Name:_________________________________________ Class:_________________________

MZUZU DIOCESE
2021 MALAWI SCHOOL CERTIFICATE OF EDUCATION MOCK EXAMINATION

ENGLISH
Subject Number: M052/III

Thursday, 12 August Time Allowed 2 hrs

7:30 – 9:30 am

PAPER III
(70 marks)
Instructions
1. This paper has two sections. Section Question Tick if Do not write in
A has two compulsory contextual number answered these columns
questions while section B comprises
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optional essay questions. Answer
only one question on each book.
2. Remember to write your Number
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top of answer sheet before you start
answering the questions.
3. Hand in your completed question
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paper when time is called to stop
writing
4. In the table, tick against the question
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number you have attempted

Page 1 of 12
Name: _____________________________________________ class: ________

Section A (30 marks)

Answer both questions in this section

1. POEM

Read the poem carefully and answer the questions that follow

To My Wife Gertrude by Enoch TimpunzaMvula

Woman of lightning flashes, He has to stuff knowledge

Woman of flickering eyes, Herbs and charms
Be at peace. Do not weep. Into my empty gourd-
Out of the echoes Like black head
Of your tears’ well For five maize harvests.
I have heard your cry After that I will come
While I still sit Come back home.
In this classroom You will eat and eat
Of the white magician. The national vibama
He diagnosed me. And wear the national
I am a serious case, Chirundu and chitenje.
Dying of extreme ignorance.

Questions
a. Identify the persona.
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(1 mark)
b. Describe the character of the addressee.
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(2 marks)

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c. What does empty gourd symbolise in the poem?

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(2 marks)
d. Describe any two themes portrayed in the poem.
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(4 marks)
e. Identify consonance in the poem. Give any two examples.
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(2 marks)
f. Identify a simile in the poem.
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(I mark)
g. What does the expression ‘five maize harvests’ mean?
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(1 mark)

h. Identify hyperbole in the poem. Give any two examples.

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(2 marks)

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Name: _____________________________________________ class: ________

2. Short Story

Read the following short story carefully and answer the questions that follow.

BLOODY PUMPKIN by Foster Benjamin

The April night became unusually quiet. No dogs barked in the vicinity, no owls even hooted
in the darkness enveloping Makaula Village. In the deepening silence, at the dark corner of
his pumpkin garden, Makontena stood watching and listening. Beside him lay his
shimmering panga knife.

Not long ago, while barefooted and grotesquely dressed, he had been patrolling the garden in
quite of a human enemy. No enemy, however, stumbled in his way. Still, Makontena
lingered on. Of course, he had enough of it. Makontena was ready to act without mercy.
How dare could they steal his pumpkins, his very life depended upon the pumpkins. And he
loved them more than anything else. More than his own wife, Nachanza! Nachanza!

Immediately he spat in disgust. If there was anyone, whom he detested tonight, other than
the thief, it was Nachanza, the initiator of the quarrel, the one who had turned cold on him as
if he were not her husband. He recalled how he and his wife had bitterly fallen out. “You
mustn’t go out patrolling Abambo,” Nachanza had pleaded while breast feeding her wailing
baby

“No, I must go!”Makontena had snapped back, brandishing a panga in one hand and a torch
in the other.

“How dare you want to sleep out while the baby is critically ill? You must stay and help me
look after the baby!” she had admonished amidst gathering sobs.
Silence!

“Am I speaking to a wall or a dead wood, Abambo a Puna?”

“Shut up, you talkative maize mill!” thundered Makontena, his eyes gleaming in the
lamplight, “continue spitting out flies from your toilet of your mouth and you’ll soon regret

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it! Will your gluttonous mouth not starve if all pumpkins are stolen, you good-for nothing
woman?”

For a moment Nachanza had fallen silent, thinking of what to say next. Fear had just
overwhelmed her. At last she had just found her voice. “Which is more important, your
pumpkins or Puna’s life? Have you lost your senses?”

“Nacha! You-are-scratching-on-my-baldhead!” Makontena, his anger rising, had stammered.

“You’ll see what my second wife, Abengo, saw if you continue this argument, you husband
snatcher!” In that instant he had unleashed a full frontal blow, which had sent Nachanza and
her sick baby crushing against the wall. She and her baby had all broken into heartrending
wailing while Makontena stormed out into the chilly night.

That was what Makontena was all about. Whenever he picked a quarrel with his wives-
which he always picked only at a slightest mistake, he would never hesitate settling it in
blows and kicks. Nachanza had lost several teeth on such confrontations.

A faint sound suddenly jerked Makontena out of his reverie. He stood alert, his panga knife
at the ready. The sound died down immediately. It fascinated him. What was it? A thief?
He was not sure. As he peered through the darkness, he noticed something standing a few
feet away. He focussed his eyes quite intently. He held his breath while gripping his weapon
tight. His hour had just struck. His waiting was now over.

Soon he began walking on tiptoe. He must catch the thief by surprise. All of a sudden,
Makontena stopped dead just as he had ruffled dry grass. The rascal might have heard him
approaching. Makontena, panga still in hand, started crawling towards the unsuspecting
pumpkin thief. Drawing closer, he jumped and hacked the thief on the head. A metallic
sound ensued and Makontena fell under the impact. Astonishment crept into Makontena’s
heart.

His eyes fell upon the tree-stump. He had stabbed the stump thinking it was a thief. What a
fool! He cursed himself. It suddenly occurred to him that the stump was a thief incarnate. Of
course the magical crook had turned himself into a stump. He remembered how tales of
magic thieves had abounded in those days. “Ha! He can’t cheat me, I’ve seen so many rains-
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red, green and dark rains and he’s just chasing at his own shadow!” Makontena thought to
himself.

Turning away from the thief-turned-stump, he stripped himself naked and soon started
urinating on the blade of his panga. As he was peeing, he was uttering some incantations.
Certainly, he could not be outwitted. He must deal with the magic thief, once and for all.

With his might, Makontena struck the thief again. It startled him even more as the heavy
metallic roar sliced through the night. The thief didn’t utter a death-cry as he had expected.
The next moment Makontena laughed to himself. It had just dawned on him that the stump
had been there since time immemorial. He cursed at his own amnesia.

As foolish as he were, he retraced his steps and resumed hiding. Soon his patience was
wearing thin. His eyes were hurting from lack of sleep. The cold was too unbearable. All
the same, he could not despair. Very soon the thief would be stealing into his garden. He
glanced at his watch and it ticked midnight. Thieves always stir around midnight.

A tread of footsteps instantly awoke him from falling asleep. He rubbed his eyes rapidly to
make sure he was not dreaming. Yes, he was not seeing things. Unmistakable human
footsteps really echoed past him as he was still lurking among the thick pumpkin leaves.

Gripping his panga, Makontena walked as silently as he could like a cat stalking a mouse. He
could now see the figure standing by the edge of his garden. What was he up to? Hatching a
strategy to steal? Uneasy questions flooded over his mind.

He could now see himself killing the rascal. Then he would bury him right in his garden
where he would decompose and become manure. How he would triumph over a bumper
harvest!

With this morbid thought Makontena edged closer, silent and deadly. With a mighty roar, he
stabbed the thief with such a savage force. Uttering a death-cry, the thief slumped to the
ground. He could see him writhing violently. Makontena’s teeth began chattering.

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Name: _____________________________________________ class: ________

A sudden curiosity had taken over him. He had to identify the enemy he had stabbed. As he
was bending over the body, that was gasping its last, Makontena, all of a sudden, could not
believe his eyes. He looked again at the dying man. He began trembling as if he was shaking
from the vividness of the nightmare. “Oooh! No! Nakari! Nakari!” Makontena cried out,
calling his brother who was slowly dying. The dying brother gasped faintly that Makontena
had difficulties to hear what the man was saying. “I came-to-tell-you-that-your-baby is dead
and eeeeh,” he breathed his last.

“Nakari! My brother! My baby! Am I to live to face this cruel world?” Makontena wailed
aloud. He was really longing for death. It was quiet revolting to imagine himself alive. For
a split second, he plucked the knife from Nakari’s side and drove it into his own belly. His
yelling immediately awoke villagers from their peaceful slumber. Horrified, the villagers
carried the bloodied brothers’ home amidst mystery and grief.

Questions
a. In what point of view is the story told?
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(1 mark)
b. What is the geographical setting of the story? Justify your answer.
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(2 marks)
c. Describe one character of Makontena.
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(2 marks)
d. Discuss any one theme from this short story.
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(2 marks)

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Name: _____________________________________________ class: ________

e. How does the title relate to the short story?

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(2 marks)
f. What is the mood of the story? Justify your answer.
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(2 marks)
g. “The evil that people do lives after them.” How does this proverb relate to the short story?
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(2 marks)
h. Explain any one external conflict that Makontena faces in the story.
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(1 mark)

Section B (40 marks)

3. The Pearlby John Steinbeck

a. Discuss the following themes in the novel “The Pearl”;

i. solidarity
ii. Greed (20 marks)
Or

b. Describe the characters of each of the following in the ‘The Pearl’;

i. The Pearl Buyers
ii. The Priest (20 marks)

4. MACBETH by William Shakespeare

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Name: _____________________________________________ class: ________

a. Characters in ‘Macbeth’ either suspect others or are suspected. With

examples, discuss the point. (20 marks)

Or

b. Discuss each of the following themes in the play ‘Macbeth’;

i. Deception
ii. Superstition (20 marks)

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End of question paper

NB: This paper contains 12 printed pages. Please check.

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