Read the following extract from the opening of Boys Don't Cry and then answer the question that follows.
The doorbell rang – as if on cue. I was at the door in a heartbeat, throwing it open with eager trepidation.
It wasn't the postman.
It was Melanie.
I stared at her. It took a couple of seconds to register the fact that she wasn't alone. I stared down at the contents of the buggy beside her.
'Hello, Dante.'
I didn't say a word. The baby in the buggy had all of my attention.
'C-can I come in?'
'Er … yeah. Of course.' I stepped to one side. Melanie wheeled the buggy past me. I closed the door behind her, frowning. She stood in the hallway, biting the corner of her bottom lip. She watched me expectantly, like an actress waiting for her cue. But she knew where the sitting room was, she'd been here before.
'Go through.' I indicated the open door.
Following her, my thoughts flitted like dancing bees. What was she doing here? I hadn't seen her in … it had to be well over a year and a half. What did she want?
'Are you babysitting?' I pointed to the bundle in the buggy.
'Yeah, you could say that,' Melanie said, looking at the many family photos Dad had placed on the windowsill, on either side of Mum's favourite lead-crystal vase, and around the room. Some were of me; more were of Adam; most were of my mum. But there were none of her during that last year before she died.
Write about Dante in Boys Don't Cry and how Blackman presents his importance to the novel as a whole.
In your response you should:
refer to the extract and the novel as a whole
show your understanding of characters and events in the novel. [40]
5 of this question's marks are allocated for accuracy in spelling, punctuation and the use of vocabulary and sentence structures.
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