Using exemplar material

Before reading the exemplar material, you should attempt the question yourself. Under timed conditions (you will be given two hours in total to complete the real exam so you should aim to spend half that amount on the Duffy section - remember to increase this if you receive additional time in the real exam), plan, write and check your answer. If possible, ask your teacher to mark your answer. You should only read the exemplar answer when you have completed the question yourself. The essay below received full marks in the June 2009 AQA AS English Literature exam. Examiners underline words, phrases and sentences that meet the assessment objectives. Words which were underlined in this essay are indicated by colour; you will see that the examiner has marked words or phrases that indicated knowledges of the poems, knowledge of techniques, understanding of themes, as well as those that refer to the question. The examiner's comments are indicated by coloured stars: hover over these to see what the examiner wrote.

'Duffy is entirely hostile towards men in The World's Wife'. How far do you agree with this view of the ways Duffy presents men in this collection?

In The World’s Wife, it could be perceived that Duffy is entirely hostile towards men; as in some of the poems there is a certain degree of hostility expressed, however, some of the poems express no hostility, and celebrate the heterosexual relationship.
In the poem, ‘Queen Kong’ by Duffy, there is an immediate sense of a happy, sexual relationship, in which the male human and the female gorilla appear to share a mutual love for one another, and so in this poem there is not hostility conveyed towards men. Duffy expresses the happiness the two characters get from each other through the use of metaphor, a technique commonly used by Duffy, that can also be seen in ‘Mrs Quasimodo’: ‘Peel him, put the tip of my tongue to the grape of his flesh’, this metaphor shows a delight and happiness the female gets from her male partner, celebrating a love that can be had between a male and a female. Similarly, Duffy’s use of rhyme and assonance, also used in ‘Little Red Cap’ and ‘Mrs Quasimodo’ is used to convey further, a happiness felt by both characters, and the female persona’s sadness when her lover dies, ‘No man has been loved more...against my massive, breathing lungs, he hears me roar.’ This use of rhyme emphasises a happiness ended when the heterosexual relationship ended, and so Duffy celebrates the love that she acknowledges can be had between a man and a woman. Thematically, ‘Queen Kong’ focusses on love and heterosexual relationships, and is a poem of a happy love. The theme of love is one that is commonly used by Duffy in The World’s Wife, although this is one of the few poems in the collection in which it is fulfilled. Duffy’s noticeable use of enjambment in ‘Queen Kong’, as well as in ‘Little Red Cap’ and ‘Mrs Quasimodo’, is one that could be used to express the ongoing love felt by the female persona: ‘No man / has been loved more’. Yet again, via this technique, Duffy expresses a sympathy for men and celebrates love between members of the opposite sex, and to do this further, there is a noticeable use of anthropomorphism. The female character being a gorilla suggests a role reversal in which the female is predatory, although in ‘Little Red Cap’, this technique is used in a different way.
Although ‘Queen Kong’ conveys men and heterosexual relationships in a positive and loving light, showing no hostility, many of the poems do have a noticeable air of hostility about them. ‘Little Red Cap’, the opening poem in the collection, shows a young, sixteen year old girl, taken in by a wolf. The fact that the male character is conveyed as a wolf suggests a predatory nature to men, and a shallowness. These are just two themes in this poem that common in Duffy poems and can be seen in ‘Mrs Quasimodo’. Another theme conveyed through listing and the use of assonance is the stupidity/naivety of men, ‘sweet sixteen, never been, waif, and bought me a drink’. Although at first, it appears that the male wolf is the predatory character, and he believes that he shall come out on top, she ‘made quite sure he spotted me’, and used his shallowness against him, the use of rhyme here almost like a victory song, before the reader realises the role reversal and the victory for the seductive female over the male. Duffy’s use of ambiguity conveys an innocence on behalf of the female character, and the lack of morals on behalf of the sordid wolf, perhaps a suggestion universally about men’s morals, ‘ bought me a drink, / my first’. The use of ‘my first’ being in a separate [line] suggests this may be girl’s first drink, or her first sexual experience. The hostility shown towards men in this particular poem is then further expressed through symbolism and enjambement, ‘white dove / which flew, straight, from my heels to his open mouth. One bite, dead.’ The use of the white dove as a symbol of peace is juxtaposed with the violence and crudeness of men, highlighting the hostile view perhaps, that anything beautiful, ie women, is crushed or eaten, by men. However, as in many of Duffy’s poems, such as ‘Mrs Quasimodo’, there is a role reversal, in which the female comes out victorious, ‘one chop, scrotum to throat’, her after killing the wolf for eating her Grandmother she comes out of the forest with ‘flowers singing, all alone’.
This use of a noticeable and unexpected role reversal is also present in Mrs Quasimodo, in which the female character again is victorious at the end of the poem, despite her suffering caused by her husband: ‘Get this / When I was done and bloody to the wrist, / I squatted down among the murdered music of the bells / and pissed’. Just in this last short stanza Duffy expresses the theme of violence and role reversal, through the use of rhyme and assonance, ‘Get this’ / ‘to the wrist’ / ‘and pissed’, creating, as in ‘Little Red Cap’ an almost cheery sense of victory and joy. The use of alliteration in ‘murdered music’, along with the inclusion of the word ‘murdered’, highlight the violence needed to overcome the pressures placed on the female character, both by men and by a male dominated society: ‘loathing of yourself: banging your ugly head against a wall’.
Duffy develops the tone of bitterness and self-loathing, and contrives this at the bottom of the stanza in the asyndetic list written in italics: ‘You pig. You stupid cow. You fucking buffalo. Abortion. Cripple. Spastic. Mongol. Ape.’ This listing builds up feeling of self-loathing the reader feels was caused by the character’s husband, as he feel for a beautiful woman over his wife. In this way the poem shows a hostility towards men, and highlights an apparent shallowness and the negativity and devastation that can come from heterosexual relationships. Duffy’s use of violent imagery expresses a violent theme and highlights the jealousy and bitterness caused by the male in the poem: ‘kept open her astonished golden lips / and let me in’. This use of imagery is also sexual and could refer to childbirth or the pain women go through during this. Overall, the main themes of this poem: violence, love, pressure/expectations placed on women, shallowness and stupidity etc highlight a hostility towards men, specifically in this poem.
Overall, the statement ‘Duffy is entirely hostile towards men in the World’s Wife’ is not true. Although many of the poems such as ‘Mrs Quasimodo’ and ‘Little Red Cap’ as well as the majority of the other poems in the collection, do show men in a somewhat negative light, or highlight their apparent stupidity and apparent shallowness etc. and the oppression of females in male dominated society through well known fairytales and stories. However, not all of the poems show some form of hostility or negativity towards men, with poems like ‘Queen Kong’ actually celebrating the love and happiness of heterosexual relationships and demonstrating the happiness can bring to women. Therefore, overall, to some extent I agree with the statement, Duffy is entirely hostile towards men in ‘The World’s Wife’, but not fully, as not all of the poems do show men in a negative light or show hostility towards them, with some of the poems celebrating them, and their actions and relationships with women.