SECTION B: PROSE HELEN DUNMORE: The Siege Remember to support your ideas with details from the writing. Read this extract, and then answer the question that follows it: Anna and the sledge. Little Anna on her sledge, long ago. Mammy loved sledging as much as Anna did. They would go out, the two of them, while Anna's father worked. He would have liked to come with them but he had a deadline to meet. Walking through snow, with the red sledge bumping along behind them, Anna wished that everyone she knew was there to see what a beautiful sledge she had. There were curls of green and gold on the smart, bright red. The rope was new and Anna was allowed to pull the sledge herself. Her mother swooped down to pick up Anna when snow went over the top of her boots. When she set her down again, Anna took up the thick, new rope. A bit farther on, near the park, someone stopped them. She stood so close that Anna smelt her smoky perfume. Her boots had shiny silver buckles on the side, and Anna wanted to touch them. 'Hasn't she grown! How are you all, Vera?' 'We're well,' said Vera. Her hand squeezed Anna's tightly. There was a silence, but Vera didn't put any more words into it. 'I haven't seen Misha for weeks – he's not ill, I hope?' Her mother's voice was steady. ‘He's perfectly well, Marina Petrovna. We are all perfectly well. And now, if you'll excuse me, Anna mustn't stand in the cold ...' 'Of course -' When Anna looked back she was still standing there. She didn't move, and no one said goodbye. When they had turned the corner, her mother stopped and placed Anna carefully on the sledge. She wrapped the shawl around Anna in the usual way, making sure that her chest was covered. But suddenly she changed and did something new. She dropped on her knees in the snow in front of the sledge. She grasped Anna and pulled her close. She pressed her tight, tight, so that Anna felt the cold of her mother's cheeks burning her. 'Mammy, you're hurting me.' Her mother moved back. Anna saw her face close-up. 'Mammy, are you all right?' Her mother stood up, brushing snow off her coat. 'I'm fine. Don't worry, Anna.' Anna said nothing. Carefully, she tucked in the ends of the shawl which her mother had forgotten. She looked up and she saw that her mother's face was stiff with anger. She was drumming her fingers on the rope, staring up the street as if she'd forgotten about Anna. 'Mammy?' 'What?' 'Can we go?' 'You want to go back home?' 'I'm cold, Mammy.' 'I'm sorry. I was thinking about some things at work. Let's go. Hold on tight now, Anna.' How old was she then? Five, six? All through that spring and summer there was trouble hanging in the air like thunder. At night Anna woke up and there were voices slashing the dark. When holiday time came her mother took Anna away to the dacha, but her father didn't come with them. He had things to do in Leningrad. 'Too much work to do, Anna. I want to come, but –' [from Chapter 1] How does Dunmore's writing make this such a dramatic and significant moment in the novel?