The tapping at the window
An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.
Clara had agreed to remain at home while her aunt visited a sick neighbour. She had even laughed when her aunt asked whether she would mind being alone. Now, with the servants attending the village supper and rain pressing against the windows, the parlour seemed larger than it had in daylight.
At first, the fire and the clock kept up a comfortable conversation. Then something tapped the window.
Clara looked towards the closed curtains. A climbing rose grew beside the house, but the gardener had tied its branches to the wall that morning. She had watched him leave his ladder beneath the window. The tapping came again: three light knocks, a pause, and then a slow scrape across the glass.
She told herself that wind could loosen any knot. Nevertheless, she put down her book and listened. The clock ticked with unnecessary loudness. Beyond the curtain, a dark shape appeared and disappeared as the fabric stirred. Once, it seemed to rise as high as a person’s shoulder.
Clara remembered the ladder. A man standing upon its highest step could easily reach the window. She imagined a hand testing the frame and drew the lamp closer, although its light made the glass brighter and everything beyond it less distinct.
The next scrape was so sudden that she stood up. For several moments she remained beside the bell-pull, unwilling to ring it when there was nobody near enough to answer. Then the shape struck the pane again.
Clara took the candle from the table and crossed the room. Hot wax slipped over her fingers, but she did not stop. She pulled the curtain aside.
A length of the climbing rose had broken free from its cord. The wind lifted it towards the window and let it fall back, so that its leaves tapped the glass and its wet stem dragged across it. What Clara had taken for a shoulder was a cluster of leaves pressed close to the thin curtain.
She stood watching until the branch rose again. This time, she saw not a hand but three shining leaves. She returned to her chair without laughing at herself. When the tapping continued, it no longer seemed to be counting the moments before an entrance.
“The writer makes Clara’s fear understandable, even though the danger exists only in her imagination.”
Evaluate how successfully the writer presents this idea. Support your judgement with detailed references to the passage.
In your answer, you may wish to 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.