Model Answers (AQA GCSE English Literature)

Model Answers

Below you will find a full-mark, Level 6 model answer for a 19th-century novel essay. Commentary below each section of the essay illustrates how and why it would be awarded Level 6. Despite the fact it is an answer to A Christmas Carol question, the commentary below is relevant to any 19th-century novel question.

A student-friendly mark scheme has been included here:

Model Answer Breakdown

The commentary for the below model answer as arranged by assessment objective: each paragraph has commentary for a different assessment objective, as follows:

• Introduction includes commentary on all the AOs

• Section 1 includes commentary on AO1 (answering the question and selecting references)

• Section 2 includes commentary on AO2 (analysing a writer’s methods)

• Section 3 includes commentary on AO3 (exploring context)

• Conclusion includes commentary on all the AOs

The model answer answers the following question:

Level 6, full-mark answer:

The suffering of the poor is one of the most prevalent ideas within A Christmas Carol and Dickens presents the poor and destitute to the reader from the outset. Dickens depicts the exploitation and ignorance of the poor through various characters in the novella and he demonstrates how they are trapped in a system through no fault of their own, which conveys his message for social change.

Commentary:

• The introduction is in the form of a thesis statement

• It includes a central argument based on my own opinions

• It includes keywords from the question:

  • “The suffering of the poor is one of the most prevalent ideas within A Christmas Carol and Dickens presents the poor and destitute to the reader from the outset.”

• It takes a whole-text approach, referencing characters across the whole novel:

  • “Dickens depicts the exploitation and ignorance of the poor through various characters in the novella: Dickens demonstrates how they are trapped in a system through no fault of their own…”

• It acknowledges Dickens as an author making deliberate choices and conveys a message

  •  “Dickens demonstrates how they are trapped in a system through no fault of their own which conveys his message for social change.”

• It includes modal language to show a conceptualised approach

In this extract, Dickens uses the two characters, Ignorance and Want, as an allegory, as they are symbolic of society’s cruelty towards the suffering of the poor. Dickens uses these two characters to expose the consequences of society’s greed and avarice. The children are first depicted as emerging from the spirit’s robe which underscores Dickens’s message of how poverty, and its devastating consequences, remain largely shrouded, unseen and ignored by society. Further, Dickens’s imagery depicts the children as emaciated and wretched which induces both horror and pity in the reader. Further, the religious undertones depicted in the phrase: “They knelt down at its feet, and clung upon the outside of its garment” suggests how the poor are not provided with the resources to help themselves and instead must grovel and plead for assistance as they are reliant on the charity of others. At other points in the novella, Dickens continues to make the suffering of the poor a serious concern and he demonstrates how poverty can destroy lives. For example, through The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, Dickens depicts the devastating consequences of a Capitalist system in which Tiny Tim could potentially die. Similar to Ignorance and Want, Tiny Tim’s potential death highlights the poor living conditions and malnourishment experienced by many poor children and Dickens uses these characters to highlight the high levels of child mortality in Victorian England, especially for those who were poor through no fault of their own. Dickens uses these characters to highlight to the reader that such tragedies are avoidable if greater equality is achieved within society.

Commentary:

• Paragraph begins with a topic sentence

• Topic sentence directly addresses the question (“the suffering of the poor”)

• Topic sentence has a narrower focus than the thesis statement

• The whole paragraph is related to the topic sentence

• Paragraph includes at least one reference to the extract

• Paragraph includes multiple references to the rest of the novel

• All references are linked to the question, and support the argument of my topic sentence

Structurally, this extract is significant as the spirit references Scrooge’s exact comments at the beginning of the novella: “Are there no prisons?” … “Are there no workhouses?” By repeating Scrooge’s words verbatim, Dickens reveals Scrooge’s former ignorance of the poor when he associated workhouses with prisons. Although workhouses were very similar to prisons during the Victorian period (both in terms of their harshness and confinement) the poor and destitute who inhabited the workhouses were generally there through no fault of their own. Although Scrooge’s original comments are in response to the charity collectors in Stave I and while they could be viewed as representing goodness at Christmas time, it could be seen that Dickens is suggesting that the poor should be helped at all times of the year. Further, this extract is also deliberately structured after the spirit has depicted multiple scenes of abundance, which further serves to highlight the suffering of the poor as they are forced to do without. Dickens deliberately structures the chapter in this way to illustrate the idea that there is enough for everyone if it is shared equally. Indeed, Dickens uses the Ghost of Christmas Present throughout this Stave to deliver scathing moral discourses about the condition of the poor and to encourage calls for social reform. Dickens presents the spirit as authoritative and commanding  (evident through its repeated use of imperative and exclamatory statements) which demonstrates that his views on the suffering of the poor must be heeded. Furthermore, in Stave III, the spirit does not refer to Scrooge by his name, but instead by the word “man” which suggests that the spirit’s message is not just directed toward Scrooge but to all of mankind. The spirit could be seen as a mouthpiece for Dickens’s views on poverty and social injustice and through the spirit, Dickens highlights the selfishness of the rich and their heartlessness towards the plight of the poor.

Commentary:

• Analysis provides evidence for the points in the topic sentence (all evidence relates to depictions of the suffering of the poor)

• Whole-text analysis of the author’s methods, not just focused on the extract

• Analysis includes other wider choices made by the author: 

  • Characterisation

  • Structure

• All analysis is explained fully in terms of the question and my own argument

• Analysis explained in terms of the author’s overall message

Dickens uses Scrooge as symbolic of the Capitalist system which Dickens believed denied others access to wealth and opportunity and he represents the self-centred businessman as unconcerned about the conditions in which his employees were forced to work. In the rest of the novella, the suffering of the poor is highlighted through Bob’s character and he is used to demonstrate Scrooge’s cruel and exploitative behaviour. For example, Bob is made to endure difficult work conditions, though they are less harsh than what many other poor people would have endured, especially those who would have been less skilled than him. In Stave I, Bob is too fearful to ask Scrooge for more coal to replenish his fire and instead tries “to warm himself at the candle”, which highlights the dreadful conditions that employers could make employees accept. Indeed, Bob works in a “dismal little cell” which Dickens uses to convey the gloomy confinement from which he cannot escape and which could be viewed as a wider symbol of his poverty. Similarly, Bob is also symbolic of the lower classes and their dependence on their employer as his situation, and thus the fate of his family depends on businessmen like Scrooge. While Bob Cratchit is first introduced in Stave I, his character remains unnamed and silent in this chapter and he is simply referred to as “the clerk”: By omitting Bob’s name and referring to him by his occupation, Dickens conveys Scrooge’s myopic perception of Bob in terms of labour, rather than as a human being. Bob’s silence also signifies his irrelevance and insignificance as a poor person in the views of the wealthier classes such as Scrooge. Further, by titling the character “Bob” (a Victorian colloquial term for a shilling) Dickens may be suggesting the poor are viewed merely in terms of capital and thus their suffering is inconsequential to them.

Commentary:

• Does not include any irrelevant historical or biographical facts

• All context is linked to the topic sentence (“symbolic of the Capitalist system which Dickens believed denied others access to wealth and opportunity”) and argument as a whole

• All context is integrated into analysis of the author’s methods

• Understanding contextual ideas and perspectives provides additional insight into my main argument

• Context is sometimes implied, rather than explicit. This still shows sophisticated awareness of ideas (“Bob is made to endure difficult work conditions, though they are less harsh than what many other poor people would have endured, especially those who would have been less skilled than him”)

To conclude, Dickens presents the suffering of the poor throughout the novella and highlights the selfishness of the rich and their heartlessness towards the plight of the poor. While Dickens is keen to highlight the importance of charity and benevolence, he also illustrates how the poor are not provided with the resources to help themselves and instead is reliant on the charity of others. Dickens’s depictions of the cycle of poverty urge the reader to confront the issues of poverty within their own societies. 

Commentary:

• Conclusion uses keywords from the question

• Conclusion links to thesis

• Conclusion sums up more detailed arguments outlined in topic sentences of all paragraphs

• It also gives a fuller understanding of the author’s intentions, based on ideas explored in the essay