HSC · Language, Identity & Culture
Language, Identity & Culture: By telling each other…
HSC Language, Identity & Culture essay scoring 80%: Through the storytelling lense of drama, the evolution of cultural values, and the individual…
Through the storytelling lense of drama, the evolution of cultural values, and the individual identities it changes and forms, are realistically represented, allowing audiences to further "understand each other." Ray Lawler's realist play, 'Summer of the Seventeenth Doll' (1955) depicts these notions of the 'recreation' of identities through the inevitable evolution of cultural values. Set within a post-WWII Australia, Lawler depicts an atmosphere of possibilities through his characterisation of the women in the play, Olive and Pearl, who reflect the vast identities and cultural values of this time. Furthermore, Lawler's utilisation of symbolism and dramatic techniques allows audiences to further "understand" the character's own identities, that are tied to their cultural values and traditions, leaving them in a pattern of stagnated behaviours. Finally, Lawler presents the younger generation who are "passed on" the older character's own "values", and symbolise the inevitable evolution of the 1950s. Overall, through the language of drama, individual's and broader Australian culture's stories are told, allowing viewers to further "understand each other".
Lawler's use of characterisation within SOTSD highlights the vast and unique identities present within 1950s Australian culture, as well as the conflict between evolution and cultural identities. Through his depiction of the foil characters, Pearl and Olive, Lawler conveys the notion of "recreating" identities, especially within times of rapid cultural change. Pearl is first presented to audiences, through the stage directions, "...wearing her good black, and a double string of pearls." This symbolic costuming reflects identification with "respectability", a notion common with heteronormative ideals of femininity, and those associated with past cultural values, pre-WWII. Conversely, Olive is depicted "wearing a crisp green-and-white summer dress..." Juxtaposing the reserved costuming of Pearl, Lawler represents the conflict between changing ideals of femininity, and traditional ones. Lawler continues his use of stage directions to symbolise characters identification with certain cultural values, as well as their abilities to "recreate" themselves, seen in Act 2, when Pearl is conveyed "wearing a bright print frock with a dominant note of red..." This dramatic transformation of Pearl's costuming symbolises how her values and identity are beginning to evolve, as she immerses herself in the hedonistic culture of Olive. Thus, through symbolic characterisation Lawler depicts the "recreation" of female identities present within 1950's Australia, allowing audiences' understandings of cultural identities to broaden.
HSC · Textual Conversations
Textual Conversations: How does Pacino reshape the…
HSC Textual Conversations essay scoring 80%: Dialogues across time reveal how societal values shape the portrayal of ambition and morality, as…
Dialogues across time reveal how societal values shape the portrayal of ambition and morality, as Shakespeare and Pacino interrogate the human consequences of power and desire. A comparative study of Shakespeare’s King Richard III (1592) and Al Pacino’s Looking for Richard (1996) highlights humanity's consistent flaw, abandoning morality in pursuit of intense ambition. Shakespeare positions Richard’s ambition within Elizabethan providential beliefs, demonstrating how defiance of divine and social order results in moral and political condemnation. In contrast, Pacino’s Looking for Richard reframes Richard’s ambition through a 1990s postmodern lens, presenting his manipulation and moral compromise as psychological, performative, and culturally specific. Despite these contextual differences, both texts underscore the enduring value of honesty and integrity.
Changing social values have reshaped audience perceptions of unbridled ambition that sees individuals sacrificing their morality as they pursue power. Reflecting the pre-deterministic beliefs of Elizabethan society, Shakespeare explores the fall of man whereby individuals suffer Divine retribution as they employ deceit for their quest for power. However, reflective of an increasingly egocentric society, Pacino reshapes this downfall to focus on an individual's moral dilemmas through a psychoanalytic lens. Confronted by Richard’s intense desperation to achieve his ambitious goals, Shakespeare’s 17th century audience understands Richard’s charismatic responses to Lady Anne’s curses, “Black night o’ershade thy day, and death thy light”, “Curse not thyself, fair creature; for thou art both” as ambition. Through stichomythia, Shakespeare foregrounds Richard’s calculated deceit and violation of the Great Chain of Being, inviting Elizabethan audiences to perceive his ambition as morally corrupt and socially destabilising. Strikingly, Richard’s question in the following soliloquy, “Was woman in this humour ever woo’d”, reveals his ambition. Pacino mirrors Shakespeare’s rhetorical question, but through chiaroscuro lighting and framing, he exposes Richard’s psychological tension, prompting contemporary audiences to interpret ambition as a human, rather than divinely judged, flaw. Despite the different contextual perspectives on ambition, this comparative study highlights an individual's ability to sacrifice their honesty, and subsequently, morality to achieve their goals.
HSC · Language, Identity & Culture
Language, Identity & Culture: Question How does your…
HSC Language, Identity & Culture essay scoring 90%: Essay Introduction Ali Cobby Eckermann’s Inside My Mother offers a profound meditation on the…
Essay
Introduction
Ali Cobby Eckermann’s Inside My Mother offers a profound meditation on the spiritual bond between place and culture, revealing that land is not simply a geographic setting but the heartbeat of Aboriginal identity. Through lyrical free verse, vivid sensory imagery and symbolic interplay between presence and absence, Eckermann demonstrates that Country preserves ancestral memory, language, and belonging. Yet she also exposes how colonial displacement fractures this relationship, silencing voices once rooted in land. By examining “Oombulgarri,” “Trance,” and “Eyes,” the collection traces a movement from loss toward renewal from the emptiness of dispossession to the quiet reclamation of identity through reconnection with Country. In doing so, Inside My Mother deepens our understanding that place is culture: to know one’s land is to know oneself, one’s history, and one’s community.
HSC · Textual Conversations
Textual Conversations: To what extent is Atwood’s Felix…
HSC Textual Conversations essay scoring 85%: Margaret Atwood’s Felix, from the novel Hagseed (2016), is highly consistent with Shakespeare’s Prospero,…
Margaret Atwood’s Felix, from the novel Hagseed (2016), is highly consistent with Shakespeare’s Prospero, from tragi-comedy The Tempest (1611), as Felix, the appropriation, shares many past experiences with Prospero - however, in a more modern context - that allows for the similar creation of a character with similar ambitions and principles. The main force that seems to drive Felix is his bitter resentment towards Tony, using harsh diction and expletives that convey his view of the usurper, “that devious, twisted bastard, Tony”. The situation is similar to Prospero, who was overthrown from his dukedom by Antonio, and when Prospero explains his backstory, he calls Antonio “perfidious” and a “false brother”. The emotionally charged adjectives used to describe both their betrayer’s shows that the treachery that the men have endured creates a similar need for vengeance that shapes their future actions. In modern and past contexts, betrayal is not unknown - it is a time-transcending element of life. For some, like Felix and Prospero, the next course of action is to bide their time and plot their revenge. Further, although Felix and Prospero are similar in their