Eduqas GCSE English Literature Component 2 June 2025 question paper

You are advised to spend about 45 minutes on this question.

You should use the extract below and your knowledge of the whole novel to answer this question.

Write about some of the times there is conflict in Lord of the Flies and how this is presented at different points in the novel.

In your response you should:

• refer to the extract and the novel as a whole

• show your understanding of characters and events in the novel.

5 of this question’s marks are allocated for accuracy in spelling, punctuation and the use of vocabulary and sentence structures.

Maurice took a breath– “My daddy says there’s things, what d’you call’em that make ink-squids-that are hundreds of yards long and eat whales whole.” He paused again and laughed gaily. “I don’t believe in the beast of course. As Piggy says, life’s scientific, but we don’t know, do we? Not certainly, I mean —” Someone shouted. “A squid couldn’t come up out of the water!” “Could!” “Couldn’t!” In a moment the platform was full of arguing, gesticulating shadows. To Ralph, seated, this seemed the breaking-up of sanity. Fear, beasts, no general agreement that the fire was all-important: and when one tried to get the thing straight the argument sheered off, bringing up fresh, unpleasant matter. He could see a whiteness in the gloom near him so he grabbed it from Maurice and blew as loudly as he could. The assembly was shocked into silence. Simon was close to him, laying hands on the conch. Simon felt a perilous necessity to speak; but to speak in assembly was a terrible thing to him. “Maybe,” he said hesitantly, “maybe there is a beast.” The assembly cried out savagely and Ralph stood up in amazement. “You, Simon? You believe in this?” “I don’t know,” said Simon. His heartbeats were choking him. “But …” The storm broke. “Sit down!” “Shut up!” “Take the conch!” “Sod you!” “Shut up!” Ralph shouted. “Hear him! He’s got the conch!” “What I mean is … maybe it’s only us.” “Nuts!” That was from Piggy, shocked out of decorum.

You are advised to spend about 45 minutes on this question.

You should use the extract below and your knowledge of the whole novel to answer this question.

Write about Meena’s Mama in Anita and Me and how Syal presents her importance to the novel as a whole.

In your response you should:

• refer to the extract and the novel as a whole

• show your understanding of characters and events in the novel.

5 of this question’s marks are allocated for accuracy in spelling, punctuation and the use of vocabulary and sentence structures.

My mother would right now be standing in a haze of spicy steam, crowded by huge bubbling saucepans where onions and tomatoes simmered and spat, molehills of chopped vegetables and fresh herbs jostling for space with bitter, bright heaps of turmeric, masala, cumin and coarse black pepper whilst a softly breathing mound of dough would be waiting in a china bowl, ready to be divided and flattened into round, grainy chapatti. And she, sweaty and absorbed, would move from one chaotic work surface to another, preparing the fresh, home-made meal that my father expected, needed like air, after a day at the office about which he never talked. From the moment mama stepped in from her teaching job, swapping saris for M&S separates, she was in that kitchen; it would never occur to her, at least not for many years, to suggest instant or take-away food which would give her a precious few hours to sit, think, smell the roses – that would be tantamount to spouse abuse. This food was not just something to fill a hole, it was soul food, it was the food their far-away mothers made and came seasoned with memory and longing, this was the nearest they would get for many years, to home. So far, I had resisted all my mother’s attempts to teach me the rudiments of Indian cuisine; she’d often pull me in from the yard and ask me to stand with her while she prepared a simple sabzi or rolled out a chapatti before making it dance and blow out over a naked gas flame. ‘Just watch, it is so easy, beti,’ she’d say encouragingly. I did not see what was easy about peeling, grinding, kneading and burning your fingers in this culinary Turkish bath, only to present your masterpiece and have my father wolf it down in ten minutes flat in front of the nine o’clock news whilst sitting cross-legged on the floor surrounded by spread sheets from yesterday’s Daily Telegraph. Once, she made the fatal mistake of saying, ‘You are going to have to learn to cook if you want to get married, aren’t you?’ I reeled back, horrified, and vowed if I ended up with someone who made me go through all that, I would poison the bastard immediately. My mother must have cottoned on; she would not mention marriage again for another fifteen years.

You are advised to spend about 45 minutes on this question.

You should use the extract below and your knowledge of the whole novel to answer this question.

Boys Don’t Cry is a novel about growing up. Write about growing up in Boys Don’t Cry and how it is presented in the novel.

In your response you should:

• refer to the extract and the novel as a whole

• show your understanding of characters and events in the novel.

5 of this question’s marks are allocated for accuracy in spelling, punctuation and the use of vocabulary and sentence structures.

Collette spoke of my daughter like Emma was a fence which needed to be knocked down and trampled underfoot. ‘Collette, she has a name – Emma. And Emma happens to be my daughter.’ ‘Not from choice.’ I had to restrain myself from answering for a few seconds. ‘What exactly did you tell your sister?’ I asked when I could trust myself to speak. ‘Only what you told me,’ Collette replied. ‘That Emma had been dumped on you and you didn’t want her.’ ‘You had no right!’ I shouted. ‘Excuse me?’ ‘You had no right to poke your nose in and interfere. You had no right to set your sister on me like some pit bull just ’cause you were feeling neglected,’ I said with scorn. ‘That’s not why I did it. I was trying to help you …’ ‘By letting your sister take Emma away from me?’ ‘But you don’t want her …’ ‘Collette, get this into your head because I’m only going to say it once. Emma is my daughter and she belongs with me. She’s staying with me. If you don’t like that, then tough. Tell your sister I’m coping just fine and both of you can keep your bloody noses out of my business. Enjoy university.’ I hung up. Within seconds the phone was ringing. I accepted the call, then immediately hung up again. Hopefully now she’d get the message. I headed back into the sitting room. ‘Come with Daddy, Emma.’ I held out my hand. ‘Let’s get you a drink.’ Emma waddled over to me and took my hand without hesitation. Her hand was warm in mine and so tiny. We shared a smile as I led the way to the kitchen. Popping her in her highchair, I poured out some diluted blackcurrant juice into her beaker. I stood and watched as she drank it thirstily. Grit or dirt or something was making my eyes smart. And I must’ve tried swallowing down my breakfast too quickly because it felt like there was a ball of concrete stuck in my throat.

You are advised to spend about 45 minutes on this question.

You should use the extract below and your knowledge of the whole novel to answer this question.

Write about how Susan Hill creates shock and horror at different points in the novel.

In your response you should:

• refer to the extract and the novel as a whole

• show your understanding of characters and events in the novel.

5 of this question’s marks are allocated for accuracy in spelling, punctuation and the use of vocabulary and sentence structures.

I realized that the mist played tricks with sound as well as sight, for not only did the noise of the trap stay further away from me for longer than I might have expected but also it seemed to come not from directly behind me, straight down the causeway path, but instead to be away to my right, out on the marsh. I tried to work out the direction of the wind but there was none. I turned around but then the sound began to recede further away again. Baffled, I stood and waited, straining to listen through the mist. What I heard next chilled and horrified me, even though I could neither understand nor account for it. The noise of the pony trap grew fainter and then stopped abruptly and away on the marsh was a curious draining, sucking, churning sound, which went on, together with the shrill neighing and whinnying of a horse in panic, and then I heard another cry, a shout, a terrified sobbing – it was hard to decipher – but with horror I realized that it came from a child, a young child. I stood absolutely helpless in the mist that clouded me and everything from my sight, almost weeping in an agony of fear and frustration, and I knew that I was hearing, beyond any doubt, appalling last noises of a pony and trap, carrying a child in it, as well as whatever adult – presumably Keckwick – was driving and was even now struggling desperately. It had somehow lost the causeway path and fallen into the marshes and was being dragged under by the quicksand and the pull of the incoming tide.

You are advised to spend about 45 minutes on this question. You should use the extract below and your knowledge of the whole novel to answer this question. Write about Mrs Winterson, Jeanette’s mother, in Oranges are not the Only Fruit and how she is important to the novel as a whole. In your response you should: • refer to the extract and the novel as a whole

• show your understanding of characters and events in the novel. 5 of this question’s marks are allocated for accuracy in spelling, punctuation and the use of vocabulary and sentence structures.

We went into the market next. My mother always got her mince cheap because the butcher had been her sweetheart once. She said he was a devil, but she still took the mince. While he was wrapping it up, I got my mac caught on a meat hook and pulled the sleeve off. ‘Mum,’ I wailed, waving it at her. ‘Beezum,’ she cried. And she took out a roll of sellotape and started to wind it round my arm. At that moment we saw Mrs Clifton, who gave singing lessons, and did her shopping at Marks and Spencers. ‘Is something the matter with Jeanette’s arm?’ she enquired. ‘It’s just her sleeve,’ replied my mother, keeping her ‘H’ as best she could. ‘Oh, but I think she needs a new one, don’t you?’ My mother shifted her shopping bag. ‘No I don’t,’ I piped up. ‘I really like this one.’ She looked at me with distaste. ‘Well, I do think …’ ‘We’re getting a new one this afternoon,’ said my mother firmly. ‘Goodbye.’ She moved us away, leaving Mrs Clifton alone beside the belly of pork. ‘You’re a disgrace,’ hissed my mother, as soon as she could. ‘What would your grandad say?’ ‘He’s dead.’ ‘That’s not the point.’ ‘She’s stuck up and I don’t like her.’ ‘You be quiet, she has a lovely home.’ Before I could protest any further she pushed me inside a shop that sold oddments and seconds. ‘They haven’t got any,’ I said, peering about with some relief. ‘Oh yes they have,’ answered my mother triumphantly. She was rummaging behind a pile of cardboard boxes that had SURPLUS written on the side, like branded sheep. ‘Try this one.’ I put it on. It was enormous. ‘Look, it’s got a hat with it.’ She thrust a shapeless piece of plastic towards the place she thought my hand would be. ‘Which way round does it go?’ I was feeling trapped. ‘It’ll keep you dry which every way.’ I remembered a film I had seen called The Man in the Iron Mask. ‘It’s a bit big,’ I ventured. ‘You can grow into it.’ ‘But Mum …’ ‘We’ll have it.’ ‘But Mum.’ It was bright pink. We walked in silence to the fish stall. I hated her.

You are advised to spend about 45 minutes on this question.

You should use the extract below and your knowledge of the whole novel to answer this question.

Write about Scrooge and how he is presented at different points in the novel.

In your response you should:

• refer to the extract and the novel as a whole • show your understanding of characters and events in the novel

• refer to the contexts of the novel.

The Spirit stood among the graves, and pointed down to One. He advanced towards it trembling. The Phantom was exactly as it had been, but he dreaded that he saw new meaning in its solemn shape. ‘Before I draw nearer to that stone to which you point,’ said Scrooge, ‘answer me one question. Are these the shadows of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of the things that May be only?’ Still the Ghost pointed downward to the grave by which it stood. ‘Men’s courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead,’ said Scrooge. ‘But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me!’ The Spirit was immovable as ever. Scrooge crept towards it, trembling as he went; and, following the finger, read upon the stone of the neglected grave his own name, EBENEZER SCROOGE. ‘Am I that man who lay upon the bed?’ he cried upon his knees. The finger pointed from the grave to him, and back again. ‘No, Spirit! Oh no, no!’ The finger still was there. ‘Spirit!’ he cried, tight clutching at its robe, ‘hear me! I am not the man I was. I will not be the man I must have been but for this intercourse. Why show me this, if I am past all hope?’ For the first time the hand appeared to shake. ‘Good Spirit,’ he pursued, as down upon the ground he fell before it, ‘your nature intercedes for me, and pities me. Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown me by an altered life?’ The kind hand trembled. ‘I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone!’

You are advised to spend about 45 minutes on this question.

You should use the extract below and your knowledge of the whole novel to answer this question.

Write about Silas in Silas Marner and how he is presented as important to the novel as a whole.

In your response you should:

• refer to the extract and the novel as a whole • show your understanding of characters and events in the novel

• refer to the contexts of the novel.

But there was a cry on the hearth: the child had awaked, and Marner stooped to lift it on his knee. It clung round his neck, and burst louder and louder into that mingling of inarticulate cries with “mammy” by which little children express the bewilderment of waking. Silas pressed it to him, and almost unconsciously uttered sounds of hushing tenderness, while he bethought himself that some of his porridge, which had got cool by the dying fire, would do to feed the child with if it were only warmed up a little. He had plenty to do through the next hour. The porridge, sweetened with some dry brown sugar from an old store which he had refrained from using for himself, stopped the cries of the little one, and made her lift her blue eyes with a wide quiet gaze at Silas, as he put the spoon into her mouth. Presently she slipped from his knee and began to toddle about, but with a pretty stagger that made Silas jump up and follow her lest she should fall against anything that would hurt her. But she only fell in a sitting posture on the ground, and began to pull at her boots, looking up at him with a crying face as if the boots hurt her. He took her on his knee again, but it was some time before it occurred to Silas’s dull bachelor mind that the wet boots were the grievance, pressing on her warm ankles. He got them off with difficulty, and baby was at once happily occupied with the primary mystery of her own toes, inviting Silas, with much chuckling, to consider the mystery too. But the wet boots had at last suggested to Silas that the child had been walking on the snow, and this roused him from his entire oblivion of any ordinary means by which it could have entered or been brought into his house. Under the prompting of this new idea, and without waiting to form conjectures, he raised the child in his arms, and went to the door. As soon as he had opened it, there was the cry of “mammy” again, which Silas had not heard since the child’s first hungry waking. Bending forward, he could just discern the marks made by the little feet on the virgin snow, and he followed their track to the furze bushes.

You are advised to spend about 45 minutes on this question.

You should use the extract below and your knowledge of the whole novel to answer this question.

Write about the narrator in War of the Worlds and how he is presented as important to the novel as a whole.

In your response you should:

• refer to the extract and the novel as a whole • show your understanding of characters and events in the novel

• refer to the contexts of the novel.

The hot water from the Martian’s overthrow drifted downstream with me, so that for the best part of a mile I could see little of either bank. Once, however, I made out a string of black figures hurrying across the meadows from the direction of Weybridge. Halliford, it seemed, was deserted, and several of the houses facing the river were on fire. It was strange to see the place quite tranquil, quite desolate under the hot blue sky, with the smoke and little threads of flame going straight up into the heat of the afternoon. Never before had I seen houses burning without the accompaniment of an obstructive crowd. A little farther on the dry reeds up the bank were smoking and glowing, and a line of fire inland was marching steadily across a late field of hay. For a long time I drifted, so painful and weary was I after the violence I had been through, and so intense the heat upon the water. Then my fears got the better of me again, and I resumed my paddling. The sun scorched my bare back. At last, as the bridge at Walton was coming into sight round the bend, my fever and faintness overcame my fears, and I landed on the Middlesex bank and lay down, deadly sick, amid the long grass. I suppose the time was then about four or five o’clock. I got up presently, walked perhaps half a mile without meeting a soul, and then lay down again in the shadow of a hedge. I seem to remember talking, wanderingly, to myself during that last spurt. I was also very thirsty, and bitterly regretful I had drunk no more water. It is a curious thing that I felt angry with my wife; I cannot account for it, but my impotent desire to reach Leatherhead worried me excessively.

You are advised to spend about 45 minutes on this question.

You should use the extract below and your knowledge of the whole novel to answer this question.

Write about Mr Darcy and how he is presented as important to the novel as a whole.

In your response you should:

• refer to the extract and the novel as a whole • show your understanding of characters and events in the novel

• refer to the contexts of the novel.

‘When I wrote that letter,’ replied Darcy, ‘I believed myself perfectly calm and cool, but I am since convinced that it was written in a dreadful bitterness of spirit.’ ‘The letter, perhaps, began in bitterness, but it did not end so. The adieu is charity itself. But think no more of the letter. The feelings of the person who wrote, and the person who received it, are now so widely different from what they were then, that every unpleasant circumstance attending it, ought to be forgotten. You must learn some of my philosophy. Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure.’ ‘I cannot give you credit for any philosophy of the kind. Your retrospections must be so totally void of reproach, that the contentment arising from them, is not of philosophy, but what is much better, of ignorance. But with me, it is not so. Painful recollections will intrude, which cannot, which ought not to be repelled. I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though not in principle. As a child I was taught what was right, but I was not taught to correct my temper. I was given good principles, but left to follow them in pride and conceit. Unfortunately an only son (for many years an only child), I was spoilt by my parents, who though good themselves (my father particularly, all that was benevolent and amiable), allowed, encouraged, almost taught me to be selfish and overbearing, to care for none beyond my own family circle, to think meanly of all the rest of the world, to wish at least to think meanly of their sense and worth compared with my own. Such I was, from eight to eight and twenty; and such I might still have been but for you, dearest, loveliest Elizabeth! What do I not owe you! You taught me a lesson, hard indeed at first, but most advantageous. By you, I was properly humbled. I came to you without a doubt of my reception. You showed me how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased.’

You are advised to spend about 45 minutes on this question.

You should use the extract below and your knowledge of the whole novel to answer this question.

Write about Mr Rochester and how he is presented as important to the novel as a whole.

In your response you should:

• refer to the extract and the novel as a whole • show your understanding of characters and events in the novel

• refer to the contexts of the novel.

‘Then you are mistaken, and you know nothing about me, and nothing about the sort of love of which I am capable. Every atom of your flesh is as dear to me as my own: in pain and sickness it would still be dear. Your mind is my treasure, and if it were broken, it would be my treasure still: if you raved, my arms should confine you, and not a strait waistcoat – your grasp, even in fury, would have a charm for me: if you flew at me as wildly as that woman did this morning, I should receive you in an embrace, at least as fond as it would be restrictive. I should not shrink from you with disgust as I did from her: in your quiet moments you should have no watcher and no nurse but me; and I could hang over you with untiring tenderness, though you gave me no smile in return; and never weary of gazing into your eyes, though they had no longer a ray of recognition for me. – But why do I follow that train of ideas? I was talking of removing you from Thornfield. All, you know, is prepared for prompt departure: tomorrow you shall go. I only ask you to endure one more night under this roof, Jane; and then, farewell to its miseries and terrors for ever! I have a place to repair to, which will be a secure sanctuary from hateful reminiscences, from unwelcome intrusion – even from falsehood and slander.’ ‘And take Adèle with you, sir,’ I interrupted; ‘she will be a companion for you.’ ‘What do you mean, Jane? I told you I would send Adèle to school; and what do I want with a child for a companion, and not my own child, – a French dancer’s bastard? Why do you importune me about her! I say, why do you assign Adèle to me for a companion?’ ‘You spoke of a retirement, sir; and retirement and solitude are dull: too dull for you.’ ‘Solitude! solitude!’ he reiterated with irritation. ‘I see I must come to an explanation. I don’t know what sphynx-like expression is forming in your countenance. You are to share my solitude. Do you understand?’ I shook my head: it required a degree of courage, excited as he was becoming, even to risk that mute sign of dissent. He had been walking fast about the room, and he stopped, as if suddenly rooted to one spot.

You are advised to spend about 45 minutes on this question.

You should use the extract below and your knowledge of the whole novel to answer this question.

Write about Mr Hyde and how he is presented as important to the novel as a whole.

In your response you should:

• refer to the extract and the novel as a whole • show your understanding of characters and events in the novel

• refer to the contexts of the novel.

The powers of Hyde seemed to have grown with the sickliness of Jekyll. And certainly the hate that now divided them was equal on each side. With Jekyll, it was a thing of vital instinct. He had now seen the full deformity of that creature that shared with him some of the phenomena of consciousness, and was co-heir with him to death: and beyond these links of community, which in themselves made the most poignant part of his distress, he thought of Hyde, for all his energy of life, as of something not only hellish but inorganic. This was the shocking thing; that the slime of the pit seemed to utter cries and voices; that the amorphous dust gesticulated and sinned; that what was dead, and had no shape, would usurp the offices of life. And this again, that that insurgent horror was knit to him closer than a wife, closer than an eye; lay caged in his flesh, where he heard it mutter and felt it struggle to be born; and at every hour of weakness, and in the confidence of slumber, prevailed against him, and deposed him out of life. The hatred of Hyde for Jekyll, was of a different order. His terror of the gallows drove him continually to commit temporary suicide, and return to his subordinate station of a part instead of a person; but he loathed the necessity, he loathed the despondency into which Jekyll was now fallen, and he resented the dislike with which he was himself regarded. Hence the ape-like tricks that he would play me, scrawling in my own hand blasphemies on the pages of my books, burning the letters and destroying the portrait of my father; and indeed, had it not been for his fear of death, he would long ago have ruined himself in order to involve me in the ruin. But his love of life is wonderful; I go further: I, who sicken and freeze at the mere thought of him, when I recall the abjection and passion of this attachment, and when I know how he fears my power to cut him off by suicide, I find it in my heart to pity him.