AQA A-Level English Literature A Paper 2: Texts in shared contexts (2A), June 2025: Question 11

Question 11

Explore the significance of team spirit and shared values in this extract.

Remember to include in your answer relevant detailed analysis of the ways that Harris shapes

meanings.

[25 marks]

Possible content:

Please refer to pages 4 to 7.

AO5 Explore literary texts informed by different interpretations

Focus might be on:

• team spirit’ and ‘shared values’ equally or one might be prioritised

• Harris’s presentation of the shared patriotic triggers that create a team spirit; the performance

of the ‘sceptred isle’ speech and the singing of the national anthem

• Harris’s presentation of Fenner as a typical volunteer soldier from 1914 still imbued with the

team spirit and shared values shown at the start of the war

• how the sense of team spirit and shared values is a recognition that the forthcoming battle will

be the culmination of Fenner’s two years of military experience and training with his comrades

• the shared values of personal and national destiny

• the presentation of team spirit as an underlying quality that unifies the men, not just an aspect

of military life

• the unreal, almost religious presentation of the shared values of nationalism amongst the

troops; the belief that they were ‘the chosen people’

• the collective team spirit to die in a battle that would be a ‘holocaust that would end the war’

• the dream-like, deluded emotions that are part of patriotic shared values; ‘the tendency to be

tolerant with the sentimental, even with the would-be heroic, was strong’

• one or both of the key phrases ‘team spirit’ and ‘shared values’

• etc.

AO4 Explore connections across literary texts

Focus might be on:

• typical presentations of team spirit and shared values in texts about the war

• the ways in which team spirit and shared values are typically presented through patriotism,

comradeship and esprit de corps

• typical presentations of shared, positive values reinforced before combat

• etc.

AO3 Demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the contexts in which

literary texts are written and received

Focus might be on:

• differing attitudes to the shared values present in positive military morale such as team spirit/esprit

de corps and patriotism over time 33

• differing attitudes over time to the team spirit and shared values of volunteer soldiers and pals’

battalions

• differing attitudes towards the team spirit and the shared patriotic values that might lead soldiers to

feel that their part in the war is justified

• differing attitudes towards military pride and preparation and the team spirit and shared values

shown in the collective act of preparing for a ‘Big Push’

• etc.

AO2 Analyse ways in which meanings are shaped in literary texts

Focus might be on:

• the use of listing and repetitive use of definite articles in the first paragraph to stress the scale of

the collective preparation for ‘The Big Push’

• how the preparations for the attack have unified the men; the use of listing ‘the heroes, the

cowards, the fainthearts and the strong together’ presents that the planned attack is above

individual strengths and weaknesses

• the string of animalistic similes to present war as something beyond the human; for example, the

bombardment as ‘like the flutterings of gigantic wings’, ‘like some iron monster’, ‘like some

tremendous beast about to spring’

• the extra-textual use of the speech from Richard II to set the moment in a literary and patriotic

context

• the triplet of adjectives ‘firm, sincere, young’ to present the power of Murray’s delivery of the

Shakespeare speech; the use of Murray’s character to denote the patriotism of young volunteer

soldiers

• the repeated use of singular and plural first-person pronouns throughout the passage

• the first-person narrative and indirect discourse that is measured, yet emotive; for example through

the triplet of adjectives, ‘I felt proud and sad, and glad I was there’

• the personification of death, ‘Death wasn’t very far away over the hill that night’

• the use of spatial metaphors to denote an awareness of destiny, ‘poised on a lofty height’

• the biblical language used to present the almost religious patriotic spirit of the troops ‘we were the

chosen people’

• etc.

AO1 Articulate informed, personal and creative responses to literary texts, using associated

concepts and terminology, and coherent, accurate written expression

• quality of argument

• organisation of ideas

• use of appropriate concepts and terminology

• technical accuracy.

Accept any valid interpretations, any valid comments on contexts and any valid discussion of

authorial methods.