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.
Body Paragraph 2
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 · 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 · 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 · 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 · 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 · Text Response
Text Response: How does Sluiter use cinematic techniques…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: Through the journey of Ayaan, an Asylum Seeker, Allies Sluiter portrays the barrier between Ayaan and the…
Through the journey of Ayaan, an Asylum Seeker, Allies Sluiter portrays the barrier between Ayaan and the Australian land as the absence of familiarness, trust and safety because Asylum seekers get horrible treatment when being found, including deportation, harm, or even death at times.
In the first scene, the director includes a long shot camera angle of Ayaan walking alone in the desert. Through the focus on the empty environment and Ayaan being the small person moving, Sluiter conveys the vulnerability and lack of power in Ayaan and the sense of danger and isolation that Ayaan is under to the viewer. The framing demonstrates the presence of Ayaan being in a foreign country creates disconnection, as she has minimal knowledge of her surroundings.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In Regeneration, homecoming proves…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: Pat Barker’s historical novel Regeneration exposes the devastating psychological fissure of the First World War,…
Pat Barker’s historical novel Regeneration exposes the devastating psychological fissure of the First World War, contending that the romanticised dream of homecoming is entirely illusory because the combatant discovers that both he and the domestic sphere have altered beyond recognition, transforming repatriation into a secondary form of exile. Although the surface of civilian life promises an idyllic sanctuary of healing and restoration, Barker unmasks a grim psychological reality where the threshold of the home becomes a site of estrangement rather than asylum. Finally, the narrative reveals that this alienation is absolute, as the permanent alteration of both the civilian populace and the returning soldier shatters any possibility of genuine reintegration, leaving the traumatised individual permanently adrift in a society that refuses to comprehend his fractured reality.
Barker locates the sustaining fiction of the trenches in an idealised fantasy of domesticity, the dream of an unchanged home that keeps the combatant sane amid the horror. Portraying the domestic sphere not merely as a physical location, but as an internalised emotional anchor, she designs it to preserve sanity against the onslaught of mechanised warfare. Capturing this through the haunting perspective of the mute officer, the author figures his mutism as a physical manifestation of repressed trauma, yet his inner life remains tethered to a pre-war identity. Noting that this mute individual had effectively "left home when I was five" to enter the rigid, emotionally sterile pipeline of British boarding schools, the novel offers a biographical detail that highlights how the concept of home was already an elusive, mythologised construct long before the outbreak of hostilities. Operating as a vital psychological defence mechanism, this distant memory of domestic stability fuels the soldier's desperate "decision to return" to a state of perceived innocence and safety. Moving beyond the singular trauma of mutism, Barker extends this reliance on domestic mythology to the broader military hierarchy, framing the medical apparatus of Craiglockhart War Hospital as a mechanism designed to facilitate this impossible restoration. Cast as a surrogate paternal figure, the psychiatrist bears a therapeutic mandate to render the psychologically fractured soldier "fit to return" to civilian life, an ironic phrase that masks the institutional objective of combat reclamation. Collapsing under the weight of wartime reality, this administrative desire for domestic rehabilitation exposes the state's true intention: not the preservation of the individual, but his eventual "return to France" to rejoin the industrial slaughter. Converting the comforting myth of a domestic haven into a coercive tool of the state, this cyclical process ensures that the soldier remains trapped between the physical terror of the frontline and the psychological manipulation of the home front. Consequently, this initial, desperate clinging to the fantasy of a welcoming homeland sets the stage for a devastating psychological rupture when the physical return is finally attempted.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: The Memory Police suggests that oppression…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: Yoko Ogawa's The Memory Police is a dystopian sci-fi novel which acts as an allegory for the dangers of…
Yoko Ogawa's The Memory Police is a dystopian sci-fi novel which acts as an allegory for the dangers of succumbing to political oppression. Throughout her novel, she demonstrates how while people do rise as a result of purposeful intimidation, it's secondary to passivity from the affected population. She does this through the idea that people are in fact afraid and feel powerless, but also due to people forgetting their core values, and their failure to commit to passing on tradition is why oppression takes charge.
Ogawa begins by definitively establishing that a key reason why authoritative governments thrive is through harnessing fear to enforce conformity (even if that fear is not from them). From the opening of the novel, Ogawa illustrates the shame associated with being someone who remembers through the narrator's mother. The fact objects such as 'perfume' are 'hidden' away despite the current absence of the Memory Police demonstrates the societal pressure to blend in with others, and the fear of scrutiny, even without the risk of punishment. It's only once the mother 'receives a letter' and 'disappears' does the risk of being someone who remembers become realised. Ogawa utilises this first chapter before the current day to reinforce her point that authoritative governments thrive and harness existing fear to push forward their own agenda, and poses the question that if people who remembered were not afraid to discuss it and go against the grain, would the Memory Police been so powerful? The illustration of the Memory Police building on existing fear as they brutally kidnap people and ‘bystanders turned to look disapprovingly, they were afraid of creating a disturbance.’ Here, Ogawa directly draws a parallel between societal disapproval and fear, use of the word 'disapprovingly' clearly insinuates that these bystanders are against both the actions of the Memory Police, but also to an extent against the actions of the people being kidnapped. In either direction, it leads to the Memory Police being able to continue their pursuit of power as people are afraid to intervene and either face disapproval from peers, or ‘draw the attention of the Memory Police.’ Finally, Ogawa doesn't discount the real danger people face as a sensible reason to go into hiding. She explores loss both through the direct ‘removal’ of objects, but also through the more subtle 'vanishing' of people, such as R. R's moving into the 'safe house'...’beneath a rug’ illustrates a key turning point in the novel where while people such as R or the Inui family do openly disapprove of the disappearances and previously did so openly — such as in R's office's lobby, are now ‘forced into hiding out of fear’ for their life. Whilst Ogawa does demonstrate the risk of going into hiding as furthering progressing authoritative regimes, she ultimately shows she agrees with the decision as R survives. Ultimately, Ogawa decisively warns that implicit societal disapproval fosters an environment where people are afraid to speak up, enabling authoritative forces to take charge and force those who aren't to be so.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ‘In Hollywood, careers are fleeting.’ To…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 100%: Set in post-war America during Hollywood’s transition from silent film to talkies, Billy Wilder’s scathing film…
Set in post-war America during Hollywood’s transition from silent film to talkies, Billy Wilder’s scathing film noir ‘Sunset Boulevard’ exposes Hollywood as an industry where corruption and immorality is prominent and often required for success. Sunset Boulevard suggests that success in Hollywood is difficult to achieve and often ephemeral, however, individuals with immense authority and profitability can have solidified careers in the industry. Wilder suggests that unrealistic and dynamic societal standards that are enforced in Hollywood cause careers to be unstable. This instability causes working-class careers to be inherently unfulfilling and undervalued. Contrarily, individuals at the top of Hollywood’s hierarchy are able to have permanent careers in the industry due to large impact and power.
Wilder’s film exposes how Hollywood’s ever-changing beauty standards cause individuals, particularly women, to be disposable in the industry. Sunset Boulevard illustrates the commodification of females in the industry for their attractiveness, leading to success that declines with age and shifting beauty norms. The high angle shot of Norma, a washed up silent film star, in the spotlight at DeMille’s studio as a worker tries to “get a better look at” her, and DeMille telling him to “put that light back where it belongs,” highlights that Norma only “belonged” when she was young and beautiful, rather than aged. Through his symbolism of the spotlight, Wilder aims to demonstrate the temporary nature of fame due to unforgiving beauty standards. The depiction of Norma undergoing a montage of gruelling beauty treatments in preparation for “cameras that would never turn” highlights the immense effort it takes to maintain success in Hollywood as a woman. Her tragic character, deluded and depressed due to her forgotten career as an actress in Hollywood, exemplifies the harsh treatment of females who no longer fit beauty standards in the industry. Norma’s preparation for her inconceivable film further demonstrates her self-destruction caused by her disposal from her past career. This suggests that Norma’s deluded state is misunderstood, and that her declined mental health is a result of her ephemeral success in the film industry. Wilder reinforces the damaging nature of beauty standards in his characterisation of Betty, a foil to Norma, who was once an aspiring actress and got surgery after not getting a role because the casting directors “didn’t like [her] nose,” demonstrates the difficulty of launching a career in Hollywood due to unrealistic, overly enforced beauty standards. Despite the initial depiction of Betty as a love interest archetype, reinforcing her undeniable attractiveness, Wilder uses her nose to symbolise the idealistic expectations of the industry for women. By positioning Betty and Norma as foils, yet still both victims to the gruelling, damaging beauty standards of the film industry, Wilder transforms their individual hardships into a systemic critique, exposing how these ideals damage identity and careers.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: To what extent does The Memory Police…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Ogawa implies that memory is fundamental to autonomy, moral judgement and the resistance individuals can mount…
Ogawa implies that memory is fundamental to autonomy, moral judgement and the resistance individuals can mount against authoritarian regimes. Ogawa highlights the disconnect citizens of the island face from their own individual agency and decision-making. This erosion of self is a direct result of the unreasonable surveillance and punishment the Memory Police enforce, which ultimately removes the islanders' ability to challenge their oppression. The Memory Police transform the idea of remembrance into a criminal offence, accentuating the lack of autonomy citizens are provided and thereby removing their ability to resist injustice. The narrator describes the Memory Police as “men who are determined to see things disappear,” a description that highlights the regime's unreasonable authority by framing their actions not as a duty, but as a personal, obsessive mission to erase existence itself. Ogawa’s lexical choice of “determined” illustrates the relentless nature of the Memory Police and their lack of moral judgement in comprehending the mass erasure of a functioning society. They weaponize the act of retention, systematically stripping away objects to ensure the islanders become “accustomed to these losses.” Furthermore,
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: To what extent does The Memory Police…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 67.5%: Ogawa implies that memory is fundamental to autonomy, moral judgement and resistance individuals hold over…
Ogawa implies that memory is fundamental to autonomy, moral judgement and resistance individuals hold over authoritarian regimes. Ogawa highlights the disconnect citizens of the island face through individual agency, decision making and their ability to challenge the oppression they face through the unreasonable surveillance and punishment the Memory Police. The Memory police transform the idea of remembrance into a criminal offence accentuating the lack of autonomy citizens are provided in order to remove their ability to repress injustice. The Narrator describes the Memory Police as “men who are determined to see things disappear” highlighting the unreasonable authority the Memory Police exercise upon the islanders. Ogawa’s lexical choice of “determined” illustrates the relentless nature of the Memory Police and the disconnect between their moral judgement to comprehend the mass erasure of a functioning society. Subsequently, The Narrator claims that the actions of the Memory Police “deteriorate” the
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Oedipus is an admirable man. Do you agree?
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: Whilst Oedipus is initially admired by Thebans for his proactive leadership and unshakable pursuit for justice, his…
Whilst Oedipus is initially admired by Thebans for his proactive leadership and unshakable pursuit for justice, his impulsive temperament and hubris ultimately render him an unadmirable man. In the prologue, Sophocles originally frames Oedipus as a compassionate and decisive leader, as he affirms to the people of Thebes that "you can trust me" and that they now have "me to fight for you". His unwavering self-assuredness in his ability to cure the problems of the Theban people portrays Oedipus as a stable and reliable individual, qualities celebrated in a leader. Oedipus' admirability is further amplified through his dedicated inquisition for truth and justice. After receiving the Oracle of Delphi from Creon, with Apollo instructing him to "drive out the pollution", Oedipus instantly promises to "bring it all to light myself", ensuring that the full truth will be unveiled. Later, Oedipus' curse on