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Flashcards · A Level English Literature · Topic 2
Texts and genres flashcards
16 cards on Topic 2, subtopics 3.2.1 to 3.2.2. Pick a subtopic or study them all.
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3.2.1 Elements of crime writing
- How is AQA English Literature B Paper 2 (Texts and genres) set out?
- Open book, 75 marks, 40% of the A-level, on one option: Section A an unseen passage (25), Section B an essay on one set text (25), Section C a connective essay on two set texts (25).
- Name some elements of crime writing listed for Option 2A.
- Settings for criminal action; crimes, criminals and motives; detection and investigation; restoration of moral order; guilt, remorse and confession; the detective-hero and nemesis; criminal, legal and police language.
- Name some set texts for Option 2A Elements of crime writing.
- They include Oliver Twist, Hamlet, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Brighton Rock, Atonement, When Will There Be Good News?, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and a poetry selection of Crabbe, Browning and Wilde.
- What is the pre-1900 rule for Option 2A?
- The three set texts are one post-2000 prose text, one poetry text and one further text, and the poetry text must be pre-1900.
- Why does the specification say "elements" rather than "genre"?
- Many set texts pre-date crime writing as a recognised genre, so ask which elements a text shows and how strongly, rather than whether it belongs to the genre.
- How does guilt work in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner?
- After killing the albatross the Mariner suffers isolation and torment ("Water, water, every where, / Nor any drop to drink"), and must retell his tale as a form of confession.
- Which Option 2A text is new for 2027, and what are the post-2000 prose choices?
- Colin Walsh's Kala is first assessed in 2027. The post-2000 prose texts are When Will There Be Good News?, Atonement and, from 2027, Kala.
- Which texts can you use in Paper 2 Section C?
- Two texts that you have not used in Section B. Across Sections B and C you write about all three of your texts: one poetry, one post-2000 prose and one further text.
3.2.2 Elements of political and social protest writing
- Name some elements of political and social protest writing listed for Option 2B.
- Settings for power struggles; the pursuit of power and rebellion; corruption and control; individual against collective experience; gender politics and social class; structures that heighten or resolve tension.
- Name some set texts for Option 2B.
- They include Hard Times, Henry IV Part I, Songs of Innocence and of Experience, The Handmaid's Tale, The Kite Runner and Harvest.
- What is the pre-1900 rule for Option 2B?
- The three texts must include a post-2000 prose text and a poetry text, and any one of the three may be the pre-1900 text, not necessarily the poetry.
- What does Blake's "mind-forg'd manacles" suggest in London?
- That oppression is not only imposed by institutions but internalised in people's minds, a protest against the control that limits city life.
- What makes a Section C answer genuinely connective?
- It tracks one specific element (such as the structure of a power struggle) across both texts in one argument, using each to illuminate the other, not two mini-essays.
- How should you revise for an open-book paper?
- Build a mental map of each text: which sections deal with which elements, so you can locate material quickly. Word-perfect recall matters less.
- Which Option 2B texts count as post-2000 prose?
- Harvest, Brotherless Night and The Kite Runner. The Handmaid's Tale (1985) is not post-2000, so it can only be the further text.
- Which edition of A Doll's House must Option 2B students use?
- The Bloomsbury Methuen Drama edition translated by Michael Meyer, which AQA treats as Ibsen's own words for assessment.