Sample answers - foundation
Foundation tier sample answers
Here are two sample responses which address point two of the extract plan:
Sample answer one
Rodolpho is telling Catherine that he wants to stay in America so the audience would understand that he does not want to go back to Italy because there are no jobs. He thinks Catherine is joking with him because he can’t believe that anybody would want to leave America to go to Italy. Rodolpho says that all his friends back home would think he was mad if he brought a girl back with him. This is quite funny.
A bit later on Rodolpho shows he is getting closer to Catherine when he walks up to her. Maybe he is trying to get into a deeper relationship with her by this. Then Catherine tells him that they would be happier in Italy. Near the end it says he goes up to her and this shows that he has been moving closer, then moving away, then moving back again. I think it is quite tense here because we want to find out if they will end up together or not.
Feedback comments – some focus but needs more direct references and discussion of character
This answer has some very good points, such as addressing the question and discussing Rodolpho’s behaviour, but it does not focus on the audience. It also needs to be more analysis-based and less narrative-based, because at the moment it is telling the examiner what is happening rather than analysing what the audience is feeling.
It does have some discussion and speculation when it says that Rodolpho perhaps wants the relationship to develop, but this needs supporting quotes. The addition of Catherine’s suggestion about living in Italy should not be included in this part of the answer as you are concentrating on Rodolpho here. When the pupil mentions finding a part funny, it would have been better to say that the audience would enjoy this part.
Similarly, when the tension is discussed, a reference to the audience would have been appropriate. Remember that the assessment objectives require you to use direct quotes and this answer would have benefitted from these.
Sample answer two
In this extract we see the way that Rodolpho matures and becomes a man. He takes charge of the conversation and through his words to Catherine, the audience see how he is changing. By the end he is a fit opponent for Eddie in the contest of who will win Catherine. Miller’s first stage direction says that Rodolpho is [astonished]
at Catherine’s idea of wanting to move to Italy. He then [crosses to [Eddie’s] rocker.]
which implies that he no longer respects Eddie or the chair that he uses.
It is clear to the audience that although he loves Catherine, he is not prepared to lose everything he has struggled for just to please her, asking, How can I bring you from a rich country to suffer in a poor country?
As he grows angrier, the atmosphere becomes charged with his own tension. He is clearly exasperated when he tells Catherine that there is nothing, nothing, nothing,
for them in post-war Italy. He is also a bit annoyed about the romantic view that Catherine has about his country – You can’t cook the view!
The audience clearly sees his ambition here; Once I am a citizen I could work anywhere and I would find better jobs and we would have a house, Catherine.
There is a growing sense of suspense as he describes his dreams while Catherine is becoming more distressed. He finally says, I want you to be my wife, and I want to be a citizen.
These are Rodolpho’s twin ambitions and he will let nothing get in his way. He ends the extract by asking Catherine why she is so afraid
of Eddie. The audience can see very well now that Rodolpho finds nothing to be afraid of.
Feedback comments – this is a far more focused answer
This answer begins by directly summarising how Rodolpho appears in the passage. All of the comments are analytical rather than narrative-based, and the points are aptly supported by references to the text which are embedded in the pupil's own wording. Every point is focused on Rodolpho and how he appears to the audience.
There is good focus, too, on the audience and atmosphere created for them. Even when Catherine is mentioned, it is only to illustrate what Rodolpho feels or thinks. There is some inference when the pupil says that Rodolpho is clearly exasperated.
The answer ends with another assertion that Rodolpho is now a man.