Question 4: Model Answer (WJEC Eduqas GCSE English Language)

“Matthew Scott writes about Jumbo in a way that shows feelings of pride and affection for the elephant.”

To what extent do you agree with this view?

You should comment on:

• What the writer says

• How the writer says it                                                                                          [10]

You must refer to the text to support your comments.

When Jumbo the elephant was brought to England and to London Zoo in 1865, he was looked after by Matthew Scott, his keeper. The passage below is taken from Scott’s autobiography, published in 1885.

When I first saw Jumbo and he was given into my care, the poor thing was full of disease, and his whole hide covered with sores. However, I undertook to be his doctor, his nurse and general servant. I watched and nursed him night and day with all the care and affection of a mother and I am now rewarded by having a fine-looking creature in a perfectly sound state of mind and body. He is the largest, most intelligent and certainly the most powerful living creature in creation. Jumbo’s daily diet is composed of hay, oats and bread; his drink is chiefly water but as a treat he can cope with a big dram of whiskey. He weighs nearly eight tons and he stands today over twelve feet high. All the experience I share with him is a pleasure to me and is a great reward, which I am thankful for in these, my older days, but so long as I am permitted the company of dear old Jumbo, I shall be quite contented. I am happy in his company and do not wish to leave it.

Jumbo has been a busy, industrious creature all his life, especially since I brought him from his sick bed. He has no idle days for ‘loafing’ or otherwise wasting his time. He has been engaged in carrying around children almost daily for twenty years, and I suppose no animal has ever carried so many on his back as Jumbo. Certainly, I can claim for him that no animal ever did his work more affectionately or tenderly, and without accident. Once, when I was riding him around in the Zoological Gardens, sitting on his neck with about a dozen children on his broad back, we were proceeding down the path when, all at once, Jumbo came to a standstill. I shouted to him to go along, but for once he did not obey the order. As I turned round to see what was the matter, there was a lady running on to the path screaming and shouting, “Oh, my poor child! Oh, he will be killed, he will be killed!” When I looked down, I saw Jumbo deliberately and coolly putting his trunk around the body of an infant that had escaped its mother’s apron-strings and had run and fallen in front of him. He just stopped right there, gently picked up the child by the waist with his trunk and laid it beside its screaming mother, more tenderly than the mother afterward took up the frightened child in her excitement.

Jumbo never gets excited when he is attending to children, who love to see him eat the cakes they give him. He might get mad once in a while when provoked by some drunken fool, but I want you to think of Jumbo as a kind, affectionate creature and remember, when you see anyone in trouble, you should go instantly to the rescue, and remember that Jumbo did the same thing.

I agree that Matthew Scott writes about Jumbo in a way that shows his feelings of pride and affection for the elephant because his language choices are consistently positive and he gives details of the good things Jumbo has done. [Marking comment]

At the start of the text, Scott describes first meeting Jumbo and calls him a “poor thing”, suggesting that he immediately felt sympathy for the animal. [Marking comment] He took care of the elephant and nursed it back to health with “all the care and affection of a mother”, suggesting that a close bond formed between them. Furthermore, Scott shows his pride in the elephant by praising him as a “fine-looking creature” and the “largest, most intelligent” and “the most powerful living creature in creation”. Scott even seems to be proud of the fact that Jumbo can handle an alcoholic drink, as he can “cope with a large dram of whiskey”. [Marking comment] His fondness is clearly conveyed by calling their shared experiences a “pleasure” and “a great reward”, and Scott talks of their relationship more as a kind of friendship rather than that between an animal and a keeper. [Marking comment] He even uses a colloquial term of endearment in “dear old Jumbo” and declares that he is “happy in his company” and has no wish to leave it.

Scott continues to show his feelings of pride and affection for Jumbo by revealing details of his life in the zoo, describing him as a “busy, industrious creature”. Scott also reveals a feeling of pride in himself for nursing him back to health and therefore contributing to Jumbo’s success. Scott seems to be eager to speak on behalf of Jumbo, telling the reader that he can “claim for him that no animal ever did his work more affectionately or tenderly”, which conveys his desire for others to see Jumbo as he does. He continues by using an anecdote of Jumbo stopping to pick up a toddler who had fallen in the elephant’s path to demonstrate what a good animal he was. His choice of words such as “gently” and “tenderly” are evidence of the great affection Scott holds for him. [Marking comment]

At the end of the passage, Scott is careful to reassure the reader of Jumbo’s patient and caring character, and his plea to readers to follow Jumbo’s example of helping those in trouble reinforces the keeper’s care and love for the elephant. He wants readers to think of Jumbo as the “kind, affectionate creature” that he knows and cares for. His tone throughout the passage is one of pride and describes an affectionate friendship. [Marking comment]