Paper 2 english language full answers to Elephant extracts

Paper 2 Elephant answers

Question 1

C,D,H,F

Question 2

Both of the sources talk about the behaviour of the elephants. The elephant in source A was calmer
and more relaxed. “it was not of course a wild elephant, but a tame one.” The behaviour of the
elephant in source A is quiet and collected. However, the elephant in source B in contrast is active.
“he soon began to play some very lively tricks.” This suggests the elephant is more frantic and moves
around a lot more. The elephant in source A as the beginning is quiet and tame where as the
elephant in source B is jumpier and more alive.

However, following in source A the elephant became wilder and more aggressive as “it had already
destroyed somebody’s bamboo hut, killed a cow and raided some fruit stalls.” Here the elephant’s
behaviour is vicious and active. The elephant in source B is similar. “he began to destroy the doors
and other pars of his house, driving his tusks through the iron plates…”. The elephant’s behaviour
also in Source B is also destructive and untamed. In both sources the elephant’s behaviour is
portrayed as uncontrollable and “troublesome”.

Question 3

In Source A the writer talks about the crowd. “…faces all happy and excited over this bit of fun, all
certain that the elephant was going to be shot.” The writer has purposely used the adjectives
“happy” and “excited” to connote that they are overjoyed that the elephant would be shot and
obviously do not care about the animal. We as readers would find this absurd as it is a cruel thing to
do. The word “certain” suggests that the crowd knew that the elephant would be shot and they had
no doubts. This is done by the writer to make the crowd seem cruel. We as readers therefore feel
empathetic towards the elephant.

Also, in source A the crowd is described as pressuring Orwell. “they were watching me as they would
watch a conjurer about to form a trick.” The writer uses a simile “watching me as they would watch
a conjurer” to imply that the crowd thought it was a type of show and that the elephant and Orwell
was doing something for their entertainment when in reality it is not and is it vile. The writer has
done this to show that the crowd is oblivious to what they are trying to pressure Orwell to do and
watching him. We as readers feel bad for Orwell as well as he doesn’t really want to kill the elephant
but it pressurised to do so.

Lastly, the writer portrays the crowd as controlling. “I was only a puppet pushed to and fro by the
will of those faces behind…two thousand people marching at my heels”. The metaphor used
“puppet” connotes that the crowd was pushing Orwell around to do what they wanted. This is done
cleverly by the writer to show that the crowd thinks Orwell is unable to do the job. Also, the verb
used “marching” shows that they are trying to order Orwell to kill the elephant. We as readers feel
hate towards the crowd as they want to kill the elephant so badly.

Question 4

Both sources talk about their attitudes towards the elephants, however, they are both slightly
different. In source A, Orwell feels bad for the elephant. “as soon as I saw the elephant, I knew with
perfect certainty that I ought not to shoot him”. The phrase “perfect certainty” implies that the
writers attitude to shooting the elephant was evidently wrong and the writer has a strong opinion on