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Language Analysis | Aqa P1 Q2 | Full Mark Response

An exemplar answer to AQA GCSE Language Paper 1, Q2 using a short extract from Markus Zusak`s `The Book Thief`.

Date : 07/11/2021

Author Information

Ria

Uploaded by : Ria
Uploaded on : 07/11/2021
Subject : English

Look in detail at lines 24-36. How does the writer use language to describe the bombs going off? [8 marks]


It probably had more to do with the hurled bombs, thrown down by humans hiding in the clouds.

Yes, the sky was now a devastating, home-cooked red. The small German town had been flung apart one more time. Snowflakes of ash fell so lovelily you were tempted to stretch out your tongue to catch them, taste them. Only, they would have scorched your lips. They would have cooked your mouth.

Clearly, I see it.

I was just about to leave when I found her kneeling there. A mountain range of rubble was written, designed, erected around her. She was clutching at a book.

From The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak.


Full Mark Response:

The writer uses juxtaposition to describe the bombs going off as a signifier of the complex nature of humanity. The use of contrasting nouns in snowflakes of ash fell so lovelily give us an insight into our narrator s psyche. There is a sadistic pleasure in the fact that ash is described as a delicate and beautiful natural phenomenon. Furthermore, it seems that to the Grim Reaper, these devastating man-made events are therefore an innate part of humanity s desire to inflict pain and suffering, as natural as snowfall.

Adding to the sense of blame in this extract, the writer describes the sky as exhibiting a devastating home-cooked red colour. The adjective home-cooked implies that the red representing blood and death was home grown . It insinuates that mankind has self-inflicted this death due to his own political ideologies. More specifically, this phrase applies to the small German town being a victim of its own country s instigation of war and conflict. Furthermore, this domestic language highlights how satisfying it is for the narrator to witness the propagated destruction returning home to its origin country.

As well as this sense of blame implied through the language used, the reader feels more unsettled by the fact that it is mentioned in such an upbeat manner. The alliteration in humans hiding in the clouds gives a nursery rhyme-feel to the bombers. The repetition of the h sound seems to reinforce the excitement of a game of hide-and-seek in disturbing contrast to the terrifying ordeal the townspeople are facing below. The verb hiding could portray the pilots actions as juvenile and misguided, perhaps not realising the full extent of what they have signed up for. Finally, the noun clouds foreshadows how death is the only finality for these people, but we are left to wonder if the heavenly clouds of an after-life are a satisfactory resolution to this story of bloodshed.

8/8 marks

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