To be provided by the candidate Standard items: pens, pencils, eraser, correction fluid/tape, ruler, highlighters Special items:

Transcription

1 Western Australian Certificate of Education Examination, 2011 Question Paper LITERATURE Stage 2 Time allowed for this paper Reading time before commencing work: Working time for paper: ten minutes three hours Materials required/recommended for this paper To be provided by the supervisor Question Paper Standard Answer Book To be provided by the candidate Standard items: pens, pencils, eraser, correction fluid/tape, ruler, highlighters Special items: nil Important note to candidates No other items may be taken into the examination room. It is your responsibility to ensure that you do not have any unauthorised notes or other items of a non-personal nature in the examination room. If you have any unauthorised material with you, hand it to the supervisor before reading any further. Copyright Curriculum Council 2011 Ref:

2 LITERATURE 2 STAGE 2 Structure of this paper Section Number of questions available Number of questions to be answered Suggested working time (minutes) Marks available Percentage of exam Section One: Response Close reading Section Two: Extended response Total 100 Instructions to candidates 1. The rules for the conduct of Western Australian external examinations are detailed in the Year 12 Information Handbook Sitting this examination implies that you agree to abide by these rules. 2. Write your answers to each section in the Standard Answer Booklet. 3. This examination requires you to refer to literary texts you have studied this year. The text(s) discussed in Section Two as the primary reference(s) must be taken from the text list in the Literature syllabus. 4. This examination requires you to respond to three questions. Each response must make primary reference to a different genre (prose, poetry or drama). In Section One, if you make reference to: (i) (ii) (iii) Text A (poetry), then in Section Two you must respond to two questions, one response making primary reference to prose and the other to drama. Text B (prose), then in Section Two you must respond to two questions, one response making primary reference to poetry and the other to drama. Text C (drama), then in Section Two you must respond to two questions, one response making primary reference to poetry and the other to prose. 5. If a candidate s examination makes primary reference to the same genre twice, then 15 per cent will be deducted from the candidate s total raw examination mark for Literature. 6. For each response that you write in Section Two, indicate the question number and the genre (poetry, prose or drama) that you are using as your primary reference. 7. You must be careful to confine your response to the specific questions asked and to follow any instructions that are specific to a particular question. See next page

3 STAGE 2 3 LITERATURE Section One: Response Close reading 30% (30 Marks) This section has one (1) question. You must answer this question. Suggested working time: 60 minutes. Question 1 (30 marks) Present a reading of one (1) of the following texts, Text A, Text B or Text C. In your reading you should consider how some of the techniques work to produce meaning. Text A Rain after Drought is a poem by Mary Morison Webster ( ) and is taken from the collection A Century of South African Poetry, published in Webster was a Scottish-born novelist and poet who went to South Africa with her family in the 1920s and lived and worked there till her death in Rain after Drought While talk circled about the room, circled heedlessly, from each to each, A word there, and laughter, chairs moving, and then words again, Above the casual interchange and interflow of speech, I heard the rain. I heard the rain beginning slowly to fall, Quiet, heavy drops, one after the other, upon my thirsty tree, And someone turned to the window and spoke: It s raining after all! They went on talking, but for me, for me, For copyright reasons this text cannot be reproduced in the online version of this document. The rain was like a secret; I did mark Its measured progress, talked, observed, but heard the rain, Laughed too, but all my senses roved the dark, Beyond the room and the voices, beyond the dividing pane. To those others, it was only raining; it was my secret; sad and brave Travelled my thought two ways, and on separate errands, while it did fall; I heard it patter quietly on the unquiet grass of a new grave; I listened while, with patient assault, it fell on the roof of him I love, who never loved me at all. See next page

4 LITERATURE 4 STAGE 2 Text B The passage is taken from the novel One Day by David Nicholls, first published in 2009 in the United Kingdom. Chapter One The Future Friday, 15 July 1988 Rankeillor Street, Edinburgh 1 I suppose the important thing is to make some sort of difference, she said. You know, actually change something. What, like change the world, you mean? Not the whole entire world. Just the little bit around you. They lay in silence for a moment, bodies curled around each other in the single bed, then both began to laugh in low, predawn voices. Can t believe I just said that, she groaned. Sounds a bit corny, doesn t it? A bit corny. I m trying to be inspiring! I m trying to lift your grubby soul for the great adventure that lies ahead of you. She turned to face him. Not that you need it. I expect you ve got your future nicely mapped out, ta very much. Probably got a little flow-chart somewhere or something. Hardly. So what re you going to do then? What s the great plan? Well, my parents are going to pick up my stuff, dump it at theirs, then I ll spend a couple of days in their flat in London, see some friends. Then France Very nice Then China maybe, see what that s all about, then maybe onto India, travel around there for a bit Travelling, she sighed. So predictable. What s wrong with travelling? Avoiding reality more like. For copyright reasons this text cannot be reproduced in the online version of this document but may be viewed at I think reality is over-rated, he said in the hope that this might come across as dark and charismatic. She sniffed. S alright, I suppose, for those who can afford it. Why not just say I m going on holiday for two years? It s the same thing. 1 Edinburgh is in Scotland. See next page

5 STAGE 2 5 LITERATURE Because travel broadens the mind, he said, rising onto one elbow and kissing her. Oh I think you re probably a bit too broad-minded as it is, she said, turning her face away, for the moment at least. They settled again on the pillow. Anyway, I didn t mean what are you doing next month, I meant the future-future, when you re, I don t know She paused, as if conjuring up some fantastical idea, like a fifth dimension. Forty or something. What do you want to be when you re forty? Forty? He too seemed to be struggling with the concept. Don t know. Am I allowed to say rich? Just so, so shallow. All right then, famous. He began to nuzzle at her neck. Bit morbid, this, isn t it? It s not morbid, it s exciting. Exciting! He was imitating her voice now, her soft Yorkshire 2 accent, trying to make her sound daft. She got this a lot, posh boys doing funny voices, as if there was something unusual and quaint about an accent, and not for the first time she felt a reassuring shiver of dislike for him. She shrugged herself away until her back was pressed against the cool of the wall. Yes, exciting. We re meant to be excited, aren t we? All those possibilities. It s like the Vice- Chancellor 3 said, the doors of opportunity flung wide Yours are the names in tomorrow s newspapers Not very likely. So, what, are you excited then? Me? God no, I m crapping myself. Me too For copyright reasons this text cannot be reproduced in the online version of this document but may be viewed at 2 Yorkshire is in England. 3 AVice-Chancellor is the chief executive of a university, akin to the Principal of a school. See next page

6 LITERATURE 6 STAGE 2 Text C This extract is from the opening scene of Australian playwright Daniel Keene s play The Serpent s Teeth. The play wasfirst performed in 1995and most recently in Sydney in This section of the play is set at the dividing wall of an unspecified war-torn country. Noon. Pale earth and stone. Rubble. A high concrete wall. A dusty path at the base of the wall. Vast, clear sky. Stillness. Silence. An old man (RASID) enters. He pushes a wheelbarrow. Standing in the wheelbarrow, its roots wrapped in damp hessian, a young olive tree. A young boy of about ten (TARIQ) walks beside RASID. RASID stops and lowers the wheelbarrow about halfway across the stage. RASID: We ll stop. We have time. Is there any water left? TARIQ takes a large plastic bottle of water from the wheelbarrow and hands it to RASID, who drinks. TARIQ watches him. RASID steps from between the shafts of the wheelbarrow and sits on a rock by the side of the path. He hands the bottle to TARIQ. You should drink as well. Just a little. We have a long way to go. There ll be plenty of water at the grove. And something to eat, I m sure. They ll know how far we ve come. TARIQ only takes a sip from the bottle. He puts it back in the wheelbarrow. I ll rest a while. We don t have to rush. We have to get back by nightfall. But there s time for a little rest. TARIQ stands between the shafts and tries to lift the wheelbarrow. No it s too heavy for you be careful TARIQ struggles to keep the wheelbarrow balanced; it s on the point of tipping over. RASID quickly gets to his feet and rights the wheelbarrow. Put it down! It s too heavy for you! TARIQ drops the wheelbarrow and quickly steps away from it. The tree weighs twice as much as you the earth around the roots is damp that s what makes it so heavy. TARIQ stands staring at his feet. RASID approaches him and puts his arm around his shoulder. It s all right, Tariq, the tree isn t hurt. See next page

7 STAGE 2 7 LITERATURE TARIQ doesn t move or respond. It s a fine tree, isn t it? I made sure to choose a very good one. Next year it will bear fruit. Maybe not much. But in a few years well, if it s cared for properly imagine the new olives hanging among the leaves. TARIQ glances briefly at the tree. Don t worry, Tariq, one day you ll be strong enough to lift a tree like this when I m too weak to lift one. But we have to get some meat on your bones! Look how skinny you are! You re like a blade of tall grass. He pats TARIQ s cheek. Get me some more water. I ve got such a thirst today TARIQ fetches the water and gives it to RASID, who sits down again. TARIQ sits beside him. RASID drinks, then hands the bottle to TARIQ. Maybe we should have started out earlier. I didn t wake up until the sun was high. If we d left while it was still dark we d be almost there now. I sleep too much these days. I fall asleep in the middle of the afternoon. Why do I need so much sleep? I hardly work any more. Your father and mother do almost everything. I ve been put out to pasture! Your mother was so against this whole expedition. But Tariq will come with me, I told her. I ll have my best helper. Drink, Tariq, drink a little more. Your mother s a good woman, only she worries too much. But who can blame her? The way things are these days what is there to do but worry? Put a little water on your face, Tariq, make a little cup with your hand. It s all right, we have enough. TARIQ splashes his face with a little water. One day we ll go to the sea. I ll teach you how to swim. TARIQ points at the wall. Yes, I know. The sea is on the other side. We ll have to find another sea or go the long way around that thing. TARIQ points off into the distance. Yes, I know. It s very long. But it must end somewhere. TARIQ hands the bottle back to RASID, who also splashes his face. That s good, that s very good. When I was your age my family lived not far from the sea. I d swim almost every day. I d run away from school to go swimming. I was no good at school, it made me miserable, but in the sea I felt so happy. Once, Tariq, once there were no happier times. There was no need to look back, to remember. The happy time was the one you were living in. No time before had been better and the future well, who thought about the future? Now everyone looks into their past to find their happiness and no-one dares to imagine the future but once, it s true, there were no happier times. RASID takes a small drink from the bottle and hands it back to TARIQ. Let s get moving, before I talk any more. Sleep and talk, that s all I m good for. TARIQ puts the bottle in the wheelbarrow. RASID stands between the shafts and lifts. End of Section One See next page

8 LITERATURE 8 STAGE 2 Section Two: Extended response 70% (70 Marks) This section has six (6) questions. You are required to respond to two (2) questions. Each response must make primary reference to a different genre from that used in Section One. If you make reference in Section One to: (i) (ii) (iii) Text A (poetry), then in this section, one response must make primary reference to prose and one response must make primary reference to drama. Text B (prose), then in this section, one response must make primary reference to poetry and one response must make primary reference to drama. Text C (drama), then in this section, one response must make primary reference to prose and one response must make primary reference to poetry. The text(s) discussed as the primary reference(s) must be from the text list in the syllabus. For each response, indicate the question number and the genre (poetry, prose or drama) that you are using as your primary reference. Suggested working time: 120 minutes. Question 2 (35 marks) Discuss two ways in which a text you have studied may be interpreted. Question 3 (35 marks) Discuss how at least one character you have studied is constructed to represent an interesting idea. Question 4 (35 marks) Explore the ways that young people and older people are represented in at least one text you have studied. Question 5 (35 marks) Explain how your reading of a text that you have studied has been influenced by your understanding of the title. Question 6 (35 marks) To understand a literary text, a reader/audience should know something about the context in which the text was produced. Discuss this statement with reference to at least one text you have studied. Question 7 (35 marks) If you were to recommend a text that you have studied to a friend, which text would it be and why? End of Questions

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12 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Section One Question 1 Text A Text B Text C Webster, M. M. (1981). Rain after Drought. In Chapman, M. (Ed.). A Century of South African Poetry. Johannesburg, South Africa: Ad Donker, p Extract from: Nicholls, D. (2009). The future. In One Day. Retrieved July, 2010, from Extract from: Keene, D. (1995). In The Serpent s Teeth: Two Plays. Retrieved July, 2011, from /extract. This examination paper apart from any third party copyright material contained in it may be freely copied, or communicated on an intranet, for non-commercial purposes in educational institutions, provided that it is not changed and that the Curriculum Council is acknowledged as the copyright owner. Teachers in schools offering the Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) may change the examination paper, provided that the Curriculum Council s moral rights are not infringed. Copying or communication for any other purpose can be done only within the terms of the Copyright Act or with prior written permission of the Curriculum Council. Copying or communication of any third party copyright material can be done only within the terms of the Copyright Act or with permission of the copyright owners. Published by the Curriculum Council of Western Australia 27 Walters Drive OSBORNE PARK WA 6017