Year 9 Specimen Unseen Prose

The passage is written from a

• first person point of view

• second person point of view

• third person omniscient point of view

• third person limited point of view

The person is mainly about

• a summer garden

• the children's behaviour

• a childhood game

• Raghu's behaviour

Desai writes that being indoors made the children "feel that their lungs were stuffed with cotton wool and their noses with dust and if they didn't burst out into the light and see the sun and feel the air, they would choke." (lines 6-8) What kind of atmosphere is created by the above quote?

• It is hot and stuffy indoors.

• The children seem to have difficulty breathing.

• It is summer and the days are getting longer.

• The children seem to want to stay inside.

Explain how the atmosphere changes in lines 12 to 15 by completing the following:

As the children are released outdoors, the atmosphere is suddenly characterised by...

• movement and energy

• calmness and joy

• fear and anger

• freedom and noise

In the phrase, "they burst out like seeds from a crackling, overripe pod into the veranda" (lines 13-14) the writer uses a ​ (a)   to compare the children's ​ (b)   ​ when going outside with the eagerness of a pea pod bearing its fruit. This shows how ​ (c)   they felt inside the house.

• simile
• enthusiasm
• imprisoned
• metaphor
• suffocation

Quote ONE figure of speech from the lines below and comment on how it creates a particular effect:

"the birds still drooped, like dead fruit, in the papery tents of the trees" (lines 20-21)

Between lines 21 to 25, various literary devices are used to describe the dog. Match the device with its effectiveness.

• this describes the lifeless appearance of the dog

• the use of metaphor in "two white marbles rolling in the purple sockets"

• this depicts the tired state of the dog

• the use of long sentences

• this emphasises the seemingly lifeless state of the dog

• the short sentence at the end

• this is marked out by dashes for emphasis

• the use of similes in "lay stretched as if dead" and "his paws and ears and tail...like dying travellers"

• this depicts the dog's eyes, portraying agony

• the use of punctuation when the metaphor is used

Comment on the choice of words in line 26, "tumbling, shoving, pushing". What does this show the reader about the children?

What does the image of the torn sleeve in lines 30 to 32 show us about the children's attitude?

• The image suggests that the children are poor.

• The image suggests the children's roughness while playing.

• The image suggests the lack of respect the children have towards their mother.

• The image suggests the children's discomfort.

Comment on the use of direct speech in the passage.