Responding to a literary text - CCEASuggestions for your answer

You could include some of the following points in your answer.

Text A

• The writer uses diction associated with coldness and hardness to reveal the character of Scrooge – “the cold within him froze his cold features”, “A frosty rime was on his head”, “Hard and sharp as flint” (simile).
• The writer uses a simile to reveal Scrooge’s desire to be alone – “solitary as an oyster”.
• The extract begins with a list of onomatopoeic verbs to reveal Scrooges harsh character – “squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!”
• The writer opens with a metaphor revealing the hard nature of Scrooge’s character – “he was tight-fisted at the grindstone”.
• The writer uses pathetic fallacy to reveal the character of Scrooge and show the lack of influence the weather had upon his character – “External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge”, “No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill”. No wind that blew was bitterer than he”.
• The writer reveals that other characters avoid Scrooge – “Nobody ever stopped him in the street”, “no man or woman ever once ... inquired the way”, “Even the blind men’s dogs ... would tug their owners into doorways”.

Text B

• The writer uses the contrast between his day and night to create the character of Silas.
• The writer ensures that Silas’ days appear dull and boring by the use of the adjectives “livelong”, “monotony” and “repetiion” and the phrase “the slow growth of sameness in the brownish web”.
• The writer juxtaposes Silas’ evening activities to reveal how the character appears to come alive with excitement, “at night came his revelry”.
• The writer almost personifies the money and the storage bags to reveal their importance to the character, “the guineas shone as they came pouring out of the dark leather mouths!”
• The writer ensures the reader understands Silas’ love of his money and how the character has an emotional connection with his possession as if it was a real person – “he loved his guineas best”, “begotten by his labour”, “he loved them all”, “thought fondly of his guineas ... as if they had been unborn children”.
• The writer uses a metaphor to reveal the enjoyment Silas gets from his wealth – “bathed his hands in them”.
• The writer uses a simile to show how limited Silas’ life was now that he was only obsessed with his wealth – “his life had shrunk away, like a rivulet ... in the barren sand”.

Text A and B

• Both text A and B are solely narrative focusing on description with effective use of adjectives, adverbs and descriptive phrases to create the two characters.
• Both writers use the omniscient narrator to reveal the characters of Scrooge and Silas through description.
• Text A uses weather (pathetic fallacy) to create character – “no wintry chill could chill him”, “no wind that blew was bitterer than he”. In addition, “pelting rain”, “snow” and “hail” are all used to create the character of Scrooge. Text B uses obsession and actions to create character - “closed his shutters”, “made fast his doors”, “he felt their rounded outline between his thumb and fingers”.
• Text A creates character through the use of harsh diction - “squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching”, “sharp as flint” “cold within him froze”, “shrivelled”, “stiffened”, “thin”. Text B uses diction associated with tenderness and passion - “he loved his guineas best”, “ begotten by his labour”, “he loved them all”, “thought fondly of his guineas ... as if they had been unborn children”.