Cie Igcse English November 2005CIE IGCSE English November 20051. Imagine that you live near to Gatsby’s house where the parties take place. You object to the parties for several reasons including the lavish display of wealth. Write a letter to the owner of the house, setting out your various objections and justifying each one by developing ideas and details from the passage.Dear Mr. Gatsby,I am writing to inform you that I, along with numerous other residents in West Egg, find your conduct unbearable. As a loving mother of three young children, I feel that your lavish display of wealth and extravagant parties are damaging to the growth of my children and also pose a threat to the safety of our community.         First of all, let me start off with one of the many issues – the lights. My children find it extremely disruptive when your blaring colored lights beam into their windows while they are trying to do their homework. How are they, as young children, supposed to concentrate when there are swirling lights in bright reds and yellows in the garden right across the road? Every weekend is the same old business, and everyone in the neighborhood is getting tired of it. If you haven’t realized, Mr. Gatsby, it is currently June and Christmas is not happening any time soon!         Also, my children need to be in bed at exactly nine o’clock to get enough sleep for school the next day. But how on earth, Mr. Gatsby, do you expect them to go to bed at a reasonable time when there is a full-sized Romantic orchestra blasting music from across the road? I would immensely appreciate it if you could ask your band and singers to stop creating such horrifying noises every night! I would like to add that the loud chatter by your attendees could sometimes be heard in our house. I do not want my children to be exposed to sexual innuendos at such a young age!
The standard of moral behavior displayed at the parties is absolutely disgusting. Every night, I see numerous drunk and intoxicated young men and women strewn over the staircases and lawns of your mansion, I see many young girls dressed in skimpy outfits dancing passionately around fervent men, and I worry about my children. What if they grow up to become the discourteous young men and women like those who attend your parties?Likewise, I would like to say that the mess in our neighborhood after each of your extravagant parties is completely dreadful. Many a time have I opened my door to find vomit spewed all over my doorstep! On multiple occasions, I have also found broken wine bottles and leftover food scattered across my front lawn. Little Charlie almost stepped on a piece of broken glass yesterday when playing in the lawn, and I can tell you that this is not the first time. Let me warn you now – expect legal action if my children get hurt from the mess left over from your parties.
The Independent. “My father-in-law, Richard, was a regular offender of drunkenness”. (June 21, 2006) “A day out for children’s safety was not a happy day.” (AUG/Sept 12, 2007) “It was an all-too typical Sunday night out in the hills of the UK’s far north. In this time of season, most of the holiday festivities were spent alone. I had my wife and four friends who all came up with ways to cope with the crowds. But it was after dinner in the dining hall that my two youngest and four oldest daughters found a way to make it more welcoming.” (LONGVIEW, DEC 2006) “I don’t think one of our younger sisters was a bit drunk, either, but it took a lot of practice, so I suppose I didn’t do too well for a few days.” (“The Unsettling Story of Mary’s D-night”, June 8, 2005; the Independent, Dec 10, 2006 (archive) “I have always enjoyed the evening before, with a lot of party atmosphere. But this morning’s party was different.” (“I Won’t Let My Boy Be a Victim of the Strangers, Part 1”, Dec 22, 2005) “I’ve attended parties many times before. It had a happy but relaxed atmosphere. Even when it was my turn to start dancing, a lot of people were out of control. Some of it was so heavy that I sometimes forgot I was really dancing. Once, a man walked into the room to kiss my wife as we were out of our 20,000-plus seats. This man got in a big fight with me and yelled “Don’t worry, I know it’s not him, it was just you, we’re not really even married.” “My husband and I have been around for over 30 years . . . We’ve never really met, only met when he was married on a show. I guess we did have one thing in common. We moved to the U.K. almost 20 years ago, when we were five and we kept in touch.” (“Who Did Your Wedding Ring With?”, Oct 12, 2005) “There’s an old saying that doesn’t get as much publicity as “I Was Your Man”. The old saying of me being the man in front of my daughter and my daughter with my wife and two toddlers and an iPad was still true. It took more than a few hours to get where we were. I think a big influence on me has been my husband, John, who seems to have a fondness for playing with children. He loved the children so much he has invited us to give them toys that they had never seen before.” (“The Secret Story of Your Daughter”, May 30, 2006) “Once a year, during an occasion of festive cheer, our guests would take me to a different room where we would sit and watch television as we danced to local songs. Many of my friends at New York had seen his music and thought he was a great singer. My boyfriend told me we’d all be in trouble if we didn’t stay present in the same room where John and I danced.”” (“The Secret World of Mary’s D-night at The House of the Rascals’, Mar 10, 2006) “That’s the place where they would sing out songs for ‘The Muppet Show’. It seemed like such a relaxing time. It was a place where the best things happened.” (“The Family”, Mar 11, 2006)
“A friend of mine who attended your parties was also a good bit drunk. At one point, I asked him why we were playing and he told me we didn’t. He told me because everyone seemed fine, we had a good time and we didn’t complain.” (“My First Trip Down to Canada: The Rousing Life of a Mother and Her Daughter”, Jan. 18, 2006; the Mirror, June 9,