The red windows
An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.
Lucy had been sent to return a library book, but the errand was forgotten when she saw a red light above the rooftops. People were hurrying towards it from every side street. She joined them, holding her young cousin Ned by the wrist as they entered the market square.
A warehouse was burning. Flames moved behind the upper windows like bright curtains, and each time a pane broke the crowd gave a cry of surprise. A constable had stretched a rope across the street. He warned that the front wall had grown hot and ordered everyone to move back.
Nobody left. A grey-haired man tapped the bricks with his walking stick and announced that the building had stood for fifty years. Several people laughed. Others bent beneath the rope so that they could see past the hats in front of them. Lucy followed, although Ned asked whether they should go home.
The bell of the fire engine sounded at the end of the street. Its horses slowed because the road was packed with spectators. People pressed against the shop fronts to make a narrow passage, then closed together again as soon as it had passed. Lucy felt the heat on her face. She told herself that they would stay only until the roof fell.
The sound that changed her mind was not loud. It was a deep crack within the wall. Dust slipped from between the bricks, and the upper storey seemed to lean towards the street. The constable seized the rope and ran backwards, pulling the nearest spectators with him. Lucy dragged Ned towards a doorway. A section of brickwork struck the ground where they had been standing, scattering sparks and broken glass across the stones.
On the way home, Ned asked if they could watch the fire from the bridge. Lucy looked at the black dust on his sleeve and said no. Behind them, the sky still glowed red, but she did not turn to see it.
Evaluate the view that the writer successfully presents curiosity as something that causes people to ignore danger.
Support your judgement with detailed references to the passage.
To help you, you could consider:
456 exam-style questions on Edexcel GCSE English Language 1.3 Content: prose fiction study requirements, covering 1.3.1 Read challenging prose fiction for the unseen 19th-century extract. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.