SAMPLE
How to use this series
This suite of resources supports students and teachers following the Cambridge IGCSE™, IGCSE (9–1) and O-Level Literature in English syllabuses (0475 / 0992 / 2010). All the components in the series are designed to work together and help students develop the necessary knowledge and skills for this subject.
This coursebook is designed for students to use in class with guidance from the teacher or to be read as part of individual study. It is divided into six parts, which focus on the three genres of poetry, prose and drama, as well as writing skills and approaching assessment. Its purpose is to help students develop the skills necessary for a course in Literature through a range of engaging activities and interesting text extracts. Reflection and Self-assessment features encourage students to think about their own learning, whilst Practice questions help to consolidate learning.
A digital version of the coursebook is included with the print version and is available separately.
The write-in workbook is skills-focused and consolidates the learning in the coursebook, providing opportunities for more focused practice. It follows a scaffolded approach to skills development, and can be used flexibly, as an additional resource to support learning in the classroom or at home for individual work. The workbook fully reflects the structure of the coursebook, making it easy to navigate.
A digital version of the workbook is included with the print version.
The digital teacher’s resource provides everything teachers need to deliver the course. It is packed full of useful teaching notes and lesson ideas, with suggestions for differentiation to support and challenge students, ideas for assessment and homework. It offers guidance for all topics of the syllabus to help teachers plan and deliver the coursebook units in the most effective, active way. Additional worksheets and text extract sheets are also available, to help teachers save time and enrich their practice. All answers to the coursebook and workbook activities are available on Cambridge GO.
How to use this book
You will find several features on the pages of this coursebook. These are there to help you as you progress through the book, and through your literature course.
LEARNING INTENTIONS
Each unit begins with a set of learning intentions to explain what you will learn in the unit.
GETTING STARTED
A short starter activity explores what knowledge you already have before starting the unit. This activity will introduce you to the concept covered in this unit.
KEY TERMS
1 Activities help you to become better readers of texts. They encourage you to reflect not only on the content of what you are reading, but also on the important role of the writer. Exploring the deliberate choices writers make in their writing will help you to sharpen your skills of analysis and increase your enjoyment of the texts you study. In addition, you will find example responses to questions.
2 Look out for activities with the set-text icon next to them. These are activities that you can apply to any of your set texts, to practise answering questions on them.
SET TEXT ACTIVITY
Every unit contains skills-based activities that you can use independently alongside your set texts.
SAMPLE ANSWER
Sample answers to practise questions encourage you to evaluate answers at different levels, enabling you to apply those evaluation skills to your own work, and understand how you can answer questions successfully. How
Key vocabulary is highlighted in the text when it is first introduced. An accompanying definition tells you the meanings of these words and phrases. You will also find definitions of these words in the glossary at the back of the book.
TIP
These are helpful reminders or notes that give advice on the skills you’ll need for this course. You will find them most often near activities, where they will be directly relevant to the task.
REFLECTION
Reflection activities enable you to look back on your work and encourage you to think about your learning. You will reflect on and assess the process that you used to arrive at your answers. It is also an opportunity to think about how confident you feel and where you might need some more practice.
FURTHER READING
SAMPLE
Further reading features suggest other poems, plays and prose texts you might like to read for your own enjoyment or interest. You can do this when you find time during your literature course, or even come back to them after you have finished. Many students find the study of literature at this level is just the beginning of a lifelong interest in reading.
CHECK YOUR PROGRESS
Check your progress boxes appear at the end of each unit and provide a quick reminder of important key points that have just been covered. Use this to reflect on your learning before moving on to the self-assessment checklist.
Self-assessment gives you the opportunity to consider the skills you have practised and assess how confident you feel going forward. You can rate your confidence level from 1 (low) to 5 (high). If you want to revisit the section where they are covered, the table will direct you to the relevant point. It is a good idea to return to these tables again and see how your confidence has grown. We are working towards endorsement of this title for the Cambridge Pathway.
SELF-ASSESSMENT
Unit 8
Responding to characterisation
LEARNING INTENTIONS
By the end of this unit, you will be able to:
• study what characters say and do – and what other characters say about them
• explore how writers use direct speech and description to present their characters
• recognise the difference between ‘character’ and ‘characterisation’.
Introduction
GETTING STARTED
You will be familiar with characters from your favourite films or television series.
Choose one character and think about the way they are presented on screen. The writer, director and actor will each contribute something to the presentation of the character.
List three things that make your chosen character particularly striking. You might consider:
• what they look like
• the kind of things they do and say
• what other characters think about them.
You already know what prose fiction looks like from all the novels and stories you have read. These show how prose fiction writers use setting, events, description and dialogue to move the plot forward. As you study how writers present characters, you will find it helpful to consider:
• what characters look like
• the role the characters play in the story
• what they think and feel
• what they say
• how aspects of identity (like gender and class) influence the characters
• what other characters say about them
• any contrasts or conflicts with other characters.
These are all aspects of characterisation – that is, ways in which writers present their characters. In Unit 11, you will also look at the role of the narrator in revealing character.
8.1 Responding to what characters say and do
From ‘All the Light We Cannot See’
by Anthony Doerr
Anthony Doerr (born 1973) is an American author who won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel, ‘All the Light We Cannot See’ (2014), which is set in France during the Second World War. One of the main characters is Marie-Laure,
KEY TERMS
plot: the storyline of the text
characterisation: the ways in which writers present their characters
narrator: the person telling the story
A street scene in Paris
a young French girl who lives in Paris with her father, who is the locksmith at the National Museum of Natural History. She has been blind since the age of six. Her father tries to help Marie-Laure deal with her disability by using to the full her other senses, her intelligence and curiosity. One of the ways he does this is by giving her a puzzle box for birthdays with a small surprise hidden inside. He knows, however, that she will have harder problems in life, so he painstakingly builds a scale model of their entire neighbourhood to enable her to find her way around outside without help.
All the Light We Cannot See
GLOSSARY
1trinket: a small object of little value
2 facsimile: an exact copy
Usually Marie-Laure can solve the wooden puzzle boxes her father creates for her birthdays. Often they are shaped like houses and contain some hidden trinket1. Opening them involves a cunning series of steps: find a seam with your fingernails, slide the bottom to the right, detach a side rail, remove a hidden key from inside the rail, unlock the top, and discover a bracelet inside.
For her seventh birthday, a tiny wooden chalet stands in the center of the kitchen table where the sugar bowl ought to be. She slides a hidden drawer out of the base, finds a hidden compartment beneath the drawer, takes out a wooden key, and slots the key inside the chimney. Inside waits a square of Swiss chocolate.
‘Four minutes,’ says her father, laughing. ‘I’ll have to work harder next year.’
For a long time, though, unlike his puzzle boxes, his model of their neighbourhood makes little sense to her. It is not like the real world. The miniature intersection of rue de Mirbel and rue Monge, for example, just a block from their apartment, is nothing like the real intersection. The real one presents an amphitheatre of noise and fragrance: in the fall it smells of traffic and castor oil, bread from the bakery, camphor from Avent’s pharmacy, delphiniums and sweet peas and roses from the flower stand. On winter days it swims with the odor of roasting chestnuts; on summer evenings it becomes slow and drowsy, full of sleepy conversations and the scraping of heavy iron chairs.
But her father’s model of the same intersection smells only of dried glue and sawdust. Its streets are empty, its pavements static; to her fingers, it serves as little more than a tiny and insufficient facsimile2 He persists in asking Marie-Laure to run her fingers over it, to recognize different houses, the angles of streets. And one cold Tuesday in December, when Marie-Laure has been blind for over a year, her father walks her up rue Cuvier to the edge of the Jardin des Plantes.
‘Here, ma chérie, is the path we take every morning. Through the cedars up ahead is the Grand Gallery.’
‘I know, Papa.’
He picks her up and spins her around three times. ‘Now,’ he says, ‘you’re going to take us home.’
Her mouth drops open.
‘I want you to think of the model, Marie.’
‘But I can’t possibly!’
‘I’m one step behind you. I won’t let anything happen. You have your cane. You know where you are.’
‘I do not!’
‘You do.’
Exasperation. She cannot even say if the gardens are ahead or behind.
‘Calm yourself, Marie. One centimeter at a time.’
‘It’s far, Papa. Six blocks, at least.’
‘Six blocks is exactly right. Use logic. Which way should we go first?’
The world pivots and rumbles. Crows shout, brakes hiss, someone to her left bangs something metal with what might be a hammer. She shuffles forward until the tip of her cane floats in space. The edge of a curb? A pond, a staircase, a cliff ? She turns ninety degrees. Three steps forward. Now her cane finds the base of a wall. ‘Papa?’
‘I’m here.’
Six paces seven paces eight. A roar of noise—an exterminator just leaving a house, pump bellowing— overtakes them. Twelve paces farther on, the bell tied around the handle of a shop door rings, and two women come out, jostling her as they pass.
Marie-Laure drops her cane; she begins to cry.
Her father lifts her, holds her to his narrow chest.
‘It’s so big,’ she whispers.
‘You can do this, Marie.’ She cannot.
Look back at the introduction and the bullet points that help you to think about how writers present characters. You can now apply them to this extract.
Work on your own for the following activities.
1 Look at lines 1–9. Consider what Marie-Laure and her father do, and what her father says. Write two sentences saying what you learn about their characters from these lines.
2 Look at lines 10–20. These lines are about what Marie-Laure thinks and feels when using her senses to the full.
In your own words, in one paragraph, describe the contrast between Marie-Laure’s feelings about her real-life experience and those for her father’s model of the area.
3 The dialogue between father and daughter – what they say – tells you a great deal about the two characters.
KEY TERM
dialogue: the words spoken by the characters, in prose or in drama. In prose, the spoken words are usually placed within inverted commas. In drama texts, the words spoken follow a character’s name.
Complete the table by commenting on what each quotation tells you about each character.
Quotation: what Papa says
‘Now . . . you’re going to take us home.’(line 25)
‘I’m one step behind you. I won’t let anything happen.’ (line 30)
‘Calm yourself, Marie. One centimeter at a time.’ (line 35)
‘Six blocks is exactly right. Use logic. Which way should we go first?’ (line 37)
Quotation: what Marie-Laure says
‘But I can’t possibly!’ (line 29)
‘It’s far, Papa.’ (line 36)
Table 8.1: Quotation and comment table for ‘All the Light We Cannot See’
SET TEXT ACTIVITY 1
Find a passage in your set text where there is dialogue between two of the characters.
Using a similar table, choose important dialogue spoken by each character and, for each quotation, comment on what it tells you about the character.
4 Look at the final part of the extract from line 38.
There is some dialogue in this part of the extract, but it is mainly about what Marie-Laure does and what she is thinking and feeling. It considers:
• the things she hears and feels around her
• the questions she asks
• the relationship with her father
Write two paragraphs in response to this practice question: How does Doerr vividly convey Marie-Laure’s experience at this moment in the novel?
Remember to:
• use quotations to support your comments
• consider the language and devices Doerr uses to help you imagine her experience, particularly onomatopoeia
• look at the impact of the short sentences in the final five lines. The story is continued in the Workbook, with more activities. You will learn whether Marie-Laure manages to succeed, as her father hopes.
FURTHER READING
Helen Keller (born 1880 in the USA) was both blind and deaf almost from birth. Her inspiring and moving short autobiography ‘The Story of My Life’ was published in 1903. Molly Burke (born 1994 in Canada) lost most of her sight at the age of 14. She is a YouTube personality and speaks powerfully about her experiences in the audiobook ‘It’s Not What It Looks Like’ (published 2019).
SAMPLE
8.2 Exploring the ways in which characters are presented
From ‘A Stranger from Lagos’ by Cyprian Ekwensi
Born in Nigeria, Cyprian Ekwensi (1921–2007) wrote novels and short stories about his country and its people. The following extract from his short story ‘A Stranger from Lagos’ (1966) is set in Onitsha, a city and river port in south-eastern Nigeria. The extract provides a compelling and powerful portrait of life as experienced by the main character Lilian and captures her paranoia about being watched – and judged. This extract portrays a woman at odds with the community in which she lives; it is taken from the beginning of the story, and the reader is thrown into the middle of the action.
She saw the way he looked at her when she was dancing and knew. Only a stranger would look like that at the Umu-ogbo dance, and only a man who had fallen would linger on her movements that way. Yet it embarrassed her when, sitting with the elderly women in the bright hot afternoon, she looked up from her sewing and saw him, asking questions. Though she knew he had seen her, he did not once look in her direction. He looked so transparently silly and pitiable. 5
KEY TERM
short story: a type of story that is shorter than a novel. It generally concentrates on a single event and has a small number of main characters.
A street scene in the town of Onitsha, the setting for ‘A Stranger from Lagos’
A Stranger from Lagos
She wondered what to do. Should she go to his help there – while her mother and her fiance’s mother were present? He seemed to be holding his own, telling fables, something about having missed his way, having recently crossed the Niger1 . . . She would go to his aid. Suddenly she caught the hard look on his unsmiling face, a look full of the agony of desire.
Her legs felt too heavy to stir. Too many eyes. In Onitsha2 Town there were eyes on the walls. In the compound, eyes. In the streets, eyes. Such a small town, and so small-town-minded. You went down Market Street, new or old, and came back into Market Street, new or old, through a number of parallel feeder streets. Of course, Lilian had lived here since she was born and she knew her way to her lover’s house without being seen even by day, and with her mother happily thinking she had gone to market. But once they saw her, once they saw a girl they knew and respected speaking with a glamorous-looking stranger like this one, or in a hotel, or standing in the streets and talking to a man in broad daylight, or daring to hold hands or to linger too long with a handshake, the eyes would roll and the tongues would wag and the girl’s best course of action would be to leave the town or immediately be branded3
By the time Lilian looked up from her machine, he was gone. Her mother was coming back to the veranda.
‘What did he say he wanted?’
‘Do I know?’ Her mother shrugged and made a face. ‘These young men from Lagos4, who understands the language they speak?’
Lilian knew he had come for her but his courage had failed him. ‘Did he say his name, or where he lives?’
‘He called a name. He is not of a family I know.’
Unlike her mother, Lilian cared little for ‘families she knew’. She judged young men by what her instincts told her, and this time they told her she had made a conquest, full of strange enchantment. She put the scissors through the wax print and shaped it into a skirt that ended well above her knees. Her mother’s eyes followed her with resentment. She called such tight clothes ‘mad people’s clothes’.
On her way down Market Street, Lilian wiggled in the new dress. Her hair had been newly done, and the loop earrings were large enough to play hula-hoop. Someone stopped just behind her. She looked round. Eyes. From the windows of the hotels, bookshops, sign painters, mechanics’ workshops, eyes focused enquiringly on her and the stranger with such intentness that she felt like something projected on a 3-D screen for all Onitsha to view. This was sensation.
He was tall and good-looking and did not show any embarrassment at being made the spectacle of Market Street. Of course, he did not know the town. He would scandalize her, and leave her to it. That was the way of strangers. They left you to the gossips.
GLOSSARY
1Niger: the principal river of western Africa
2Onitsha: a city and river port on the eastern part of the Niger in southeastern Nigeria
3branded: given a bad reputation
4Lagos: a densely populated port city in Nigeria
‘I saw you in the compound – is that where you live?’
‘Yes. Please, I am in a hurry. Who are you?’
‘A stranger from Lagos. If you had time, I would tell you about my mission.’
‘Now?’ She wrinkled her nose.
‘I only stopped because I saw you. It is some days now since I came to your compound. I have wanted to see you.’
‘ What for?’ she asked unnecessarily. He did not answer.
‘You’re from Lagos?’ Lilian said.
‘Yes.’
The eyes from the hotels, bookshops, mechanical workshops, danced. A woman passer-by stopped and greeted Lilian by name. Lilian seemed to remember the face, and yet she could not place it. Her mind was focused on the stranger. ‘How is your baby?’ asked the passer-by.
‘How is your mother?’ Lilian mumbled something . . .
‘You’re from Lagos,’ Lilian said. ‘Here in Onitsha we do not stop and talk in the streets.’
1 Read the extract carefully, paying close attention to the way the narrative develops. Rearrange the following events in the order they occur in the extract. This activity will help you to consider the way in which the writer organises the plot, which will be useful for Activity 2.
a Lilian walks along Market Street.
b Lilian works at her machine.
c Lilian puts on her new dress and large earrings.
d The stranger meets Lilian at the dance.
e The stranger asks Lilian whether she lives in the compound.
2 Look at the first two sentences of the extract. What do they suggest about how the plot may develop? Write your answer in a short paragraph.
3 Look at lines 1–14. On a copy of the extract, highlight words and phrases that tell us about Lilian’s thoughts and feelings. Then annotate the highlighted phrases to show how the details build up an impression of Lilian’s character.
For example: ‘He looked so transparently silly and pitiable.’ – this shows her views about the stranger who pretended that he had not seen her.
For Activities 4–6, work in pairs.
4 In pairs, look at lines 15–29. Discuss how the following quotations help to create a picture of Onitsha and the people who live there. Comment on the effects created by the writer’s use of language.
a ‘In Onitsha Town there were eyes on the walls.’
b ‘Such a small town, and so small-town-minded.’
c ‘. . . talking to a man in broad daylight . . .’
d ‘. . . the eyes would roll and the tongues would wag and the girl’s best course of action would be to leave the town or immediately be branded.’
5 Look at lines 15– 47. How do Lilian’s values differ from:
a the values of her mother
b the values of the townsfolk?
Highlight on your copy of the extract the brief quotations you would use to answer this question. Then, with your partner, write two paragraphs in which you comment on the effects created by the key words in your quotations.
6 Read again lines 47–52. Look at the length of each of the five sentences.
Someone stopped just behind her. She looked round. Eyes. From the windows of the hotels, bookshops, sign painters, mechanics’ workshops, eyes focused enquiringly on her and the stranger with such intentness that she felt like something projected on a 3-D screen for all Onitsha to view. This was sensation.
a Discuss how the length of each of these sentences contributes to the impact of the story. Consider each sentence in turn.
b Now combine the first three sentences into one longer one and compare it with the original. Which version has the greater impact for you and why?
8.3 Exploring the portrayal
of a relationship
From ‘A Suitable Boy’ by Vikram Seth
The final extract in this unit comes from ‘A Suitable Boy’ (1993), a novel by the Indian writer Vikram Seth (born 1952).
As you read the extract, you will see a powerful portrayal of a mother and her daughter, and the relationship between them. These two characters might share the traits of people you know in real life. A prose fiction writer such as Seth will exploit such common traits to bring his characters memorably to life.
The extract is from the beginning of the novel and begins with the mother addressing the daughter in words intended to show her authority:
TIP
Lilian’s values contrast with those of her mother and of the other townsfolk of Onitsha. Stories often revolve around contrasts between characters or between a character and the community they belong to. Such contrasts or differences can often be useful starting points for the close study of prose (and drama) texts.
‘You too will marry a boy I choose,’ said Mrs Rupa Mehra firmly to her younger daughter.
Tanya Maniktala plays the character Lata Mehra in the 2020 BBC adaptation of the novel ‘A Suitable Boy’
Here, there are two ways in which this single sentence depicts the mother’s determined character:
• the tone of voice in which she says the words in direct speech: ‘You too will marry a boy I choose’
• the use of the adverb ‘firmly’ to convey the way she speaks to her daughter.
As you read the extract, you will see conflict in the way the two characters view marriage.
A Suitable Boy
‘You too will marry a boy I choose,’ said Mrs Rupa Mehra firmly to her younger daughter.
Lata avoided the maternal imperative by looking around the great lamp-lit garden of Prem Nivas. The wedding-guests were gathered on the lawn. ‘Hmm,’ she said. This annoyed her mother further.
‘I know what your hmms mean, young lady, and I can tell you I will not stand for hmms in this matter. I do know what is best. I am doing it all for you. Do you think it is easy for me, trying to arrange things for all four of my children without His help?’ Her nose began to redden at the thought of her husband, who would, she felt certain, be partaking of their present joy from somewhere benevolently above. Mrs Rupa Mehra believed, of course, in reincarnation1, but at moments of exceptional sentiment, she imagined that the late Raghubir Mehra still inhabited the form in which she had known him when he was alive: the robust, cheerful form of his early forties before overwork had brought about his heart attack at the height of the Second World War. Eight years ago, eight years, thought Mrs Rupa Mehra miserably.
‘Now, now, Ma, you can’t cry on Savita’s wedding day,’ said Lata, putting her arm gently but not very concernedly around her mother’s shoulder.
‘If He had been here, I could have worn the tissue-patola sari2 I wore for my own wedding,’ sighed Mrs Rupa Mehra. ‘But it is too rich for a widow to wear.’
‘Ma!’ said Lata, a little exasperated at the emotional capital3 her mother insisted on making out of every possible circumstance. ‘People are looking at you. They want to congratulate you, and they’ll think it very odd if they see you crying in this way.’
Several guests were indeed doing namasté4 to Mrs Rupa Mehra and smiling at her; the cream of Brahmpur society, she was pleased to note.
‘Let them see me!’ said Mrs Rupa Mehra defiantly, dabbing at her eyes hastily with a handkerchief perfumed with 4711 eau-de-Cologne. ‘They will only think it is because of my happiness at Savita’s wedding. Everything I do is for you, and no one appreciates me. I have chosen such a good boy for Savita, and all everyone does is complain.’
KEY TERM
direct speech: the words spoken by the characters. It is usually indicated by the presence of inverted commas, or speech marks, around the words the characters speak.
GLOSSARY
1reincarnation: being born again in another body or form
2sari: garment of long cloth wrapped round the waist and passed over the shoulder and head
3capital: advantage
4doing namaste: greeting with respect
Lata reflected that of the four brothers and sisters, the only one who hadn’t complained of the match had been the sweet-tempered, fair-complexioned, beautiful Savita herself.
‘He is a little thin, Ma,’ said Lata a bit thoughtlessly. This was putting it mildly. Pran Kapoor, soon to be her brother-in-law, was lank, dark, gangly, and asthmatic.
‘Thin? What is thin? Everyone is trying to become thin these days. Even I have had to fast the whole day and it is not good for my diabetes. And if Savita is not complaining, everyone should be happy with him. Arun and Varun are always complaining: why didn’t they choose a boy for their sister then? Pran is a good, decent, cultured khatri5 boy.’
There was no denying that Pran, at thirty, was a good boy, a decent boy, and belonged to the right caste6. And, indeed, Lata did like Pran. Oddly enough, she knew him better than her sister did – or, at least, had seen him for longer than her sister had. Lata was studying English at Brahmpur University, and Pran Kapoor was a popular lecturer there. Lata had attended his class on the Elizabethans, while Savita, the bride, had met him for only an hour, and that too in her mother’s company.
‘And Savita will fatten him up,’ added Mrs Rupa Mehra. ‘Why are you trying to annoy me when I am so happy? And Pran and Savita will be happy, you will see. They will be happy,’ she continued emphatically.
‘Thank you, thank you,’ she now beamed at those who were coming up to greet her. ‘It is so wonderful – the boy of my dreams, and such a good family. The Minister Sahib has been very kind to us. And Savita is so happy. Please eat something, please eat: they have made such delicious gulabjamuns7, but owing to my diabetes I cannot eat them even after the ceremonies. I am not even allowed gajak8, which is so difficult to resist in winter. But please eat, please eat.
I must go in to check what is happening: the time that the pandits9 have given is coming up, and there is no sign of either bride or groom!’ She looked at Lata, frowning. Her younger daughter was going to prove more difficult than her elder, she decided.
‘Don’t forget what I told you,’ she said in an admonitory10 voice.
1 Look at lines 1–2. How effective do you find this sentence as an opening to the novel? How does it grab your attention?
Write your answer in no more than two sentences, giving a reason for your view.
2 Some of the language used is quite formal.
GLOSSARY
5khatri: Punjabi, from a north Indian community
6caste: social class
7gulabjamuns: a popular Indian dessert
8gaj’ak: a dry sweet made from sesame seeds
9pandits: scholars skilled in Hindu religion
10admonitory: warning
SAMPLE
a Look at the following phrases and, in your own words, write down the meanings of the phrases as they are used in the extract. Use a dictionary if you need to.
• Line 2: ‘avoided the maternal imperative’ (referring to Lata)
• Line 10: ‘at moments of exceptional sentiment’ (referring to the mother)
• Line 12: ‘robust, cheerful form’ (referring to the deceased father)
b What do you think is the effect of using formal language?
orking towards endorsement of this title for the Cambridge Pathway.
3 Working in pairs, look at lines 1–28.
Discuss your first impressions of the mother, Mrs Rupa Mehra. Record your ideas in a mind map. You should include:
• your views
• brief quotations that support your views.
‘said Mrs Rupa Mehra firmly’ – shows she’s not to be messed with
Impressions
of the mother
4
With your partner, work your way through the extract, exploring how the novelist portrays Lata. Use a Quotation and comment table like Table 8.2 to record your answers. Refer closely to the writer’s use of language.
You should consider:
• what the character Lata says in direct speech
• other information the narrator gives about Lata.
Quotation
‘putting her arm gently, but not very concernedly around her mother’s shoulder’
Comment
This action gives a false idea to anyone looking that Lata is genuinely comforting her mother. The words ‘not very concernedly’ show the truth about Lata’s attitude towards her mother.
5 In small groups, use your answers to the previous activities to discuss the following practice question:
How does Seth amusingly portray the relationship between Lata and her mother?
You might consider:
SAMPLE
• the way Lata behaves with her mother
• the way the mother speaks to her daughter
• their different attitudes towards marriage.
Table 8.2: Quotation and comment table for ‘A Suitable Boy’
SAMPLE ANSWER
Look at the following example responses (a, b and c) to the way Lata behaves with her mother. Match the response to the teacher comments (1, 2 and 3) which follow.
SAMPLE
Responses:
a Lata really annoys her mother by not agreeing with her views on marriage. I think that the daughter ought to show more respect to her mother.
b When Mrs Mehra says, ‘You will marry a boy I choose’, Lata replies with ‘Hmm.’ This is funny and shows us a lot about the relationship between the mother and daughter.
c The writer portrays Mrs Mehra as very alert to the daughter’s brief response of ‘Hmm’. This utterance is a noise rather than an actual word and is very dismissive of her mother’s concerns. It has the effect of antagonising her mother, who pointedly addresses her daughter as ‘young lady’.
Teacher comments:
1 This is a mixture of quotations and opinions. However, the points could be developed further and linked to the quotations used.
2 The first part of this response shows a basic understanding of character, but then goes on to express a general view that is not relevant to the question. There is no support from the text.
3 This response makes valid comments about the way Lata behaves with her mother, with appropriate support from the text and some response to the use of language.
SET TEXT ACTIVITY 2
The extract from the opening of the novel ‘A Suitable Boy’ contains lots of direct speech. Select an extract (of about a page long) from your set prose text where there is also direct speech.
a In small groups, work together to produce a script for a radio play, covering the extract you choose. This will help you to look closely at ways in which the writer of your set prose text uses language and structure. Your focus should be on emphasising the words spoken and the tone of voice suitable for the different characters.
b Next, practise reading the lines of your script exactly as you think the characters would say them.
c Finally, record the speech; the recording can be used later when you are revising this set text.
REFLECTION
What benefits there are to acting out key moments from a novel? Does it help you to consider closely the language the writer gives to a particular character? Does it help you to consider the writer’s choices about structure and the way they organise the details? Are there any other extracts you could act out in texts you are studying?
CHECK YOUR PROGRESS
As you study characters in prose fiction, consider the following questions. Your answers to these questions will help you to acquire detailed knowledge of the characters you study. The questions encourage you to appreciate the various ways in which prose writers present characters.
SAMPLE
Five main aspects of a character
• What does a particular character look like?
• What does the character do?
• What does the character say and think?
• What do other characters say and think about the character?
• How does the character develop as the text progresses?
Features of characterisation to explore
• What does the character add to the plot?
• How big a role does the character play in the novel or short story?
• How does the writer describe the character’s appearance?
• How does the writer describe the character’s personal qualities?
• Are there deliberate contrasts or conflicts with other characters?
• Is the character at odds with the society in which they live?
• In what ways does the writer convey a distinctive voice for the character?
Active learning strategies
Try one or more of the following strategies to improve your appreciation of characters and the ways in which they are presented in stories:
• highlight and annotate key words
• list your impressions of characters
• use ‘Quotation + Comment’ tables
• write summaries
• draw mind maps
• record key lines spoken by different characters.
SET TEXT ACTIVITY 3
For the prose text you are studying, you could use examples of the active learning strategies for major characters. To get you started:
a Choose one character from your set prose text and draw a mind map that shows their interactions with other characters in the text.
b Choose another character and use a Quotation and comment table to list and comment on key quotations for the character.
SELF-ASSESSMENT
Reflect on the skills below and indicate your confidence level between 1 and 5 (with 1 meaning ‘not at all confident’ and 5 meaning ‘very confident’). If needed, revisit the section listed in the ‘Look again’ column. Come back to this list later in your course. Do you feel your confidence has grown?
Now I can …
study what characters say and do – and what other characters say about them
SAMPLE
Confidence level Look again
8.1, 8.2, 8.3 explore how writers present their characters using direct speech and description recognise the difference between ‘character’ and ‘characterisation’.