VCE · Language Analysis
Language Analysis: Analysing argument essay regarding…
VCE Language Analysis essay scoring 90%: In response to growing public concern about the role of artificial intelligence in education, Kylie…
In response to growing public concern about the role of artificial intelligence in education, Kylie Moore‑Gilbert, a research fellow and academic commentator, presents an opinion piece titled “AI has destroyed value of a degree.” She contends that generative AI is rapidly undermining academic integrity, enabling widespread cheating, and ultimately devaluing university qualifications. Writing for parents, educators, and the broader Australian public, Moore‑Gilbert aims to alert readers to the accelerating dangers AI poses to genuine learning and the credibility of higher education. Throughout the piece, she adopts a concerned yet increasingly urgent tone as her warnings intensify. To reinforce her argument, Moore‑Gilbert integrates two strategically chosen images: an early photograph of two girls casually using a laptop, suggesting how effortlessly students incorporate AI into their work, and a concluding dystopian illustration of a robot puppeteering a powerless human, visually exaggerating AI’s dominance. These contrasting visuals underscore her contention that AI is simultaneously normalised and overpowering, accelerating the collapse of academic integrity.
Initially, Moore‑Gilbert argues that AI has fundamentally altered education and diminished the value of pursuing a university degree. Opening with the personal anecdote that “My stepdaughter is in her final year of high school,” she personalises the issue, establishing credibility as both an academic and a concerned parental figure. By presenting the issue through a relatable family experience, readers are encouraged to view the problem as immediate and relevant to ordinary Australians. This argument is visually reinforced through the photograph of two girls gathered around a laptop, which normalises AI’s presence in everyday study. The relaxed posture and collaborative engagement depicted in the image embody the casual integration of AI into student life, prompting readers to recognise how deeply technology has embedded itself in academic routines. Furthermore, when she states that students are accumulating “tens of thousands of dollars of debt” only to be “graded on who can write the best AI prompts,” Moore‑Gilbert employs emotive language to portray higher education as increasingly meaningless. This encourages prospective students and parents to question whether university remains a worthwhile investment. Additionally, describing universities as engaging in “widespread, industrial‑scale fraud,” she uses hyperbolic and provocative language, shocking readers into reconsidering the legitimacy of modern higher education and encouraging them to perceive the issue as a systemic crisis rather than a minor educational concern.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ‘Medea’ explores the consequences of human…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 75%: Uncontrolled emotions can override reason, leading individuals to irrational and destructive decisions. Within the…
Uncontrolled emotions can override reason, leading individuals to irrational and destructive decisions. Within the world of Medea, the Greek ideal sophrosyne valued self-control and moderation as the pillars of a stable society, yet Euripides exposes that the men in the play fail to embody it. They hide their lack of honesty behind a fraudulent mask of logic, using it to frame their cruelty as rational behaviour. This is not the moderation they value but it is a tool used to silence women. When women are abandoned and lose their agency, the expectation of rational restraint becomes impossible. This is evident when the nurse describes how Medea has “no pleasure when she sees” her children and glares at them “like a bull,” while lying in grief with her “eyes fixed to the floor.” Offstage, consumed by rage and sorrow following Jason’s betrayal, Medea is constantly compared to a “lioness shielding her cubs.” This suggests that she is full of rage rather than being rational, foreshadowing the destructive consequences of
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Texts provide insights into complex…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: Introduction Repressive regimes seek to limit our collective and individual human experience through the…
Introduction
Repressive regimes seek to limit our collective and individual human experience through the corruption of our personal integrity by demanding conformity. However, when confronted with oppression, there is a need to resist for the sanctity of our autonomy, as a way to create meaningful social change. Arthur Miller's play, 'The Crucible' (1953), explores the importance of personal integrity, allegorically comparing the Communist paranoia of 1950s America with the superstitious hysteria of the 1690s Salem witch trials, dramatically representing John Proctor's tragic demise and emphasising the power of stories to both control people but also as a way to challenge oppression.
Body Paragraph 1
Achieving a holistic human experience requires cognitive and philosophical freedoms that allow for a just society. Conceived as a response to the contemporary concerns with McCarthyism, Miller's tragic play 'The Crucible,' is set in an antithetical society where conformity to theological beliefs limits personal freedom. Miller establishes his allegorical use of the tragic form in the narrative commentary, declaring that just as the people of Salem are to be pitied, so too "we shall be pitied someday", alluding to the existence of ideological repression in contemporary America. With no separation between church and state in Salem, the freedom of expression necessary for an authentic human experience is rendered impossible. Mary Warren's plea to Abigail to tell the truth about dancing in the forest, as she exclaims, "witchery's a hangin' error", but "one is only whipped for dancin'", positions us in a society reliant on fear of severe punishment to create conformity to its ruthless Puritan dogma. The overwhelming coercive influence of the church in Salem corrupts the individual integrity necessary for free thought and autonomy. Miller utilises the Christian symbolism of fire in Reverend Parris' simile, proclaiming that "there is either obedience or the church will burn like hell is burning", giving voice to the threat of eternal damnation used to eliminate conflicting beliefs and demanding conformity. In this way, Miller positions us in an unjust world where the repression of individual freedom inevitably leads to the corruption of personal integrity.
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VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ‘Punish me? You mean send me to bed…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: ‘Punish me? You mean send me to bed without my dinner?’ What role does punishment play throughout Shirley…
‘Punish me? You mean send me to bed without my dinner?’ What role does punishment play throughout Shirley Jackson’s ‘We Have Always Lived in the Castle’?
Shirley Jackson’s 1962 gothic novella, We Have Always lived in the Castle, punishment is structured as the mechanism through which patriarchal society enforces order, However, the novel suggests that punishment is not fixed to this singular function: the same structure used to oppress the sisters is also the means by which they seize power for themselves. Yet Jackson complicates this contention further, resisting the idea that punishment is simply a weapon which can change hands - the novel's ending does not resolve into the sisters "winning" the cycle of punishment, but escaping it entirely. Thus, she detaches lasting power from punishment altogether, locating it instead in immunity: a state the villagers can no longer touch, and one the narrative itself enforces by denying the reader any ground from which to judge Merricat. WHALITC therefore moves punishment through three functions in turn - oppression, empowerment, and finally irrelevance - to argue that true power is not won within a system of judgement, but achieved only once a person exists entirely outside its reach.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: The playwright, Jane Harrison, claims:…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: Aboriginal playwright, Jane Harrison, utilises her 1998 award-winning play, Stolen, to expose the complex racial…
Aboriginal playwright, Jane Harrison, utilises her 1998 award-winning play, Stolen, to expose the complex racial tensions and harrowing realities of the Stolen Generation during 19th century Australia. Though authoritarian structures are held accountable for their crimes against the stolen generation, Harrison's play is ultimately a celebration of understanding and acceptance, rather than an assertion of blame. Harrison begins by condemning the hypocritical authorities that borrowed cultural assimilation as an excuse for systemic oppression against First Nations people. However, the playwright also commemorates the strong personal connections held by the Stolen Generation despite decades of abuse. Ultimately, Harrison celebrates how Indigenous Australians used humour as a channel for personal acceptance, escaping a cycle of blame and hatred. Thus, Stolen greatly extends beyond simply asserting blame onto perpetrators, instead applauding a new culture of growth and maturity, and challenging traditional narratives about the experiences and journeys of the Stolen Generation.
Harrison begins by critiquing the hypocrisy of government, by exposing the promotion of cultural assimilation as a guise for systematic abuse. The play frames victims of the Stolen Generation as both physical and psychological refugees, enduring continuous pain and irreversible trauma onto young indigenous children. The ringing of the bell on stage acts as a cue for the children at Granby Children's home to begin a long shift of cleaning, becoming an auditory symbol of the oppressive system that the children are trapped within. Harrison foregrounds how this ringing sound effect erases the individuality of each child, reducing them to mere servants, and thus criticises the inhumane treatment of the Stolen Generations in an environment that was supposed to better integrate them into white society and support their wellbeing and childhood. Furthermore, Harrison reveals the irony of the assimilation policies for instead destroying social bonds and relationships of the Stolen Generation, rather than helping them create new ones in society. Ruby, an indigenous child who has experienced reoccurring abuse as a domestic in Caucasian families, is "[rocking] and muttering] to herself" as her family "awkwardly" try to bring her back home. This highlights Harrison's stage direction further how Ruby's mental awareness and presence was shattered as a result of the displacement caused by these assimilation policies, diminishing the moral righteousness of government of officials for regulating abuse against Indigenous people, which could lead to such permanent, irreversible consequences. Harbour utilises the mental and spiritual disconnection experienced by the Stolen Generation to remind the audience of the atrocities committed by supposedly righteous institutions.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: The playwright, Jane Harrison, claims:…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: The playwright, Jane Harrison, claims: 'Stolen is not about blame, it is about understanding and acceptance.'…
The playwright, Jane Harrison, claims: 'Stolen is not about blame, it is about understanding and acceptance.' Does the play support this view?
Aboriginal Australian playwright, Jane Harrison, utilises her 1998 award-winning play, Stolen, to expose the complex racial tensions and harrowing realities of the Stolen Generation during 19th century Australia. Though authoritarian structures are held accountable for their crimes against the stolen generation, Harrison's play is ultimately a celebration of understanding and acceptance, rather than an assertion of blame. Harrison begins by condemning the hypocritical authorities that borrowed cultural assimilation as an excuse for systemic oppression against First Nations people. However, the playwright also commemorates the strong personal connections held by the Stolen Generation despite decades of abuse. Ultimately, Harrison celebrates how Indigenous Australians used humour as a channel for personal acceptance, escaping a cycle of blame and hatred. Thus, Stolen greatly extends beyond simply asserting blame onto perpetrators, instead applauding a new culture of growth and maturity, and challenging traditional narratives about the experiences and journeys of the Stolen Generation.
Harrison begins by critiquing the hypocrisy of government, by exposing the promotion of cultural assimilation as a guise for systematic abuse. The play frames victims of the Stolen Generation as both physical and psychological refugees, enduring continuous pain and irreversible trauma onto young indigenous children. The ringing of the bell on stage acts as a cue for the children at Granby Children's home to begin a long shift of cleaning, becoming an auditory symbol of the oppressive system that the children are trapped within. Harrison foregrounds how this ringing sound effect erases the individuality of each child, reducing them to mere servants, and thus criticises the inhumane treatment of the Stolen Generations in an environment that was supposed to better integrate them into white society and support their wellbeing and childhood. Furthermore, Harrison reveals the irony of the assimilation policies for instead destroying social bonds and relationships of the Stolen Generation, rather than helping them create new ones in society. Ruby, an indigenous child who has experienced reoccurring abuse as a domestic in Caucasian families, is "[rocking] and muttering] to herself" as her family "awkwardly" try to bring her back home. This highlights Harrison's stage direction further how Ruby's mental
awareness and presence was shattered as a result of the displacement caused by these assimilation policies, diminishing the moral and righteous righteousness of government of Ulab for regulating abuse against Indigenous people, which could lead to such permanent, irreversible consequences. Harbour utilises the mental and spiritual disconnection experienced by the Stolen Generation to remind the audience of the atrocities committed by supposedly righteous institutions.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: To what extent is Oedipus the least…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: Sophocles' tragedy, Oedipus the King, sophisticatedly examines the human condition within a preordained world. Set…
Sophocles' tragedy, Oedipus the King, sophisticatedly examines the human condition within a preordained world. Set in the backdrop of 5th century BCE Athenian society, the play aligns with the ideology that human life is orchestrated by the Divine beings. Thus, Sophocles portrays the actions of Oedipus to be more reasonable in that his fated doom is the root cause whereas foil character Jocasta subtly acts unreasonably despite her minimal fated suffering. Yet, Oedipus becomes the least reasonable as his hubrisness and blindness consumes him from acting with moderation.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Wilder provides a critical commentary on…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: Shrouded in the ubiquitous phallocentrism of the post-war American Dream’, emigre Billy Wilder’s quintessentially…
Shrouded in the ubiquitous phallocentrism of the post-war American Dream’, emigre Billy Wilder’s quintessentially American film Sunset Boulevard ensnares an iconoclastic critique of omnipotent patriarchal control, as it renders the success of female stars as ephemeral. At its heart, the film weaponises meta-fiction to lampoon the hypocrisy of the partisanship imposed upon female Hollywood hopefuls and ageing stars by the dream factory, and further satirises this by giving the female characters of the film control and power over the men whether it be in the form of moral consciousness or material success and wealth. Thus, through Wilder’s oscillation between the vilification and moral glorification of female characters, the director constructs a diatribe against the pervasive age and gendered expectations of Hollywood.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does viewing Earth from space change…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: Harvey suggests that viewing Earth from space transforms the astronauts' perspective, allowing them to develop a…
Harvey suggests that viewing Earth from space transforms the astronauts' perspective, allowing them to develop a deeper understanding of themselves, humanity and the significance of their shared home. From the low-Earth orbit of the ISS, the astronauts' bodies wither as their own bodily dependence on Earth is revealed in its absence, where "legs are a thing of the past" and their muscles atrophy, they are reminded of their fragility. They feel this fragility not only physically but mentally, in their need for "Mother Earth" to nurture them, not as their home but also the thing that bore them into existence and nurtured them to life. It is in their shared love for Earth that the six astronauts of varying backgrounds are united as they "feel like children" to the Earth. Harvey continuously describes Earth as alive, vivid and bodily, and from space this can be seen in its entirety as the "planet sings with light", taking on an angelic and awe-inspiring presence. Yet, Harvey reminds readers again of the fragility of humanity as man-made climate change and "politics sculpted and shaped and left evidence of
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: "Travis has no sense of duty, no sense of…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: Stephen Johnson’s 2020 Australian film High Ground explores the theme of loyalty in different contexts. Set in 1919…
Stephen Johnson’s 2020 Australian film High Ground explores the theme of loyalty in different contexts. Set in 1919 and the 1930s during the frontier wars in Arnhem Land, Johnson uses characters like Moran, Travis, and Gutjuk to explore different perspectives of loyalty. Moran, a police superintendent, is undyingly loyal to the colonial system and believes that no matter the circumstances, authority should always be obeyed. Gutjuk, a young indigenous man who witnessed his family’s massacre when he was a boy, is loyal to his indigenous heritage and his surviving family, but also slowly begins to trust Travis, an ex-military sniper, throughout the course of their time together. And finally, Travis, an ex-sniper turned police officer upon the conclusion of the war, is loyal to his own morals and will always choose to do what he believes is right in the moment, decisions un-altered by anyone else’s judgment.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Born a Crime demonstrates that strength…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: In the autobiography Born a Crime, the author Trevor Noah explores his experience of growing up in a racist and…
In the autobiography Born a Crime, the author Trevor Noah explores his experience of growing up in a racist and segregated society, where race remained a factor in law enforcement even after the apartheid system had been officially dismantled. Travor Noah establishes within his memoir how the power of strength has the ability to take many forms to protect oneself, while also implementing the inability of one to hold the power to protect oneself even if that strength has the power to take many forms. Noah fights for his power even through the racism South Africa holds against him, through the suffering of poverty he faced growing up and how he found the power of language giving him the ability to overcome the separation the apartheid system tried to place over him due to the colour of his skin.
Noah initiates the idiocy of racism to express the strength he holds to power against those who believe they hold higher authority due to their colour of their skin, while also admitting the limitations he fell against due to his race. Noah attacks the idea of racism through insulting those who believe one race has more authority than another, the idea of racism being stupid as “it’s easily tricked” giving Noah the power against those who believe he is less due to him being coloured. Therefore, Noah uses the strength of humiliation to fight racism. Noah admits to him getting away with trouble as a kid due to his family having the inability to punish him, allowing him to take more strength through his grandmother not knowing “how to hit a white child” permitting him to have strength over his family being afraid that he is different than them. However, while he found the strength against those that see him as different, he is often excluded for “being too black”, not allowing that strength over those who saw him as different as he was not being given a chance to prove that he is not unlike. While Noah believed as a kid he could “mock the system” of racism the power others had over him did not allow him to hold the ability to prove his beliefs. Noah admitting early on, as hard as he can try to just be himself rather than either black or white “eventually life will force [one] to pick a side”, this pain taking away his strength, holding the inability to prove how his strength could take many different forms when one side is forcing it to be a one-way road.
VCE · Language Analysis
Language Analysis: I had to analyse an introduction for…
VCE Language Analysis essay scoring 70%: To open her opinion piece, Bennet declares that the current gambling reforms imposed by the Albanese government…
To open her opinion piece, Bennet declares that the current gambling reforms imposed by the Albanese government are important, but they lack the magnitude and substantial impact required for Australia’s level of loss. Bennet’s analogy of this ratio, “the equivalent of throwing a bucket of water onto a bushfire”, seeks to minimize the government’s reforms and show how much is really being done, to the audience. The use of “bushfire” signifies the widespread, unpredictability and chaotic nature of gambling throughout all of Australia, while “bucket” shows the lack of action toward the reforms and there minimal impact. Reading this, the audience may feel as though the reforms imposed by Labor and Albanese truly aren’t as impactful as they were made out to be. Following this, the revelation could cause distress and frustration throughout the readers toward Labor’s lack of urgency. Bennet also utilizes the metaphor, “there’s a casino in everyone’s pocket” to show the accessibility of modern day gambling and how the ease in it’s utilization aids Australia’s high gambling loss and addiction rates. The comparison of between something known for loss and widely regarded as somewhere to waste
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: The consequences of the first Arab -…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: The First Arab–Israeli War (1948–49) was a turning point in Middle Eastern history. Beginning after Israel…
The First Arab–Israeli War (1948–49) was a turning point in Middle Eastern history. Beginning after Israel declared independence on 14 May 1948, the war involved the invasion of Israel by Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. Although the fighting ended in 1949, its consequences shaped the political, territorial and humanitarian future of the region. The most significant consequences were the establishment and expansion of Israel, the displacement of Palestinians through the Nakba, and the continuation of the Arab–Israeli conflict due to the failure to achieve a lasting peace.
One of the most significant consequences of the war was the survival and territorial expansion of the State of Israel. Despite being a newly established nation, Israel successfully defended itself against the invading Arab armies through the effective organisation of the Haganah into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), strong military leadership, and the arrival of Czech weapons supplied with Soviet approval. By the end of the war, Israel controlled approximately 78% of the former British Mandate of Palestine, considerably more than the 55% allocated under the United Nations Partition Plan. At the same time, Jordan annexed the West Bank while Egypt occupied the Gaza Strip, meaning no independent Palestinian state was created. This victory secured Israel's existence as a sovereign nation and permanently altered the political map of the Middle East, while leaving unresolved territorial disputes that would contribute to future conflicts.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Stimulus 3 “[Playfulness is] not about…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 97.5%: Play on. I used to think the farm was the whole world, something I have spent the rest of my life trying to…
Play on.
I used to think the farm was the whole world, something I have spent the rest of my life trying to get back.
I’ll never forget soaring over the paddocks as our car sped along the gravel road, the dry river beds that were peppered with trees blurring into craters on a distant planet. In my head we weren’t driving, we were on a rocket ship, flying past asteroid belts and stars. There was a sudden jolt as the rocket crashed – a pothole. I rubbed my eyes and the toxic smell of rocket fuel left the tip of my nose, the galaxies I could almost touch faded away, as the green of the paddocks crept its way back into my vision.
I often catch myself thinking about it differently now, watching James stare out the car window as though the paddocks might still become something else. It is how we first learn the rules of the world while still remaining entirely ourselves.
Scrambling out of the car I craned my neck to take a good look at the castle. “Let the games begin,” I would say to myself. I shaped the castle so its towers stood firm and proud, its drawbridge like a mouth was closed up tight. I’d reach my hand out and place it on the beautiful limestone walls, the bumps getting stuck in the grooves of my little palms. I jerked my hand away as rust fragments scattered towards the ground, not a castle at all – just the corrugated iron walls of the shed.
The metal squeaked as I forced my way in; dust particles danced through the air, burning the surface of my eyes. The musty stench of the shed crept its way up my nose and forced a powdery cough out of me. I turned the corner and gasped when the dazzling sea of blue scales from my sleeping dragon revealed itself to me. The sounds of its snores made the walls of the shed rumble.
Every twist of the throttle fed it, and it answered with a furious snarl that tore the silence. It wasn’t a dragon at all, just my blue motorbike that my little legs were quickly outgrowing.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In Samantha Harvey's, Orbital, the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: Samantha Harvey's 2023 contemporary realist novel, Orbital analyses the influence of both predestination and choice…
Samantha Harvey's 2023 contemporary realist novel, Orbital analyses the influence of both predestination and choice in shaping the lives of individuals to a significant extent. Harvey conveys the impacts of fate in determining one’s future while uncovering the lack of choice people have over their own lives due to the power of external factors and its influence on life’s circumstances. Ultimately, Harvey examines the ability for destiny to shape a person’s lives, while uncovering the restriction caused by the lack of discretion.
Through the characterisation of the crewmembers, Harvey reveals how predestination and fate are able to manipulate the events of individuals' lives. Harvey’s implementation of a metaphor through the declaration that it was "written in the stars" for Anton to go to space, is used to convey the ability for fate to determine this would occur. The inescapable passion ignited as the consequence of fate in his life is explored, by showcasing his arrival to space and validating his sense of predetermination. Additionally, his positioning in space allows for the impacts of destiny to be enhanced and the influence of fate to be proven. Thus, Harvey’s illustration of the impacts of fate is conveyed through the events in Anton's life. Moreover, Harvey implements a hyperbole within the novel to highlight the substantial influences of fate, ultimately analysing how Roman had "decided to be a cosmonaut in the womb". This conveys how his fate had been determined at a young age, and led to a psychological drive within him allowing him to foster his admiration for space as a child and determine the trajectory of his life. Harvey emphasises the outcome that predestination played in the determination that Roman would go to space by framing how his role as a cosmonaut is the product of predetermination as opposed to active choice. Consequently, Harvey underscores the notion that the impacts of predestination lead to significant occurrences in individuals' lives.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Hughes presents a despairing view of…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: Within a society shaped by racial segregation, Langston Hughes’ ‘Selected Poems’ presents a largely despondent view…
Within a society shaped by racial segregation, Langston Hughes’ ‘Selected Poems’ presents a largely despondent view of America, lamenting how America’s founding ideals and promises are persistently undermined by the systemic oppression of marginalised groups. However, whilst his poetry emphasises the disillusionment of American society, it also highlights the strength in finding elements of resistance and hope to endure and overcome racial injustice. Depicting the realities of oppression and marginalisation in the South, Hughes critiques the ways in which discrimination becomes embedded in the American landscape, and illustrates the resultant fracturing of individual and cultural identity in the hopelessness that comes from being denied the overarching promises of America. Yet, whilst the poet presents American society as despairing and bleak, he also emphasises the strength in finding optimism and hope for a non-discriminatory future, conveying how such enables marginalised populations to resist despite the presence of persistent systemic oppression.
Lamenting the bleak realities of the American South, Hughes illustrates how racism becomes embedded within everyday life and the American landscape in order to demonstrate that discrimination extends beyond individual acts to shape an entire society. Mourning how the consequences of systemic oppression in catalysing widespread racial violence ultimately corrupt the American landscape itself, the poet depicts the “blood in the Georgia dusk”, highlighting how what once was a place of beauty is now tainted by the “blood” of both marginalised populations and white citizens. Through the metaphor of the remnants of racial terror in the “dusk”, Hughes alludes to the idealised beauty advertised in the American South, with dusk representing a stereotypically peaceful time of solace and calm. Criticising how the oppression of African Americans results in the contamination of the values America claims to prioritise, Hughes ultimately presents racial discrimination and hypocrisy as having the power to distort the environmental foundation of a celebrated state. Reinforcing how systemic oppression disrupts the beauty and solace within civilisations, ‘Silhouette’ utilises visual imagery of the “blue bayou” resembling a “pool of fire” to emphasise the contrast between the peaceful guise of a society and the realities of the racial violence and lynchings taking place within American society. Through depicting the “bayou”, a body of water typically symbolising peace and stillness, as a “pool of fire”, Hughes fortifies his lamentation that peace and beauty are unattainable in an environment where racial segregation is brutally manifested through African Americans being “put…on a rope” and “pull[ed] higher”. Illustrating how the impacts of racism are embedded in facets of everyday life in America, the juxtaposition of “blue” and “fire” criticises the way in which even aspects of solace and peace are corrupted by the reality of systemic oppression lingering under a facade of the idealised South. Whilst Hughes utilises nature-based imagery to lament the ways in which oppression erodes a society’s identity, ‘Porter’ transitions from a physical landscape to a social lens, depicting a “mountain / Of yes, sirs” to emphasise how individuals are actively forced into submission, accentuating the presence of racial violence within a population. Through conveying the “mountain” built on verbal compliance, Hughes critiques how systemic oppression degrades human agency, ultimately highlighting how modern racial hierarchies are underscored by generations of slavery and unconscious conformity. Overall, Hughes critiques the way in which racial discrimination impedes a society’s ability to effectively fulfill its founding ideals, lamenting how generations of compliance have resulted in systemic segregation corrupting the perceived beauty and solace of the American South.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “In The Queen, power is sustained through…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: Stephen Frears’ film The Queen (2006) explores the fragile nature of power within the modern British monarchy…
Stephen Frears’ film The Queen (2006) explores the fragile nature of power within the modern British monarchy following the death of Princess Diana. While Queen Elizabeth II possesses formal constitutional authority, Frears demonstrates that the monarchy’s survival depends less on political power and more on the performance of symbolic leadership. Through the Queen’s adherence to tradition, Tony Blair’s strategic management of public perception, and the overwhelming influence of media and public emotion, the film reveals that the monarchy must continually perform its role to maintain legitimacy. Ultimately, Frears suggests that in a modern democratic society, power is sustained not through authority alone but through the ability to perform relevance and emotional connection.
Frears initially portrays the monarchy as an institution grounded in traditional authority, yet this authority quickly proves insufficient in maintaining public support. The Queen firmly believes that her power derives from constitutional duty and centuries of royal protocol, demonstrated when she insists that the royal family should maintain privacy and avoid public displays of emotion following Diana’s death. Her belief that the monarchy must remain dignified and restrained reflects a traditional understanding of authority based on hierarchy and institutional continuity. However, Frears contrasts this rigid perspective with growing public dissatisfaction, revealing that authority alone cannot sustain power in a rapidly modernising society. The Queen’s isolation at Balmoral symbolises the monarchy’s detachment from contemporary public expectations. Through this contrast, Frears suggests that traditional authority is increasingly inadequate in an era shaped by media scrutiny and emotional public engagement.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Speech - Oral Presentation, Contention…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 67.5%: Can you believe that in Australia, the national youth offender rate was 1,650 per 100,000 young people aged…
Can you believe that in Australia, the national youth offender rate was 1,650 per 100,000 young people aged 10–17? Many child development experts in the health and legal field support raising the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14, as a necessary step to decrease crime and support youth. Greetings, classmates and Mrs Goro , Today, I urge you to consider why we as a community must prioritise the safety and support for the youth in decreasing crime rates to foster a safe and friendly environment for all children and teens in Australia.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Speech - Oral Presentation, Contention…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 60%: Can you believe that in Australia, the national youth offender rate was 1,650 per 100,000 young people aged…
Can you believe that in Australia, the national youth offender rate was 1,650 per 100,000 young people aged 10–17? Many child development experts in the health and legal field support raising the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14, as a necessary step to decrease crime and support youth. Greetings, classmates and Mrs Goro , Today, I urge you to consider why we as a community must prioritise the safety and support for the youth in decreasing crime rates to foster a safe and friendly environment for all children and teens in Australia.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: "My mother wanted her child beholden to no…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: While some characters have the illusion of freedom, Noah reveals that patriarchal norms continue to restrict their…
While some characters have the illusion of freedom, Noah reveals that patriarchal norms continue to restrict their autonomy, inspiring them to fight for a freer future for the next generation. Noah demonstrates this through the characterisation of Patricia, Trevor’s mother and the overall structure of the book. Through majority of the book, Patricia appears to be as ‘free’ as she can be while living as a black woman with a mixed child under apartheid. Patrica has a car which was rare, as “there was maybe one car for every thousand people”, and this car provided both Patricia and Trevor a sense of financial freedom, where they would “drive through fancy neighbourhoods” allowing them an opportunity to ignore own financial burdens and grasp a sense of the financial freedom that the white South Africans had. Patrica was able to provide small glimpses of freedom to Trevor by way of the car, through “sitting with the white people” in white church and demonstrating strong connections with religion and faith, teaching Trevor that freedom was possible, and because she herself knew she wasn’t free, she provided him these experiences to better set him up for the future. It is suggested that Patrica was not truly free, despite appearing so, through the overall structure of the book. The majority of the book contains sparce mentions of Abel, Trevor’s stepfather, and he only reappears towards the end of the book, despite
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: "My mother wanted her child beholden to no…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: Noah demonstrates that some characters in ‘Born a crime’ may appear to be free, when in reality they may be…
Noah demonstrates that some characters in ‘Born a crime’ may appear to be free, when in reality they may be restrained or controlled by other covert factors. Noah demonstrates this through the characterisation of Patricia, Trevor’s mother and the overall structure of the book. Through majority of the book, Patricia appears to be as ‘free’ as she can be while living as a black woman with a mixed child under apartheid. Patrica has a car which was rare, as “there was maybe one car for every thousand people”, and this car provided both Patricia and Trevor a sense of financial freedom, where they would “drive through fancy neighbourhoods” allowing them an opportunity to ignore own financial burdens and grasp a sense of the financial freedom that the white South Africans had. Patrica was able to provide small glimpses of freedom to Trevor by way of the car, through “sitting with the white people” in white church and demonstrating strong connections with religion and faith, teaching Trevor that freedom was possible, and because she herself knew she wasn’t free, she provided him these experiences to better set him up for the future. It is suggested that Patrica was not truly free, despite appearing so, through the overall structure of the book. The majority of the book contains sparce mentions of
VCE · Language Analysis
Language Analysis: Contention: Feeding artificial food to…
VCE Language Analysis essay scoring 62.5%: The short opinion piece regarding bird feeding by Daphne Lower was published on 2nd October, in a forum…
The short opinion piece regarding bird feeding by Daphne Lower was published on 2nd October, in a forum called Strapleton Community Voice. She argues that feeding artificial food to native birds should be prohibited as it could harm and create imbalance in the bird population. She expresses her concerns when a man with two children was feeding bread to the wild ducks completely ignoring the ‘DO NOT FEED THE BIRDS’ sign. The writer sympathetically appeals to her primary target audience of those who love feeding wild animals without knowing the consequences. It could be said that they also appeal to a secondary audience of everyone in the Strapleton Community. Included above the piece is a photograph of the ‘DO NOT FEED THE BIRDS’ sign to justify her claims that the area is prohibited from bird feeding.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “She was sleepwalking along the giddy…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: Billy Wilder’s ‘Sunset Boulevard’ exposes Hollywood not as a land of opportunity, but a treacherous landscape…
Billy Wilder’s ‘Sunset Boulevard’ exposes Hollywood not as a land of opportunity, but a treacherous landscape where the pursuit of fame corrodes identity, morality, and sanity. Through Joe Gillis’ moral compromise, Norma Desmond as she “sleepwalk[s]… along the giddy heights of a lost career,” and the industry’s ruthless self-preservation, Wilder’s 1950 melodrama and gothic noir reveal the seductive illusion that is the film industry. Ultimately, Wilder warns that pursuing stardom is not merely risky, but profoundly dangerous, demanding sacrifices that few will survive intact.
From the onset, Wilder exposes the moral peril of pursuing fortune within the business that Hollywood is. From the opening sequence, our posthumous narrator’s fate is already sealed: the swimming pool, associated with fortune and status is disrupted by a lifeless corpse within. Particularly, a low angle shot captures our protagonists’ face as he sardonically narrates the scene forming a stark symbol of ambition rewarded with annihilation. Already a casualty of an exploitive system, Joe’s aftermath reinforces the film’s fatalism, denying audiences the optimism of an escape or redemption for its anti-hero. Joe’s early encounters with Hollywood reveal an industry that is hostile to genuine creativity. Evidently, Joe’s interaction with the profit-driven producer Sheldrake emphasises the commercialised reality behind the Hollywood façade. Sheldrake, response to Joe’s pitch, bluntly and mercilessly rejects it, and by extension the creativity that is associated with it. Particularly, Sheldrake is vulnerable to his own personal struggles of needing to “[re]mortgage the ranch” while a subsequent “set of ulcers” testify for the mental strain of the situation. The moment is critical: Wilder conveys that artistic autonomy is suffocated where the industry sees no immediate opportunity for revenue, but also that those with power remain vulnerable to the desperation that comes with chasing Hollywood success. In light of his financial despair, Joe enters a Faustian bargain with Norma, exchanging honesty and integrity for wealth and security. Framed through noir conventions, Wilder’s femme fatale offers short-term salvation for Joe, but causes his subsequent destruction. However, Wilder does not condemn Joe’s opportunism; rather, he critiques a system that incentivises moral compromises. Specifically, Hollywood perpetuates a myth that fortune is attainable through talent and hard work, yet rewards those who are most willing to exploit others and abandon principle. Joe’s pursuit of wealth proves to be an empty and deadly journey. As he bitterly reflects, he “always wanted a pool… the poor dope.” In sum, Wilder subverts the Hollywood myth suggesting that it’s fortune can only be attained where significant cost and consequence is incurred.
VCE · Language Analysis
Language Analysis: many people fear ai they shouldnt
VCE Language Analysis essay scoring 87.5%: As the rise of artificial intelligence continues to reshape modern society, debate surrounding the…
As the rise of artificial intelligence continues to reshape modern society, debate surrounding the relationship between human capability and machine intelligence has moved to the forefront of public discourse. In his New York Times opinion piece, "Many People Fear A.I. They Shouldn't", published on 31 July 2024, David Brooks contends that AI will never truly replace humanity because it cannot replicate the extraordinary complexity of the human mind. Instead, Brooks argues that artificial intelligence should be embraced as a complementary tool that enables people to become "more human." Adopting an intellectually authoritative yet optimistic tone, Brooks seeks to reassure his predominantly humanistic and liberal arts-oriented readership that their anxieties surrounding AI stem not from the technology itself, but from an underestimation of humanity's unique capacities.
Brooks opens his argument by reframing anxiety surrounding AI, presenting it not simply as a technological concern but as evidence of society's diminishing appreciation for the complexity of the human mind. Through the contrasting metaphors of the mind as a "computer" and as "its own universe," Brooks rejects the reductionist belief that human cognition can be replicated through algorithms. While the image of a computer evokes mechanical imitation and predictable information processing, the metaphor of a "universe" suggests limitless complexity, creativity and consciousness. This deliberate contrast encourages readers to reconsider the assumptions underpinning their fears of AI, positioning such anxieties as the product of an "impoverished view" of humanity. Rather than alienating his audience, Brooks appeals to their intellectual pride by inviting them to recognise the richness of human cognition beyond computation. Furthermore, Brooks employs extensive enumeration when describing humanity's ability to "love," "bond," "seek goodness," "create beauty," and "find meaning." The cumulative effect of this catalogue overwhelms readers with the breadth of uniquely human experiences, exposing AI's comparatively narrow capabilities as fundamentally inadequate. By constructing humanity as emotionally, morally and spiritually multidimensional, Brooks reinforces the notion that consciousness cannot be reduced to code, ultimately persuading readers that AI is incapable of replacing the essence of human existence.