WSS Lit P1

Name Index Number Class O LEVEL PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION 2020 LEVEL & STREAM : SECONDARY FOUR EXPRESS SUBJECT (CODE) : LITERATURE ELECTIVE (2274) PAPER NO : 2 DATE (DAY) : 14 SEPTEMBER 2020 (MONDAY) DURATION : 1 HOUR 40 MINUTES READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST Answer one question on the text you have studied from Section A. Answer one question from Section B. Begin your answer to Section B on a new sheet of writing paper. At the end of the examination, tie the Question Paper to the back of your answers to Section A. Submit your answers to Section B separately. You are reminded of the need for good English and clear presentation in your answers. All questions in this paper carry equal marks. DO NOT TURN OVER THE PAGE UNTIL YOU ARE TOLD TO DO SO. For Examiner’s Use Section A /25 Student’s Signature Parent’s Signature Section B /25 Date Date Total /50 This document consists of 5 printed pages including this cover page. Setter : Mr Christon Cher

2 Section A Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451 Remember to support your ideas with relevant details from the text. Question 1 Either a. Explore how water and fire are important features of the novel. OR b. In what ways does Bradbury make Faber a significant character in the novel? OR c. Read this passage carefully, and then answer the questions that follow it: Montag reached inside the parlour wall and pulled the main switch. The images drained away, as if the water had been let from a gigantic bowl of hysterical fish. The three women turned slowly and looked with unconcealed irritation and then dislike at Montag. “When do you suppose the war will start?” he said. “I notice your husbands aren’t here tonight.” “Oh, they come and go, come and go,” said Mrs Phelps. “In again out again Finnegan, the Army called Pete yesterday. He’ll be back next week. The Army said so. Quick War. Forty -eight hours they said, and everyone home. That’s what the Army said. Quick war. Pete was called yesterday and they said he’d be back next week. Quick….” The three women fidgeted and looked nervously at the empty mud -colored walls. “I’m not worried,” said Mrs Phelps. “I’ll let Pete do all the worrying.” She giggled. “I’ll let old Pete do all the worrying. Not me. I’m not worried.” “It’s always someone else’s husband dies, they say.” “I’ve heard that, too . I’ve never known any dead ma n killed in a war. Killed jumping off buildings, yes, like Gloria’s husband last week, but from wars? No.” 5 10 15

3 “Not from wars,” said Mrs Phelps. “Anyway, Pete and I always said, no tears, nothing like that. It’s our third marriage each and we’re independent. Be independent, we always said. He said, if I get killed off, you just go right ahead and don’t cry, but get married again, and don’t think of me.” “That reminds me,” says Mildred. “Did you see that Clara Dove five -minute romance last night on your wall? Well, it was all about this woman who — ” Montag said nothing but stood looking at the women’s faces as he had once looked at the face of saints in a strange church he had entered when he was a child. 20 25 i. What makes this scene impactful to you? ii. Explore how Bradbury makes one other scene in the novel important to y our understanding of the society Montag lives in.

4 Section B Answer Question 2 or 3 Remember to support your ideas with relevant details from the poem. Question 2: Read this poem carefully, and then answer the questions that follow it. Mid-Autumn Mooncakes It’s nearly mid-autumn. I spy the tins at the Asian grocer’s – gaudy red peonies unchanged for forty years. Of course I buy the mooncakes with double yolks1: here in Australia, yolk or no yolk, 5 they cost the same. I should wait for you, wait for the full moon, light some lanterns and try to make out the lunar rabbit, the Chinese fairy, but I don’t. I cut the mooncake into quarters and spoon 10 out the deep orange yolks, leaving half-round cavities in the sweet lotus paste. Eaten on their own, the yolks are creamy, almost too salty. A continent away, I imagine my mother 15 in her kitchen, slicing through shell and briny white, remember my father scraping the duck eggs into rice porridge. They always saved me the yolks. My bowl, a cradle of bright congee full of the gold of the mid-autumn moon. 20 (by Eileen Cheong) i) Referring to Stanzas 1 - 3, what does the poem convey to you about the speaker’s emotions? ii) How does the poet present food in a significant way? 1 Mooncakes with double yolks: In Singapore, these mooncakes tend to be more expensive.

5 OR Question 3: Read this poem carefully, and then answer the questions that follow it. The Asians Dying When the forests have been destroyed their darkness remains The ash the great walker follows the possessors Forever Nothing they will come to is real Nor for long Over the watercourses Like ducks in the time of the ducks The ghosts of the villages trail in the sky Making a new twilight Rain falls into the open eyes of the dead Again again with its pointless sound When the moon finds them they are the color of everything The nights disappear like bruises but nothing is healed The dead go away like bruises The blood vanishes into the poisoned farmlands Pain the horizon Remains Overhead the seasons rock They are paper bells Calling to nothing living The possessors move everywhere under Death their star Like columns of smoke they advance into the shadows Like thin flames with no light They with no past And fire their only future (by W.S. Merwin) 5 10 15 20 25 (i) Referring to Stanzas 1 - 2, what does the speaker convey to you about war and its effects? (ii) Referring to Stanzas 3 - 4, how does the poem reveal the speaker’s feelings about war? End of paper

6 SUGGESTED ANSWERS Section A Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451 Remember to support your ideas with relevant details from the text. Either d. Explore how water and fire are important features of the novel. Water and fire are conflicting elements and reflect conflicting aspects of Montag’s identity. This is first highlighted when Clarisse meets Montag. Clarisse is often represented by water and when she meets Montag, her eyes were described as ‘[suspending in] two shining drops of bright water’ and Montag could see himself in her eyes. This is significant because Montag is represented by fire due to his job, and he takes pride in using fire to destroy books. Yet, when he meets Clarisse, Montag appears to be swallowed by water as he sees himself in her watery eyes. This could be the first time begins to see new aspects of his own identity. This tension is reflected when Montag reacts in a bemused manner when he speaks to Clarisse, who asks him questions that appear to challenge the values that he stands for in the beginning of the novel. For instance, when Clarisse asks Montag if he reads any of the books he burns, Montag replies, “That’s against the law!” In addition, Montag views himself as someone in a position of authority that people should fear yet Clarisse says, “I’m not afraid of you at all.” This statement appears to be in direct defiance of the opening scene of the book that elevates Montag’s power as an ‘amazing conductor’ who direct the flames to burn books. With Montag so strongly identifying himself with fire, Clarisse’s association with water clearly puts her in conflict with him, and raises questions about his own identity. This is encapsulated when Clarisse says that “The rain feels good” a nd Montag’s response is “I do