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WAEC SSCE - Literature In English - 2010 (Objective)

Question 1 Report

Read the passage and answer the question

Here in the station it is in no way different save that the city is busy in its snow. But the old men cling to their seats as though they were symbolic and could not be given up. Now and then they sleep, their grey old heads resting with painful awkwardness on the backs of the benches
Also they are not at rest. For an hour they may sleep in the gasping exhaustion of the ill-nourished and aged. who have to walk in the night. Then a policeman comes by on his rounds and nudges them upright.
''You can't sleep here'', he growls.
A strange ritual then begins. An old man is difficult to wake. One man after a slight lurch, does not move at all, droning centre of the hive rather than in some lonely room fulfilled.

The passage conveys a mood of
Answer Details
The mood conveyed in the passage is despair. The description of the old men clinging to their seats, sleeping with painful awkwardness, and being nudged upright by the policeman, all evoke a sense of hopelessness and desperation. The use of words such as "ill-nourished" and "aged" also contribute to this mood. The passage paints a bleak picture of the situation of the old men and their struggle to find a place to rest.
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