Task 1: Mark Scheme and Model Answer (OCR A Level English Literature)

AO2

• Analyse the unseen passage, strengthened by the use of well-selected quotations and close references to the text

• Include commentary on narrative techniques and the narrative structure of the passage, and explore the ways these things shape meaning

• Discuss the effects of language, form and structure in a well-developed and consistently detailed way

AO3

• Integrate your discussion of the contexts in which the passage was written, but do not let this dominate your response

• Draw contextual links to other examples of literature in the chosen topic area

• Explore the contexts in which the passage is received and integrate this into your response, considering the differences in reception over time

AO1

• Write a well-structured, sustained and consistent argument which is developed in detail

• Write fluently and with confidence

• Use any critical concepts and/or terminology accurately

• Write accurately, with correct spelling, grammar and punctuation

Critical analysis

• The extract is written in the third person, but events are seen from Garraty’s perspective (one of the “Walkers”)

• Presentation of “Crowd” - removal of individuality into a collective identity - writer gives it a personality of its own

• It has power but no real control

• No definite article - it is not “the” crowd or “a” crowd - it is just “Crowd” - emphasises that it is a single entity - individuals are incorporated into this collective identity

• Town is described as having been “swallowed, strangled, and buried” suggesting a complete transformation from “normality” - it has been “gorged and gutted” giving the impression of horrific acts committed on it

• “Crowd” is personified as a creature but only with a “Voice” and an “Eye” - it is both “God and Mammon”

• Details of Garraty’s mental and physical responses to the scene help create a sense of impending disaster

• Garraty’s mixed emotions and the death of the “mercifully blasted” Milligan - only character who is described “shifty-eyed” - saved them all = sacrifice 

• Town is reduced to a shell of its former self - however, “fat ladies” and “pompous men” still places its inhabitants into collectives - just replaces one collective for another

• Use of objects such as streamers and confetti - normally celebratory - are now something to be ploughed through and a sheeting blizzard - wintery - bleak and depressing

• Contrast between the peace normally associated with a long walk with the long walk here

• Choice of 100 teenage boys - contrast with feminine - boys being made to suffer (but not men - before they commit any “crimes”?)

• Removal of any identifying place names to numbers (“202”) - further removes any sense of individual place

• “Crowd” also contrasts with the actions of “the crowd”. Described as being in the “gigantic throes of its labor all around him” as the Major stands holding his salute “ramrod stiff” - crowd in the middle of what seems to be a type of painful ecstasy

Incorporating context

• Written in the 1970s and offers a distortion of normality

• Battle for survival and distortion of the past to accommodate the tyrannical rule imposed by the Major - the Major stands holding his salute “ramrod stiff”, reminiscent of images of Hitler standing before an ecstatic crowd in the late 1930s and 1940s

• The 1970s American setting with references to “cotton candy” and John Travolta feels quite familiar and ordinary

• This juxtaposes with the shock of the violent game being played out

• Crowd as a “Voice and an Eye” = rise of surveillance and CCTV at the time - also links to surveillance as a dystopian trope

• Reminiscent of parades popular in American culture, such as the 4th July or Thanksgiving parades

• Links to other dystopian texts where ordinary people are controlled or manipulated by the state, such as 1984 and The Handmaid’s Tale

• Cheering of the Walkers, committed to what they are doing despite the very real possibility of their imminent death, could be compared with the Two Minutes Hate in 1984

• Garraty could be linked to other victims in dystopian societies (such as the handmaids)

• Major like the Commander in The Handmaid’s Tale - patriarchal - called by their title to show they are in charge

• Could compare to The Hunger Games or Squid Game - where competitive games become a brutal spectacle - King is dealing with the gameification of life and death

The extract from Stephen King’s “The Long Walk”, written in 1979, instantly offers the reader a sense of the distortion of the normal order of things, with something normally considered mundane and possibly peaceful, such as a long walk, now turned into a game of life or death. This is instantly reminiscent of the dystopian genre in which competitive games become a brutal spectacle, seen in texts such as The Hunger Games trilogy or in even more recent cultural references such as Squid Game.

The passage begins with the town being described as having been “swallowed, strangled, and buried”, suggesting a complete transformation from any sense of what it once was. The brutal and emotive language gives the impression that the town has been murdered, and now there is nothing else other than “Crowd”. The references to 1970s American cultural familiarities, such as “cotton candy” and “John Travolta” serve to juxtapose with the shock of the violent game that is apparently being played out here.

The passage is written in the third person, but the events are seen from the perspective of Garraty, who is one of the “Walkers”. The contextual information informs us that these are 100 teenage boys who we can infer are forced to partake in an annual walking contest under the supervision of the Mayor, with the winner being the sole survivor of the contest. The choice of teenage boys as the victim subverts the more stereotypical choice of female victims, such as the handmaids in The Handmaid’s Tale, although as the events are told via a single character’s perspective, the reader’s view of this world is limited in a similar way to Offred’s view of Gilead or Wintson’s view of Oceania in 1984. However, the reader is not introduced to Garraty until after they are introduced to “Crowd”, suggesting its status is more important than any one person. The absence of the definite article before “Crowd” emphasises that this is a single entity into which all individuals have been incorporated.

Furthermore, “Crowd” is personified as a creature with only a “Voice” and an “Eye” - it is both “God and Mammon” and something to be both “worshipped and feared”. The image of “Crowd” as a kind of false god unto which sacrifices must be made ties in with the details of excitement and almost euphoric cheering of both the Walkers and the watching crowd, praising the horrible spectacle and the imminent death of most of the Walkers. The writer describes the crowd as going “completely loopy” and convulsing itself into “greater and greater paroxysms” and the reader gets the sense that there is no choice but to participate, as even the remaining 37 Walkers “cheered wildly”, just as there is no choice for the citizens of Oceania to participate in the Two Minutes Hate.

“Crowd” is also described as an “Eye”, and the idea of surveillance and being watched is a common feature of the dystopian genre, and coincides in this case with the rise of CCTV during the 1970s, and Orwell’s prophetic use of Telescreens in 1984. The writer’s use of objects such as streamers and confetti, which are normally considered to be celebratory, are turned into images of hard winter weather, as the Walkers “plowed through ankle-deep drifts” and made their way through a “sheeting blizzard”. These references are reminiscent of the sorts of parades popular in American culture, such as the 4th July or Thanksgiving Day parades, but they have been turned into a chilling parody of these joyful events. And at the top of the “first hill on 202”, noting as well the replacement of place names with numbers, the reader is introduced to the Major, a figure of authority referred to by rank rather than name, just like the Commander in The Handmaid’s Tale, to reinforce that they are in charge. He stands holding his salute “ramrod stiff” in a parody of the images of Hitler addressing ecstatic crowds in the late 1930s and 1940s, an unmistakable stoic totalitarian presence, devoid of emotion in contrast to the performance of the people.  

Garraty, the protagonist, shows mixed emotions and mental and physical responses in the passage, such as his tongue which he described as jittering “nuttily in the mouth” and his obvious concern at the “stabbing, needling pain” he starts to feel in his chest as the passage reaches its end. He realises that to show any weakness would mean death, and feels what seems to be a sense of relief when another Walker falters. Milligan is the only character who has any kind of physical description, as he is described as “shifty-eyed” as though this excuses his fate. Garraty’s almost surprised and casual observation of Milligan scraping his nose forward on the ground is stopped by him being “mercifully blasted” before he could make any more of a spectacle of himself. At the end of the passage, Garraty is scared by the pain in his chest which has not fully subsided, and resolves to keep going.

Overall, the passage has the clear dystopian features of a state in which ordinary people are controlled or manipulated, often under threat of death, as well as surveillance and enforced indoctrination into the new ideology. The writer uses a recognisable setting of mid-1970s America and subverts mundane events and normal social gatherings into something that becomes a game of life and death. The writer’s choices of language and perspective confuses what is normal with what is abnormal and horrific.