Observation

Few candidates attempted this question. most of them gave mere narration on the rat in the opening scene of the novel without stating its significance.

Candidates were expected to mention the following points:

• The killing of the rat foreshadows the ‘execution’ of Bigger.
• The rat represents the squalor in which the blacks live in.
• The rat represents Bigger who ‘trespasses’ into white territory.
• The gallows threatened by Bigger’s mother foreshadows the electric chair that awaits Bigger at the end.

Candidates’ performance was poor.