12. Read these extracts from Text 2 and Text 3. Text 2:…
12. Read these extracts from Text 2 and Text 3. Text 2: Our classic, unnamed Poe narrator begins this story by lamenting the fact that society has branded him as a madman. He counters this by claiming that he is merely “nervous” — ultra-sensitive to stimuli and made unusually jumpy by this ability to sense things that others miss. He proceeds to explain how he became labelled a lunatic by giving the backstory to a murder he has been charged with — that of his roommate, an old man. We have no reference point for their relationship: are they friends, acquaintances, brothers, father, and son, invalid and caregiver? Text 3: TRUE! — nervous — very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses — not destroyed — not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily — how calmly I can tell you the whole story. Explain the different ways in which these extracts use similar language features to create two different effects. In your answer, you must only refer to these extracts. (6)
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