MSS Lit P1 ANS

Setter: Mdm Salwati Salim Marsiling Secondary School GCE O-Level Preliminary Examination 2020 Subject: English Literature (2274/02) [Answer Booklet] Level: 4 Course: EXP Date: 26 August 2020 Duration: 1 hr 40mins Name: __________________________ Index No: ______ Class: 4E

2 Question 1 (a) How does Bradbury strongly criticise censorship in the novel? Students should discuss the types of censorship in the novel:  Banning and burning of books Censoring literature is the dystopian state's way of suppressing intellectual thought and discourse, which can present challenges to the regime. The totalitarian government of Bradbury's dystopian society uses the fireman institution to censor litera ture. The firemen search for books and arrest any individuals possessing them. The authorities also burn the confiscated books and often destroy the homes of criminals. The threat of having one's home and library burnt mirrors the use of violent police tactics used in totalitarian states.  Altered and restricted information Another aspect of Bradbury's dystopian society that mimics a totalitarian state concerns the government's use of propaganda. Along with the censorship of literature, the government uses the media to distract citizens from the dire conditions of the state. While the nation is at war and civilians live meaningless lives, the government uses mass media to entertain the population and keep them misinformed. Intellectual pursuits are discouraged throughout the school system, and material consumption is propagated throughout society. Citizens remain docile and passively accept the conditions of the state through constant entertainment and psychologically debilitating drugs. The government's auth ority and ability to turn every television station towards the police chase indicates that the state controls the media, just like in a totalitarian regime. History is also distorted and altered to ensure that the government remains in power. For example, a historical referenced by Beatty in the novel shows that firemen have always burned books and nothing else. Students should then explore how censorship is not beneficial to the society in F451.  The censorship of literature results in a violent and super ficial society which lacks the ability to analyse its dangerous actions (e.g. Mildred’s attempted suicide) , eventually leading to its destruction at the end of the novel. (b) Discuss the role of nature in the novel. Possible discussion points:  Nature as innocence and life (e.g. Clarisse vs Mildred) Clarisse’s affinity with nature sparks Montag’s awakening and change, versus Mildred, whose obsession with technology disconnect her from reality and the world around her.  Nature as an opposing force to the destructiveness of technology (e.g. Mechanical Hound vs the Deer, One-eyed snake blood machine) This animal imagery expresses the importance of nature in life. The lack of nature, or the manipulation of nature (i.e. the development of the Mechanical Hound), causes death and destruction. The only time animal imagery is positive in the entire novel is when Montag gets out of the river and encounters a deer. At first he thinks it is a Hound,

3 but then realizes his mistake. The deer is peaceful, beautiful, and an expression of nature. This image welcomes Montag into his new life.  Nature as healing and a source of comfort (e.g. the river rebirth scene, Part 3 of the novel, after the bomb drops on the city) Montag finds peace when he immerses himself in nature and the country. He finds peace in the woods with other men who value knowledge and reject the over-reliance on technology. People from the city are drawn to nature after the bomb destroys the city, and nature (and the book people) provides them the much needed comfort. (c) (i) How does Bradbury vividly portray fire in this passage? Fire is portrayed as a mysterious, enchanting and powerful force:  ‘Beatty flicked his igniter nearby and the small orange flame drew his fascinated gaze.’  "What is there about fire that's so lovely? No matter what age we are, what draws us to it?"  "It's perpetual motion; the thing man wanted to invent but never did. Or almost perpetual motion. If you let it go on, it'd burn our lifetimes out. What is fire? It's a mystery” Fire as a destructive, yet cleansing force, and a solution / a means to remain in control:  “Its real beauty is that it destroys responsibility and consequences. A problem gets too burdensome, then into the furnace with it. Now, Montag, you're a burden. And fire will lift you off my shoulders, clean, quick, sure; nothing to rot later. Antibiotic, aesthetic, practical."  ‘He burnt the bedroom walls and the cosmetics chest because he wanted to change everything, the chairs, the tables, and in the dining -room the silverware and plastic dishes, everything that showed that he had lived here in this empty house with a strange woman who would forget him tomorrow, who had gone and quite forgotten him already’  “The books leapt and danced like roasted birds, their wings ablaze with red and yellow feathers.” Students should discuss the use of diction and imagery in this passage. (c) (ii) In what ways does Bradbury explore the symbol of fire elsewhere in the novel? Students should discuss the Duality of Fire in F451.  Part 1 of the novel: Fire as Knowledge and Self -Awareness in the scene where the unnamed book lady decides to burn herself with her books and knowledge.  Part 3 of the novel: Fire as a source of warmth (campfire) Fire as symbol of rebirth (phoenix / explosion from the bomb dropped on the city)

4 Students have the option to discuss multiple instances of fire elsewhere in the novel, or focus on one other instance. Marks should be awarded on the depth of analysis, not the scope.

5 Question 2 (i) What impressions do you form of the country mentioned in the poem? The country mentioned appears to be something that is constantly changing or evolving much to the chagrin of the speaker. He mentions that ‘I can give you … lost childhood’ which belies that idea that things are always changing in this country and no one remembers these things that are part of one’s past. The persona describes this in a regretful tone which indicates his dissatisfaction with the evolving landscape of the country in the poem. The country is also described in an almost clinical manner and as such comes across as being both cold and sterile. The persona mentions that looking out of the window only enables one to see the ‘clouds’ and ‘top of other people’s roofs’ which indicates the lack of interaction that he has with other people. The sky is juxtaposed with the roofs to show how one i s brought back to reality when they look around. He also talks about how even the rain ‘dashes past’ as if desiring to avoid the place the narrator is in. The persona also mentions ‘fluorescent lighting’ which are harsh lights that need to be used in place of the sunlight that seems to be missing. The mention of ‘tin; sodium benzonate, vacuum sealed meats’ kindles the idea that there is nothing natural and everything has been sterilized. Furthermore, the mention that there is no fear that children will not have ‘earth brushed away from their knees’ also shows how the place is so sterile that children are unable to organically play around. The persona plays with the idea that to witness true nature, one would have to leave the country. The juxtaposition b etween the clinical manner in which the country