Read the following text, which is the opening of a short story published in 1952. The text describes the arrival of a train in an unnamed village in Africa.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (Feb/Mar 2023). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [25] Mark according to the levels of response marking criteria in Table C.
2. [Guidance] The analysis should address the style, form, genre, structure and language of the text (including specific and relevant references), explaining how they create meaning in relation to audience and purpose.
3. [Guidance] The comments below are illustrative and are not intended to be exhaustive. Candidates may make other valid comments that should be credited.
4. [Guidance] Candidates may organise their response in any appropriate way. They are not required to focus on form, structure and language in separate sections.
5. [Guidance] Responses might analyse the following:
6. [Form Criterion] the typical text conventions used in a short story
7. [Form Criterion] the ways in which the purpose affects the content and style of the text
8. [Form Criterion] the ways in which the story appeals to its intended audience, e.g. through the tone and register used in the text
9. [Form Criterion] any other relevant aspects of the text's form
10. [Structure Criterion] the ways in which short/long paragraphs are used in the text
11. [Structure Criterion] the way in which the extract is structured to reflect the significant experience of the train's stopping at the remote station
12. [Structure Criterion] any other relevant structural features in the text
13. [Language Criterion] the writer's simple but vivid use of adjectives to describe setting e.g. the red horizon, his little brick station with its pointed chalet roof, the flushed and perspiring west, the grey tin house
14. [Language Criterion] the depiction of the train, the arrival of which is vital to the local people, as extraordinary, monstrous almost, and bringing important revenue and goods. Its introduction, in one sentence, has a paragraph to itself, signifying its importance; The train came out of the red horizon and bore down towards them over the single straight track and the cinematic description of the train's arrival
15. [Language Criterion] the way in which the contrasting characters, inside and outside the train, are presented; squatting native vendors, the stationmaster's barefoot children, skin stretched like parchment over their bones, like performing animals; the young woman curved her body farther out, Look, said the young husband, if you don't mind!, the faces on the train, How much, they asked from the train, how much?, the faces, behind glass, drinking beer, her hand commanded
16. [Language Criterion] the way in which the poverty of the local people is portrayed e.g. Give me penny, said the little ones with nothing to sell, the garden in which nothing grew, barefoot children, skin stretched like parchment over their bones
17. [Language Criterion] the intriguing introduction of a character in the penultimate paragraph whose walking alongside the train takes the reader on a journey with him; passed beneath the arch, past the dogs, right to the end, to the engine itself
18. [Language Criterion] use of lexical fields/vocabulary related to heat/the station/the local environment e.g. flushed and perspiring / the tin shed marked 'Goods', little brick station, tracks, a twirl of steam/ the walled kraal, the sand
19. [Language Criterion] the choice of imagery (similes, metaphors, personification, pathetic fallacy) used in the text and its effect on the reader e.g. the sand, that lapped all around, from sky to sky, cast little rhythmical cups of shadow, so that the sand became the sea, and closed over the children's black feet softly and without imprint; The train called out; The engine flared out now, big, whisking a dwindling body behind it; the artists sprang, walking bent, like performing animals
20. [Language Criterion] art imagery used to describe how creative and talented the locals are e.g. carved, majestic, Vandyke teeth, and the description of the carved lion's roaring as though so well portrayed that it comes to life
21. [Language Criterion] the choice of verbs and their effect on the reader e.g. bore down towards them, the hunk of a sheep's carcass moved slightly, dangling in a current of air; creaking, jerking, jostling, gasping, the train breathed out the smell of meat cooking with onion; The two children careered over the sand, clutching the bread
22. [Language Criterion] any other relevant language features used in the text.