Insert
The source that follows is:
- Source A: 20th-century prose fiction
- The Invisible Man by G. K. Chesterton
An extract from a work first published in 1901.
This extract is from The Invisible Man, as Mrs Hall and her husband witness furniture apparently moving by itself in their guest's room, panic about spirits, summon neighbours for advice, and are confronted by the bandaged stranger, who brusquely slams a door in their faces.
Source A
1 As they came up the cellar steps they both, it was afterwards ascertained, fancied they heard the front door open and shut, but seeing it closed and nothing there, neither said a word to the other about it at the time. Mrs. Hall passed her husband in the passage and ran on first upstairs. Someone sneezed on the staircase. Hall, following six steps behind, thought that he
6 heard her sneeze. She, going on first, was under the impression that Hall was sneezing. She flung open the door and stood regarding the room. “Of all the curious!” she said. She heard a sniff close behind her head as it seemed, and turning, was
11 surprised to see Hall a dozen feet off on the topmost stair. But in another moment he was beside her. She bent forward and put her hand on the pillow and then under the clothes. “Cold,” she said. “He’s been up this hour or more.”
16 As she did so, a most extraordinary thing happened. The bed-clothes gathered themselves together, leapt up suddenly into a sort of peak, and then jumped headlong over the bottom rail. It was exactly as if a hand had clutched them in the centre and flung them aside. Immediately after, the stranger’s hat
21 hopped off the bed-post, described a whirling flight in the air through the better part of a circle, and then dashed straight at Mrs. Hall’s face. Then as swiftly came the sponge from the washstand; and then the chair, flinging the stranger’s coat and trousers carelessly aside, and laughing drily in a voice singularly like the stranger’s, turned itself up with its four legs at Mrs.
26 Hall, seemed to take aim at her for a moment, and charged at her. She screamed and turned, and then the chair legs came gently but firmly against her back and impelled her and Hall out of the room. The door slammed violently and was locked. The chair and bed seemed to be executing a dance of triumph for a moment, and then abruptly everything was still.
31 Mrs. Hall was left almost in a fainting condition in Mr. Hall’s arms on the landing. It was with the greatest difficulty that Mr. Hall and Millie, who had been roused by her scream of alarm, succeeded in getting her downstairs, and applying the restoratives customary in such cases.
36 “’Tas sperits,” said Mrs. Hall. “I know ’tas sperits. I’ve read in papers of en. Tables and chairs leaping and dancing...” “Take a drop more, Janny,” said Hall. “’Twill steady ye.”
41 “Lock him out,” said Mrs. Hall. “Don’t let him come in again. I half guessed—I might ha’ known. With them goggling eyes and bandaged head, and never going to church of a Sunday. And all they bottles—more’n it’s right for any one to have. He’s put the sperits into the furniture.... My good old furniture! ’Twas
46 in that very chair my poor dear mother used to sit when I was a little girl. To think it should rise up against me now!” “Just a drop more, Janny,” said Hall. “Your nerves is all upset.”
51 They sent Millie across the street through the golden five o’clock sunshine to rouse up Mr. Sandy Wadgers, the blacksmith. Mr. Hall’s compliments and the furniture upstairs was behaving most extraordinary. Would Mr. Wadgers come round? He was a knowing man, was Mr. Wadgers, and very resourceful. He took quite a grave view of the case. “Arm darned if thet ent witchcraft,” was the
56 view of Mr. Sandy Wadgers. “You warnt horseshoes for such gentry as he.” He came round greatly concerned. They wanted him to lead the way upstairs to the room, but he didn’t seem to be in any hurry. He preferred to talk in the passage. Over the way Huxter’s apprentice came out and began taking down the
61 shutters of the tobacco window. He was called over to join the discussion. Mr. Huxter naturally followed over in the course of a few minutes. The Anglo-Saxon genius for parliamentary government asserted itself; there was a great deal of talk and no decisive action. “Let’s have the facts first,” insisted Mr. Sandy Wadgers. “Let’s be sure we’d be acting perfectly right in bustin’ that there
66 door open. A door onbust is always open to bustin’, but ye can’t onbust a door once you’ve busted en.” And suddenly and most wonderfully the door of the room upstairs opened of its own accord, and as they looked up in amazement, they saw descending the stairs
71 the muffled figure of the stranger staring more blackly and blankly than ever with those unreasonably large blue glass eyes of his. He came down stiffly and slowly, staring all the time; he walked across the passage staring, then stopped.
76 “Look there!” he said, and their eyes followed the direction of his gloved finger and saw a bottle of sarsaparilla hard by the cellar door. Then he entered the parlour, and suddenly, swiftly, viciously, slammed the door in their faces.
81 Not a word was spoken until the last echoes of the slam had died away. They stared at one another. “Well, if that don’t lick everything!” said Mr. Wadgers, and left the alternative unsaid.
Questions
Instructions
- Answer all questions.
- Use black ink or black ball point pen.
- Fill in the boxes on this page.
- You must answer the questions in the spaces provided.
- Do not write outside the box around each page or on blank pages.
- Do all rough work in this book. Cross through any work you do not want to be marked.
- You must refer to the insert booklet provided.
- You must not use a dictionary.
Information
- The marks for questions are shown in brackets.
- Time allowed: 1 hour 45 minutes
- The maximum mark for this paper is 80.
- There are 40 marks for Section A and 40 marks for Section B.
- You are reminded of the need for good English and clear presentation in your answers.
- You will be assessed on the quality of your reading in Section A.
- You will be assessed on the quality of your writing in Section B.
Advice
- You are advised to spend about 15 minutes reading through the source and all five questions you have to answer.
- You should make sure you leave sufficient time to check your answers.
Section A: Reading
Answer all questions in this section. You are advised to spend about 45 minutes on this section.
Question 1
Read again the first part of the source, from lines 1 to 5.
Answer all parts of this question.
Choose one answer for each question.
1.1 What did Mrs Hall and Hall think the front door did?
- open and shut
- creak and groan
- bang and rattle
[1 mark]
1.2 After passing Hall in the passage, what did Mrs Hall do next?
- Mrs Hall ran on first upstairs
- Mrs Hall turned back to the cellar
- Mrs Hall paused in the passage
[1 mark]
1.3 Which sound occurred on the staircase?
- a sneeze
- a cough
- a whisper
[1 mark]
1.4 How many steps behind was Hall following?
- six steps
- five steps
- seven steps
[1 mark]
Question 2
Look in detail at this extract, from lines 1 to 10 of the source:
1 As they came up the cellar steps they both, it was afterwards ascertained, fancied they heard the front door open and shut, but seeing it closed and nothing there, neither said a word to the other about it at the time. Mrs. Hall passed her husband in the passage and ran on first upstairs. Someone sneezed on the staircase. Hall, following six steps behind, thought that he
6 heard her sneeze. She, going on first, was under the impression that Hall was sneezing. She flung open the door and stood regarding the room. “Of all the curious!” she said. She heard a sniff close behind her head as it seemed, and turning, was
How does the writer use language here to create confusion and unease as Mrs. Hall enters the room? You could include the writer’s choice of:
- words and phrases
- language features and techniques
- sentence forms.
[8 marks]
Question 3
You now need to think about the structure of the source as a whole. This text is from the middle of a story.
How has the writer structured the text to create a sense of disorientation?
You could write about:
- how disorientation intensifies throughout the source
- how the writer uses structure to create an effect
- the writer's use of any other structural features, such as changes in mood, tone or perspective.
[8 marks]
Question 4
For this question focus on the second part of the source, from line 16 to the end.
In this part of the source, where the chair charges at Mrs Hall, the attack seems more comical than genuinely scary. The writer suggests the supernatural events are meant to feel bizarre and chaotic rather than simply terrifying.
To what extent do you agree and/or disagree with this statement?
In your response, you could:
- consider your impressions of the attack on Mrs Hall
- comment on the methods the writer uses to present the supernatural events
- support your response with references to the text.
[20 marks]
Question 5
Before the long coach ride to a coastal field trip, your year group is putting together a booklet of creative pieces to read on the way.
Choose one of the options below for your entry.
-
Option A: Describe a city canal with swans from your imagination. You may choose to use the picture provided for ideas:
-
Option B: Write the opening of a story about a journey that changes everything.
(24 marks for content and organisation, 16 marks for technical accuracy)
[40 marks]