HSC · Imaginative Writing
Imaginative Writing: Write an imaginative or discursive…
HSC Imaginative Writing essay scoring 90%: “The agony of an Untold Story" The question sat in the margin of my exercise book, boxed twice in red. My…
“The agony of an Untold Story"
The question sat in the margin of my exercise book, boxed twice in red. My pencil hovered, then the phone lit up with a number I didn’t recognise. Private caller. I let it purr out once. Twice. On the third ring I answered, because in maths you eventually have to substitute something in. “Is this the patient’s next-of-kin? This is Ambulance.”. Every variable changed value.
The floor moved first—no, the room—no, me—and then I was in the back of a truck that felt like a bright, stainless-steel stomach, swallowing us whole. The lights smeared the street into red and blue fractions. A paramedic tightened a strap near my knee, her hands quick and practised. “I’ll give you fifty bucks if you can guess what sport I play,” she said, eyes on the road mirror. My mouth worked without me. “Cricket?” She grinned. “Paintball. Paint gun. No one’s ever guessed it.” The way she said ever stretched, like she had asked on many midnights, like many sons and daughters had ridden this same length of lino, watching the city get chopped into red and blue slices. The siren wound up—skein of sound, a rip-saw—and then, somehow, I lost it. It was on, but my ears had a wall. The noise was outside the problem set.
HSC · Texts & Human Experiences
Texts & Human Experiences: ‘A text can ignite ideas about…
HSC Texts & Human Experiences essay scoring 85%: Arthur Miller’s The Crucible ignites ideas about collective human experiences that reveal the fragility…
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible ignites ideas about collective human experiences that reveal the fragility of morality within oppressive systems, enriching our understanding of the world through its portrayal of fear, corruption & integrity. Set against the hysteria of the Salem witch trials, the play becomes a powerful allegory for McCarthyism, exposing how collective pressures shape behaviour & belief. Through his realist tragic form, Miller dissects how individuals navigate communal expectations, revealing how the need for belonging & power drives moral compromise. By examining the lies of outsiders, the corruption of authority, & Proctor’s search for redemption, Miller captures the enduring human struggle between conscience & conformity.
The collective positioning of outsiders due to race & relationships compels characters to lie, allowing them to retain their dual foreign position, a state of being that is all they know. In a Puritan society defined by rigid hierarchies & racial prejudice, Miller highlights how women like Tituba & Abigail are already positioned as outsiders, critiquing how McCarthyism America similarly targeted the marginalised. This aligns with Miller's dramatic form, which frames their collective lying & punishment, reinforcing their permanent outsider status. Miller humanises Tituba through a stage direction describing her as “someone who can no longer bear to be barred from the sight of her beloved,” conveying a vulnerability the community refuses to see. Abigail’s outsider status is represented through dramatic irony, stating “There be no blush about my name,” encapsulating how she is already defensive about being judged through her lack of family security, her protest exposing her vulnerability. Collective lying is insinuated through repetition & exclamatory language: “She made me do it! She made Betty do it!” with Abigail’s scapegoating forcing Tituba to confess, positioning these women as outsiders who must manipulate truth to protect themselves. This marginalisation continues through a religious metaphor as Hale claims, “You are God’s instrument put in our hands to discover the Devil’s agents among us,” weaponizing Puritan theology to coerce Tituba into confessing, portraying how she lies out of self-preservation. Unlike Abigail, who lies to seize power, Tituba’s lies are desperate acts of survival. This contrast raises ethical questions, prompting audiences to consider whether a lie told to survive equals a lie told for gain within oppression. Abigail’s permanent outsider status is confirmed through the narrative intrusion that she was “thought to be aboard a ship,” escaping Salem, while Tituba is jailed. Ultimately, Miller demonstrates that collective lying is a product of societal oppression.
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