Responding to a fiction text - OCRExample analysis

It was a bad one, the winter of 1933. Wading home that night through flames of snow, my toes burning, my ears on fire, the snow swirling around me like a flock of angry nuns, I stopped dead in my tracks. The time had come to take stock. Fair weather or foul, certain forces in the world were at work trying to destroy me.

Dominic Molise, I said, hold it. Is everything going according to plan? Examine your condition with care, take an impartial survey of your situation. What goes on here Dom?

There I was in Roper, Colorado, growing older by the minute. In six months I would be eighteen and graduated from high school. I was sixty-four inches tall and had not grown one centimeter in three years. I was bowlegged and pigeon-toed and my ears protruded like Pinnocchio’s. My teeth were crooked, and my face was as freckled as a bird’s egg.

I was the son of a bricklayer who had not worked in five months. I didn’t own an overcoat, I wore three sweaters, and my mother had already begun a series of novenas for the new suit I needed to graduate in June.

1933 Was a Bad Year, John Fante, Chapter 1

Sample questions and answers

Example question one

a) Identify one phrase from these lines which shows the effect of the snow on the narrator. (1 mark)

My toes burning/my ears on fire

Either of these phrases would gain the mark.

b) Why is this phrase surprising? (1 mark)

Because the snow is cold, but the effect it is having on Dom is one of heat.

This answer picks out the contrast in the phrase, between the snow and its effect.

c) Pick out two details of Dominic Molise's physical appearance that suggest he does not think he is attractive. (2 marks)

1. His ears stick out.
2. His teeth are crooked.

These details focus on Dom's physical appearance, not other information. The question does not ask for a developed response - so these details do not need to be explained.

Example question two

In the first paragraph of the extract, how does the writer use language and structure to create a strong sense of setting? (6 marks)

The writer uses a surprising image, “…flames of snow…” to describe the snowy setting. This use of an oxymoron allows the reader to vividly imagine the extreme temperature. The image is further developed with the phrases “…toes burning, my ears on fire…”; the verb ‘burning’ giving the reader an even stronger sense of the physical effects of the cold weather. The paragraph's structure moves from the general to the specific, from the winter of 1933 to the weather which is trying to "destroy" Dom.

• This paragraph gets straight into the close analysis; no introduction is needed for this type of question.
• The response is focused on the task, analysing language, structure and setting.
• Every point is supported by evidence from the first paragraph of the extract.
• Details of the language are linked and the effect is analysed closely.
• The answer includes the reader’s response to the language and setting.
• At least one more paragraph would be needed to fully answer this question, the 6 marks suggests a longer answer is appropriate here.