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The question

Higher tier

Read the extract then answer the following question. How does Nick Hornby present the relationship between Marcus and Ellie at this point in the novel?

Foundation tier

Read the extract then answer the following question. What are your thoughts and feelings about Marcus and Ellie here? Give reasons for what you say, and remember to support your answer with words and phrases from the extract.

Make sure that you only refer to the extract, and look for evidence to support your points about Marcus and Ellie, which demonstrate the way they get on with each other.

Read the extract again and look in particular at the highlighted points. How do they allow Hornby to present Marcus and Ellie and the way they interact?

The extract

(1) They didn’t talk on the train at first; every now and again Ellie would give a small sob, or threaten to press the emergency stop button, or (2) threaten to do things to the people who looked at her when she swore or swigged from her bottle of vodka. Marcus felt exhausted. It was now perfectly clear to him that, even though he thought Ellie was great, and even though he was always pleased to see her at school, and even though she was funny and pretty and clever, he didn’t want her to be his girlfriend. (3) She just wasn’t the right sort of person for him. He really needed to be with someone quieter, someone who liked reading and computer games, and Ellie needed to be with someone who liked drinking vodka and swearing in front of people and threatening to stop trains.

His mum had explained to him once (perhaps when she was going out with Roger, who wasn’t like her at all) that (4) sometimes people needed opposites, and Marcus could see how that might work: if you thought about it, right at this moment Ellie needed someone who was going to stop her from pressing the button more than she needed someone who loved pressing buttons, because if she was with someone who loved pressing buttons, they would have pressed it by now and they’d be on their way to prison. The trouble with this theory, though, was that (5) actually it wasn’t an awful lot of fun being the opposite of Ellie. It had been fun sometimes – at school, where Ellie’s … Ellieness could be contained. (6) But out in the world it was no fun at all. It was frightening and embarrassing.

Why does it matter so much? he asked her quietly. I mean, I know you like his records and everything, and I know it’s sad because of Frances Bean, but—

I loved him.

You didn’t know him.

Of course I knew him. I listened to him sing every single day. I wear him every single day. The things he sings about, that’s him. (7) I know him better than I know you. He understood me.

He understood you? How did that work? (8)How did someone you had never met understand you?

He knew what I felt, and he sang about it.

Marcus tried to remember some of the words to the songs on the Nirvana record that Will had given him for Christmas. He had only ever been able to hear little bits: I feel stupid and contagious.

A mosquito.I don’t have a gun. None of it meant anything to him.

So what were you feeling?

Angry.

(9) What about?

(10) Nothing. Just... life.

1. The opening phrase They didn’t talk on the train at first is a short one, reflecting the feeling of discomfort which Marcus has. The words at first suggest that there will be some conversation soon, but the reader is aware that Ellie has a bottle of vodka, and generally, once people start to drink alcohol, they become rather talkative. This sets up the scene nicely for the reader.
2. When Hornby writes that Ellie might threaten to do things to the people who looked at her when she swore or swigged from her bottle of vodka, the reader feels some empathy for Marcus, as he dealing with an uncontrollable force. Ellie is unrecognisable to Marcus at this point, and he is feeling extremely uncomfortable and helpless.
3. The short sentence she just wasn’t the right person for him is a very definite opinion for Marcus, which comes as something as a surprise to the reader since Marcus adored Ellie before this day and was blind to her faults. It is a sign of his beginning to be a bit better at understanding other people, even though he still has a long way to go.
4. Hornby shows Marcus’ thought process as he considers that sometimes people needed opposites, and Marcus could see how that might work. Marcus has made his mind up that Ellie and he are too different to have a relationship, but it is an indication of his broad-mindedness that he is willing to accept that, for some people, such a relationship could work very well.
5. Marcus is becoming more realistic about the time he has spent in the past hanging around with Ellie. Up to this day he was blinded by his adoration for her, but now he admits that it was difficult and embarrassing – actually it wasn’t an awful lot of fun being the opposite of Ellie.
6. But out in the world it was no fun at all. It was frightening and embarrassing. When Marcus thinks of being out in the world he means that he was always in a controlled environment with Ellie before, so she was limited in the amount of damage she could cause; however, now that they are on a train by themselves, he is starting to appreciate just how little he is able to do to keep her calm. He is also frightened by the way that she totally ignores his feelings.
7. When Ellie tells Marcus, I know him better than I know you. He understood me, Marcus is unable to understand what she means. He is thinking literally, as he always does, and realises that Kurt Cobain could not possibly have understood Ellie, as they never met. Ellie is behaving as a stereotypical teenager here, who thinks that nobody understands her and that her only salvation is in the music she listens to. She thinks, as many music fans do, that she knows Kurt Cobain through his lyrics, but of course, this is not possible.
8. Marcus asks himself the question How did someone you had never met understand you? He tends to take people’s comments at their face value. He thinks through what Ellie has told him about being understood by Kurt Cobain and he knows instinctively that this is not true. As this conversation goes on, he feels more and more distanced from Ellie.
9. The fact that, even after Ellie has been discussing how Kurt Cobain understood her, Marcus has to ask What about? reinforces how different Marcus is from other teenagers. He really has no idea why Ellie is feeling angry. She felt that Kurt Cobain was on her wavelength, so to speak, but Marcus is not on the normal teenage wavelength. For him, it is a simple matter. Ellie and Kurt Cobain did not know each other so there can be no connection. This quote is also quite important because it allows the reader to see that all the earlier discussions with Will and Ellie about the music Marcus likes have been nonsense, because he evidently does not feel any connection to the singers. It is another example of how his mother has always made his choices for him.
10. This final line in this extract, Nothing. Just... life, summarises Ellie’s feelings about her life, and echoes how Will, Marcus and Fiona have all been trying to understand the meaning of life for themselves. This is, after all, the human condition; trying to understand why we are here!