Section B tips and example for CONTEXT

Section B tips and example for CONTEXT

Section B questions are split into two parts and can be confusing if you don't consider both parts from the outset.  You will have been shown that Section B splits the question over a response to a section of text in the novel in part b, as well as a contextual question, in connection to the extract, in part b.  If you do not answer part b and have omitted any reference to the context, which means the time and setting and its historical relevance then it is not possible to advance beyond 14/30.  This is what the examiners have been instructed.

Last year, when I examined papers for AQA, I had some great essays in regards to part a, but when it came to part b, either nothing written at all, or a small paragraph, or a lot written about the Depression, or the Dust Bowls - however when this wasn't linked back to the text, 'Of Mice and Men' it was meaningless.  Part b responses that showed a lot of knowledge scored ZERO!  Because they hadn't, for instance talked about the connection between gender equality and Curly's wife - they had just stated that at the time it was very sexist - so what?  What's that got to do with anything?

One boy wrote two whole sides for part b and it was good stuff, interesting and well written but he scored about 2 marks because at no point had he written about the characters and their relation to the context.  He knew his facts but had not plaited them together.
DON'T GET CAUGHT OUT.

Here's an example:
The part 'a' question is about Curly's wife and how she is presented.  In this section I have written about how she is depicted as an untrustworthy character, how she seeks attention etc... you'll have looked at his in class already.  Here is my part 'b' answer to the question:
Part b) How does Steinbeck present the role of women at that time?
Curly's wife, although presented throughout the majority of the text as either a 'tart' by the men, or a threat by Steinbeck, is as much a victim as George, Lennie, Candy and Crooks.  She uses her feminity to gather attention and create a sense of identity for herself.  In the 1930s women were living in a period  where the right to vote was very new.  IT wasn't until the 20s that it was ratified, but even though women still had this right they were not seen as equals to men.  Often women worked in the home, keeping the house, or bringing up children or worked in the service industry as waitresses or maids.  In 'Of Mice and Men' the only employment that is granted to women and supported by the men is the role of prostitute.  The men speak very highly of the 'cathouse' run by Susie and deplore the 'kewpey pie dolls' in Clara's place, a rival cathouse.  The men show that they have standards, but expect women to provide one of two functions: sex or solace.  Curly's wife provides Curly with neither of these it seems.  Then men joke that Curly has 'yella-jackets', a regional term for wasps or bees, 'in his pants', meaning that he is highly motivated to have sex, which explains why he's always looking for his wife and why she is always nowhere to be found.
As Curly's wife is never seen at home we can summise that she is unhappy as a domestic woman of the time.  She dresses up, needlessly, on the ranch, but she is motivated by a sense of sexual identity, an identity that Curly is strangling in his single-mindedness.  The men's identification of the uses for women illustrates that at the time women were regarded, not as equals, but as objects and consumable objects at that.  It is interesting to note that Curly's wife is referred to as a 'tart', as this is a sweet pastry and is consumable.  She is called this in a derogatory manner and it is interesting that, while she is objectified, the men take no pleasure in this.  They identify her a sexually promiscuous - a 'tart', because on the surface this is all they are capable of seeing as women who dress the way Curly's wife do, arguably, are only seen by them in the cathouse.  The men are somewhat hypocritcal, they are happy to accept women in the cathouse who dress this way, but not on the ranch.  The men compartmentalise the geography of acceptability: in a cathouse it is fine to dress as a 'tart' is the implication, while it is not so in the working world.  In this way women seem to occupy a fantasy role that is acceptable, while in reality they are castigated and controlled.  Steinbeck is subtly damning of the attitudes of the men in this era.

In the above response there is reference to text, characters, the wider novel AND context.  An answer like this would push past 14/30 and set you on the road to 20+ which puts you in sight of the top two bands.
Remember as long as you tie context into your answer you CAN go past 14/30 - part b is not an 'extra bit', it is a vital bit!
Good luck
Mr Stirrup