Paper 3 and 4 June 07 Examiner S Comments

Paper 3 and 4 June 07 Examiner’s comments

6. Katherine Mansfield: The Garden Party and Other Stories (a) Candidates tended to agree that Mansfield’s stories were more concerned with the characters’ minds than events, and used stories such as The Garden Party, Bliss, An Indiscreet Journey, Her First Ball, Frau Brechenmacher Attends a Wedding and A Married Man’s Story to illustrate their discussion. Ironically, even in these answers, though, some candidates lapsed into narrative summary while asserting that the real interest was in the characters’ minds. More successful answers looked closely at the mental life of the characters, contrasting their responses with the events around them. Sophisticated responses examined Mansfield’s narrative techniques, showing that events are frequently filtered through the characters’ perceptions and responses as the narrative moves in and out of characters’ minds, making it difficult to pin down events themselves separately from the characters’ mental responses.

(b) This was a very popular question, though a surprising number of candidates seemed unaware of the context which is revealed in The Voyage, namely the death of Fenella’s mother, thus missing the emotional undercurrent of the extract. On the other hand, many candidates commented on the pervasive dark imagery at the beginning of the story and suggested that by this means Mansfield is already hinting at the mother’s death and the family’s mourning. Others commented on the way several parts of the description suggest a childish perception, suggesting that the narrative veers towards Fenella’s perception of the journey. There were some very sensitive responses, which looked at Fenella’s embarrassment at the emotion between her grandmother and father and questioned her own avoidance of mourning and emotion.

Question 2 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: Twelfth Night

(a) In general, the treatment of Malvolio was handled perceptively, with candidates taking a view both of his faults and the way that others treat him. Subtle answers made the point that whilst initially Malvolio got what he deserved with the extended trickery surrounding the letter, his subsequent treatment during his imprisonment was excessive, pushing him towards madness. A few candidates went further and pointed out that his final cry for revenge might change the balance of sympathy once again as it upsets the notionally happy equilibrium of the play’s ending. (b) There were many fine answers on the passage, but many candidates at the bottom end often had difficulty locating the precise moment of the action and of being very clear about precisely what is going on. In particular, candidates were often rather uncertain about Olivia’s feelings towards Orsino which are not – as many argued – perverse. Rather, she has tried to be honest with Orsino and has even prolonged the mourning for her brother in order to not hurt his feelings. Candidates were at their best when exploring the language used by the characters, particularly the way in which Viola can present the conventional vocabulary of love on someone else’s behalf. Few candidates made much of the soliloquy with which the passage ends.

Question 6 ARTHUR MILLER: A View from the Bridge

(a) Weaker candidates tended to focus on the central betrayal of the play -- Eddie’s informing of the immigration services. Reference to the story of Vinnie Bolzano often allowed candidates to make the leap towards the wider implications of the basic idea. Most candidates were aware that the play as a whole is a mesh of betrayals of trust and affection. The best responses were able to link ideas of betrayal to those of justice, and this sometimes included interesting and incisive analyses of the role and position of Alfieri. (b) There were many interesting discussions of the passage. Some candidates gave a rather limited account of the action of the scene, but most were able to comment on the relationship between stage directions and language. Some candidates got very excited by their view that Eddie is latently homosexual. A more obvious approach might have been to see how Rodolfo threatens a view of masculinity, particularly in relation to women, that Eddie believes unchallengeable.

Poetry Songs of Ourselves

(a) This question attracted discussion on quite a wide range of poems, the most popular including ‘The Planners’, ‘The City Planners’, ‘Summer Farm’, ‘Where I Come From’, ‘Composed Upon Westminster Bridge’ and ‘The Bay’. The most successful candidates chose their poems according to a plan of what case they wanted to make, so that ‘The Planners’ and ‘The City Planners’ were often paired to show how poets responded to the growth of modern urban life, while others linked poems to discuss poets’ exploration of the relationship between places and the individual. Candidates are more successful with the poetry (a) questions if they have a clear idea of what argument they wish to pursue in response to the question. A general discussion of two separate poems is seldom as successful. (b) ‘The Spirit is Too Blunt an Instrument’ proved to be very popular and was widely successful as a stimulus to interesting writing. Some candidates, though, found it difficult to discuss the text as poetry, often quoting it as prose, and an overwhelming majority asserted strongly that it has no rhyme. Only a very few, alert candidates noticed the detailed connected rhymes across the stanzas, perhaps mirroring the detailed construction of the baby itself. There were some strongly personal responses, some suggesting an inhumane scientific response to the baby, while others suggested that the poem showed science pushing out the role of the Creator. Most, though, responded to an unusual but vigorous exploration of the delight and wonder at new life, using microbiological terms to demonstrate the amazement. Candidates who also paid attention to the poem’s final lines, which suggest that, while ‘human passions’ cannot in themselves produce the perfection of the child, they successfully create ‘despair and anxiety/and their pain’, tended to do very well.

Paper 3 November 06 Examiner’s comments

Katherine Mansfield: The Garden Party and Other Stories (a) Candidates defined ‘new situations or places’ very widely, with some interesting results. Although some answers were limited to narrative summary, many candidates looked successfully at Mansfield’s presentation of both character and situation. There were good answers which featured discussion of ‘Her First Ball’, ‘The Little Governess,’ ‘Millie’ and ‘The Woman at the Store’ among others. Some very thoughtful responses showed how Mansfield’s narrative often moves fluidly from description on the situation or place to the consciousness of the characters, making a direct connection between them. (b) This was a very popular question, attracting a wide range of answers. Even less confident candidates were able to show how the Brechenmachers differ, though the most successful answers discussed Mansfield’s presentation of their attitudes towards each other and towards marriage explicitly, considering the social restrictions and expectations placed upon women. Many details in the passage were picked out for comment, such as Herr Brechenmacher’s gesture of offering his wife ‘one of the best pieces’, compared to a man feeding his pet dog, the shocking suggestions of wedding night rape, the contrast between the Herr and the Frau conveyed in his striding and her stumbling, and interpretation of the ‘white and forsaken lay the road ahead’ as a metaphor of the Frau’s life.

Paper 3 June 06 Examiner’s comments

5. Katherine Mansfield: The Garden Party and Other Stories (a) Comparatively few candidates attempted this question and some demonstrated confusion about the term ‘narrative voice’, which is central to the study of prose fiction. At the weaker end, candidates tended to rely on narrative and retold the plots of two stories without evident reference to Mansfield’s choice of the voice in which the stories are told. However, some candidates had clearly considered the issue of narrative voice and wrote successfully, sometimes comparing the nature of the narrator, in, for example, A Married Man’s Story, Frau Brechenmacher Attends a Wedding and The Woman at the Store. Some candidates were able to show how the narrative voice sometimes closely reflects, but is separate from, the central character, such as in Her First Ball, while others were able to demonstrate how the narrative in several of the stories moves seamlessly between third person observation and the characters’ internal thoughts, such as in At the Bay, The Garden Party and others. (b) This was a very popular question. Many candidates commented on the deeply unappealing description of Mrs Kember but went on to comment on her paradoxical attractiveness in contrast with the smallmindedness of the society around her. A number of candidates used their knowledge of Mansfield’s life and her growing boredom with the Bloomsbury set to comment both on the conventional life of the Bay and on Mrs Kember as an essentially empty woman. Several commentaries also focused on sexual identity, including comment on Beryl and Mr Kember. Many candidates were alert to Mansfield’s methods of presentation, noting the tone of dialogue, the sense of irony and the interweaving of society’s perspective into the narrative. A number of candidates had difficulty with this aspect of Mansfield’s style, though, and consequently missed the ironies of the extract.

Paper 3 November 05 Examiner’s comments

Question 5 Katherine Mansfield: The Garden Party and Other Stories (a) Candidates referred to a wide range of stories in answer to this question, ‘Prelude’, ‘Bliss’, ‘Millie’ and ‘Frau Brechenmacher’ being particularly favoured choices. The most successful candidates were able to comment on how Mansfield allows characters to reveal themselves through their thoughts and feelings, and how she uses imagery and symbolism. Some were able to point out that the stories reveal Mansfield’s attitude to social divisions and her views on the position of women. Textual knowledge was nearly always very good, with few answers dependent on paraphrase.

(b) Many candidates had a good knowledge of Laura’s character as it is presented in the passage and at other key points in the story. Candidates approached the concept of the internal and external worlds of the character by comparing the presentation of Laura’s internal thoughts with her external behaviour towards the workmen, an approach which was usually very successful. Many candidates showed good understanding of the social background against which these stories were written. Some saw Laura negotiating a class position with the workmen, while others suggested she is assuming the manners of being grown-up, to which the workmen respond tactfully and sympathetically. Again, either interpretation worked effectively. Paper 3 June 05 Examiner’s comment

Katherine Mansfield: Short Stories (a) This was the less popular of the two options on Mansfield, and while the candidates who attempted it usually chose appropriate stories to discuss, many of the answers tended towards narrative and did not explore the significance of the location in the kind of detail required by the question. The Woman at the Store, Frau Brechenmacher Attends a Wedding, The Garden Party and At the Bay were frequently chosen stories, offering different types of locations and different effects upon the stories and the characters who inhabit them. (b) Many of the answers on the extract from Her First Ball were enthusiastic and sensitive. Candidates noted the bird imagery and the interweaving of description, dialogue and thought which contributes to Mansfield’s dreamlike presentation of Leila’s experience at the ball. Some answers compared this fantasy presentation of dancing with the description of the grim dancing lessons with the ‘cold piano’ and ‘Miss Eccles poking the girls’ feet’ and connected this harsher reality with the fat man and the development of his character later in the story.