GCSEEnglish LiteratureWJEC EduqasExam QuestionsPost-1914 Prose/DramaLeave Taking

Leave Taking (WJEC Eduqas GCSE English Literature): Exam Questions

Exam code: C720

3 hours4 questions
1
40 marks

You should use the extract below and your knowledge of the whole play to answer this question.

Write about the importance of cultural identity in Leave Taking and how Pinnock presents this in the play as a whole.

BROD

Well, she should. [To VIV] You mother don't like to talk 'bout

back home. Me, I dream about the land a wood and water. Pure

rainforest.

ENID

Then why you nuh go back there you have such a longing for

it? I don't dream about back home because this is my home.

BROD

A few years ago, I woulda say the same thing. All my life I

think of meself as a British subject, wave a flag on Empire Day,

touch me hat whenever me see a picture a the queen. Then them

send me letter say if me don't get me nationality paper in order

they going kick me outta the country. You mother, same thing.

Ennit, Enid?

VIV

Kick us out? Where would me and Del go?

BROD

Call me a alien. As if me live the last thirty years on the moon

instead of on this blasted estate. I had to pay fifty pounds to

become a citizen. After me spend the whole a me life standing to

attention whenever me hear the national anthem.

ENID

So, we pay the fifty pound and now we nationality secure.

BROD

Secure what? Till them change them mind again? 'This is my

home.' [Kisses his teeth.] I make sure me Jamaican passport up to

date. An' you better do the same.

ENID

You read Viv school report?

VIV

Mum.

ENID

All 'A's. My daughter going to university. How many a my

sister children back home going to university?

BROD

And you know why they ain't going to university? Because

they too poor. An' why they poor? Because a colonialism.

Imperialism. Vampirism. They suck the blood outta the island,

suck them dry.

ENID

If me sister and her husband did get up off them backside

and work that piece a land then maybe they come to something.

BROD

That dry piece a land can't grow nuttin, Miss Enid.

ENID

Them fall down a imperialism. Them catch cold a imperialism.

When unno going to take responsibility? Me, I don't rely on

nobody but meself.

In your response you should:

  • refer to the extract and the play as a whole

  • show your understanding of characters and events in the play.

[40 marks]

5 of this question's marks are allocated for accuracy in spelling, punctuation and the use of vocabulary and sentence structures.

How did you do?

2
40 marks

Read the following extract from the opening of Leave Taking and then answer the question that follows. Enid has brought her daughters Viv and Del to the bedsit of Mai, an obeah woman, hoping for a reading.

Enid Please. I pay five pound more.

*[Mai thinks for a moment.]*

Mai The Good Lord did say that money isn't everything. But when duty call, it call.

*[Mai opens the door. Enid comes in followed by her daughters Viv and Del.]*

I sometimes regret the day Mother discovered I had the gift. Since I was thirteen I ain't had a moment's peace.

Enid I did ring make appointment. You remember?

Mai You must be speak to me secretary.

Enid I bring me daughters with me.

Mai Some people don't like that, but I don't mind it. I have a son meself, but him lef' home long time.

Enid Them tell me say you have the gift good.

Mai These days people does just want me to help them win on the Mirror Bingo. Them nuh know say me nah work with numbers. I don't deal in numbers. Is people I deal in. *[To Girls.]* Unno ever read before?

*[No reply from Del and Viv.]*

Unno scared a me? Is so young people does scared a obeah woman. Can't keep any secret from Mai. Mai see right through to your soul. *[To Enid.]* That would be ten pound extra on top a the special Bank Holiday price.

Enid Long as we get a reading.

Mai Sit down m'dear. Must be tired come all this way.

[They do so.]

Unno want a cup a tea?

*[The Girls open their mouths to speak but Enid is there first.]*

Enid We all right, thank you.

Mai Eager for you reading, ennit? Plenty a time fe that m'dear. I like to get to know me client first. Have a cup a tea, a biscuit, a chat. You relax, I relax, see.

Enid We don't have much time. Not many bus running today.

Write about Enid in Leave Taking and how Pinnock presents her importance to the play as a whole.

In your response you should:

  • refer to the extract and the play as a whole

  • show your understanding of characters and events in the play. [40]

5 of this question's marks are allocated for accuracy in spelling, punctuation and the use of vocabulary and sentence structures.

How did you do?

3
40 marks

Read the following extract from Leave Taking and then answer the question that follows. Del has come home late to find the family waiting, and Enid confronts her about losing her job.

Del Grateful for what? This shithole? A greasy job in a greasy café where they treat me like a dum dum and give me a couple of pounds at the end of every week? What's that to be grateful for?

Enid I work two jobs seven days a week to put food in you belly and roof over you head. I wear one dress, one pair a shoes with hole in it so that you can dress like those children who have fathers. People laugh at me, but they never laugh at you.

Del But what you give us that we can use out there? You don't see the police vans hunting us down, or the managers who treat us like we're the lowest of the low. You're too busy bowing and scraping to your beloved England. And where's it got you? Remember her works do at the hospital last Christmas?

Viv Stop it, Del.

Enid Let her talk. I'm listening.

Del You're all dressed up and you look beautiful. We're having fun. Then one of the nurses drinks too much and pukes all over the floor, remember that? And, in front of everyone, matron tells you to clean it up. You put your overalls on over your beautiful dress; in front of everyone there, you get a mop and bucket and clean it up. Yes, England loves you, all right. No wonder Dad left you.

*[Enid slaps Del.]*

*[Pause. For a moment it looks as though Del might hit her back.]*

Del That's the last time.

*[Del leaves.]*

Write about Del in Leave Taking and how Pinnock presents her importance to the play as a whole.

In your response you should:

  • refer to the extract and the play as a whole

  • show your understanding of characters and events in the play. [40]

5 of this question's marks are allocated for accuracy in spelling, punctuation and the use of vocabulary and sentence structures.

How did you do?

4
40 marks

Read the following extract from Leave Taking and then answer the question that follows. Late at night, after learning of her own mother's death, Enid sits up with her younger daughter Viv and gives her a savings book.

*[Enid doesn't answer, drains her drink then stands up unsteadily. She looks in a drawer and takes out a small account book.]*

Enid I had was to give you something.

*[She hands the building society account book to Viv. Viv takes the book and looks inside.]*

Viv You musta bin saving ages.

Enid Once I put me mind to something…

Viv I can't take this.

Enid You need books and clothes for university.

Viv I haven't passed the exams yet.

Enid But you will.

Viv So, this is a down payment.

Enid What?

Viv What if I don't want to go to university? What if I want to travel like you did, fall in love…

Enid Love has teeth, Viv.

Viv It's too much. Spend it on yourself.

Enid What I would buy for myself? High heels? Stockings? I'm not a dreaming sixteen-year-old any more. I'm a big woman.

Viv What will I spend it on? I never go out except to go to school. Spend my life bent over books that have nothing to do with me. I'm not like you and Del.

*[Enid pressing the book on Viv.]* Take it. Take it. Take it. Take it.

Viv All right. [Takes the book.] All right. [Slight pause.] I can't live your life for you. I don't know what you want. What do you want?

Enid I want… I want to go home.

'Leave Taking explores what it means to be a mother.' Write about some of the times motherhood is shown and how Pinnock presents this in the play.

In your response you should:

  • refer to the extract and the play as a whole

  • show your understanding of characters and events in the play. [40]

5 of this question's marks are allocated for accuracy in spelling, punctuation and the use of vocabulary and sentence structures.

How did you do?