AQA A-Level English Literature A Paper 2: Texts in shared contexts (2B), June 2025: Question 6

Question 06

Compare the significance of the struggle for identity in two other texts you have studied.

Remember to include in your answer reference to how meanings are shaped in the texts you are

comparing.

You must use one drama text and one prose text in your response.

[25 marks]

Possible content:

Please refer to pages 4 to 7.

AO5 Explore literary texts informed by different interpretations

Focus might be on:

• interpretations of the significance of the struggle for identity as expressed in their two texts

• the extent to which the contrasting genres of the two texts affect the ways in which the struggle for

identity are presented

• etc.

AO4 Explore connections across literary texts

Focus might be on:

• connections of similarity and/or difference at the level of subject matter/genre/attitudes and/or

methods

• 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 representations of the struggle for identity and its possible effects and impact

• the psychological effects of the struggle for identity

• an analytical comparison of characters who respond to the struggle for identity in various ways

• how the struggle for identity may be viewed differently over time

• how the theme of the struggle for identity contributes to a text or texts as a whole

• etc.

AO2 Analyse ways in which meanings are shaped in literary texts

Focus might be on:

• methods of presenting and explaining the reasons for the prevalence and significance of the theme

of the struggle for identity in modern literature

• possible purposes and effects of the presentation of the struggle for identity

• prose methods such as: narrative structure; point of view; chronology; use of dialogue; indirect

speech; development of settings; ways of influencing the readers’ response to character and

incident

• dramatic methods such as: explicit structural devices; dramatic irony; stage directions; indirect

22 ways of communicating the writers’ messages and ideas; naturalistic, non-naturalistic,

expressionist and other styles of representing character, incident and narrative

• poetic methods such as: types of verse form; explicit and implicit structural features; use of tropes

for rhetorical effect; use of aural devices for rhetorical effect; elliptical use of language

• 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

• comparing texts.

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

authorial methods.

Option 2

Section A: Drama Set Text