AQA ENGLISH LANGUAGE: PAPER 1
P1Q3 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 has the writer structured the text to interest you as a reader?
The writer begins the extract by establishing the setting and atmosphere of the unbearable heat and Mary’s agony regarding it. The writer does this at this point in order to allow the reader to feel sympathy for Mary. It also allows the reader to villainize Dick’s actions later on in the story when Dick shouts at her for cooling herself with the water.
The writer then shifts focus to a description of Mary’s old life on the farm. The writer does this at this point to further allow the readers to sympathize with Mary as a woman in an unfamiliar farm with conditions she is not used to. It may also allow the reader to relate to her and emphasizes the cruelty of Dick’s anger.
The writer then ends the extract by introducing Dick’s character and his fury with Mary’s for cooling herself with water. The writer does this at this point to actas a culmination of all the previous events described. It allows the reader to get angry with Dick.
However, the writer then describes all the money and since it costs to fetch water, which demonstrates to the reader that Dick’s anger may be justified completely and not totally unfair.