1. Mr Pip by Lloyd Jones
GCSE
It felt like something we had rehearsed, the way we came out of our houses. It was funny
how we seemed to know what to do without being told or asked. The redskins had painted their
faces black. We saw their eyes shift. There was no shouting. There was no need. Everyone knew
what to do. The soldiers and us. We were already known to one another.
When the redskin in charge spoke we were glad to hear it was a pleasant voice; we were
expecting him to shout at us. What he wanted was simple enough. He wanted the names of
everyone in our village. He said it was for security reasons, and we mustn’t be afraid. He asked for
our cooperation. We should give our names and our ages. He never once raised his voice. What he
asked for was a simple thing to comply with, our names were not dangerous in any way – they were
not explosives, they did not contain hidden fish-hooks.
Two soldiers walked along our line taking down our names. In one or two cases we took the
pen from the soldier to write our name correctly. We smiled as a we did so. We were happy to help,
especially with the correct spelling. The names did not take long to collect.
Two sheets of paper were handed to the officer. We watched him look slowly down the list.
He was after a particular name, perhaps one from our village who had joined the rebels.
When the officer finally looked up it was clear he wasn’t interested in us kids. He was only
interested in grown-up faces. He took an interest in each one. Whenever one of our parents
dropped their eyes he counted this as a victory.
a. How does Lloyd Jonescreate tensioninthis extract?
2. The destructive nature ofwar is slow and debilitatingtoboth perpetrators and victims. Do you
agree?Answer this questioninrelationto the eventsof ‘MisterPip’.
(30 marks)
