WAEC GCE 2025 LITERATURE QUESTIONS
WAEC GCE 2025 LITERATURE QUESTIONS BELOW
WAEC GCE 2025 LITERATURE SOLUTIONS BELOW
*NUMBER 2*
1.Discrimination in housing: Adah faces open racism when searching for accommodation. Many houses display signs like “No Blacks, No Irish, No Children.”
Because of her colour, she is rejected repeatedly and forced to settle for substandard and overcrowded rooms controlled by exploiters like Mr. Noble.
2.Workplace prejudice:
Even though Adah is hardworking and intelligent, she is paid less than white workers and is treated as inferior. Her opportunities for advancement are limited because she is a black immigrant in a white-dominated environment.
3.Negative stereotypes about Africans: White people often view Africans as uneducated, backward, or incapable. Adah encounters people who assume that being black means she is of lower status. These racist assumptions shape how people relate to her.
4.Social exclusion and humiliation:Adah is treated as an outsider in public spaces. She is spoken to harshly, watched suspiciously, or ignored entirely. Even when she tries to fit into British society, she is constantly reminded that she is considered a “second-class citizen.”
5.Racism within institutions:The education, housing, and welfare systems all show racial bias. School authorities doubt her children’s abilities. Welfare officers treat black families with suspicion. These structural inequalities show how deeply racism is embedded in British society.
*WAEC-GCE-LITERATURE*
(2)
In Second Class Citizen, Buchi Emecheta presents racism not merely as isolated incidents of prejudice, but as a pervasive and multifaceted system that profoundly shapes Adah’s experiences and limits her opportunities in London.
-Institutional Racism: Emecheta meticulously portrays how systemic biases operate within British institutions, creating formidable barriers for immigrants like Adah.
-Housing Discrimination: Adah and Francis encounter significant difficulties in securing adequate housing. Landlords, like Mr. Noble, often exploit their position, charging exorbitant rents for substandard accommodations. This reflects a broader pattern of housing discrimination against non-white individuals, rooted in historical segregation and discriminatory lending practices. We can model this statistically, demonstrating correlations between race and housing quality using regression analysis.
-Employment Bias: Adah, despite her education and ambition, faces persistent challenges in finding suitable employment. She is often relegated to low-paying jobs that do not reflect her qualifications, while her white counterparts advance more easily. This illustrates the concept of occupational segregation, where individuals are disproportionately represented in certain job categories based on their race or ethnicity.
-Educational Disparities: The educational system, while seemingly meritocratic, also perpetuates inequalities. Adah’s children may face subtle biases from teachers and a curriculum that largely ignores their cultural heritage, potentially affecting their academic outcomes.
-Interpersonal Racism: Beyond institutional structures, Adah experiences racism on a more personal level through interactions with individuals.
-Everyday Prejudice: Adah encounters microaggressions subtle, often unintentional, expressions of prejudice from neighbors, colleagues, and even strangers. These seemingly minor incidents accumulate, creating a hostile and alienating environment. Examples include dismissive comments about her accent, assumptions about her intelligence, or patronizing attitudes towards her culture.
In conclusion, Second Class Citizen provides a nuanced and compelling exploration of racism as a systemic and individual phenomenon. Emecheta’s novel serves as a powerful critique of the social and political structures that perpetuate inequality and as a testament to the resilience and agency of individuals who resist oppression. The novel encourages critical reflection on the multifaceted nature of racism and its enduring impact on individuals and societies.
*WAEC-GCE-LITERATURE*
(5)
In Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, Ras the Exhorter (later Ras the Destroyer) embodies a distorted and dangerous reflection of the white man’s perceptions and treatment of Black people.
-Caricature and Stereotype: Ras’s character is, in many ways, a caricature. His fiery rhetoric, his insistence on racial purity, and his violent tendencies play into existing white stereotypes about Black people as being inherently aggressive, irrational, and easily manipulated. By embodying these stereotypes, Ras inadvertently reinforces the very narratives that white supremacists use to justify their oppression.
-Division and Control: Ras’s advocacy for Black separatism, while seemingly empowering, ultimately serves to further divide the Black community and isolate it from the broader society. This division aligns with the white supremacist strategy of “divide and conquer,” which aims to weaken Black political power and maintain white dominance. By promoting conflict and distrust among Black people, Ras unwittingly plays into the hands of those who seek to control them.
-Violence as Justification: Ras’s embrace of violence as a means of achieving racial justice provides white society with a convenient justification for its own violence and oppression. His actions confirm the white supremacist belief that Black people are inherently dangerous and need to be controlled through force. This creates a self-fulfilling prophecy, where Black resistance is met with brutal repression, further reinforcing the cycle of violence and inequality.
-False Consciousness: Ras operates under a form of false consciousness, believing that his actions are liberating Black people when, in reality, they are perpetuating their oppression. He is so consumed by his hatred of white people that he fails to recognize how his own behavior is reinforcing the very system he claims to be fighting against.
-Mirror Image of White Supremacy: In many ways, Ras is a mirror image of the white supremacists he opposes. He adopts their tactics of violence, intolerance, and exclusion, simply reversing the target of his hatred. This highlights the insidious nature of racism, which can corrupt even those who are fighting against it.
In essence, Ras represents the tragic consequences of internalized oppression. He embodies the ways in which white supremacist ideology can distort Black identity, fuel intra-racial conflict, and ultimately undermine the struggle for racial justice. While Ras believes he is empowering Black people, he is, in fact, perpetuating the very system that oppresses them. His character serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of extremism and the importance of critical self-reflection in the fight for liberation.
*LITERATURE NUMBER SEVEN*
In Wuthering Heights, education plays an important role in shaping the characters’ social status, personality, and opportunities in life. The novel shows that education is not only about learning but also about refinement, social acceptance, and personal growth.
Firstly, education highlights social class differences. Characters like Edgar Linton are well-educated, refined, and cultured, reflecting their higher social status. In contrast, Heathcliff, especially in his youth, is uneducated and rough, which shows his marginalized position in society. This lack of formal education makes him an outsider and affects how others perceive him.
Secondly, education influences personal development and choices. Catherine Earnshaw’s exposure to education at Thrushcross Grange introduces her to manners, culture, and knowledge, which makes her torn between her passionate love for Heathcliff and her attraction to Edgar’s refinement. Her education shapes her ambitions and contributes to her internal conflict, which is central to the plot.
Thirdly, education provides opportunity and empowerment. Although Heathcliff receives no formal schooling, he gains knowledge, wealth, and social sophistication during his absence. This “self-education” allows him to navigate society, acquire power, and execute revenge on those who wronged him, showing how education, formal or informal, can be a tool for social mobility.
Lastly, the novel portrays moral and emotional education. Characters like Hindley Earnshaw, who lack proper guidance, make poor decisions that lead to their downfall. On the other hand, Edgar Linton, whose upbringing included education and moral guidance, demonstrates restraint, kindness, and good judgment.
In conclusion, Emily Brontë uses education in Wuthering Heights to show its importance in social positioning, personal growth, opportunity, and moral development. Education influences the choices and destinies of characters, and even those who lack formal education, like Heathcliff, can use knowledge and experience to alter their fate.
OBJ QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS BELOW
