Skip to main content
O-LevelLiterature in EnglishProse2010/11 · May/June 2012 · Q3425 Marks

Read this extract from The Yellow Wall Paper, and then answer the question that follows it: It is very seldom that mere ordinary people like John and myself secure ancestral halls for the summer. A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I would say a haunted house, and reach the height of romantic felicity – but that would be asking too much of fate! Still I will proudly declare that there is something queer about it. Else, why should it be let so cheaply? And why have stood so long untenanted? 5 John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage. John is practical in the extreme. He has no patience with faith, an intense horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures. John is a physician, and perhaps – (I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind) – perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster. 10 You see, he does not believe I am sick! And what can one do? If a physician of high standing, and one's own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression – a slight hysterical tendency – what is one to do? 15 20 My brother is also a physician, and also of high standing, and he says the same thing. So I take phosphates or phosphites – whichever it is – and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to ‘work' until I am well again. 25 Personally I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good. But what one to do? I did write for a while in spite of them; but it does exhaust me a good deal - having to be so sly about it, or else meet with heavy opposition. 30 I sometimes fancy that in my condition if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus – but John says the very worst thing I can do is to think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad. So I will let it alone and talk about the house. The most beautiful place! It is quite alone, standing well back from the road, quite three miles from the village. It makes me think of English places that you read about, for there are hedges, and walls, and gates that lock, and lots of separate little houses for the gardeners and people. 35 There is a delicious garden! I never saw such a garden – large and shady, full of box-bordered paths, and lined with long grape-covered arbours and seats under them. There were greenhouses, too, but they are all broken now. There was some legal trouble, I believe, something about the heirs and co-heirs; anyhow, the place has been empty for years. 40 That spoils my ghostliness, I am afraid; but I don't care there is something strange about the house – I can feel it. I even said so to John one moonlight evening, but he said what I felt was a draught, and shut the window. I get unreasonably angry with John sometimes. I'm sure I never used to be so sensitive. I think it is due to this nervous condition. 45 50 But John says if I feel so I shall neglect proper self-control; so I take pains to control myself – before him, at least, and that makes me very tired. I don't like our room a bit. I wanted one downstairs that opened on the piazza and had roses all over the window, and such pretty, old-fashioned chintz hangings! But John would not hear of it. He said there was only one window and not room for two beds, and no near room for him if he took another. 55 He is very careful and loving, and hardly lets me stir without special direction. I have a schedule prescription for each hour in the day; he takes all care from me, and so I feel basely ungrateful not to value it more. 60 He said we came here solely on my account, that I was to have perfect rest and all the air I could get. 'Your exercise depends on your strength, my dear,' said he, 'and your food somewhat on your appetite; but air you can absorb all the time.' So we took the nursery, at the top of the house. 65 (by Charlotte Perkins Gilman)

  1. How does Gilman convey the personality of the narrator and her relationship with her husband so strikingly here?[25]

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (May/June 2012). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

  1. [23-25] Answers in this band have all the qualities of Band 2 work, with further insight, sensitivity, individuality and flair. They show complete and sustained engagement with both text and task.
  2. [20-22] Sustains a perceptive, convincing and relevant personal response
  3. [20-22] shows a clear critical understanding of the text
  4. [20-22] responds sensitively and in detail to the way the writer achieves her/his effects (sustaining a convincing voice in an empathic task)
  5. [20-22] integrates much well-selected reference to the text
  6. [17-19] Makes a well-developed, detailed and relevant personal response
  7. [17-19] shows a clear understanding of the text and some of its deeper implications
  8. [17-19] makes a developed response to the way the writer achieves her/his effects (sustaining an appropriate voice in an empathic task)
  9. [17-19] supports with careful and relevant reference to the text
  10. [14-16] Makes a reasonably developed relevant personal response
  11. [14-16] shows understanding of the text and some of its deeper implications
  12. [14-16] makes some response to the way the writer uses language (using suitable features of expression in an empathic task)
  13. [14-16] shows some thoroughness in the use of supporting evidence from the text
  14. [11-13] Begins to develop a relevant personal response
  15. [11-13] shows some understanding of meaning
  16. [11-13] makes a little reference to the language of the text (beginning to assume a voice in an empathic task)
  17. [11-13] uses some supporting textual detail
  18. [8-10] Attempts to communicate a basic personal response to the task
  19. [8-10] makes some relevant comments
  20. [8-10] shows a basic understanding of surface meaning of the text (of character in an empathic task)
  21. [8-10] makes a little supporting reference to the text
  22. [5-7] Some evidence of simple personal response
  23. [5-7] makes a few straightforward comments
  24. [5-7] shows a few signs of understanding the surface meaning of the text (of character in an empathic task)
  25. [5-7] makes a little reference to the text
  26. [2-4] Limited attempt to respond
  27. [2-4] shows some limited understanding of simple/literal meaning
  28. [0-1] No answer/Insufficient to meet the criteria for Band 8.

Write your answer and get it marked

On Oracle Prep you can write or photograph your own answer and have it marked by AI against this mark scheme, with feedback on what you missed.

Sign up free →

About this question

Topic
Prose, O-Level Literature in English (syllabus 2010). Structured question, 25 marks.
Source
O-Level Literature in English, May/June 2012 Paper 1 Variant 1, question 34.

Questions and mark schemes are from past examination papers and remain the copyright of the exam board. How Oracle Prep builds its content

Related Literature in English questions

© 2026 Oracle Prep