VCE · Text Response
Text Response: 'You have to hide by yourself.' How does…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 92.5%: Published in 1994 as a historical allegory to the rise and fall of authoritarian regimes in the 20th century,…
Published in 1994 as a historical allegory to the rise and fall of authoritarian regimes in the 20th century, Yoko Ogawa's dystopian novel 'The Memory Police' explores the nuances of connection, identity, memory and resistance under brutal fascist authorities. Through the construction of her novel, Ogawa suggests that isolation is inherently damaging to both individuals and society. In The Memory Police, the characters' disconnection from others leads to an inability to form and maintain meaningful relationships. Furthermore, a lack of human connection can lead to a loss of identity. Ultimately, Ogawa illustrates how isolation causes an inability to effectively resist totalitarian regimes, acting as a precursor to total dehumanisation and destruction.
In The Memory Police, disconnection from others inhibits individuals' ability to form and maintain heartfelt relationships with others. Ogawa's depiction of an insular society that is alarmingly fragmented in individuals' isolation from others aims to warn that isolation prevents people from developing an understanding of and relationship with others. The pathetic fallacy of the "mountain shrouded in haze", separating their society from the rest of the world and the "quiet and lonely" nature of the town highlights the isolated nature of the town. Through this, Ogawa suggests that the physical nature of the island is a reflection of the disconnection between the citizens of the island. Ogawa warns that physical isolation often acts as a precursor to disconnection between individuals, highlighting the difficulty of finding connections with others in a society so inherently isolated. Furthermore, the narrator's realisation that she "didn't know anything about" R despite having worked with him for a while in his editing highlights the normalisation of surface-level relationships due to this physical isolation. Through this, Ogawa suggests that individuals must make an effort to make connections with others, as it doesn't occur naturally in isolated societies. As a result of the absence of these meaningful connections, individuals in disconnected societies have difficulty maintaining meaningful relationships. As R "hide[s] by [him]self" in the annex in the narrator's house, the narrator's metaphor of their "hearts being pulled into such different, distant places" highlights the difficulty of maintaining connections with others when isolated. Through this, she champions Anne Frank's maintenance of connection with her family while hiding in the annex, suggesting that even when isolated with society, individuals must strive to maintain meaningful relationships that had already been created. Hence, Ogawa underscores the importance of relationships in societies that are forced to be isolated by authoritarian regimes, as it prevents total isolation.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Ghost Wall is a novel about defiance.…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 65%: Written in 2018, Sarah Moss constructs the novella ‘Ghost Wall’ as a direct response to modern issues within…
Written in 2018, Sarah Moss constructs the novella ‘Ghost Wall’ as a direct response to modern issues within British society, such as patriarchal control and high versus low class divides. Through this, it is apparent Moss’ central theme is defiance as well as the control of individuals. Firstly, Moss depicts individuals who defy detrimental patriarchal control. Furthermore, the author illustrates the ability of individuals to challenge class structures. Despite this focus on defiance, Moss portrays the dangerous control wielded by those with power.
Firstly, through the illustration of a world dominated by patriarchal control, Moss demonstrates how this is defied by individuals. This is particularly evident through the characterisation of Molly as a fierce individual guided by a strong moral compass. In response to the male students joking about women always worrying about where to go to the bathroom, Molly hits back, arguing “it’s just the way [they all] act as if a vagina will come out and eat [them] if it’s out without a muzzle.” The metaphorical description that a vagina requires a muzzle is capitalised on by Moss to uncover societal normalities regarding the judgement of women urinating. Through this, Moss critiques the fear of women’s bodies perpetuated by the patriarchy. Furthermore, in response to being taunted for her and Silvie’s outfits as they walk along the highway Molly gives the car of men “two fingers”. Shocked by this, Silvie describes Molly as acting “as if there were no possible consequences for a girl making obscene gestures on the public highway.” Silvie specifically believing a ‘girl’ should not be making obscene gestures reveals the gendered lense in which she views the world which is challenged through Molly’s fearlessness to put forward her opinion. In writing to a British audience in 2018 facing a rise in right-wing ideology, Moss condemns the control of women and praises individuals who defy this.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In We Have Always Lived in the Castle,…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: In Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle, traditional expectations of women are challenged through…
In Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle, traditional expectations of women are challenged through the tension between female independence and the social pressures that seek to restrict it. Written in a period when women were often expected to prioritise domestic responsibilities, marriage and obedience, Jackson exposes how these expectations can limit women’s freedom and autonomy. Through the contrast between the sisters’ secluded domestic life and the intrusion of male authority, Jackson questions the assumption that women require male protection or control. However, Jackson also reveals that escaping these expectations does not necessarily guarantee freedom, as isolation can become another form of confinement. Ultimately, the novel challenges traditional gender roles by exposing the ways patriarchal authority restricts women’s independence and defines their place within society.
Jackson initially challenges traditional gender expectations by presenting female relationships as a source of security that exists independently of male authority. The statement, “She was the most precious person in my world,” conveys the intensity of Merricat’s attachment to Constance. Through the superlative “most precious,” Jackson emphasises the importance of female affection, suggesting that emotional fulfilment does not have to depend on romantic relationships or marriage. Merricat’s world is instead organised around her sister, allowing their relationship to become an alternative to the conventional expectation that women should seek fulfilment through men. This independence is further demonstrated when Constance tells Charles, “Don’t bully her, Charles.” The imperative “Don’t” establishes Constance’s willingness to challenge male behaviour rather than submit to it. By defending Merricat, Constance rejects the expectation that women should remain passive in the face of male authority. However, Jackson also complicates this apparent freedom by presenting the sisters’ dependence on one another as increasingly exclusive. Their devotion protects them from a hostile society, yet their withdrawal from the outside world suggests that independence from patriarchal expectations can come at the cost of wider social freedom.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In Ghost Wall, men revert to primitive…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 75%: The human desire to romanticise the past often reveals more about the fears and prejudices of the present than…
The human desire to romanticise the past often reveals more about the fears and prejudices of the present than history itself. Throughout her novel, Moss examines the primodal behaviours men resort to, and how women resort to this power, when placed away from modern society. Here, Moss warns against the tendency of men to exhibit authority by romanticising the creul customs of the past. Furthermore, these gender stereotypes are present even within a family, with Moss showcasing how the father-figure can be controlling. On the contrary however, Moss celebrates the way a priviledged education gives women the freedom to not blindly accept male dominance or traditions.
Within 'Ghost Wall', masculine figures exhibit authority by glorifying Iron Age customs, while women succumb to their power. Moss utilises the character of Bill, who "draws strength" from the Northumberland exclusive enviroment as it allows him to teach Silvie his skills with the "hunting knife". Here, Moss condones how an isolated enviroment allows men's behaviours to lose the respect found in a developed society. As such, when Molly asks what the professor and Bill found after their scavenging adventure, the Professor builds mystery around what is said as "it's not that interesting", to exclude the women from knowing, therefore creating the divide in Iron Age knowledge and power that keeps men in control. Furthermore, while Professor Slade is crafted to act as the voice of reason, Moss demonstrates how men have the tendency to neglect female boundaries by forcing the sacrificial 'ritual' onto Silvie. In that moment, Moss condemns how the Professor showed up to the reenactment with a "camera strung around his neck", a symbol that Moss portrays as objectifying women in a way to recreate and capture the cruel torments of history, all while Silvie had a "rope tied around her neck." Here, Moss critiques men who see history as a simulation and ignores the physical and psychological damage that women endure. Similarly, Moss exposures how young men also turn a blind eye to abuse, through Pete even volunteering to partake in "mission[s] of violence" with the other men, and asserting dominance over Silvie by coming at her with "raised sticks" during her ritual. Here, Moss critiques the inability of young men to notice women surrendering their self-autonomy to earn a role in male activities. This also reflect the social awareness shift in the mid-2010's which infamously called out men for being by-standers to female abuse. Overall, Moss denounces the way men preside over women, by romanticising the past until females lack the confidence to stand up against it.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: control and love
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: In Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle, love is presented as a powerful yet contradictory force…
In Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle, love is presented as a powerful yet contradictory force that can provide emotional security while simultaneously restricting individual freedom. Through the novel’s exploration of familial devotion, possessiveness and domestic authority, Jackson reveals how the desire to protect loved ones can become a means of exercising control. Although affection offers an alternative to the hostility of the outside world, the dependence it creates can ultimately reinforce isolation and prevent individual growth. Through Gothic symbolism, an unreliable first-person narrator and the destruction of the Blackwood home, Jackson challenges idealised representations of familial love, revealing that when affection becomes inseparable from the need to control, protection can become another form of confinement.
Jackson initially presents love as a source of emotional security, while exposing how intense attachment can make personal identity dependent on the preservation of a relationship. Merricat describes Constance as “the most precious person in my world”, with the superlative “most precious” elevating her sister above every other relationship and revealing the extent to which Merricat’s identity depends on Constance. However, the centrality of Constance within Merricat’s “world” also suggests that her affection is inseparable from her desire to preserve their relationship against external interference. By positioning her sister as the foundation of her existence, Merricat constructs an emotional reality in which love becomes both her greatest source of comfort and a potential source of vulnerability. Jackson therefore complicates the apparent purity of sisterly devotion, suggesting that affection can become restrictive when an individual’s entire sense of security depends on maintaining another person’s constant presence. This protective dimension of love becomes evident when Constance warns Charles, “Don’t bully her, Charles.” The imperative “Don’t” establishes a firm boundary against Charles’s behaviour, while the verb “bully” positions Merricat as vulnerable to his attempts to dominate the household. Constance’s intervention demonstrates that affection can become a form of resistance against controlling authority. Nevertheless, Jackson presents this solidarity as both empowering and limiting: although the sisters’ loyalty allows them to withstand external hostility, it also encourages them to define safety through their separation from others. Through this contradiction, Jackson suggests that love provides genuine emotional refuge but can restrict independence when preserving a relationship takes precedence over engaging with the wider world.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ‘I want to say I’m Sorry…’ In We Have…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: The 1962 gothic novel, authored by Shirley Jackson, We have always lived in the castle, explores how humanity deals…
The 1962 gothic novel, authored by Shirley Jackson, We have always lived in the castle, explores how humanity deals and grows from experiences of regret and guilt. Exemplified through the rejection of guilt leading to survival, illicit inviting social compliance. However, by embracing guilt and regret can lead to peace. Through this, Jackson contends there is little to gain from unaddressed guilt and regret! Messaging to the embracing it results in a freedom readers the importance of addressing underlying causes, in order to grow.
Jackson reveals that rejecting the guilt society imposes, individuals begin to flourish. Through Mary Katherine (Merricat's) first-person narration, she rejects the typical guilt experienced by a murder. remarking that "their bellies ... will feel a torment hotter than a thousand fires." The hellish imagery is used to deflect her own guilt. As she reframes the villagers as deserving guilt, using the irony of consuming fire, which reflects the reasoning to why the villagers impose guilt onto her, for the poisoning. Mirroring their taunts, "Merricat, said Connie, would you like a cup of tea." Jackson reveals how individuals reject guilt, by using violent punishments that reflect their torment. Additionally, the imagery positions herself as not a monster, but as bringing justice to those who persecute her. Allowing her to deflect her own internalised guilt. Furthermore, The novel is structured around the delayed revelation, of Merricat puting the poison "in the sugar." layered upon the first-person narration,
Jackson immerses readers into Merricat's perspective. This sanitises the guilt of Merricat's actions, guiding readers to sympathise Merricat or ignore the cruelty in her actions.
Jackson employs this structural deception to explore that ignoring guilt serves little purpose as individuals can flourish and survive without feeling any guilt. In all of this, she criticises the confining imposed by the 1950s and early 1960s America, messaging that it constructs guilt and regret. Speaking to her own experiences, she messages to those who feel alienated that rejecting societal pressures is a way to feel alleviated. Overall, Jackson asserts that there is little to gain from guilt, as individuals can deflect it.
Moreover, Jackson establishes guilt and regret as instrumental in enforcing submissivity. She explains there is little to gain, as it is a psychological to enforce entrapment. Displayed through the Blackwood mansion operating under the shadows of the late patriarch - the sisters "always put things back where they belonged." Maintaining the "layers of Blackwood property." This domestic routine of preserving, dusting and cleaning serves as spatial entrapment. Symbolising how domesticity transforms their lives to a dedication of the dead family order, Jackson superimposes the Gothic feature of a haunted domestic atmosphere to create a shrine-like atmosphere and impression of stagnant time. Thus Jackson examines how pressures of maintaining domestic order limits autonomy and confines women into
submission. She highlights the lack of experienced gain as she condemns post-war gender roles for the validity they pusue, emphasizing its toxicity and implies it hinders autonomy and independance.
However, Jackson highlights that by embracing guilt and regret individuals gain peace and liberation. She underscores the importance of overcoming fears, and sorrows, rather than rejecting them. The fire at the climax signals a structural shift in power. it purges the "top of the house." Symbolising the destruction of patriarchal control which frees the sisters from the source of their guilt, patriarchal family order. This is represented through Constance claiming "(she) knew" about Merricat putting the poison "in the sugar." Jackson reveals the catharsis of addressing guilt and regret, by representing this acknowledgment as crucial to shed the guilt from society. Additionally, this admission signals the shift to the food economy, representing liberation through admission. The sisters rely on food from the community, preserves, and the garden to achieve total emancipation.
By ridding their sources of the silence the sisters acheived liberation, through recognising that individuals gain freedom letting go. Jackson renounces patriarchal and capitalistic greed, by displaying total secession for those systems as liberating. She underscores the freedom gained, as the sisters "are so happy" with the destruction and total isolation their radical acceptance undermines the looming guilt that was limiting their isolation. constrasting the isolation at the start and the end. This clarifes the freedom gained from embracing guilt is a freed mind. Jackson messages to the readers that rejecting social orders
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: change is unwelcome. discuss
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: In Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle, change is presented as a destructive force that threatens…
In Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle, change is presented as a destructive force that threatens the characters’ security, identity and sense of belonging. Through the Blackwood sisters’ rigid domestic routines and their increasingly isolated existence, Jackson reveals how the desire to preserve familiarity can become a means of resisting a hostile and judgemental society. However, while the sisters’ withdrawal initially offers protection from external scrutiny, their refusal to confront change ultimately reinforces the limitations of their world. Written in 1962, within a society shaped by traditional gender expectations and rigid ideals of family life, Jackson’s Gothic novel challenges the assumption that security can be maintained through domestic order and social exclusion, exposing the dangers of allowing fear to dictate one’s relationship with the changing world.
Jackson initially establishes the Blackwood family’s resistance to change through their rigid domestic routines and privileged way of life, suggesting that their dependence on familiarity creates an illusion of lasting security. Before the poisoning, the family’s wealth and social status distinguish them from the villagers, allowing them to maintain an orderly household seemingly untouched by the outside world. Merricat’s observation that the family “kept things in order” emphasises their reliance on routine, with the language of “order” suggesting an attempt to impose control over a world that is otherwise unpredictable. However, Jackson gradually undermines this apparent stability through Merricat’s superstitious worldview, as the ominous declaration that “All the omens spoke of change” transforms change into an almost supernatural threat. Through Gothic conventions and foreboding language, Jackson reflects Merricat’s psychological need to interpret uncertainty as danger, revealing how deeply her identity depends on the preservation of familiar patterns. The poisoning shatters the family’s carefully maintained domestic order, demonstrating that the security the Blackwoods have constructed is more fragile than it appears. By establishing the family’s dependence on routine before exposing its vulnerability, Jackson suggests that resistance to change arises from the fear of losing control, rather than from any genuine guarantee that the familiar is safe.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: the question is In twelth night seeking,…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: With the name alluding to the festival of missrule Shakespeares William Shakespeares comedic play “Twelfth Night”…
With the name alluding to the festival of missrule Shakespeares William Shakespeares comedic play “Twelfth Night” explores demonstraights how characters whom seek light plesure are in reality acting with malice without realising. Shakespeare Throughout the play Shakespeare explores how characters seek plesure and its unintended consiquences on both themselfs and others. Shakespeare also is critical of Illyrias system that allows for this harm, exploring how the through the plays structure how malice is usualy the result of plesure for othe of others seeking plesure.
Shakespeare dipic is critical of the ways in which people seek plesure in Twelfth Night, emphasising the harmfull tendancys that of Pleasure has on others. Through Mr Sir Toby’s & Maria’s sshene scheme in Tw the play demonstraits the negitive affects that come from seeking plesure in others. As Maria knew malvolio wouldnt be able to “differenciate between her [and] [Olivias] hand”. Demonstrating to the Reader that Maria only cared about the kick she got from Malvolio’s belief that his “lady” loved him. What was designed to be a laugh for Sir Toby and Maria resulted in Malvolios “inprisonment”. Shakespeare Those sequence of events that is woven into the plays plot demonstraights how in a society of such mysrule. Malice is can be unintentional and a byproduct of plesure.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: in sunset boulevard the greatest danger in…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard exposes the destructive consequences of Hollywood culture that measures personal…
Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard exposes the destructive consequences of Hollywood culture that measures personal wealth through fame, youth and commercial success. Released in 1950, at a time where the American film industry was going through significant change, Wilder’s film noir turns a critical eye on the glamour traditionally associated with Hollywood. Wilder suggests that failure in Hollywood isn’t the greatest downfall, it’s the illusion it creates for individuals. Norma Desmond’s illusion separates her from reality causing her downfall. The illusion of success, fame and wealth leads to the moral compromise of Joe Gillis. Ultimately Hollywood is an illusion as everything is about selling for money.
Wilder portrays illusion separates individuals from reality, ultimately causing downfall. Best demonstrated through Norma Desmond, a forgotten silent film star whose illusion keeps her isolated in her obsolete mansion as it acts as a shrine to help fuel Norma’s need to be desired, wanted and admired as she once was in the Hollywood industry. Through the use of shadows and a wide camera angle shot of the mansion, it represents Norma’s isolation from reality as it creates a wall that protects her from the real world and reinforces the idea of her being the biggest star in the world through the use of low to high slow camera angles of all of Norma’s portraits in her mansion, representing the illusion keeping her forced away from reality of being a forgotten silent film star. Norma’s photos also represent a safe isolated space for Norma where reality can’t hurt like it did once before, 20 years ago.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Wilder critique the world of…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 75%: Depicting an era shaped by post WWII prosperity. Billy wilder delivers a scathing critique of Hollywood…
Depicting an era shaped by post WWII prosperity. Billy wilder delivers a scathing critique of Hollywood industrialised studio system through the meta film sunset boulevard. Billy Wilder uses film noir as a way to expose the destructive exploitation of Hollywood and the illusion of fame it brings with it, while changing views on the world of film itself. Wilder explores how power held by studios exploit artists and workers. Furthermore the auteur focuses on the fame that Hollywood creates is temporary and destructive. However the dreams of fame and success remain powerful and motivating.
Wilder explores Hollywood as an exploitative industry that values profit over the artists and workers who contribute to its own success. Through the mise en scene of Norma's decaying mansion, Wilder highlights the consequences of Hollywood's treatment of ageing stars. Once a symbol of wealth and prestige, the mansion has become isolated and neglected, reflecting Norma's abandonment by an industry that no longer considers her profitable. This criticism is reinforced through Norma's declaration that "I am big. It’s the pictures that got small." The irony of this statement demonstrates her inability to accept her decline while simultaneously exposing Hollywood's tendency to discard performers once public taste change. Furthermore, Joe's observation that "Audiences don't know somebody sits down and writes a picture." draws attention to the lack of recognition afforded to creative workers behind the scenes. Through Joe's distrust, Wilder reveals an industry that profits from artistic labour while often denying contributors the appreciation they deserve. This is scene when sheldrake explains all of the films he has denied over the years "Who wants to see a civil war picture". Wilder presents Hollywood as a system that exploits both its stars and workers, valuing financial gain above individual wellbeing.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Sunset Boulevard suggest the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: Further during Sunset Boulevard, Wilder showcases that the deceptive nature of success within Hollywood leads to…
Further during Sunset Boulevard, Wilder showcases that the deceptive nature of success within Hollywood leads to disillusion . With the use of the character of Norma, Wilder showcases that the illusory nature of success means that individuals chasing success can never be fulfilled. Even though Norma was loved by millions and is recognized by Joe as her “used to be[ing] big, Norma is unable to live with the concept of being forgotten leading to her delusion, forcing her to believe “I am big”. Wilder further uses imagery creating a motif of Norma's house to highlight Norma disillusion. As on the outside Joe describes it as “ a big white elephant of a place” that looks like a "grim sunset castle ” that has been physical representation of Norma as a celebrity as while she is rich she no longer has beauty and meets the success of Hollywood. With the use of meta
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Sunset Boulevard suggest the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: Further during Sunset Boulevard, Wilder showcases that the deceptive nature of success within Hollywood leads to…
Further during Sunset Boulevard, Wilder showcases that the deceptive nature of success within Hollywood leads to disillusion . With the use of the character of Norma, Wilder showcases that the illusory nature of success means that individuals chasing success can never be fulfilled. Even though Norma was loved by millions and is recognized by Joe as her “used to be[ing] big, Norma is unable to live with the concept of being forgotten leading to her delusion, forcing her to believe “I am big”. Wilder further uses imagery creating a motif of Norma's house to highlight Norma disillusion. As on the outside Joe describes it as “ a big white elephant of a place” that looks like a "grim sunset castle ” that has been physical representation of Norma as a celebrity as while she is rich she no longer has
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Sunset Boulevard suggest the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: Although with the use of foil Wilder is able demonstrates that self acceptance can still occur when individuals are…
Although with the use of foil Wilder is able demonstrates that self acceptance can still occur when individuals are able to identify the false illusion of success that Hollywood creates. With the development of the character Betty, Wilder juxtaposes Norma as she is able to find fulfilment “on the other side of the character”. This is due to at a young age Betty through the deceptive nature of beauty success within Hollywood due to her having to get a nose job because they “didn’t like her nose” but then not hiring her because the directors “didn’t like her acting”. This led to Betty stopping from chasing the stardom but rather becoming a writer, who is one of the only characters in the play which Wilder showcases laughing and having fun. Compared to Norma who has reached the height of having fan mail and
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Hughes suggests that America’s failure to…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 100%: Within a society shaped by racial segregation, Langston Hughes’s ‘Selected Poems’ explores the way in which the…
Within a society shaped by racial segregation, Langston Hughes’s ‘Selected Poems’ explores the way in which the oppressive mechanisms of American society systematically restrict marginalised individuals from being able to actualise the nation’s founding promises. Yet, the poet also emphasises how despite the inaccessibility of the liberty and peace promised, African American citizens are still able to maintain hope and purpose in an endeavor to achieve dreams of equality. Lamenting the loss of individual and collective identity as a result of racially motivated violence within America, Hughes presents subjugation as a mechanism for the destruction of the natural landscape, systematically eroding hopes for peace and liberty. However, whilst presenting America’s founding promises as unattainable and unrealistic, the poet also illustrates the strength that comes from the African American desire to work towards these dreams for future generations.
Criticising how the oppressive mechanisms of American society result in the corruption of the nation’s natural landscape, Hughes laments how the implications of generational racism extend beyond individual acts to engulf and trap an entire society. In ‘Georgia Dusk’, the poet illustrates the “crimson trickle in the Georgia dusk” to convey the way in which the “blood” of racially motivated violence extends to contaminate the integrity of a society’s landscape. Through employing the symbolic representation of compounding generational servitude, Hughes delineates how the consequences of subjugation act as a slow, continuous “trickle” down ancestral ties, impacting the integrity of America’s national identity. Compounding his criticism of the racist mechanics of the South, Hughes subverts traditional pastoral narratives in ‘Blue Bayou’, depicting how a “blue bayou”, typically resembling peace in its serenity, becomes a “pool of fire” when African Americans are “put…on a rope” and “pull[ed] higher”. Drawing upon the religious values of white America, the poet utilises infernal imagery in the “pool of fire” to present oppression as a catalyst for the degradation of the nation’s own ideals of peace and solace. Exposing the bitter irony of preaching religious ideologies yet simultaneously displaying acts of violence and brutality in the lynchings, Hughes ultimately criticises how subjugation systematically contaminates the purity of white America’s religious ideals. As a result, the poet presents racism as a self-undermining mechanism to erode the peace and autonomy promised in the nation’s Declaration. Shifting to a more social lens, still using nature as a vehicle for condemnation, Hughes grounds the generational subservience of African American citizens within the reality of ‘Porter’ jobs for these individuals during The Great Depression. The poet employs enjambed phrasing in the “mountain / of yes, sirs” to emphasise the insurmountable nature of the efforts required for African American citizens to overcome the barriers built through generations of forced obedience. Through depicting the barrier built on verbal compliance, Hughes suggests that marginalised individuals do not willingly submit to systems of white hegemony, rather they are inadvertently forced through the immense “mountain” they would need to dismantle in order to obtain any sense of liberty or peace. Ultimately, Hughes critiques how systems of white hegemony act as a catalyst for the degradation of societal hopes for autonomy and solace, therefore deeming the nation’s founding promises as unattainable within the American South.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: The prompt was: Born A Crime considers the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: In the 2016 autobiographical memoir 'Born a Crime', written by comedian Trevor Noah, He explores factors in his…
In the 2016 autobiographical memoir 'Born a Crime', written by comedian Trevor Noah, He explores factors in his life growing up in South Africa during the end of apartheid that contributed to the shaping of his identity. Through his mother Patricia's immense faith and perseverance, Noahs divide between black and white culture throughout his childhood, and the everlasting impact of apartheid on local communities, Noah intends to showcase the abundance of factors developing an individuals identity.
Initially, Noah illustrates his mother's early influence on him as a child, helping him learn what is right and wrong. He conveys what their relationship was like, even stating that he and his mother had a very "Tom and Jerry relationship", in the way his mother would chase him after a misdeed. This light-hearted analogy helps encapsulate a complex relationship into a cartoon-esque drama, where his mother acting as Tom would chase Noah, throwing items at him just as the cartoon depicts. This analogy was also used to show how no matter how much they chased around, Noah and his mother were always in their lives together as friends, forming a very close bond together. Noah then evokes admiration for his mother, story-telling her personal life leading up to Noahs birth, whilst linking to his own traits. The book explores Patricia Noah's upbringing as a "tomboy" that was unique and a rebel, leaving her township to live in a city that made it illegal to live in as a black person. This is emphasised to show the trait of rebellion being passed down to Noah, him even claiming to be "very naughty" as a child.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In wilders sunset boulevard every…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard presents a world in which self-interest governs almost every relationship. Set…
Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard presents a world in which self-interest governs almost every relationship. Set within the morally corrupt landscape of Hollywood, the film exposes characters who exploit others in pursuit of personal success, financial security or emotional fulfilment. While it is largely true that the major characters act selfishly and opportunistically, Wilder complicates this judgement by revealing how loneliness, desperation and disillusionment often motivate their behaviour. Ultimately, the film suggests that selfishness is not merely an individual moral failing but a consequence of an industry that encourages exploitation and rewards opportunism.
Joe Gillis embodies the opportunistic values that permeate Hollywood. Facing financial ruin, he enters into a mutually exploitative arrangement with Norma Desmond, sacrificing his independence in exchange for material comfort and security. Joe initially views Norma as little more than a means of survival, accepting expensive gifts and accommodation despite recognising the moral compromises involved. His cynical narration reveals an acute awareness of his own opportunism, particularly when he compares himself to a "kept man". Wilder's use of first-person voice-over encourages the audience to condemn Joe's self-interest while simultaneously understanding the desperation that drives him. As a struggling screenwriter abandoned by an industry fixated on commercial success, Joe's selfish decisions reflect both personal weakness and the broader corruption of Hollywood.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Hughes suggests that America’s failure to…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: Within a society shaped by racial segregation, Langston Hughes’ ‘Selected Poems’ explores the way in which the…
Within a society shaped by racial segregation, Langston Hughes’ ‘Selected Poems’ explores the way in which the oppressive mechanisms of American society systematically restrict marginalised individuals from being able to actualise the nation’s founding promises. Yet, the poet also emphasises how despite the inaccessibility of the liberty and peace promised, African American citizens are still able to maintain hope and purpose in an endeavor to achieve dreams of equality. Lamenting the loss of individual and collective identity as a result of racially motivated violence within America, Hughes presents subjugation as a mechanism for the destruction of the natural landscape, systematically eroding hopes for peace and liberty. However, whilst presenting America’s founding promises as unattainable and unrealistic, the poet also illustrates the strength that comes from the African American desire to work towards these dreams for future generations.
Criticising how the oppressive mechanisms of American society result in the corruption of the nation’s natural landscape, Hughes laments how the implications of generational racism extend beyond individual acts to engulf and trap an entire society. In ‘Georgia Dusk’, the poet illustrates the “crimson trickle in the Georgia dusk” to convey the way in which the “blood” of racially motivated violence extends to contaminate the integrity of a society’s landscape. Through employing the symbolic representation of the “trickle”, Hughes delineates how the consequences of subjugation act as a continuous “trickle” down ancestral ties, becoming a defining element of American society. Compounding his criticism of the racist mechanics of the South, Hughes subverts traditional pastoral narratives in ‘Blue Bayou’, depicting how a “blue bayou”, typically resembling peace in its serenity, becomes a “pool of fire” when African Americans are “put…on a rope” and “pull[ed] higher”. Drawing upon the religious values of white America, the poet utilises infernal imagery in the “pool of fire” to present oppression as a catalyst for the degradation of the nation’s own ideals of peace and solace. Exposing the bitter irony of preaching religious ideologies yet simultaneously displaying acts of violence and brutality in the lynchings, Hughes ultimately criticises how subjugation systematically contaminates the purity of white America’s religious ideals, presenting racism as a self-undermining mechanism to erode the peace and autonomy promised in the nation’s Declaration. Shifting to a more social lens, still using nature as a vehicle for condemnation, Hughes grounds the generational subservience of African American citizens within the reality of ‘Porter’ jobs for these individuals during The Great Depression. The poet employs enjambed phrasing in the “mountain / of yes, sirs” to emphasise the insurmountable nature of the efforts required for African American citizens to overcome the barriers built through generations of forced obedience. Through depicting the “mountain” built on verbal compliance, Hughes suggests that marginalised individuals do not willingly submit to systems of white hegemony, rather they are inadvertently forced to through the immense “mountain” they would need to dismantle in order to obtain any sense of liberty or peace. Ultimately, Hughes critiques how systems of white hegemony act as a catalyst for the degradation of societal hopes for autonomy and solace, therefore deeming the nation’s founding promises as unattainable within the American South.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In the town of Chronicle of a Death…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 67.5%: Decisions created by individuals are heavily influenced by honour, the social expectations of a community and the…
Decisions created by individuals are heavily influenced by honour, the social expectations of a community and the desire to uphold those expectations to keep their name reputable. Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novella, “Chronicle of a Death Foretold,” constructs a narrative where rather than a moral code, the concept of honour is perpetually changed to follow the social requirement. Through the repressive upbringing of Angela Vicario and her kept virginity, the theatrical performance of the Vicario brothers, and the paralysing inertia of the townspeople, Marquez exposes how this obsession with public face destroys not only individual lives but the very moral integrity of the society that upholds it.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “Refusal to relinquish dreams is at the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: “Refusal to relinquish dreams is at the heart of all suffering” To what extent does Wilder endorse this idea in…
“Refusal to relinquish dreams is at the heart of all suffering” To what extent does Wilder endorse this idea in Sunset Boulevard.
Billy Wilders 1950 Noir melodrama ‘Sunset Boulevard’ demystifies the glamour and opulence of Hollywood whilst championing morality and truth as key virtues. Wilder contends that the fidelity and commitment towards an unrealistic dream is what leads to all misery. Wilder explores this idea by exposing how the refusal to relinquish dreams can lead to both physical and emotional suffering, as well as the inhibiting of success. As well as how the ability to adjust and adapt dreams is what enables accomplishment.
In sunset boulevard, auteur Wilder explores how the refusal to divert from a dream results in misery. From Normas initial introduction it is immediately apparent that her worth is tied to her fame and celebrity. Normas delusion that she has retained the love of her fans even as an “old time movie star”, is perpetuated by her inability to acknowledge the regression of her fame. This is highlighted to the audience through her plan to play “Salome”. Salome, as a character that is less than half her age, is used by Wilder to showcase her incredibly detached mental state, and her incapacity to let go of her dream and choice to instead “sleepwalk along the giddy heights of a lost career”. This devotion to her delusion that she has reached her dream, is what ultimately leads to her “moments of melancholy” and “many suicide attempts”. Normas suffering is caused almost entirely by her refusal to relinquish her dream of Hollywood. This is ultimately used by Wilder to condemn the rejection of reality to avoid the truth of failed dreams. Additionally, Sheldrakes dedication to his dream of becoming a successful film producer, is also shown to lead to a similar fate. The mis-en-scene of Sheldrakes introduction is used to instantly showcase to the audience his hidden sufferings due to his need to sustain his role as a producer and maintain his façade of success. The multiple awards and certificates, compiled with his expensive suit and pipe all highlights his dream of being considered one of the great men of Hollywood. This dream further emphasised through his fixation on his regret at turning down “Gone With the Wind”, a film that could have secured his position as a powerful man in Hollywood, fulfilling his dream. It is this regret and his dream of success that ultimately leads to his torment. His “stomach ulcers” from stress, and financial troubles forcing him to “borrow money” and “mortgage [his] ranch… to pay [his] income tax”, illustrate the suffering that has been perpetuated by his desire to fulfill his unrealistic dream and refusal to abandon his dream of finding success in Hollywood. Wilder uses this to criticise the greed-driven pursuit of success in Hollywood, further highlighting the impact of obsession over one goal.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: To what extent is revenge a form of…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 75%: Justice is overvalued; peace should be sought over a want for equal punishment. Stephen Maxwell Johnson’s 2020…
Justice is overvalued; peace should be sought over a want for equal punishment. Stephen Maxwell Johnson’s 2020 western-style action-thriller film ‘High Ground’, set between 1919 and 1930 in Arnhem land during the frontier wars explores different forms of seeking equality and the role of serving punishments from both sides of the conflict. Johnson indicates that revenge and violence are perpetuating cycles that accumulate injustices, and that it rarely brings true justices as it requires mutual respect and understanding. The concept of justice is also questioned, whether the need for justice is truly as necessary during dire circumstances as it is made to seem. The film condemns revenge, illuminating it as a shallow form of seeking justice, one that only leaves a fleeting feeling of peace and permanent anger.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Change is unwelcome in We Have Always…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: Change is unwelcome in We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Discuss. Published in 1962, Shirley Jackson's gothic…
Change is unwelcome in We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Discuss.
Published in 1962, Shirley Jackson's gothic literature novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle, written during a period of intense social conformity in post war America critiques the rigid societal expectations and prejudice stemming from class divisions and gender expectations. As a woman in mid century America, Jackson utilises the gothic genre to explore controversial overturns of social norms in a McCarthy period. Jackson condemns how the presence of difference and change is resisted when posing threat to established routines as well as deviating from conventional norms, yet Jackson also suggests how change is valued when it enables female autonomy and establishes dismantlement of patriarchal structures.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In Oedipus the King, Sophocles suggests…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 62.5%: In Sophocles's tragedy Oedipus the King. Sophocles stages a murder investigation that becomes an inquiry into the…
In Sophocles's tragedy Oedipus the King. Sophocles stages a murder investigation that becomes an inquiry into the investigation himself, and doing so suggests that seeking the truth is dangerous. The pursuit of the truth and knowledge costed the seeker his identity, family and sight, while putting those who reveals it into a great risk of punishment. However, Sophocles ultimately implies that refusing the truth puts one's self into even greater danger, as the plague continues until the truth is brought to light. Through the use of dramatic irony and the motif of sight and blindness, he warns that knowledge is costly but ignorance is fatal.
Sophocles suggests that the pursuit of truth is dangerous because it can strip the seeker of everything that defines him. In the prologue, Oedipus annouces himself to the strucken city of Thebes, "I am Oedipus!" A proud, self asserting declaration that presents his name and identity as fixed and secure. This confidence was breaking down steadily the closer he approaches to the truth and at the climax, his cry "all come true, all burst to light!" reverses the assertion from earlier. The use of "burst" highlights the violent, uncontrollable nature of the way that is revealed, while the light imagery is tragically ironic as the "light" only arrives to destroy him. Dramatic irony shapes this effect even further as an audience who follows the myth and knows how the story ends sees Oedipus building this case against himself from the very beginning. The consequence is registered in the aftermath, "I did it all myself!" Where he claims ownership of the ruin he brought onto himself and blinding himself after witnessing the full aftermath. Through this storyline, Sophocles demonstrates that knowledge does not simply inform the person but strip one's identity alongside with it. Which is why searching for the truth is so dangerous.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ‘How terrible - to see the truth when the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: Understanding in a world of unsavoury truths forces man to suffer, yet allows man to avoid dangerous lives. In…
Understanding in a world of unsavoury truths forces man to suffer, yet allows man to avoid dangerous lives. In his tragedy Oedipus the King, Sophocles suggests that knowledge often encompasses realising facts that lead the discoverer to pain, yet protects them from moral misalignments caused by ignorance. He explores the dangers of one’s faith in man, suggesting that through the tragic act of losing hope in their hero, they may avoid entanglement in his complicity. He portrays the supremacy of the gods as an acknowledgement of both importance and horror, ensuring the possibility of escaping divine cruelty while positing its inevitability. And realisations of guilt create profound tremors of suffering, where shame envelops man to the point of physical destruction, yet allows man to embrace necessary restorative thoughts and measures.
Sophocles suggests that knowledge destroys one’s faith in man, eroding complicity in their sins through a process of much pain. Sophocles initially establishes the dependent relationship Thebes directs towards Oedipus, with the priest superlatively describing the ‘first of men’ and ‘best of men’ and assuming he ‘[has] the power’ to ‘raise up [the] city’. Through the ‘double doors [which] dominate the facade’ of the royal palace, Sophocles suggests the separation between man’s understanding of their leader and the truth concealed, their blind belief in Oedipus being one to ‘trust’ separated from the evils committed within. The playwright implies that by placing one’s faith in man, one begins to worship the partial notion of their leader that they can observe with a position of ignorance inevitable. Sophocles suggests that their initial misguided assumption contributes to their complicity in Oedipus’ actions through the plague which inflicts the city. Dually labelled as both a literal ‘blight on the fresh crops and the rich pastures’ and ‘the man’ who committed the murder, it represents a transfer of responsibility onto the entire city for their acceptance of Oedipus the murderer. Ultimately, Sophocles voices a concern that placing one’s faith in man is not only misguided but subjects them to suffering caused by their leader’s transgression. Sophocles presents knowledge of human imperfection - leading to a decoupling from blind following - as the antidote. The city eventually understands that ‘the generations of men…come to nothing’, and distance themselves from Oedipus, abandoning their idolatrous superlatives in favour of labelling their ruler the ‘man of misery’ and ‘shrink[ing] away’ from his approach. Sophocles posits that, through their understanding of their ruler’s limitations, Thebes is able to remove their moral complicity associated with him, yet suggests that one must suffer greatly in the process. As Thebes witnesses Oedipus ‘dragged…to the light’, they ‘weep like a man who wails the dead’, acknowledging the contrast of their initial ignorance ‘[giving] [them] life’ and their newfound understanding ‘bring[ing] down night upon [their] eyes’. In witnessing their leader’s vulnerable state, their grief compounds into horror, not ‘bear[ing] to look’ and ‘shudder[ing] at the sight’, making evident their pain at having their understanding of their leader subverted through expansion. Ultimately, Sophocles suggests that understanding not to place hope in man due to their inherently flawed nature is a necessary act that ends moral complicity, but suggests that the violent decoupling of faith associated with the knowledge will lead to significant heartache.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Human limitation, rather than divine…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: In Sophocles tragedy “Oedipus the king”, the interplay between human limitation and divine will is explored. Played…
In Sophocles tragedy “Oedipus the king”, the interplay between human limitation and divine will is explored. Played in 429 BCE, Sophocles investigates how human plight and the will of gods are on different sides of the same coin through the actions taken by the protagonist which only precipitated his demise, but contrastingly including the overall role of moira. Set against the backdrop of the Athenian plague and rising belief in sophist thinking, Sophocles ultimately utilises the tragic downfall of his protagonist to interrogate the illusion of human autonomy in a world destined by gods. Evidently, this is demonstrated through Oedipus' destructive hubris, the inescapable shadow of prophecy, and the tragic consequences for those who attempt to defy divine decree.
The play unravels with the leader, priest and chorus idolising Oedipus, rating [him] “best of men”, “on [their] knees” for [Oedipus] to use his “skills” which solves the [Spinx] “riddle” and “save” their “dying city”. Even Oedipus when first introduced; “you all know my fame, I am Oedipus”, serves as a preassumed position that Oedipus and his subjects view him as a god, though stating “[Oedipus]- cannot equal the gods”. Through the return of Creon and revelation to “drive out the evil”, Oedipus catalysing his intelligence which saved the city once, refused assistance and declared “[he will] solve it [himself]”, showing his hamartia, foreshadowing his demise. In the heated stichomythia between Oedipus and Tiresias, Tiresias reveals that Oedipus himself is the “curse”, that he is the reason for Thebes plague, Oedipus huberistic nature causes him to ignore Tiresias warning, and instead of heeding to Tiresias advice he mocks [Tiresias] for being “old, blind man” claiming him to be “conspiring with Creon” to take the throne. Oedipus’ human limitation was his “blind[ness] to his life”, which in turn causes him to behave “reckless[ly]”, causing the dramatic revelation of his identity, prompting his blindness. Sophocles thus suggests that human limitation may be the real threat, as it was Oedipus’ actions which precipitated his dramatic and public shunning.