Question 5: Model Answer (WJEC Eduqas GCSE English Language)

To answer this question you will need to consider the passage as a whole.

‘Men are not presented in a positive way in this passage.’

How far do you agree with this view?                                                                                [10]

You should write about:

• Your thoughts and feelings about how men are presented in the passage as a whole

• How the writer has created these thoughts and feelings

You must refer to the text to support your answer

I agree: men are not presented in a positive way in this passage as women shown to have experienced sexism and discrimination at hands of dishonest men

• Other than Mma Ramotswe’s father, men are not presented in a positive way

• Presentation of Mma Ramotswe’s father

• Behaviour of Happy Bapetsi’s colleagues at the bank

• Mma Ramotswe’s implied attitudes towards men

• Behaviour and presentation of Happy Bapetsi’s imposter “father”

Other than Mma Ramotswe’s father, I agree that men are not presented in a positive way in this passage. As well as Happy’s father being revealed as a liar, the writer implies that both of the key female characters have encountered sexism and discrimination at the hands of men in their workplaces. [Marking comment]

The passage does start with a brief but positive portrayal of Mma Ramotswe’s father, who passed his inheritance to her because he wanted her to have her own business. He is described as “the man she loved beyond all others” and Mma Ramotswe clearly appreciated that he had worked and saved to give her a good life. He is therefore presented as a caring, responsible and generous man, and the inclusion of this positive presentation of a father is possibly included to contrast with Happy Bapetsi’s supposed “father”. [Marking comment]

However, the portrayal of men becomes less positive as the passage progresses. [Marking comment] Through the description of her job, Happy reveals that she was the subject of envy by the men in the bank, and it appears she was blocked from further career progression because “all the men are worried that I’ll make them look stupid”. She also reveals that her father abandoned her and her mother when she was a baby, and the fact that her mother “did not mind a great deal” because “she never really liked him” suggests that he was not a good husband or father.

In addition, Mma Ramotswe reveals her innate negative assumptions about men, the writer implying that her view is based on past experience. [Marking comment] She immediately assumes that Happy’s problem is “man trouble” and that her happiness had been destroyed by a man’s “bad behaviour”. She is quick to interject that “many men are like that” when Happy talks of her father being lazy, and she does not hesitate to believe Happy’s story and that the man claiming to be her father is actually an imposter. Through Mma Ramotswe’s thoughts and assumptions, men are presented as lazy and the principal source of women’s misery. [Marking comment]

The most negative portrayal of a male figure in the passage is that of the imposter pretending to be Happy Bapetsi’s father. He sees an opportunity to take advantage of Happy and seizes it, using her to wait on him. The writer portrays him as manipulative but not especially clever, as he himself is easily deceived and outwitted by Mma Ramotswe’s plan. He is presented as duplicitous as he “wails” when he is told about Happy’s “accident” and Mma Ramotswe gives him credit for being “a good actor”. [Marking comment] However, he is presented as weak and quick to admit the truth of him not being Happy’s real father. The way Mma Ramotswe addresses him towards the end of the passage, folding her arms and ordering him back into the house to get his things is reminiscent of a parent scolding a naughty child, especially as she tells him that he has “five minutes” and then “four minutes left now!” [Marking comment] Overall, while the two main female characters are presented as successful, clever, quick-witted and astute. men in the passage are not presented positively: they are shown to be weak, childish and easily outwitted. [Marking comment]