Name: _________________________________________

THE NAMISONGA CLUSTER EXAMINATIONS BOARD

2019 MALAWI SCHOOL CERTIFICATE OF EDUCATION MOCK EXAMINATION

ENGLISH
Subject Number: M052/III

Monday April 8, 2019 Time Allowed: 2 hours

02:00 – 04:00 pm

PAPER III (70 marks)

Instructions:

1. This paper contains 12 pages. Please check.

2. This paper has two sections: A and B.
a. Section A contains two compulsory contextual questions. Therefore, you are
required to answer both questions. Use the space provided.
b. Section B comprises essay questions. Answer one questions on each book on
the lined answer sheets.
3. You should spend the first 10 minutes reading all the questions adn planning your
answers to the questions you choose.
4. Write your name at the top of each page of the question paper.

PLEASE DO NOT TURN OVER UNTIL YOU ARE TOLD TO DO SO.

 Name: ______________________________________________
2019 Page 2 of 12 M052/III

Section A (30 marks)

Answer both questions
1. POEM
Read the poem carefully and answer the questions that follow.

WELCOME HOME
By Patrick Achitabwino

Son of soil
Have the wheels bursted?
You flew by the market blaring the horn
Throwing dust in the eyes of your people
Welcome home.
Points of order don’t drill boreholes
Can rejecting budgets buy drugs for the clinics?

Welcome you home our beloved child

You danced the dance of the honourables
You drunk the liquor of power
Through a paper we gave you a sit
Through a paper we have recalled you back

The ballot paper is the voice of the voiceless

Isn’t that paper enough a gun and bullet to kill elephants?

Prince of the compound

If thirst droughts your throat
Lick water with bleating goats in the dams
And if diarrhea tears down your bowels
Pray that shoots of chitimbe remedy you

We mourned that you lost your identity

Should we not celebrate that you see your mess with us now?

Constituency messiah
Rain never fears darkness
What kills a burning furnace
Is the ash that it shits
Once every five years we are kings and queens
 Name: ______________________________________________
2019 Page 3 of 12 M052/III

Questions
a. Identify the persona in the poem.
___________________________________________________________________(1 mark)
b. Who is the addressee in the poem?
___________________________________________________________________(1 mark)
c. What is the geographical setting of the poem? Justify your answer.
__________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________(2 marks)
d. Describe one theme depicted in the poem.
__________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________(2 marks)
e. Identify personification in the poem.
___________________________________________________________________(1 mark)
f. Explain any one character of the addressee.
__________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________(2 marks)
g. What possible reason has forced son of the soil to go home?
__________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________(2 marks)
h. What figure of speech is “constituency messiah”?
__________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________(1 mark)
i. Give any one duty that the son of the soil was supposed to perform during his tenure?
___________________________________________________________________(1 mark)
j. What does the expression “every five years we are kings and queens” mean?
__________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________(2 marks)

2. SHORT STORY
Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.

FIREFLY
By Adewale Maja-Pearce-Nigeria
 Name: ______________________________________________
2019 Page 4 of 12 M052/III

When he got back to the room that evening, the child was still coughing but presently it
subsided to a wheeze and he entered. He went over to his wife, who was sitting on a stool
and put his hand on her shoulder but she did not acknowledge his presence.

“Did you go to the hospital?” he asked.

“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“The doctor gave me a piece of paper,” she said and handed it to him. He looked at it.
“You went to the place?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“One Naira.”
He nodded, folded the paper, and gave it back to her. He looked at the child again. There
were tiny beads of sweat on her forehead and she was rubbing her chest. He turned away and
left the room. He went to the open kitchen and made a fire and put on a pan of water.
After he had eaten he sat on the step and listened to the child’s gasps and thought. After a
while he re-entered the room.
“Tomorrow I will ask the master,” he said.
“This Lagos is not a good place,” she said. He looked down at her, her head bowed in grief,
but what could he say? He put out his hand, uncertainly, but then withdrew it.
“Tomorrow I ask the master,” he repeated and returned to the step. It grew dark. He thought
of the village and of this city; he thought of his helplessness and of his former faith. IN the
end he could stand it no longer. He returned to the room.
“Don’t worry; it will be all right,” he said. For the first time she looked at him. “All right!”
she said. She turned away. “She is dying and you say it will be all right,” she added
contemptuously.
“The master will give me money,” he said.
“You lie!” she said. For a moment he wanted to shout at her, to tell her it was not his fault,
and that he had done it for the best . . .
“My father . . .,” she began.
“Please...,” he said, but what was the use? The child began wheezing again, and they looked
at the frail body contorted with pain. The woman started crying, and when she had finished
she said: “ I knew the journey was too much. She was not strong. I told you, but you did not
listen.
“I thought. . . “
 Name: ______________________________________________
2019 Page 5 of 12 M052/III

“You thought? What did you think? That Lagos would be better?”
“Yes.”
“Why? Who do we know? Have we family here?”
“No, but. . . but there was nothing to do in the village. The soldiers had destroyed. . .”
“My father would have given you work.”
“I didn’t want to work,” he said quickly, furiously.
“No, you wanted to be your own man, not so?” she said. She unscrewed the jar of Vaseline
and began rubbing the child’s body and talking gently. They both looked so vulnerable he
wanted to protect them. He raised both his hands but then dropped them to his side. He
became aware of a firefly in the room, hovering about the kerosene lamp that stood on the
table beneath the tiny window. Frogs croaked in the gutter at the back. The woman sat on
the bed and took up the child and started rocking to and fro and humming. He felt like an
intruder. He went out.
When he returned, an hour or so later, they were as he had left them She looked up at him
Her eyes were red and swollen. She was exhausted.
“So you have come back. I thought you had run away,” she said. Then: “You don’t have to
worry, it is finished.”
“I . . .”
“Go, I don’t want you,” she said. She laid the child on the bed and stared at the limp body for
a moment. The firefly still hovered about the lamp. He stretched out his hand and caught it in
his palm. She stood up and reached for the suitcase and began packing her things.

Questions
a. What shows that the wife did not agree with her husband’s decision to come to Lagos?
__________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________(2 marks)
b. Identify the geographical setting. Justify your answer.
__________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________(2 marks)
c. State the mood of the story. Justify your answer.
__________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________(2 marks)
d. Describe the characters of the following individuals
i. The husband:
 Name: ______________________________________________
2019 Page 6 of 12 M052/III

__________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________(2 marks)
ii. The wife:
__________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________(2 marks)
e. “You don’t have to worry, it is finished.” What does this statement mean?
__________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________(2 marks)
f. Describe any one theme from the story.
__________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________(2 marks)
g. In what point of view is the story told?
___________________________________________________________________(1 mark)

Section B (40 marks)

Answer both questions in this section on the spaces provided.
Choose either a or b in each case and not both.

3. THE PEARL – by John Steinbeck

EITHER
a. With relevant examples from the novel The Pearl discuss the troubled life which Kino
undergoes after getting the pearl of the world. (20 marks)
OR
b. Discuss the characters of the following using four points for each.
i. Kino
ii. The French Doctor (20 marks)

4. MACBETH – by William Shakespeare

EITHER
a. Identify four characters in the play Macbeth that took risk in their dealings and show
what they did. (20 marks)
OR
b. With examples from the play Macbeth, show how the following themes are
portrayed:
i. Betrayal (discuss four points)
ii. Superstition (discussion four points) (20 marks)
 Name: ______________________________________________
2019 Page 7 of 12 M052/III

__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
 Name: ______________________________________________
2019 Page 8 of 12 M052/III

__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
 Name: ______________________________________________
2019 Page 9 of 12 M052/III

__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
 Name: ______________________________________________
2019 Page 10 of 12 M052/III

__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
 Name: ______________________________________________
2019 Page 11 of 12 M052/III

__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
 Name: ______________________________________________
2019 Page 12 of 12 M052/III

__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

END OF QUESTION PAPER