Sample written task HL



Sample written task HL

Rationale

What inspired me most to write this ending to The Collector is how the main character, Frederick Clegg, suggests he will go about his business of collecting yet another young lady by the name of Marion at the end of the story. It's an open ending.

After reading The Collector I felt very familiar with John Fowles's writing style. He uses short, choppy sentences with a lot of repetition that move at a fast pace. I tried to imitate this to the best of my ability. You can see this in the last lines where I repeat the word `knife' and `clothes' several times. This is consistent with the character of Frederick Clegg who had such an eye for detail, like burying two bodies, while glossing over the emotions and issues that really confront him, such as the murder of two innocent girls.

As far as plot is concerned, Fowles chose for a very post-modern ending in which the reader has to come to grips with the notion that some murderers will never give in to their conscience. Frederick seems to have a conscience throughout the whole story, but in the end he doesn't listen to it. He almost commits suicide after Miranda's death as well, but backs out at the last minute. I made another parallel plot line by having Marian get hit by a car. True, Frederick pushes her, but he never acknowledges the fact that he murders her. This situation is similar to Miranda's death, where she dies of pneumonia, which Frederick fails to attend to. He feels guilt, but does not take the blame. He is caught in a vicious circle and cannot get out. My ending only adds to and makes clearer Fowles' intentions in portraying this criminal mind.

Written task

As I wandered past the flower shop again, for the fifth time this week, I got anxious in what Marian would be doing, I entered. To not make myself suspicious I acted like I was looking for flowers. Marian wasn't there. It could be that she was working parttime. I figured that if I wanted to find out, I'd have to go in the flower shop every day of the week.

No, that'd be too suspicious. I'll have to find another way of finding out. In a quick moment of thinking I thought I'd buy a camera to hang up in the stores and to find out when Marian was there and when she wasn't. I had a small camera in my pocket and I was searching for a place to hang it up. Of course I acted like I was looking for flowers. I found a nice place next to a big plant to put my camera it could see perfectly whether she was behind the pay desk or not.

? Brad Philpot, InThinking

englishalanglit-inthinking.co.uk

1

I now couldn't enter the shop for several days, they might get suspicious. The main problem was: will they find out about the camera. If they would, they couldn't even find out whose it is. So I am just going to have to re-enter the shop sometime. I figured that I would come back in seven days so that I knew on which days Marian was there and on which days she wasn't.

Then I would look up the opening and the closing times. The seven days were not hard to get through; I made everything right for Marian. This time it would be different than with Miranda. I will make sure that I am the boss. I will make sure she respects me and I can teach her. I will make sure that she does not die.

I decided that I would put all the flowers I bought to not be suspicious in the room of Marian. It would be about the same way as Miranda had it but only more colourful. Now that I have prepared everything there is no way to escape for Marian, now the only thing I must do is capture her.

It was a dark, rainy night. The thunder raged like it never raged before. Nobody was outside because of the dangerous thunderous weather. Marian was dressed in her yellow raincoat with blue jeans. I hid around the corner as I saw her coming. I had my balaclava on so she wouldn't recognize me. I heard footsteps coming. They kept coming as I heard them louder and louder. Then she was there, I jumped behind her and strangled her in one fluent action. She wasn't able to do anything, however she tried to come lose. She bit me and I let loose. She pulled my balaclava off and recognized me.

"You are the guy of the flower shop!"

I pushed her. She fell behind, on the road. A car was coming. Dead.

I couldn't believe this. Dead even before I got to know her. All the experiences that we could have had, gone. I was going to go to the car however, the car drove away instantly. This was unbearable. Tears flew over my cheeks as I did not know what to do. I decided to put her in my car and I drove back to my home. I covered her in a white blanket, and threw her in the same hole where Miranda lay. I went into by big home and started writing:

Dear Aunt Annie

I cannot live the way I live now, surrounded with an empty space, everything will fail anyway. I now can't even do the only thing I was good in, collecting. I killed two girls without meaning to. I can't overcome this. I feel like everyone hates me. Even god hates me. I came to the moment that I want to run.

Goodbye,

? Brad Philpot, InThinking

englishalanglit-inthinking.co.uk

2

Frederick

I sent this to Aunt Annie from the post box out on the main road. It was quite full so the envelope didn't drop down like it should have. Instead it remained firmly behind the lip of the box. I went back to the hole of Marian and Miranda. There was only one thing I had to do now. I put a sign next to the hole. It read My Collection. The knife I was holding was sharp, really sharp. I pushed the point of the knife to my heart so that it pierced my clothing. I felt a little blood oozing onto my clothes. Then I hesitated.

Maybe M's were all wrong to start with. I needed another letter. Perhaps F. Certainly a girl with the name of F would be more compatible with me, Ferdinand, Frederick. Certainly.

Why should I, an F, lie here beside two M's?

I covered their grave and retrieved the letter from the post box. I had a lot of planning to do...

? Brad Philpot, InThinking

englishalanglit-inthinking.co.uk

3

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