Official June 2024 AQA A-level ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE 7707/1 Paper 1 Telling Stories Merged Question Paper + Mark Scheme + Insert Ace your Mocks!!! IB/G/Jun24/G4004/E6 7707/1 Friday 24 May 2024 Morning Time allowed: 3 hours Materials For this paper you must have: • an AQA 12-page answer book • the Insert (enclosed) • a copy of the set texts you have studied for Section B and Section C. These texts must not be annotated and must not contain additional notes or materials. Instructions • Use black ink or black ball-point pen. • Write the information required on the front of your answer book. The Paper Reference is 7707/1. • There are three sections: Section A: Remembered Places Section B: Imagined Worlds Section C: Poetic Voices • Answer three questions in total: the question in Section A, one question from Section B and one question from Section C. • Do all rough work in your answer book. Cross through any work you do not want to be marked. Information • The maximum mark for this paper is 100. • The marks for questions are shown in brackets. • There are 40 marks for the question in Section A, 35 marks for the question in Section B and 25 marks for the question in Section C. • You will be marked on your ability to: – use good English – organise information clearly – use specialist vocabulary where appropriate. Advice It is recommended that you spend 70 minutes on Section A, 60 minutes on Section B and 50 minutes on Section C. A-level ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE Paper 1 Telling Stories 2 IB/G/Jun24/7707/1 Read Text A and Text B printed below and on the Insert. Text A is an extract from Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe by Bill Bryson. Text B is an extract from ‘Inside Out and Upside Down’, (extract from NOT-FOR-PARENTS: PARIS – Everything you ever wanted to know) by Klay Lamprell. 0 1 Compare and contrast how the writers of Text A and Text B express their ideas about the Pompidou Centre in Paris. You should refer to both texts in your answer. [40 marks] Text A Bill Bryson is an American author who has written a number of travel memoirs, as well as popular books on science and languages. Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe tells the story of his journey through Europe in 1990. 5 10 15 20 With the Louvre packed I went instead to the new – new to me, at any rate – Musée d’Orsay, on the Left Bank opposite the Tuileries. When I had last passed it, sixteen years before, it had been a derelict hulk, the shell of the old Gare d’Orsay, but some person of vision had decided to restore the old station as a museum and it is simply wonderful, both as a building and as a collection of pictures. I spent two happy hours there, and afterwards checked out the situation at the Louvre – still hopelessly crowded – and instead went to the Pompidou Centre, which I was determined to try to like, but I couldn’t. Everything about it seemed wrong. For one thing it was a bit weathered and faded, like a child’s toy that has been left out over winter, which surprised me because it is only a dozen years old and the government had just spent £40 million refurbishing it, but I guess that’s what you get when you build with plastic. And it seemed much too overbearing a structure for its cramped neighbourhood. It would be an altogether different building in a park. But what I really dislike about buildings like the Pompidou Centre, and Paris is choking on them, is that they are just showing off. Here’s Richard Rogers saying to the world, ‘Look, I put all the pipes on the outside. Am I cute enough to kiss?’ I could excuse that if some consideration were given to function. No one seems to have thought what the Pompidou Centre should do – that it should be a gathering place, a haven, because inside it’s just crowded and confusing. It has none of the sense of space and light and majestic calm of the Musée d’Orsay. It’s like a department store on the first day of a big sale. There’s hardly any place to sit and no focal point – no big clock or anything – at which to meet someone. It has no heart. Section A Remembered Places Answer Question 1 in this section. 3 IB/G/Jun24/7707/1 Turn over ► Text B is printed on the Insert Turn over for Section B 4 IB/G/Jun24/7707/1 Section B Imagined Worlds Answer one question in this section. Frankenstein – Mary Shelley Either 0 2 Read the extract printed below. This is from the section of the novel where Walton writes to his sister about his planned voyage to the North Pole. Explore the significance of characters’ ambitions in the novel. You should consider: • the presentation of characters’ ambitions in the extract below and at different points in the novel • the use of fantasy elements in constructing a fictional world. [35 marks] 5 10 15 Six years have passed since I resolved on my present undertaking. I can, even now, remember the hour from which I dedicated myself to this great enterprise. I commenced by inuring my body to hardship. I accompanied the whale-fishers on several expeditions to the North Sea; I voluntarily endured cold, famine, thirst, and want of sleep; I often worked harder than the common sailors during the day, and devoted my nights to the study of mathematics, the theory of medicine, and those branches of physical science from which a naval adventurer might derive the greatest practical advantage. Twice I actually hired myself as an under-mate in a Greenland whaler, and acquitted myself to admiration. I must own I felt a little proud, when my captain offered me the second dignity in the vessel, and entreated me to remain with the greatest earnestness; so valuable did he consider my services. And now, dear Margaret, do I not deserve to accomplish some great purpose. My life might have been passed in ease and luxury; but I preferred glory to every enticement that wealth placed in my path. Oh, that some encouraging voice would answer in the affirmative! My courage and my resolution is firm; but my hopes fluctuate, and my spirits are often depressed. I am about to proceed on a long and difficult voyage; the emergencies of which will demand all my fortitude: I am required not only to raise the spirits of others, but sometimes to sustain my own, when theirs are failing. 5 IB/G/Jun24/7707/1 Turn over ► or 0 3 Read the extract printed below. This is from the section of the novel where Victor Frankenstein learns of William’s death. Explore the significance of the character of Henry Clerval in the novel. You should consider: • the presentation of the character of Henry Clerval in the extract below and at different points in the novel • the use of fantasy elements in constructing a fictional world. [35 marks] 5 10 15 20 Clerval, who had watched my countenance as I read this letter, was surprised to observe the despair that succeeded to the joy I at first expressed on receiving news from my friends. I threw the letter on the table, and covered my face with my hands. ‘My dear Frankenstein,’ exclaimed Henry, when he perceived me weep with bitterness, ‘are you always to be unhappy? My dear friend, what has happened?’ I motioned to him to take up the letter, while I walked up and down the room in the extremest agitation. Tears also gushed from the eyes of Clerval, as he read the account of my misfortune. ‘I can offer you no consolation, my friend,’ said he; ‘your disaster is irreparable. What do you intend to do?’ ‘To go instantly to Geneva: come with me, Henry, to order the horses.’ During our walk, Clerval endeavoured to raise my spirits. He did not do this by common topics of consolation, but by exhibiting the truest sympathy. ‘Poor William!’ said he, ‘that dear child; he now sleeps with his angel mother. His friends mourn and weep, but he is at rest: he does not now feel the murderer’s grasp; a sod covers his gentle form, and he knows no pain. He can no longer be a fit subject for pity; the survivors are the greatest sufferers, and for them time is the only consolation. Those maxims of the Stoics, that death was no evil, and that the mind of man ought to be superior to despair on the eternal absence of a beloved object, ought not to be urged. Even Cato wept over the dead body of his brother.’ Turn over for the next question 6 IB/G/Jun24/7707/1 Dracula – Bram Stoker Either 0 4 Read the extract printed below. This is from the section of the novel where Lucy Westenra describes to Mina the marriage proposals she has received. Explore the significance of romantic relationships between men and women in the novel. You should consider: • the presentation of romantic relationships between men and women in the extract below and at different points in the novel • the use of fantasy elements in constructing a fictional world. [35 marks] 5 10 15 Letter, Lucy Westenra to Mina Murray 24 May. My dearest Mina, – Thanks, and thanks, and thanks again for your sweet letter! It was so nice to be able to tell you and to have your sympathy. My dear, it never rains but it pours. How true the old proverbs are. Here am I, who shall be twenty in September, and yet I never had a proposal till today, not a real proposal, and today I have had three. Just fancy! Three proposals in one day! Isn’t it awful! I feel sorry, really and truly sorry, for two of the poor fellows. Oh, Mina, I am so happy that I don’t know what to do with myself. And three proposals! But, for goodness’ sake, don’t tell any of the girls, or they would be getting all sorts of extravagant ideas and imagining themselves injured and slighted if in their very first day at home they did not get six at least. Some girls are so vain. You and I, Mina dear, who are engaged and are going to settle down soon soberly into old married women, can despise vanity. Well, I must tell you about the three, but you must keep it a secret, dear, from everyone, except, of course, Jonathan. You will tell him, because I would, if I were in your place, certainly tell Arthur. A woman ought to tell her husband everything – don’t you think so, dear? – and I must be fair. Men like women, certainly their wives, to be quite as fair as they are; and women, I am afraid, are not always quite as fair as they should be. 7 IB/G/Jun24/7707/1 Turn over ► or 0 5 Read the extract printed below. This is from the section of the novel where Dr Seward records Renfield’s night-time behaviour in his diary. Explore the significance of night-time events in the novel. You should consider: • the presentation of night-time events in the extract below and at different points in the novel • the use of fantasy elements in constructing a fictional world. [35 marks] 5 10 Later. – Another night adventure. Renfield artfully waited until the attendant was entering the room to inspect. Then he dashed out past him and flew down the passage. I sent word for the attendants to follow. Again he went into the grounds of the deserted house, and we found him in the same place, pressed against the old chapel door. When he saw me he became furious, and had not the attendants seized him in time, he would have tried to kill me. As we were holding him a strange thing happened. He suddenly redoubled his efforts, and then as suddenly grew calm. I looked round instinctively, but could see nothing. Then I caught the patient’s eye and followed it, but could trace nothing as it looked into the moonlit sky except a big bat, which was flapping its silent and ghostly way to the west. Bats usually wheel and flit about, but this one seemed to go straight on, as if it knew where it was bound for or had some intention of its own. The patient grew calmer every instant, and presently said: – ‘You needn’t tie me; I shall go quietly!’ Without trouble we came back to the house. I feel there is something ominous in his calm, and shall not forget this night … Turn over for the next question 8 IB/G/Jun24/7707/1 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood Either 0 6 Read the extract printed below. This is from the section of the novel where Serena Joy suggests an alternative way for Offred to become pregnant. Explore the significance of characters’ reactions to rule-breaking in the novel. You should consider: • the presentation of characters’ reactions to rule-breaking in the extract below and at different points in the novel • the use of fantasy elements in constructing a fictional world. [35 marks] 5 10 15 20 25 “Another man,” she says. “You know I can’t,” I say, careful not to let my irritation show. “It’s against the law. You know the penalty.” “Yes,” she says. She’s ready for this, she’s thought it through. “I know you can’t officially. But it’s done. Women do it frequently. All the time.” “With doctors, you mean?” I say, remembering the sympathetic brown eyes, the gloveless hand. The last time I went it was a different doctor. Maybe someone caught him out, or a woman reported him. Not that they’d take her word, without evidence. “Some do that,” she says, her tone almost affable now, though distanced; it’s as if we’re considering a choice of nail polish. “That’s how Ofwarren did it. The wife knew, of course.” She pauses to let this sink in. “I would help you. I would make sure nothing went wrong.” I think about this. “Not with a doctor,” I say. “No,” she agrees, and for this moment at least we are cronies, this could be a kitchen table, it could be a date we’re discussing, some girlish stratagem of ploys and flirtation. “Sometimes they blackmail. But it doesn’t have to be a doctor. It could be someone we trust.” “Who?” I say. “I was thinking of Nick,” she says, and her voice is almost soft. “He’s been with us a long time. He’s loyal. I could fix it with him.” So that’s who does her little black-market errands for her. Is this what he always gets, in return? “What about the Commander?” I say. “Well,” she says, with firmness; no, more than that, a clenched look, like a purse snapping shut. “We just won’t tell him, will we?” This idea hangs between us, almost visible, almost palpable: heavy, formless, dark; collusion of a sort, betrayal of a sort. She does want that baby. “It’s a risk,” I say. “More than that.” It’s my life on the line; but that’s where it will be sooner or later, one way or another, whether I do or don’t. We both know this. 9 IB/G/Jun24/7707/1 Turn over ► or 0 7 Read the extract printed below. This is from the section of the novel where Offred reflects on Aunt Lydia’s attitude towards the handmaids. Explore the significance of the character of Aunt Lydia in the novel. You should consider: • the presentation of the character of Aunt Lydia in the extract below and at different points in the novel • the use of fantasy elements in constructing a fictional world. [35 marks] 5 10 15 It’s not the husbands you have to watch out for, said Aunt Lydia, it’s the Wives. You should always try to imagine what they must be feeling. Of course they will resent you. It is only natural. Try to feel for them. Aunt Lydia thought she was very good at feeling for other people. Try to pity them. Forgive them, for they know not what they do. Again the tremulous smile, of a beggar, the weak-eyed blinking, the gaze upwards, through the round steel-rimmed glasses, towards the back of the classroom, as if the green-painted plaster ceiling were opening and God on a cloud of Pink Pearl face powder were coming down through the wires and sprinkler plumbing. You must realize that they are defeated women. They have been unable… Here her voice broke off, and there was a pause, during which I could hear a sigh, a collective sigh from those around me. It was a bad idea to rustle or fidget during these pauses: Aunt Lydia might look abstracted but she was aware of every twitch. So there was only the sigh. The future is in your hands, she resumed. She held her own hands out to us, the ancient gesture that was both an offering and an invitation, to come forward, into an embrace, an acceptance. In your hands, she said, looking down at her own hands as if they had given her the idea. But there was nothing in them. They were empty