EXAMINATION NO---------------------

Page 2 of 11
Section A (30 marks)
Answer both questions
1. POEM
The Zulu girl
By Roy campbell
When in the sun the red acres smoulder
Down where the sweating gang its labours plies,
A girl flings down her how, and from her shoulder
Unslings her child tormented by the flies
She takes him to a ring of shadow pooled

By thorn-trees: purpled with the blood of ticks

While her sharp nails
In slow caresses ruled
Prowl through his hair with sharp electric clicks
His sleepy mouth plugged by the heavy nipple,
Tugs like a puppy, grunting as he feels:

Through his frail nerves her own deep languor’s ripple

Like a broad river sighing through the reeds
Yet in that drowsy stream his fresh imbibes
An old unquenched unsmotherable heat
The curbed ferocity of beaten tribes,

The sullen dignity of their defeat

Her body looms above him like a hill
Within whose shade a village lies at rest,
Or the first cloud so terrible and still
That bears the coming harvest in its breast
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1. ( continued)
Questions

a. Name the persona in the poem?

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(1 mark)
b. What emotion is conveyed by the words ‘’flings down’’ in line 3 of the first
stanza?
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(3 marks)
c. Select one word/phrase in the poem which will have a similar meaning to
‘smoulder’ in line 1
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(1 mark)

d. What does the word ‘smoulder’ in line 1 suggest about the environment?
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(3 marks)
e. Give any two rhyming words from stanza 3?
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(2 marks)
f. In the final stanza, the mother metaphorically becomes a hill that overshadows the
whole village. Do you agree with this statement? Justify your response by
referring to imagery and/or diction.
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(3 marks)
g. Give two similes from the poem?
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2. SHORT STORY
Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow

WHAT A FISHY BUSINESS

As he rose, he saw Welani frantically trying to stop the little usipa escaping from the
now loose net. He was not being successful. He kicked his legs vigorously
sideways as he tried to turn around to close the almost empty net.

Then suddenly, the kicking stopped. He looked up helplessly. Chimuonechi was

nowhere to be seen. Only the radiating sun rays gleamed faintly as they filtered
through the deep water.

When Chimuonerchi’s head finally shot at the surface he opened his mouth wide and
breathed heavily. His sore eyes were very red. The knocking in his head was
unbearable. He saw that the water dripping from his chin was mingled with blood. He
wiped his nose and ears with his hands. They were bleeding. What a near miss. He
rinsed them.

The canoe was some metres away. He swam to it weakly. He lifted himself onto it
rather carelessly. It rolled over. The usipa in it scattered all around him. He held on to
the floating canoe.

Then he heard a sound which made his hair stands on its end. He turned around and
was just in time to see the last bubbles break and water surface.

“welani!” he called out loudly. There was no answer. No welani either. A wave of
heat rushed through his body. Sweat mingled with water flowed down his terrified
face. He picked the oar and knocked hard continuously on the canoe while he called
for help. Fishermen in the vicinity heard the call. They rolled their canoes hurriedly
towards him.

After a thorough search, they found Welani’s body and brought it up. Half of the body
was still entangled in the fishing net. As soon as funeral rites were ended,
Chimuonechi was summoned to a meeting by elderly relatives of the deceased.

“Why did you kill him?” one asked. The question hit Chimuonechi like a spear. He sat
up, then looked down.

“I did not kill him,” he said while shaking his head. “Why did you let the net go? You
have been fishing for years. You know the dangers of a loose net under the water,
don’t you?”

“I know…but…you don’t understand. Welani was a good friend of mine. Why should
I wish him any harm?”
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(Continued)

“We know why. Everybody knows why,” one elder said wryly. “He was your partner,
wasn`t he? Now all that you shared with him will be yours, wont it?”

“Believe me! I did not kill him,” Chimuonechi pleaded with them. But it was of no
use. He had let go that net which killed Welani. If he hadn`t, Welani would have been
alive. So he did kill him. They had no doubt about that.

Chimuonechi became the talk of the village. He was looked at by very unkind eyes.
He began to live in feats. He became more miserable day after day. He tried to give
most of his property he shared with welani to the deceased’s relatives. But they
refused saying that those things would never bring Welani back to life.

Then, early one morning, Chimuonechi walked away from the village where he had
lived since his youth. He only had a small parcel hanging from the end of a long stick
resting on his shoulder. He was going somewhere; anywhere, to start life afresh.

As he walked with his face down, Welani’s unspoken words on that disastrous
morning tortured his mind. He still remembered that passionate look on his face.

Questions

a. Describe the geographical setting of the story?

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(2 marks)

b. From what point of view is the story old?

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(1 mark)

c. What tragic event happens in the story?

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(1 mark)

d. Explain how Chimuonenji contributed to the tragic in the story?

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(3 marks)
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(Continued)

e. Describe the character portrayed by each of the following in the story?

i. Welani
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(2 marks)

ii. The elderly relatives

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(2 marks)

f. Explain how the theme of ‘’risky behavior ‘’ is shown in the story?

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(2 marks)
g. Explain one internal conflict Chimuonenji experience in the story?
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(2 marks)
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SECTION B (40 MARKS)

Answer both questions in this section on the spaces provided. Choose either questions a or b
in each case and not both
3. THE PEARL-by John Steinbeck

EITHER

a. Describe the character of each of the following using four points

(i) Kino
(ii) Juana (20 marks)

OR
b. Using specific examples from the text, explain how the pearl is a story of good
versus evil. (20 marks)

4. Macbeth by William Shakespeare

EITHER

a. Macbeth can be described as a catastrophic play. Discuss by giving eight points.

(20 marks)

OR

b. With examples from the play ‘Macbeth’ show how the following characters are
portrayed:
(i) Ambitious (discuss four points)
(ii) Greedy (discuss four points) (20 marks)
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END OF QUESTION PAPER

NB: This paper contains 10 printed pages.