Evaluate effectiveness of sympathy creation

Question 1 (10 marks)

A student read the following extract and said: "I think the writer is very effective at making the reader feel sorry for the character."

The boy stood at the back of the hall, as far as he could get from the other children. He was new here — everyone knew it, no one acknowledged it. He watched them run and shout and fall into the easy rhythms of friendship he did not know how to enter. His hands, shoved deep into his pockets, were the only still things in the room.

To what extent do you agree with this view? (10 marks)

Mark scheme (AO4, 10 marks):

For the view:

• "At the back of the hall" — physical marginalisation mirrors social exclusion
• "Everyone knew it, no one acknowledged it" — the cruel awareness of his otherness; active social rejection
• Contrast between his stillness and their movement: "easy rhythms of friendship" — he is outside the natural social world; hands "the only still things" symbolises his isolation
• "Easy rhythms of friendship he did not know how to enter" — the inaccessibility described with empathy

Against/complication:

• The boy could be seen as reserved rather than pitiable — not all readers will feel sympathy if they read his stillness as choice
• The writing is perhaps too obvious in its sympathy — not all readers find such direct emotional appeal effective

Award marks based on the quality of evaluation, not simply whether they agree:

• 9–10: Perceptive evaluation; personal voice; counter-view considered; sophisticated evidence
• 7–8: Good evaluation; supports view; some critical voice
• 5–6: Some evaluation; may drift to analysis
• 1–4: Simple analysis or description