Insert
The source that follows is:
- Source A: 20th-century prose fiction
- The Rocking-Horse Winner by D. H. Lawrence
An extract from a work first published in 1926.
This extract is from D. H. Lawrence's short story The Rocking-Horse Winner: on the eve of the Derby, Paul's mother returns from a party, hears a strange noise, and finds her son riding his rocking-horse, crying 'Malabar,' revealing tensions around luck, money, and parental love.
Source A
1 Two nights before the Derby, she was at a big party in town, when one of her rushes of anxiety about her boy, her first-born, gripped her heart till she could hardly speak. She fought with the feeling, might and main, for she believed in common sense. But it was too strong. She had to leave the dance and go downstairs to telephone to the country. The children's nursery-
6 governess was terribly surprised and startled at being rung up in the night. "Are the children all right, Miss Wilmot?" "Oh yes, they are quite all right." "Master Paul? Is he all right?"
11 "He went to bed as right as a trivet. Shall I run up and look at him?" "No," said Paul's mother reluctantly. "No! Don't trouble. It's all right. Don't sit up. We shall be home fairly soon." She did not want her son's privacy intruded upon.
16 "Very good," said the governess. It was about one o'clock when Paul's mother and father drove up to their house. All was still. Paul's mother went to her room and slipped off her white fur cloak. She had told her maid not to wait up
21 for her. She heard her husband downstairs, mixing a whisky and soda. And then, because of the strange anxiety at her heart, she stole upstairs to her son's room. Noiselessly she went along the upper corridor. Was there a faint noise? What was it?
26 She stood, with arrested muscles, outside his door, listening. There was a strange, heavy, and yet not loud noise. Her heart stood still. It was a soundless noise, yet rushing and powerful. Something huge, in violent, hushed motion. What was it? What in God's name was it? She ought to know. She felt that she knew the noise. She knew what it was.
31 Yet she could not place it. She couldn't say what it was. And on and on it went, like a madness. Softly, frozen with anxiety and fear, she turned the door-handle.
36 The room was dark. Yet in the space near the window, she heard and saw something plunging to and fro. She gazed in fear and amazement. Then suddenly she switched on the light, and saw her son, in his green pyjamas, madly surging on the rocking-horse. The blaze of light suddenly lit
41 him up, as he urged the wooden horse, and lit her up, as she stood, blonde, in her dress of pale green and crystal, in the doorway. "Paul!" she cried. "Whatever are you doing?" "It's Malabar!" he screamed in a
46 powerful, strange voice. "It's Malabar!" His eyes blazed at her for one strange and senseless second, as he ceased urging his wooden horse. Then he fell with a crash to the ground, and she, all her tormented motherhood flooding upon her, rushed to gather him up.
51 But he was unconscious, and unconscious he remained, with some brain-fever. He talked and tossed, and his mother sat stonily by his side. "Malabar! It's Malabar! Bassett, Bassett, I know! It's Malabar!"
56 So the child cried, trying to get up and urge the rocking-horse that gave him his inspiration. "What does he mean by Malabar?" asked the heart-frozen mother. "I
61 don't know," said the father stonily. "What does he mean by Malabar?" she asked her brother Oscar. "It's one of the horses running for the Derby," was the answer.
66 And, in spite of himself, Oscar Cresswell spoke to Bassett, and himself put a thousand on Malabar: at fourteen to one. The third day of the illness was critical: they were waiting for a change. The boy, with his rather long, curly hair, was tossing ceaselessly on the pillow.
71 He neither slept nor regained consciousness, and his eyes were like blue stones. His mother sat, feeling her heart had gone, turned actually into a stone. In the evening Oscar Cresswell did not come, but Bassett sent a message,
76 saying could he come up for one moment, just one moment? Paul's mother was very angry at the intrusion, but on second thoughts she agreed. The boy was the same. Perhaps Bassett might bring him to consciousness. The gardener, a shortish fellow with a little brown moustache and sharp little
81 brown eyes, tiptoed into the room, touched his imaginary cap to Paul's mother, and stole to the bedside, staring with glittering, smallish eyes at the tossing, dying child. "Master Paul!" he whispered. "Master Paul! Malabar came in first all right, a
86 clean win. I did as you told me. You've made over seventy thousand pounds, you have; you've got over eighty thousand. Malabar came in all right, Master Paul." "Malabar! Malabar! Did I say Malabar, mother? Did I say Malabar? Do you think I'm lucky, mother? I knew Malabar, didn't I? Over eighty thousand
91 pounds! I call that lucky, don't you, mother? Over eighty thousand pounds! I knew, didn't I know I knew? Malabar came in all right. If I ride my horse till I'm sure, then I tell you, Bassett, you can go as high as you like. Did you go for all you were worth, Bassett?" "I went a thousand on it, Master Paul."
96 "I never told you, mother, that if I can ride my horse, and get there, then I'm absolutely sure - oh, absolutely! Mother, did I ever tell you? I am lucky!" "No, you never did," said his mother. But the boy died in the night.
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 How long before the Derby was this?
- two nights
- two days
- two weeks
[1 mark]
1.2 Where was the mother when a rush of anxiety gripped her heart?
- at a big party in town
- at home in the country
- at a small dinner in town
[1 mark]
1.3 What did the mother fight with?
- the feeling
- the music
- the crowd
[1 mark]
1.4 Where did the mother telephone to?
- to the country
- to the town
- to the hotel
[1 mark]
Question 2
Look in detail at this extract, from lines 1 to 10 of the source:
1 Two nights before the Derby, she was at a big party in town, when one of her rushes of anxiety about her boy, her first-born, gripped her heart till she could hardly speak. She fought with the feeling, might and main, for she believed in common sense. But it was too strong. She had to leave the dance and go downstairs to telephone to the country. The children's nursery-
6 governess was terribly surprised and startled at being rung up in the night. "Are the children all right, Miss Wilmot?" "Oh yes, they are quite all right." "Master Paul? Is he all right?"
How does the writer use language here to present the mother’s worry and the tense, late-night mood? 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 end of a story.
How has the writer structured the text to create a sense of foreboding?
You could write about:
- how foreboding intensifies by the end of 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, when the mother discovers Paul on the rocking-horse, the description makes his actions seem strange and frightening. The writer suggests that the boy's quest for luck has become a dangerous obsession.
To what extent do you agree and/or disagree with this statement?
In your response, you could:
- consider your impressions of Paul's strange and frightening behaviour
- comment on the methods the writer uses to portray Paul's dangerous obsession
- support your response with references to the text.
[20 marks]
Question 5
A transport magazine is asking travellers to send short creative pieces for its next issue.
Choose one of the options below for your entry.
-
Option A: Write a description of a night coach journey from your imagination. You may choose to use the picture provided for ideas:
-
Option B: Write the opening of a story about a trip that goes off course.
(24 marks for content and organisation, 16 marks for technical accuracy)
[40 marks]