AQA ENGLISH LANGUAGE: PAPER 1
P1Q2 example answer
This example answer was written by an SHSG student and was awarded 6/8 by the exam board. It has been included exactly as written in the GCSE exam, including any mistakes or inaccuracies.
How does the writer use language here to describe the effects of the heat?
The writer uses personification to describe how the heat waves beat up out of the hot stone. The use of the verb “beat up" connotes violence in the way that a person could beat up another in a boxing ring. This suggests that the heat was excruciating. Moreover, the personification of the heat waves suggests intention which could mean that, to many, the heat wants to cause harm and pain – it is almost like a foe.
The writer uses the phrase "the porous brick, which sizzed with dryness". Here, the writer uses the verb "sizzed" which likens evokes an image of a snake suggesting that the heat caused the bricks to become almost deceitful and angry. The snake in the Garden of Eden tempted Adam and Eve to eat the fruit that God told them not to. This suggests that the brick is so dry, short and desperate for water that it has resorted to tempting water to fall on it. This emphasises the excruciating heat. Moreover, animals and people may hiss when they are in pain which suggests that the brick is in agony due to how dry it is.
The writer uses the simile of “like flames” to describe the heat lizard. This implies that the magnitude of the heat has caused the lizards to themselves turn into flames. Moreover, flames are extremely hot and dangerous which suggests that the lizards heat the lizards are enduring is unsafe and possibly life-threatening.