Paper one – Q4.
1.	Chronological/circular structure.
2.	Opening line/positioning of key lines, end impact.
3.	Contrast.

1.	Underline key words in the question.
2.	Annotate evidence.


Structure plan:
To some extent I agree with...
I certainly agree that…
However, it could also be argued that…
Overall, I agree because...
Relate: specifically to a bullet point on question.
 Link: to statement in question.

To some extent, I agree with the view that towards the end of the story, the ‘boy’s’ game comes to life, bringing a darker and more chilling tone. “‘All it needs is people’, said the man. ‘Yes, it needs people,’ said the boy.  And when he looked down, tiny creatures were scuttling beneath the glass roof”.
This foreshadows the end of the story, where the ‘creatures’ are the people that live in the city, including his friends and family, and demands that the lamppost ‘gives them back’, to receive the reply of ‘I haven’t got them, you do’.
This allows the writer to start creating a dark and chilling, atmospheric tone, as the writer shows that the ‘boy’s’ game has become real, with the people that he knows and loves in his ‘better, grander glass city’.
The writer is successful in writing a dark and chilling atmosphere, because as the reader reads, they start to become more and more ‘chilled’, as they continue. This links back to the reviewer’s statement, because it shows that the writer has written in a darker, more chilling tone than before.


I certainly agree that the writer has managed to create a dark and chilling tone, with the use of the simple sentence ‘before he reached the end of the street, he knew something was wrong. The world was too quiet’; which emphasises the characters fear.
This could show that in the boy’s imagination, he believes that everybody is gone, and that the lamppost was a real, animated object, and that he was speaking to them – meaning the writer is using imaginative dialogue, this could show the reader that the boy’s game is unreal, and he is struggling to separate reality from imaginary.
The writer emphasises the fact that the boy is playing a game, especially earlier in the story, and in this, succeeds in creating dark atmosphere, and emphasises that the boy is struggling to separate reality and what’s unreal.
This helps the writer succeed in creating a dark and chilling tone, because it allows the writer to emphasise the difference in the boy’s mentality, as the story progresses, especially with the fact that the writer is using imaginative dialogue between the boy and the lamppost, and by ending the extract with:  “The boy couldn’t be sure what was a particle of rubble, and what was a person sleeping in their broken glass house. ‘How do I get them back?’ he asked. But the man was a lamppost again”. This links back to the reviewer’s analysis, because the reviewer says: ‘this end part of the extract where the boy’s game comes to life, takes a darker and more chilling tone’.


To some extent, I agree with the student that the writer is able to successfully build suspense, “she chuckled and reached out to close the curtain; then froze in horror”.
This could show that the writer is attempting to excite the reader, by introducing a theme of horror into the text, through the writer writing “reflected in the glass was a figure standing behind her in the doorway”, emphasising the creepiness and suspense of the situation. This links to the student’s viewpoint on the extract, that the story is ‘really creepy’.

I certainly agree that agree that the writer is able to write a suspenseful tone, through the use of metaphors and simple sentences, such as “tap! The sound sounded in the night again”, showing the reader that there is something making a loud, tapping noise, whether it’s human, or inanimate, and whether it’s inside or outside.
This could show the reader that the character is worried, and scared, that there is somebody in the house, and that the character is debating on whether to go back upstairs, to call somebody, and even debating to call the police later on in the extract, when she goes into the living room and hears the tap come from behind the curtained window.
This links to the student’s analysis that the writer is able to create suspense and a creepy atmosphere, because the reader starts to feel anxious whilst reading the extract, and wants to know what is making the tapping noise – building up suspense.
However, it could be argued that the writer isn’t good at building up suspense, because the reader is relaxed by “the old room looked dusky, but reassuringly familiar”, showing the reader that nothing is out of the normality of the day-to-day life of the character, meaning that there’s no creepy atmosphere in the certain extract of the text. The familiarity of the room shows the reader that there is no reason for the character to be scared, and that their mind is playing tricks on them.
This could show the reader that the writer is writing to relax the reader, to create a larger, tenser atmosphere in the end of the extract, where the writer reveals the turning point, with “reflected in the glass, was a figure standing behind her in the doorway”.
This links to the student’s analysis that the writer is building up a suspenseful and creepy atmosphere, because it shows throughout the text that there’s ‘nothing wrong’.

In conclusion, I agree that the writer is successful in creating a creepy and suspenseful atmosphere, through writing “someone must be out there, hidden by the curtains...and started to dial 999, then put it down, this was stupid”. This emphasises the atmosphere of suspense, because the character is consistently telling herself that nothing is wrong, and that there’s nothing there.
This could show the reader that the writer is deliberately writing to relax the reader, to create a tenser reaction at the end of the extract, and to create a suspenseful atmosphere – meaning that the reader desires to know what happens.
This links to the student’s analysis that the writer is successful in creating a creepy and suspenseful atmosphere, as the atmosphere of suspense and creepiness is maintained throughout most of the extract, with the writer deliberately writing to calm the reader down throughout multiple points in the story.