed so call him – a decapitated human
body – the neck as if streaming with gore – and the face writhed – into horrible
convulsions, but bearing a resemblance not to be mistaken to that of him
who had traced the horrid picture. He saw that my eyes rested on this fearful
mockery – and, with a recklessness fighting with despair, he burst out into a
broken peal of laughter, and said, ‘to-morrow will you see that picture drawn in
blood!’

Anonymous, ‘Extracts from Gosschen’s Diary’ (1818)

¹progenitors: ancestors, family   ³emaciation: the state of being abnormally thin or weak
²awful commiseration: deep sympathy⁴phrenzy: an old spelling of ‘frenzy’

In your answer to Question 4, you must compare at least two texts from the list. At least one text must be from the two texts at the top of the list in bold.

*Candidates writing about The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories should select material from the whole text.

Either

Bram Stoker: Dracula

‘Gothic writing explores both the attraction and the fear of taking risks.’

Consider how far you agree with this statement by comparing Dracula with at least one other text

prescribed for this topic.

Angela Carter: The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories *

‘Gothic writing often depends on the idea of being trapped in a situation from which there seems to be no escape.’

By comparing The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories * with at least one other text prescribed for

this topic, discuss how far you agree with this view.

‘Violence, either implied or explicit, is a key ingredient of Gothic fiction.’

By comparing at least two texts prescribed for this topic, discuss how far you have found this to be the case.

In your answer you must include discussion of either Dracula and/or The Bloody Chamber and

Other Stories *.

Dystopia

Answer Question 5. Then answer Question 6(a) or 6(b) or 6(c). You should spend about 1 hour and 15 minutes on each question.

5 Write a critical appreciation of this passage, relating your discussion to your reading of dystopian

literature.

This novel takes place after ‘the End’, when normal life in America is halted by the spread of an incurable disease to which Candace, the narrator, and her companions are apparently immune. The group’s leader, Bob, wishes them to move in to a deserted shopping mall which he calls ‘the Facility’.

Welcome to the Facility, Bob said.
We walked past an empty fountain. At the bottom was a dried copper
crust of pennies for all the wishes made. The sound of our footsteps on the tile
echoed through the place. We looked around at all the familiar stores. There
was Aldo, Bath and Body Works, Journeys, all boasting desperate sale signs
typical of the End. Everything was 50 PERCENT OFF, BUY ONE GET ONE
FREE, CLEARANCE. The mall must have remained functional up until the
End. Though there were vacant storefronts, the other shops were still full of
merchandise, covered in dust.
Everything we want is here, in these stores, Bob said, gesturing to the
stores as if he owned them. We have endless supplies.
Bob, how much does a mall like this go for? I asked.
A trillion dollars, he answered facetiously. I’m part owner.
So how much did that come to for you?
Bob shrugged. My friend was one of the developers. He got me a good
deal. It was a business opportunity.
As we walked on, it occurred to me that maybe the only reason we had
come all the way out here was because Bob part-owned this place. Did he
think owning this place still mattered?
The first floor led to the food court, its signs once ablaze with TACO
BELL, CHICK-FIL-A, WENDY’S, FALAFEL GRILL, TOKYO PALACE. Brown
liquid seeped out of defunct freezers. They would have to be cleaned later.
The Formica tables remained, but no chairs could be found. We came across
a two-tier platform of gum-ball machines, still filled with an assortment of
candies and mini party-favor toys.
No one had any quarters, or any money for that matter, but Todd ran
back to the wishing fountain we’d passed earlier and returned with a handful
of calcified silver coins. The first machine he tried yielded a blue gum ball. He
popped it into his mouth and chewed.
Gross. Genevieve made a face. How old are those? They probably
haven’t been changed in over six months.
Still good. Todd grinned, chewing. They’re shelf stable.
That was all it took. The tension broke. We swarmed around the
machines. There were so many candy options: marbled jawbreakers,
Bananaramas, Skittles, M&M’s, Wicked Watermelons, Hot Chews, Hot
Tamales, Reese’s Pieces, Good & Plentys. Then there were the toys: little
alien figurines, temporary tattoos, sticky hands, neon bouncy balls. The best
part was in choosing, in deciding what to get. We sent Todd back to get more
quarters. Buoyed by the sugar rush, the mood brightened. We could all feel it,
even me. I hadn’t had candy like this in forever.

Todd hurtled fistfuls of bouncy balls at the columns and walls around us,
and we ducked, laughing, trying not to get hit as they bounced back, hitting us
from all sides.
Okay, let’s keep going, Bob said. It’s getting late. We should think about
how to allocate this space.
We quieted down, murmured consent as we followed Bob up the stilled
escalator.
Ling Ma, Severance (2018)

In your answer to Question 6, you must compare at least two texts from the list. At least one text must be from the two texts at the top of the list in bold.

George Orwell: Nineteen Eighty-Four

‘Dystopian writing often points the way to a better world.’

By comparing Nineteen Eighty-Four with at least one other text prescribed for this topic, discuss

how far you agree with this view.

Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid’s Tale

‘Dystopian writing expresses the worst fears of the age in which it was written.’

By comparing The Handmaid’s Tale with at least one other text prescribed for this topic, discuss

how far you agree with this view.

‘Dystopian fiction demonstrates the experiences of ordinary people under extraordinary pressure.’

By comparing at least two texts prescribed for this topic, discuss how far you have found this to be the case.

In your answer you must include discussion of either Nineteen Eighty-Four and/or The

Handmaid’s Tale.

Women in Literature

Answer Question 7. Then answer Question 8(a) or 8(b) or 8(c). You should spend about 1 hour and 15 minutes on each question.

7 Write a critical appreciation of the passage, relating your discussion to your reading concerning

Women in Literature.

Janey has been married to Mr Rosendale for just one week; in this extract they are travelling through France by train on their wedding-tour. During this time she has been finding the experience of marriage deeply disappointing.

She was in the full bitterness of these discoveries when the strange
incident occurred which was of so much importance in her life. They were
travelling through France in one of those long night journeys to which we are
all accustomed nowadays; and Janey, pale and tired, had been contemplating
for some time the figure of her husband thrown back in the corner opposite,
snoring complacently with his mouth open, and looking the worst that a
middle-aged man can look in the utter abandonment of self-indulgence and
rude comfort, when the train began to slacken its speed, and to prepare to
enter one of those large stations which look so ghastly in the desertion of the
night.
Rosendale jumped up instinctively, only half awake, as the train stopped.
The other people in the carriage were leaving it, having attained the end
of their journey, but he pushed through them and their baggage to get out,
with the impatience which some men show at any pause of the kind, and
determination to stretch their legs, or get something to drink, which mark the
breaks in the journey. He did not even say anything to Janey as he forced his
way out, but she was so familiar with his ways by this time that she took no
notice. She did take notice, however when, her fellow-passengers and their
packages having all been cleared away, she suddenly became sensible that
the train was getting slowly into motion again without any sign of her husband.
She thought she caught a glimpse of him strolling about on the opposite
platform before she was quite sure of what was happening. And then there
was a scurry of hurrying feet, a slamming of doors, and as she rose and ran
to the window bewildered, she saw him, along with some other men, running
at full speed, but quite hopelessly, to catch the train. The last she saw was
his face, fully revealed by the light of the lamp, convulsed with rage and
astonishment, evidently with a yell of denunciation on the lips. Janey trembled
at the sight. There was that in him, too, though as yet in her submissiveness
she had never called it forth, a temper as unrestrained as his love-making,
and as little touched by any thought save that of his own gratification. Her
first sensation was fright, a terror that she was in fault and was about to be
crushed to pieces in his rage: and then Janey sank back in her corner, and a
flood of feeling of quite another kind took possession of her breast.
Was it possible that she was alone? Was it possible that for the first
time since that terrible moment of her marriage she was more safely by
herself than any locked door or even watchful guardian could keep her, quite
unapproachable in the isolation of the train? Alone!
“Safe!” Janey ventured to say to herself, clasping her hands together
with a mingled sensation of excitement and terror and tremulous delight which
words could not tell.

Margaret Oliphant, ‘A Story of a Wedding-Tour’ (1894)

In your answer to Question 8, you must compare at least two texts from the list. At least one text must be from the two texts at the top of the list in bold.

Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility

‘Female characters cannot escape the pressures of family relationships.’

By comparing Sense and Sensibility with at least one other text prescribed for this topic, discuss

how far you agree with this view.

Virginia Woolf: Mrs Dalloway

‘Even privileged women have limited choices.’

By comparing Mrs Dalloway with at least one other text prescribed for this topic, discuss how far

you agree with this view.

‘All female characters struggle to have their voices heard.’

By comparing at least two texts prescribed for this topic, discuss how far you have found this to be the case.

In your answer you must include discussion of either Sense and Sensibility and/or Mrs

Dalloway.

The Immigrant Experience

Answer Question 9. Then answer Question 10(a) or 10(b) or 10(c). You should spend about 1 hour and 15 minutes on each question.

9 Write a critical appreciation of the passage, relating your discussion to your reading concerning

the Immigrant Experience.

The narrator of this novel is from British Guiana in the West Indies. He has served in the Royal Air Force and is now arriving in the East End of London to take up a teaching post. As the extract begins, a seat next to him on the bus becomes vacant.

The bus eased to a stop. Rose shifted her shopping bag off her lap and
with a grunt levered her ponderous body upright; she smiled broadly at me,
and with a cheery ‘Ta Gert, ta girls’, she waddled towards the exit while I
eased my shoulders in relief from the confining pressure of her body. God,
what a huge woman. As the bus moved slowly on, a bright-eyed little boy in
school cap and blazer paused momentarily beside the vacant seat and then
quickly moved a little way on in courteous deference to a slim, smartly dressed
woman who followed behind. As I looked up she smiled her thanks to him and
was preparing to sit when her eyes met mine. Surprise flickered briefly on her
face as she straightened up and moved forward to stand in the narrow aisle
beside the boy, who looked up at her with a puzzled expression.
The conductor approached with his cheery ‘Any more fares, please, free
ride only after midnight.’ He had been keeping the charwomen¹ entertained
by such witticisms throughout the journey. The woman reached into her bag,
and the conductor casually remarked as he took her fare: ‘Empty seat beside
you, lady.’ She received her ticket with a murmured ‘Thank you,’ but gave no
sign that she had heard him. ‘Seat here for you, lady.’ The conductor indicated
the vacant place with a turn of his head and moved on to examine the boy’s
school pass and exchange a word with the youngster. On his way back he
paused to look at the woman, who returned his gaze with the cool effrontery
of a patrician². ‘No standing on the bus, lady.’ The conductor’s voice was
deliberately louder, with an angry rasp to it; the charladies twisted and craned
their necks in their efforts to discover the reason for his sudden brusqueness.
The slim woman remained standing, cool, remote, undismayed by the
conductor’s threatening attitude or the pointedly hostile glances directed at her
by the women in their immediate sympathy and solidarity with the conductor
against someone who was obviously not of their class.
My quick anger at the woman’s undisguised prejudice was surprisingly
tinctured by a certain admiration for her fearless, superior attitude; she was
more than a match for them. What a superior bitch! She looked the conductor
straight in the eye and around her mouth I could discern the muscular
twitchings of a suppressed smile. I guessed she was secretly enjoying herself.
What a smooth, elegant, superior bitch! Just ahead I saw a nameplate on
a building, New Road. I quickly rose and said to the conductor, ‘Next stop,
please.’ He gave me an odd disapproving stare, as if I had in some way
betrayed him by leaving before he could have a real set-to with the woman; I
sensed that he would have liked to try humiliating her, even to putting her off

the bus. He pulled the bell-cord and the bus jerked to a stop, and as I stepped off the platform I saw the woman take the seat I had just vacated, stiff backed and unruffled. By leaving I had done that conductor a favour, I thought. He’d never get the better of that female.
E R Braithwaite, To Sir, With Love (1959)

¹charwomen: women employed as cleaners ²effrontery of a patrician: rudeness of a member of the ruling class

In your answer to Question 10, you must compare at least two texts from the list. At least one text must be from the two texts at the top of the list in bold.

Henry Roth: Call it Sleep

‘Immigrants in literature often have to find new ways of communicating.’

By comparing Call it Sleep with at least one other text prescribed for this topic, discuss how far

you agree with this view.

Mohsin Hamid: The Reluctant Fundamentalist

‘Homesickness is a necessary part of the immigrant experience.’

By comparing The Reluctant Fundamentalist with at least one other text prescribed for this topic,

discuss how far you agree with this view.

‘By moving to a new country, immigrants discover what they truly believe.’

By comparing at least two texts prescribed for this topic, discuss how far you have found this to be the case.

In your answer you must include discussion of either Call It Sleep and/or The Reluctant

Fundamentalist.