AQA Paper 2 Section A covers modern prose or drama. There are nine set texts; your school chooses one. Unlike Paper 1, there is no extract — you write two essay questions (choose one) entirely from memory.
The nine set texts
- An Inspector Calls (Priestley)
- Lord of the Flies (Golding)
- A View from the Bridge (Miller)
- Blood Brothers (Russell)
- Animal Farm (Orwell)
- Anita and Me (Syal)
- Pigeon English (Kelman)
- The Strange Case… / Telling Tales (anthology)
Why "modern" matters
These texts were written in the 20th century (1945–1996), in the context of:
- WWII and its aftermath (Golding, Orwell, Miller, Priestley).
- Post-colonial Britain (Syal, Kelman, Levy in Telling Tales).
- Thatcher's Britain and social inequality (Russell's Blood Brothers 1983).
- Cold War anxiety (Miller's McCarthyism context).
The AO3 context for modern texts is therefore primarily 20th-century — not Victorian. The mark scheme values specific, relevant historical/literary context.
Common themes across modern texts
Social responsibility and inequality — An Inspector Calls (Birling's capitalism vs. Priestley's socialism); Blood Brothers (class determines life outcomes); Animal Farm (revolutionary corruption).
Power and its abuse — Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies, A View from the Bridge, An Inspector Calls — all trace what power does to individuals and communities.
Identity and belonging — Anita and Me, Pigeon English, Blood Brothers — who belongs? How does society create insiders and outsiders?
The individual vs. the system — A View from the Bridge (Eddie vs. the legal and community systems), Animal Farm (Boxer vs. the pigs), Lord of the Flies (Ralph and Piggy vs. Jack's tribe).
Exam approach
- 45 minutes; no extract; two questions offered (choose one).
- AO1=12, AO2=12, AO3=6, AO4=4. Total 34 marks.
- AO3 worth 6 marks — use 2-3 specific, integrated contextual points.
- AO4 worth 4 marks — write accurately; check spelling of author/character names.
- Choose the question where you can make the strongest argument AND have the most precise textual evidence.
What makes a strong modern texts essay
- A thesis that takes a position: "Priestley presents the Birlings as a class whose self-deception is indistinguishable from moral failure."
- Quotation from memory: keep quotes short (3–8 words), precise, and analysable.
- Structural analysis: how does the text begin and end? What is the turning point? Track the theme across the whole text.
- AO3 integrated: "Miller wrote A View from the Bridge in 1955, the same year he was called before HUAC…"
AI-generated · claude-opus-4-7 · v3-deep-english-literature