Modern times: Literature from 1945 to the present day: specimen question commentary

This resource explains how a question taken from the specimen assessment material addresses the assessment objectives, with some suggestions of how the task might be approached. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every point that could be made but it gives teachers and students some guidance that will support their work on this paper.

Paper 2B, Section B

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Students have access to their texts in the examination and they should be using those texts to select relevant material to provide detail in their answers.

Sample question

Explore the significance of isolation in this extract. Remember to include in your answer relevant detailed analysis of the ways that Ali shapes meanings.

How the question meets the assessment objectives:

In this question, as throughout the paper, the assessment objectives are all assessed. As a result, all the key words in the question should be addressed, indicating either focus (significance of isolation, ways that Ali shapes meanings) or direction (explore, relevant detailed analysis).

AO1 is tested through the way students organise their writing and express their ideas as they are analysing the extract and exploring the significance of isolation.  Value is placed on technical accuracy, appropriate terminology and quality of discussion.

AO2 requires detailed analysis of the ways that Ali shapes meanings. Students are expected to illustrate their answers with as much textual detail as possible – with quotations and other close reference – to support the points in their analysis.

'Significance' in AO3 is addressed when candidates demonstrate an understanding of the various contexts of isolation, including the physical and psychological. In exploring the nature of isolation as presented in this passage, students will engage not only with the specific context of Modern times: Literature from 1945 to the present day, but also with the contexts of when texts were written and of reader response to the representation of isolation.

To address AO4 students will make connections to the representation of one of the central issues of Modern times: Literature from 1945 to the present day. Their answers should be implicitly informed by a wider awareness of the concept and the many forms its representation can take, as seen in other reading around this period.

AO5 tests students' skill in engaging with different ways in which significance can be found in this extract and showing an understanding that meanings are not fixed.

Possible content

Students might choose to write about any of the following and thereby address AO2: aspects of narrative form and/or genre, such as point-of-view where the reader sees the situation through Nazneen's eyes only with the help of a third-person narrator; the overall shape and direction of the extract, which begins with ideas of escape from her isolation but then moves to the confines of her new life and a way of coping; the domestic setting of the small flat and its impact on Nazneen; elements of back-story (sent away to London, the sadhus, Dr Azad, daydreams about the tattoo lady ); unspoken thoughts (wishing for something, considering leaving the flat); use of questions ('Was it cheating?', 'Was it not the same as making the wish?', 'What if it went wrong?') to show Nazneen's lack of confidence in her new world; sparing use of figurative language ('monstrous black wardrobe that claimed most of the room'); straightforward choice of vocabulary and syntax ('Strangers would answer if she knocked on the wrong door.') to reflect her lack of sophistication; use of minor sentences (It was only dinner. One dinner. One guest.); repetition of 'never' and 'another day',  which show Nazneen's lack of choice; inclusion of religious references to reflect Nazneen's home culture. Students should make it clear they are conscious that the text under analysis is fictional, the work of a creative imagination.

To address AO3 students will need to explore relevant ideas such as: what can cause isolation and loneliness (being sent to an unfamiliar country, an arranged marriage to an older man, being unable to speak the native language); the isolation of women in particular because of class, race, gender or culture; ideas about place/location (Ali's choice of Britain as Nazneen's new home in a period when immigration and multiculturalism have challenged notions of a British identity.)

AO4 will be addressed if and when candidates explore ideas about isolation, so connecting with the representation of one of the central issues of Modern times: Literature from 1945 to the present day.  They may cite examples of changing ideas about the concept of the isolation that can be present in modern society.

The criteria of AO5 are met if students are able to show that they have fully 'explored the significance of isolation' in the extract. They should be ready to write about: the East End setting ('climbing the Rosemead stairwell to the fourth floor'); Nazneen's restricted view from the flat ('Nazneen had never been close enough (never closer than this, never further) to decipher the designs.'); the loneliness of her arranged marriage to an older man ('She could spend another day alone. It was only another day.'); impositions of his expectations on her domestic life ('She should be getting on with the evening meal'); Nazneen's thoughts about the tattoo woman ('perhaps they would sit together by the window and let the time pass more easily.'); her preoccupations with cooking, and caring for the home (She would rinse the glasses and rub them with newspaper to make them shine.'); her memories of her earlier life (the sadhus who walked in rags through the Muslim villages'); the influence of her religion ('She had made her intention as fervently as possible seeking refuge from Satan with fists clenched and fingernails digging into her palms.'). They could also give some account of the characters Ali has placed in the background of the narrative, all of whom in their different ways may contribute to her isolation (Chanu, the tattoo lady, Dr Azad).

This resource is part of the Modern times - Literature from 1945 to the present day resource package.