GCSE English Language 2.0 – Poverty – Paper 1

Section A – Reading

Read Text 1 below and then answer Questions 1–3.

This extract is adapted from a Victorian account describing the bleak conditions and vulnerable people inside a London workhouse.

A Walk In A Workhouse

On a certain Sunday, I formed one of the congregation assembled in the chapel of a large metropolitan Workhouse. With the exception of the clergyman and clerk, and a very few officials, there were none but paupers present. The children sat in the galleries; the women in the body of the chapel, and in one of the side aisles; the men in the remaining aisle. The service was decorously performed, though the sermon might have been much better adapted to the comprehension and to the circumstances of the hearers.

The usual supplications were offered, with more than the usual significancy in such a place, for the fatherless children and widows, for all sick persons and young children, for all that were desolate and oppressed, for the comforting and helping of the weak-hearted, for the raising-up of them that had fallen; for all that were in danger, necessity, and tribulation. The prayers of the congregation were desired ‘for several persons in the various wards dangerously ill;’ and others who were recovering returned their thanks to Heaven.

Among this congregation, were some evil-looking young women, and beetle-browed young men; but not many – perhaps that kind of characters kept away. Generally, the faces (those of the children excepted) were depressed and subdued, and wanted colour. Aged people were there, in every variety. Mumbling, blear-eyed, spectacled, stupid, deaf, lame; vacantly winking in the gleams of sun that now and then crept in through the open doors, from the paved yard; shading their listening ears, or blinking eyes, with their withered hands; poring over their books, leering at nothing, going to sleep, crouching and drooping in corners. There were weird old women, all skeleton within, all bonnet and cloak without, continually wiping their eyes with dirty dusters of pocket- handkerchiefs; and there were ugly old crones, both male and female, with a ghastly kind of contentment upon them which was not at all comforting to see.

When the service was over, I walked with the humane and conscientious gentleman whose duty it was to take that walk, that Sunday morning, through the little world of poverty enclosed within the workhouse walls. It was inhabited by a population of some fifteen hundred or two thousand paupers, ranging from the infant newly born or not yet come into the pauper world, to the old man dying on his bed.

Read Text 2 below and then answer Questions 4-6.

This extract is adapted from a study of Victorian street‑workers, showing the huge numbers who relied on precarious, weather‑dependent jobs to survive.

London Labour And The London Poor

The number of costermongers – that it is to say, of those street-sellers attending the London “green” and “fish markets” – appears to be, from the best data at my command, now 30,000 men, women, and children. But, great as is this number, still the costermongers are only a portion of the street-folk. Besides these, there are, as we have seen, many other large classes obtaining their livelihood in the streets.

The street musicians, for instance, are said to number 1,000, and the old clothesmen the same. There are supposed to be at the least 500 sellers of water-cresses; 200 coffee-stalls; 200 play-bill sellers; from 800 to 1,000 bone-grubbers and mud-larks; 1,000 crossing-sweepers; another thousand chimney-sweeps, and the same number of turncocks and lamp-lighters; all of whom, together with the street-performers and showmen, tinkers, chair, umbrella, and clock-menders, sellers of bonnet-boxes, toys, stationery, and others, make up, it may be fairly assumed, full thirty thousand adults, so that, reckoning men, women, and children, we may truly say that there are upwards of fifty thousand individuals, or  about a fortieth-part of the entire population of the metropolis getting their living in the streets.

Now of all modes of obtaining subsistence, that of street-selling is the most precarious. Continued wet weather deprives those who depend for their bread upon the number of people frequenting the public thoroughfares of all means of living; and it is painful to think of the hundreds belonging to this class in the metropolis who are reduced to starvation by three or four days successive rain. Moreover, in the winter, the street-sellers of fruit and vegetables are cut off from the ordinary means of gaining their livelihood, and, consequently, they have to suffer the greatest privations at a time when the severity of the season demands the greatest amount of physical comforts. To expect that the increased earnings of the summer should be put aside as a provision against the deficiencies of the winter, is to expect that a precarious occupation should beget provident habits, which is against the nature of things, for it is always in those callings which are the most uncertain, that the greatest amount of improvidence and intemperance are found to exist. It is not the well-fed man, be it observed, but the starving one that is in danger of surfeiting himself.

SECTION A – Reading

Read Text 1 and answer Questions 1–3.

Q1. Identify four details about the people in the congregation and how they are arranged. (4 marks)

Q2. In paragraph 3, the writer tries to highlight the suffering and vulnerability of the older paupers. Evaluate how successfully this is achieved. Give three reasons for your opinion and use examples from paragraph 3. (6 marks)

Q3. How does the writer use language to interest and inform the reader? You should include:

• the writer’s use of language
• the effect on the reader.

Use examples from the whole text and relevant subject terminology. (8 marks)

Read Text 2 and answer Questions 4–6.

Q4a. From paragraph 2, identify two groups of people who make their living in the streets. (2 marks)

Q4b. Read this extract.

Now of all modes of obtaining subsistence, that of street-selling is the most precarious. Continued wet weather deprives those who depend for their bread upon the number of people frequenting the public thoroughfares of all means of living; and it is painful to think of the hundreds belonging to this class in the metropolis who are reduced to starvation by three or four days successive rain. Moreover, in the winter, the street-sellers of fruit and vegetables are cut off from the ordinary means of gaining their livelihood, and, consequently, they have to suffer the greatest privations at a time when the severity of the season demands the greatest amount of physical comforts.

From the extract, identify two identify two problems faced by those who depend on street‑selling for their livelihood. (2 marks)

Q5.  Read this extract.

Now of all modes of obtaining subsistence, that of street-selling is the most precarious. Continued wet weather deprives those who depend for their bread upon the number of people frequenting the public thoroughfares of all means of living; and it is painful to think of the hundreds belonging to this class in the metropolis who are reduced to starvation by three or four days successive rain.

In the extract, the writer tries to show that street‑selling is a harsh and insecure way of life. Evaluate how successfully this is achieved. Give three reasons for your opinion and use examples from the extract. (6 marks)

Q6.  For this question refer to the whole of Text 2.

‘In my view, this text shows that the hardships that street‑sellers face are unavoidable.’

Based on your evaluation of the text, how far do you agree with this opinion? Use examples from the text to support your evaluation. (12 marks)

SECTION B – Writing

Answer ONE question. You should spend about 45 minutes on this section.

EITHER

*7 Write an article for a youth magazine with the title ‘What Can Modern Society Learn from Victorian Poverty?’ A student has started the response.

When we look back at the lives of the poorest people in Victorian Britain, it’s easy to feel shocked by the hardship they faced. But these stories also reveal important lessons about resilience, fairness and the need for compassion.

Continue this article using your own ideas.

*Your response will be marked for the accurate and appropriate use of vocabulary, spelling, punctuation and grammar. (40 marks)

OR

*8 Write a speech encouraging students to appreciate the opportunities they have today compared to young people in Victorian London. You should include:

• Examples of challenges faced by Victorian children
• Reasons why modern opportunities matter
• Advice on how students can make the most of what they have

*Your response will be marked for the accurate and appropriate use of vocabulary, spelling, punctuation and grammar. (40 marks)

Sources:

Text One: https://www.workhouses.org.uk/journalism/walkinaworkhouse.shtml

Text Two: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/55998/pg55998.txt