It is asking you to make an inference about the relationship between Father and his father, and to use evidence from the text to support the inference.
Let's practise
But it was Joey Father loved best. If ever he got sick, Father would bed down with him in his stable and never leave his side. He loved that horse like a brother, more maybe. Anyway, one day, a few months after the war started, Father goes off to market to see some fat sheep. Meanwhile the army's come to the village looking for good sturdy horses, and they're paying good money too. They needed all the horses they could get for the cavalry, for pulling the guns maybe, or the ammunition. Father comes back from market, and sees Joey being taken away. It's too late to stop it. It was his own father that did it. He'd gone and sold Joey to the army for forty pounds.
Michael Morpurgo: from Farm Boy (HarperCollins Children's Books, 2011)
Describe the relationship between the two men after the sale of Joey. Refer to the text in your answer.
1 mark
- Read the question. Read it again. What is it asking?
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- Find clues that tell you about the relationship between Father and Joey?
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Father loved him the best. When he was sick he stayed by his side. He loved the horse like a brother.
- What do the clues tell you about their relationship?
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It was really close. To love an animal like a brother means that the horse was important to Father.
- How do you think Father felt when he realised he couldn't stop Joey being sold?
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He must have been devastated because there was nothing he could do.
- Do you think he could forgive his father?
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He could do one of two things. He could either feel sad for his father because he knew he had to do his bit for the army so their relationship would not change, or he could be really resentful and angry. After all, he shouldn't have sold the horse without asking Father.
- Write your answer and refer to the text.
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I think their relationship would have suffered a little because his father should not have sold the horse without asking him. Father must have felt betrayed and hurt, since he treated the horse like a brother.
- Check your answer.