What The Question Is Asking (OCR GCSE English Literature): Model Answers

What The Question Is Asking

• Close Reading and Thematic Analysis: This part requires you to focus on a specific extract from the 19th-century prose text. You need to analyse how the writer uses language, form, and structure to create meaning. Additionally, you should consider how the extract reflects the broader themes, character development, and social or historical context of the novel.

  Example: If analysing an extract from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, you might focus on how Dickens uses Pip's first encounter with Miss Havisham to explore themes of class and ambition. Discuss how the decaying setting of Satis House and Miss Havisham's appearance symbolise the corrupting influence of wealth and the social inequalities of Victorian England.