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WAEC: LITERATURE IN ENGLISH

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2021 Literature WAEC Theory Paper II (Prose) Past Questions CBT

WAEC: LITERATURE IN ENGLISH 2021 Literature WAEC Theory Paper II (Prose) Past Questions CBT

PAPER II

PROSE

Answer two questions in all; one question from each section. Develop not less than five points in your answers.

SECTION A (Question 1 – 4)

AFRICAN PROSE

Answer one question only from this section

SECTION B (Question 5 – 8)

NON-AFRICAN PROSE

Answer one question only from this section

Responses

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2021 WAEC Literature Question 1

Buchi Emecheta: SECOND CLASS CITIZEN

QUESTION:

How are women treated in the novel?

ANSWER: 

The theme of gender discrimination and women as second-rate citizens in traditional African thought pervades the novel. Second class citizen is replete with gender segregation and debasement of women from Lagos to London. The woman has no say. She is only seen and never heard. Her birth is inferior to the male. These women are treated like second-rate or class citizens. This treatment is portrayed in the development of the character of Adah who represents women in the novel.

After reading about Adah’s life from childhood through to her marriage to Francis in Nigeria, one gets the impression that female children are treated as inferior compared to males by traditionally-minded Igbos. When a male child is born, he is better celebrated by his parents than a female child. According to the narrator, Adah’s birth was such a disappointment to her parents, her immediate family, to her tribe, that nobody thought of recording her birth. She was insignificant, sons are given preference over females when it comes to education, inheritance etc. Adah starts school at eight years, even though a male child would have normally started at age five. The decision to get educated is taken by Adah herself, little as she might have been. This is because her mother and father were still considering whether or not it was important to take her to school in the first place. Her parents are chained by the stereotype which says that a woman’s place is in the kitchen and her roles are simply childbirth and childcare. So even if they wish to send Adah to school, they believe that all she would need to know is how to write her name and that would be enough when Francis marries Adah, he fails to pay the five-hundred-naira bride price that her family ask for. Nonetheless, her brother, Boy feels that her sister has been sold out of the family even though the required amount was not duly paid by her husband. He convinces himself of “the fact that in Africa and among the Igbos in particular, a girl was little more than a piece of property”. To Boy, “Adah has been bought, though on credit, and she would never go back to being an Ofili anymore”.

Again, revolutionary as Adah might have been later in England, she appears to have been deeply affected by the thinking that a woman is inferior to a man. When Vicky falls sick and is taken to the Royal Free Hospital, she tells a nurse that she is so concerned about her son because he is her only son and that her other child is “only a girl”. It takes some scolding from the nurse to help Adah quickly realize her mistake in describing her daughter, Titi in such a condescending way.

Also, Francis is controlled by the stereotype of female inferiority to males. He does not think Adah has a right to have her say in matters which sometimes have to do with her. He sees himself as Adah’s husband and lord. When Adah’s colleagues at the North Finchley Library send a gift package, which includes the lump sum payment from the Finchley Borough for the holidays she had not taken, Francis does not consult her before taking the unilateral decision to use the money to register for one of his failed papers. This speaks to the fact that a woman has no say. She is only seen and never heard. In essence, women are treated as second-class citizens in the novel.       (25 Marks)

NOTE: Candidates are to develop 5 correct points to earn 25 Marks.

2021 WAEC Literature Question 2

Buchi Emecheta: SECOND CLASS CITIZEN

QUESTION:

Consider Adah’s growth in confidence and determination in pursuit of her dreams.

ANSWER: 

Second-class citizen is a story of dreams and their actualization. It is a prose narrative that teaches the virtue of hard work, self-motivation, sense of purpose, willpower, steadfastness and firmness of purpose. All these are Adah’s notable special traits and attributes.

Adah is the dreamer in the positive sense. The novel opens with Adah’s dream of attending a very good school. Adah’s story revolves around her determination to acquire an education that is an exclusive preserve for the men folks in African society. She also nurses a dream of travelling to the United Kingdom, and she is poised to make her marriage to Francis work (even when Francis does nothing to make the family proud) and raise her children in a God-forsaken race-driven society like London.

In the beginning, Adah’s mind is awash with the thought of obtaining an education that may serve as the surest passport to change her destiny which seems black and the course of her family – to take care of Ma and Boy. How will she achieve that when the society she finds herself in will never permit her? She, therefore, becomes poised with determination to challenge and change the status quo by urging to go to school on her own without obtaining any registration. Thanks to Mr. Cole who welcomes her warmly, Adah is then registered at a cheap school. Unfortunately, Pa dies shortly, but this does not put paid to her dreams of going to school. She is soon bundled out to live and work as a servant cum slave to another man who uses her as a beast of burden all in a bit to finish her schooling. Things become worse and more complicated when she is to enrol for the common entrance examination. Adah stealthily converts the two shillings her cousin Vincent gave her to purchase meat from the market to pay instead. And she performs excellently well in the examination and gets herself a scholarship. After her education, she embarks on job hunting interviews and forms filling without any result. She perseveres endlessly before she is selected to work as a librarian in the American consulate library. Adah continues to work hard and assume the role of breadwinner to her immediate family.

Being a go-getter, Adah dreams of going to the United Kingdom and becoming an elite, just like Lawyer Nweze of Ibuza. “I used to dream that one day I would go to the United Kingdom. Why don’t we save and go, now that we shall be able to afford it? We can take our children with us”.

Adah advises Francis. Their stay abroad doesn’t come easy without huge challenges, but Adah’s perseverance and resilient attitude keep the family going. The problems of housing crop up at first, when the community refuses to accommodate the blacks in their neighbourhood. It is a result of her staying power, endurance and dedication that makes her find solace in the Nobles who take her in with her three children. It is this wind of endurance, confidence and determination in pursuit of her dream that makes Adah remain with Francis until they part ways. (25 Marks)

NOTE: Candidates are to develop 5 correct points to earn 25 Marks.

2021 WAEC Literature Question 3

Alex Agyei – Agyiri: UNEXPECTED JOY AT DOWN

QUESTION:

Discuss Nii’s encounter with I-put-it-to-me in the novel.

ANSWER: 

Nii Tackie is Mama Orojo’s lost brother, Massa’s husband and Marshak’s unfortunate boyfriend. Nii is a Nigerian by blood but a Ghanaian by birth, he remained in Ghana as his parents made the tortuous journey to Nigeria when Ghana enacted the Aliens Compliance Order of 1969, which made every person living in Ghana without the required papers an alien. His name was changed to reflect the name of his adopted parents.

Nii’s character is said to be inscrutable. Throughout the story, he doesn’t seem to have any encounter with I-put-to-me in the novel. Rather it is Nii’s elder sister Mama Orojo that records an unfortunate encounter with I-put-it-to-me in the novel.

Tally O is fondly called I-put-it-to-me in the novel. He is a man of the duplicity of identities. He is the dubious character who dupes Mama Orojo with the sale of fake gold. He is Joe’s old friend who persuaded and convinced Joe to consider the business of mining, Like Joe, Tally O was very poor, for he tried all available odd jobs until both himself, Billy and Joe take to the mining business. He has lived a life full of disaster but had to survive. He once confessed to Joe that his life lacks genuine meaning. Until his death, no one knows he is the evasive and troublesome I-put-it-to-me.

Mama Orojo is the central character in the novel. She is Nii’s lost sister who has long been separated from Nii by the 1969 deportation which took place in Ghana as a result of Alien compliance order urging all non-natives to either obtain some papers or leave the country. Her journey to Nigeria was uneventful and she lost her parents on the way to Nigeria.

She is determined to reunite with her brother. The journey to accomplishing such an onerous task takes her back to Ghana where she encounters I-put-it-to-me. She is a good businesswoman who prefers to deal with genuine products, but she is not careful when she bought imitation gold from I-put-it-to-me who is still at large. She gets to know about the fake gold from her conversation with the taxi driver that picks her up. Saddened by the realization that she has been cheated, she pleads with the taxi man to take her to the nearest Police station to lay a complaint. Right there she is shown the passport-sized pictures of people wanted by the Police. Mama is able to identify the man. The name of the man she identified is I-put-it-to-me and that is not his real name (His real name is Tally O). He is a wanted criminal.  (25 Marks)

NOTE: Candidates are to develop 5 correct points to earn 25 Marks.

2021 WAEC Literature Question 4

Alex Agyei – Agyiri: UNEXPECTED JOY AT DOWN

QUESTION:

Consider Mama Orojo’s relationship with her church members in Amen Kristi.

ANSWER: 

Mama Orojo is the central character in the novel. She is Nii Tackie’s lost sister who has long been separated from him for about fifteen years. She was separated from Nii by the 1969 deportation which took place in Ghana as a result of Alien compliance order urging all non-natives to either obtain some papers or leave the country.

She is down to earth, humble and caring. She demonstrates this when she defies all odds and rescues a child from the inferno that raised the full building down. Joe praises her to the sky for being a superhero. She is also selfless, and this makes her risk her life to save others. She is a self-made woman, with the capacity and ability to stand up to any situation. Tom Monday cannot help but admire her.

Mama is also a philanthropist. She gives selflessly and this is evident in her constant donations, to help in the work of God, in Amen Kristi. Even when the church members are divided over whether she should be allowed to marry Joe in the church or not, she never seems to withdraw her support from the church programme or crusade. She is straight forward and she never allows her church to discourage her from marrying Joe because some sections of the church refuse to give her approval owing to the fact that Joe is from another tribe.

Mama Orojo’s business partnership with Joe and their recent involvement in the search for Nii begin to spark their feelings for each other. Joe is a businessman who deals in gold and diamond known as Daga. Joe on his part waits for a better time to let his feelings for Mala Orojo out.

“I’ve something to tell you” Joe finally declares his intention as they sit alone, he proposes to Mama Orojo. Joe who cannot hide his admiration for Mama’s physical features demonstrated his own worth and trust towards her over the years. As a result, Mama accepts his marriage proposal.

Soon, both commence with their marriage plans. Joe feels that there is a need to control Mama’s parents or any other relative to facilitate the process. She informs Joe that her parents are dead and the wedding will be done at Amen Kristi, her own church, she attends in Nigeria “The priest is a father to me and I think you will like him”. Joe brings out a gold ring and engages Mama.

Mama Orojo had maintained a very cordial relationship with her church members in Amen Kristi and has also been very active and supportive to the church before Joe’s marriage proposal to her. Mama goes to see the Chairman of Amen Kristi on her decision to settle down with Joe. Tom Monday is also in attendance. The Chairman is of the opinion that in marriage, distance and tribe count. “Why do we preach about the oneness of the tribe, nation, people and racers”? Mama mutters. “Let me warn you, your decision could create a rift in our church and if you cause trouble, I’ll throw my whole weight against you” the old man admonishes Mama. The old man then persuades Mama to marry Tom Monday instead who is a son of the soil.

Mama then visits the Secretary of the church and the Secretary disagrees with the Chairman’s stand over Mama’s decision to get married in the church because marriage is a private affair in which tribe does not count. All he needs to know is whether Joe is a Christian, of which Mama’s response is negative. Ibuk then asks her to make Joe join the church.

An argument then ensues between the Secretary and the Chairman and also extends to other members of the Church. A vote is conducted between the two factions – those in support and those against. The first one is conducted and the result is four for, and two against. The second vote is taken to decide whether the church should endorse Mama’s union with Joe, Mama and the Secretary voted for the acceptance of the marriage; the Chairman, the Doctor and the Pastor voted against it, while the Warden refuses to vote. This brings division to Amen Kristi Church. Church members are divided against themselves on the disapproval of Mama Orojo’s marriage to Joe. The once cordial relationship between Mama and her Amen Kristi church members goes fractious and leads to Mama Orojo’s unfriendly relationship with some of her church members in Amen Kristi, especially those in the upper echelon of the church. (25 Marks)

NOTE: Candidates are to develop 5 correct points to earn 25 Marks.

2021 WAEC Literature Question 5

Ralph Ellison: INVISIBLE MAN

QUESTION:

Comment on the character and role of Mary in the novel.

ANSWER: 

Racism is a theme that runs through the entire novel. Racism is the discrimination between two different races. In the novel, racism is seen as an obstacle to individual identity. As the narrator, who is a black American, struggles to arrive at a conception of his own identity, his efforts are fruitless because of the fact that he is a black man living in a racist American society. Throughout the novel, the narrator finds himself passing through a series of communities, from the liberty points plant to the brotherhood. In one of these passages, he encounters Mary Rambo.

Mary is a strong black woman who has learned to survive the violence and corruption of the city by relying on her inner resources. She is a southern woman who now lives in the North. Mary provides the narrator’s only source of love and comfort.

After the narrator’s harrowing experience at the liberty point factory hospital, Mary shows the narrator’s kindness and generosity, seeing him simply as a fellow human being who needs help. Mary takes him into her home, cooks for him and nurses him back to health. When he can’t pay his rent, she tells him not to worry. Seeing how depressed he is about his situation, Mary encourages him and reassures him that he will make something of himself and be “a credit to his race” she does everything she can to demonstrate her faith in him and in effect adopts him as her surrogate son.

During this time, the narrator sees Mary as the saintly mother figure, referring to her as his anchor and guide, and appreciating her support and generosity. But after he meets Brother Jack and begins to work for the Brotherhood, he sees Mary through different eyes. He finally leaves Mary without saying a word of goodbye, confident that he will survive.

As her name suggests, Mary Rambo is both Mary, the saintly mother of Jesus and Aunt Jamima the female version of Sambo. She is both mother and spiritual guide to the narrator who at this point in his life is trying to find a new identity. She is also a survivor who represents the courage and dignity of the black woman. (25 Marks)

NOTE: Candidates are to develop 5 correct points to earn 25 Marks.

2021 WAEC Literature Question 6

Ralph Ellison: INVISIBLE MAN

QUESTION:

Examine the narrator’s experience at the eviction.

ANSWER: 

In Invisible Man, race is a constant subject of inquiry. As a young black man in the middle of 20th century America, the narrator most often confronts the idea of race through experiencing the racism of others as portrayed in the eviction scene of Harlem.

The narrator wakes up in the factory’s hospital; having lost his memory, he does not remember who he is. The doctors administer electric shock treatment to him. He is discharged after undergoing this painful shock treatment, even though he cannot remember his name or where he lives. Mary, a kind black woman, takes him to her home in Harlem and takes care of him. He briefly returns to Men’s house where he assaults a man he mistakes for Bledsoe. Consequently, he is banished from Men’s house, and so, he returns to Mary’s house and lives with her. He recuperates, unable to bear his own thoughts and worries, he wanders the streets of Harlem where he witnesses the eviction of an elderly black couple from their home in Harlem. A crowd of black people gather to watch the eviction of the couple out into the cold. They watch helplessly without attempting to go to the aide of the elderly couple being evicted.

However, the crowd prepares to attack the white marshals conducting the eviction when he pushes the eighty-seven years old woman as she tries to enter her apartment to pray. The narrator intervenes and gives an impassionate speech about how blacks have been disposed which incites the people into action. They attack the marshals and help to repack the belongings of the old couple back into the house. The narrator flees through the roof of the house as reinforcement is sent to the area. As he flees on the roofs of buildings, he sees someone pursuing him whom he assumes to be a Policeman. The man is Brother Jack. He approaches the narrator and suggests that they talk. Although quite suspicious, the narrator meets with Brother Jack who offers him a job with the Brotherhood. (25 Marks)

NOTE: Candidates are to develop 5 correct points to earn 25 Marks.

2021 WAEC Literature Question 7

Emily Bronte: WUTHERING HEIGHTS

QUESTION:

Comment on the importance of setting in the novel.

ANSWER: 

Setting in literature is the location and time frame in which the action of a narrative takes place. There are three types of settings; the elements of time, place and environment (both physical and social). Each of these types contributes to building the setting of a story.

Setting is of great importance in Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights because she believes that environment determines characters. In this case, the entire action of the novel is determined by the locale in which it is set.

Emily explains the origin of the word “Wuthering” in the novel which is the name of Mr. Heathcliff’s dwelling. Wuthering means windy (getting a lot of wind). It seems Emily was inspired by The Wind in the Willows. Wuthering is also an old fashioned word meaning to blow with a dull roaring sound. Heights refer to the house’s location at the top of a hill, where the weather is always terrible, dark and windy.

Wuthering Heights centres on passion, revenge and the destructiveness of fierce love, and it takes place on the Yorkshire’s moors in New England in the late 18th century. Emily makes use of gothic elements and setting and draws into her story and complements its ongoing themes. The plot of the novel is divided into parts. The wild farmhouse, Wuthering Heights and the cleanly kept mansion, Thrush cross Grange. Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff grow up at the Heights, an old store building with a despondent interior. The setting of the house influences both characters who are only happy when they leave the bleak and depressing Wuthering Heights. They spend most of their days on the moor.

The Yorkshire moor is colourful and lost in the summer and this draws the two characters to it. The moors represent freedom and innocence. This is where Catherine and Heathcliff fall in love, separated from society and free from any other judgment. This 19th-century setting allows the natured love when one loves the wrong person.

Also, the setting of this novel helps readers to further understand the conflict between the natural world and cultured humanity. The two important settings; Wuthering Heights and Thrush cross Grange are symbolic. The former represents occupants as wild, passionate and strong while Thrushcross Grange and its occupants are calm and refined, and these two opposing forces struggle throughout the novel. (25 Marks)

NOTE: Candidates are to develop 5 correct points to earn 25 Marks.

2021 WAEC Literature Question 8

Emily Bronte: WUTHERING HEIGHTS

QUESTION:

Examine the relationship between Lockwood and Heathcliff in the novel.

ANSWER: 

Heathcliff is the villain hero of the novel because the story centres on him. He is also a Byronic hero, that is, a type of romantic hero with a dark character, blooding, ostracized from society in some way. He is the foster son of Mr. Earnshaw, foster brother of Hindley and Catherine, husband of Isabella and father of Linton. Mr. Earnshaw finally finds him on the streets of Liverpool and brings him home to Wuthering Heights. He falls in love with Catherine and it leads him to control and belittle or manipulate nearly everyone around him. He is a poor orphan who finds material success but not what he really wants – the love of Catherine.

Heathcliff suffers in the hands of Hindley when his foster father Mr. Earnshaw dies. He abuses Heathcliff and treats him like a servant, because of his desire for societal status. Catherine marries Edgar Linton instead of Heathcliff. His humiliation and misery prompt him to spend the rest of his life seeking revenge on Hindley, his beloved Catherine and their respective children, Hareton and young Catherine.

Heathcliff is a powerful, fierce and often cruel man. He acquires a fortune and uses his extra ordinary power of will to acquire both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, the Estate of Edgar Linton. As the new landlord of Thrushcross Grange, Heathcliff establishes a landlord-tenant relationship with Lockwood.

Lockwood is a frame-narrator and a wealthy gentleman who comes to spend a year in the country at Thrushcross Grange. Heathcliff, as the owner of Thrushcross Grange, is Lockwood’s landlord. He meets Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights during his first visit and this reveals an important clue about his character. Lockwood completely misjudges Heathcliff.

After the hair-raising night spent at Wuthering Heights, Lockwood becomes curious about Heathcliff and the other inhabitants of the house. Nelly Dean is about eighteen years, and he decided to ask her about Heathcliff Lockwood’s relationship at this point and his quest to know Heathcliff better than sets up the frame story or story within a story in the novel.

When he pressures Ellen to talk about Heathcliff, Ellen’s story becomes the second narrative in the novel. Lockwood becomes the audience for Ellen’s story just as the reader is the audience for Bronte’s novel. Lockwood becomes the only audience who does not witness the strange events that have shaped Heathcliff into the man he meets when he takes up residence at Thrushcross Grange. He only learns about the events that have shaped his landlord and given rise to their landlord-tenant relationship in the novel.

(25 Marks)

NOTE: Candidates are to develop 5 correct points to earn 25 Marks.

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