VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Oliver’s poetry is much more than an…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: Mary Oliver’s poetry is often celebrated for its reverence toward the natural world, yet to describe her work as…
Mary Oliver’s poetry is often celebrated for its reverence toward the natural world, yet to describe her work as mere appreciation oversimplifies her vision. Across her work, Oliver certainly expresses her appreciation through her portrayal of nature as a realm of beauty, healing, and renewal. She expands on this view by recognising its dangers, and at times moves beyond the natural element to confront the multifaceted depths of human suffering. Her poetry, therefore, is not only an ode to nature but also a profound exploration of humanity, where wonder and awe in nature exist alongside mortality, cruelty, and resilience.
Oliver’s work consistently conveys a deep appreciation for the natural world, portraying it as a source of wonder, healing, and renewal. For her, nature is not simply an external landscape but a guiding force that offers both philosophical insight and spiritual belonging. In ‘Wild Geese’, she rejects oppressive expectations of guilt and conformity, urging readers to “let the soft animal of [their] body / love what it loves.” The metaphor of the “soft animal” captures instinct and vulnerability, reminding readers of their natural impulses and the liberation that comes from embracing them. By situating human pain within a larger ecological order, she insists that “the world goes on… the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes,” a statement of continuity that reassures readers of the resilience of life beyond individual despair. Similarly, in ‘Sunrise’, this reverence deepens into an explicitly spiritual perspective. The speaker reflects on mortality, observing that one can “die for… the world,” a declaration that elevates devotion to nature into an ethical act of surrender. The rising sun, emblematic of renewal, underscores the cycle of death and rebirth, suggesting that to live meaningfully is to participate fully in the rhythms of existence. In both works, Oliver demonstrates that her engagement with the natural world is not passive admiration but a profound encounter with forces that restore, guide, and anchor human life.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: 'Shakespeare presents marriage as…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Sophocles conveys how a persons personal fate is purely to blame for their own downfall. The tragedy is centred…
Sophocles conveys how a persons personal fate is purely to blame for their own downfall. The tragedy is centred around the Oedipal myth, one Sophocles ancient Greek audience would have been aware of. Thus, using this tale old myth, the author intentionally constructed his play in a way that depicts how Oedipus' prophecy, to marry his mother and kill his father, was the probable cause of the plays tragic ending upon blinding himself in the wake of his horrifying truth that he had fulfilled his prophecy, Oedipus addresses the chorus claiming that his fate is "This alone [he] is Oedipus", putting forth that only he is to blame for the bloodshed acts inflicted onto him "by [his] own hands" as it was his and only his ultimate fate. The playwright further characterises Jocasta, Oedipus' mother and wife, to be to b
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In Oedipus the King there is always…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: Written in 429 BCE, Sophocles' Oedipus the King performed in the festival of Dionysus explores the journey of its…
Written in 429 BCE, Sophocles' Oedipus the King performed in the festival of Dionysus explores the journey of its titular character in a world dominated by fate and preordination. Throughout the text, Sophocles contends that although fate dictates suffering, it is ultimately a consequence of tragic hamartia. Initially, Sophocles posits hubris to be responsible for suffering. Furthermore, he postulates that a search for knowledge enhances this suffering. However, he propounds that as fate dictates human existence, suffering cannot be blamed.
Initially, Sophocles promulgates that hubris is only to be responsible for pain. In the prologos, Oedipus initially confidently asserts "the world knows this fame" and he is "Oedipus". Here, Oedipus asserts his world dominance as the predominant characteristic defining his identity, lauding his past revelations and his self-imposed dominance. He further asserts his name, rising to the level of divinity and poor self-proclaiming his apparent success as a lot of repetition self-dominance. Here, Sophocles condemns such overconfidence and sets the stage for his tragic downfall while advocating for values of sophrosyne. The Chorus' chant, "pride breeds the Tyrant" only heightens the impact of such excessive pronouns and hubris as the source for everlasting loss. As the play progresses, Oedipus attempts to dissvade his belief in his prophecy in his arrogant shout "one chief cannot equal many". It is this overwhelming logical reasoning which blinds him to the truth of his identity and origins. Here, Sophocles imparts Oedipus' critical thinking as a hubristic hamartia and condems such values in 5th century Athenian society. In the rise of the intellectual revolution within this period, with the sophist philosophy. Sophocles postulates that like Oedipus, an overwhelming sense of self-belief and rejection of divinity will catalyse their own downfall too. It is indeed, this hubris which activates the stage direction of Oedipus, "stabbing himself with Jocasta's brooches." There, the brooches being a symbol of holding up Jocasta's dress are the catalyst for Oedipus' suffering. In doing so, Sophocles argues that the brooches entwining in lost Oedipus' incestuous marriage and their collective acts of rejection of divine will are the reason for Oedipus' suffering and Jocasta's death. This, object encapsulating Jocasta's ignorance and Oedipus' pride ultimately serves Sophocles' warning against such hubris. Moreover, Jocasta's final characterisation of Oedipus as "a man of agony", a name which he will carry "forever and ever"; only heightens this message. It is here, Sophocles presents an allegory to Oedipus' initial pride and his self-proclaimed lauding in "I am Oedipus" as he likens his entire existing to suffering. The name which will live on "forever and ever" encapsulate the overwhelming consequences of such pride as the catalyst for eventual and everlasting loss. Hence, Sophocles presents hubristic traits as the greatest hamartia to be blamed for pain.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: 'While all the characters experience some…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: 'While all the characters experience some degree of hardship, the audience sympathises most with Piper.' Do you…
'While all the characters experience some degree of hardship, the audience sympathises most with Piper.' Do you agree?
Hannie Rayson's contemporary Australian play, Extinction, endeavours to capture the human aptitude when confronted with adversity, whilst examining one's inclination to emotionalize with others, enduring hardships. Rayson's presentation of minor and major calamities, throughout the play's course, entices the audience to sympathises most with Piper, although, her moral degradation and other revelations, motivate the audience to divide their compassion with Andy. From the outset, sudden grief endorses viewers to align themselves with particular characters and alienate others. However, unexpected discoveries and moral inconsistencies, in the face of ideological predicaments, alter established emotions held towards cast members, persuading the audience to re-evaluate congenialities. Ultimately, the betrayal and manipulation of characters, endorse the audience to confirm emotionalizations of the cast, conclusively conveying who their sympathy lies with.
From the play's inception, Rayson's deployment of abrupt adversities encourage viewer affinities with characters, whilst endorsing the antagonization of others. The playwright's centralized motif of death, personified through the tiger quoll and Beast, is the impetus for the audience’s emotional impression of Piper, Harry, and Andy. Piper's immediate reassurance of the tiger quoll - "it's okay little one" and Harry's perturbed state, epitomised by the worry and sorrow in his speech, as he pleads for the tiger quoll to "please not die", provokes the audience to share the character's grief, and innately sympathise with them, as a result of the scenarios apparent difficulty. Moreover, Rayson's abrupt introduction and characterisation of Andy as being callous and remorseless, through his swift actions to "take a large syringe" and "euthanise the quoll", without conferring with Piper, nor Harry, emphasised by Piper's confusion of "what [Andy is] doing", positions viewers to antagonise Andy, due to his lack of morality. This exacerbates the audience’s sympathy towards Piper and Harry, as Piper's outrage that they "needed to at least try [to save the quoll]", motivates the audience to also feel outraged due to their emotional alliance with Piper and Harry. Furthermore, Beast's sudden diagnosis of "cancer" reinforces Piper's grief and so, the playwright positions viewers to feel guilty; thus, empathetic towards her. Rayson's portrayal of Piper's hysteric reaction is strengthened through dramatic convention as "Piper paces" around the animal shelter in disbelief. This coupled with her sheer emotion that Beast's cancer "is so not fair" and Andy's blunt insistence that they are "not going down that path [of treatment]" builds upon the audiences established emotions, as Rayson motivates the audience to feel sorry about Piper loneliness; hence, Andy is viewed as dispassionate in his interactions with others. Harry's compassionate arrival at the animal shelter as he greets Piper apologetically - "sorry about your dog", is much to the contrary of Rayson's depiction of Andy. Harry's further reassurance of Piper that "whatever they can do on humans, they can do on dogs" inspires the audience to respect Harry's warmth and further despise Andy's inhumane dealing of the situation. Therefore, the playwright purposefully manipulates the audience to feel sympathetic and empathetic towards both Piper and Harry, by reason of Andy's moral inconsistencies in expressing his own emotions surrounding death, which Rayson soon unpacks, changing the audience's perspectives.
Rayson's utilization of revelations and moral inconsistencies in her characterisation of the cast, prove effective in altering established emotions, persuading the audience to re-evaluate congenialities. Following a drastic chain of events, Piper fickles from her environmental values to more economical and egocentric values aligned with Harry. Piper's continued involvement with Harry, surrounding the "tiger quoll project", acts as the catalyst for the surfacing of Piper's moral flaws. Dixon-Brown and Harry's joint venture to manipulate Piper into "[running] the [tiger quoll] project" is met with firm repudiation by Piper, who commends that there is "no way" that she will be a part of the project, maintaining the audience's perception of Piper's morality authenticity in her environmental values. However, the onset of the second act is both symbolic and transformative in Rayson's characterisation of Piper, as the playwright utilises it to mark a change in Piper's integrity, which ironically discredits
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: The truth only brings suffering in Oedipus…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 97.5%: The truth only brings suffering in OTK. DYA? Sophocles' tragedy, Oedipus the King offers a sophisticated…
The truth only brings suffering in OTK. DYA?
Sophocles' tragedy, Oedipus the King offers a sophisticated examination of the impacts of constantly seeking the truth in a preordained world. Set against the backdrop of an Athenian society deeply entrenched in a belief system dominated by divine orchestration, Sophocles' tragedy Oedipus offers a nuanced perspective to adamantly seeking out knowledge and the consequences it may bring about. Initially, Sophocles posits knowledge as a vital trait in a leader. Sophocles furthers this notion by augmenting that a search for truth can allow a sense of autonomy in a preordained cosmic scheme. Yet, Sophocles postulates that ultimately an excessive search for truth can only lead to disastrous consequences and lifelong suffering.
Sophocles aims to amplify the importance of knowledge and its ability to catalyse altruism and nobility in a leader. Utilising a stage direction, depicting Oedipus. "helping a priest to his feet," Sophocles immediately establishes Oedipus' benevolence as a leader, illustrating his willingness to "do anything" to "lift [Thebes] from the depths" Through such Stagecrafting, the playwright evinces that a relentless ambition "to see" can spur an intrinsic desire to serve others, not necessarily being a vice. Oedipus' "zeal" to "act at once", hence embodies the Athenian character, acting swiftly to restore order and relieve suffering. In doing so, Sophocles redefines the pursuit of truth, in that when grounded with communal care and selflessness, such determination marks a virtue and leadership, rather than being a vice. Furthermore, through the motif of nautical imagery, Sophocles seeks to illuminate that it is Oedipus' persistent search for knowledge which instils the native Theban with courage and hope, positing the search for knowledge as crucial in quelling the misery and sorrow of others. Through the chorus' initial belief that "Thebes pitches wildly from red waves of death", Sophocles establishes a widespread sentiment of paranoia and despondency which permeates the prologue. Yet, such a belief is supplanted by the hope that a "good helmsman" will "steer Thebes through the storm". By emphasing such nautical motifs, Sophocles asserts that a leader's relentless search in dire times can indeed subdue chaos and bring about collective salvation. Thus, Oedipus' search for the truth evokes hope within Thebans, assuaging any fears of misery. Hence, Sophocles utilises such naval descriptions to postulate the importance of pursuing truth in a leader as it facilitates restoration and order. Yet, he supplants this belief where such a pursuit must embody Sophrosyne throughout, in order to ensure the flourishing of society.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ‘Oedipus the King’ is a play devoid of…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: Sophocles ‘Oedipus the King’ follows the journey of the eponymous Oedipus which unfolds against a backdrop of…
Sophocles ‘Oedipus the King’ follows the journey of the eponymous Oedipus which unfolds against a backdrop of prophecy, egregious transgressions, and an ironic twist of destiny. Sophocles contends that while the play initially is devoid of balance, the use of imbalance between fate and free will, knowledge and blindness, and moderation and hubris, is employed as a deliberate dramatic mechanism to interrogate human limitation. Initially, Sophocles destabilises the balance between fate and free will to highlight the futility of human resistance against divine prophecy. Further, the paradoxical interplay of sight and blindness renders the play unbalanced, exposing the limits of human knowledge and the cost of truth. Finally, the absence of sophrosyne reflects Sophocles’ warning against excessive pride and the absence of moderation in civic and personal life.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Sunset Boulevard - “I hate that word. It’s…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: Since the inauguration of Hollywood, there has been an attraction of individuals to being celebrated by the…
Since the inauguration of Hollywood, there has been an attraction of individuals to being celebrated by the audiences watching them. Throughout the 1950’s film Sunset Boulevard, which is directed by Billy Wilder, the extreme ambitious nature of individuals striving for success in hollywood portrayed to come alongside consequences. Wilder utilises a striking view of Hollwood, to portray it’s influence at the time, and how people were lured into the trap of notoriety during the 1950’s era. The fatal consequences of the pursuit of fame are depicted by Wilder, portraying how people can be easily deceived when focused soley on a pursuit.
Wilder presents Hollywood as a seductive, and powerful setting, which results in a high level of ambition from many individuals during this era. The film opens with a fast paced panning shot of the street of sunset boulevard, in Hollywood, to establish the fast paced nature of Hollywood, portraying how individuals need to keep up, or will be left in the dust. The protagonist Joe gillis’s cynical 3rd person voice is used during the high angle shot of his own distraught body floating dead in a pool, being dehumanized by reporters taking photos and policemen in the foreground higher than him, in no rush to help him, portraying how the lack of power Joe holds makes him priority 2, after getting the media shots for Hollywood. Additionally, the cynical 3rd person voice claiming that Joe is “nobody important really” illustrates that the lack of relevancy within Hollywood has a direct correlation with how people are treated. The long shot of Joe being chased by the rental companies people over the $290 he owes them features loud non-digetic sounds of Joes car tires screeching, to display the high pressure situation that Joe has gotten into, in his efforts to get a story that will become popular in Hollywood. Sunset boulevards opening environment explores how things are not always as they seem, and can appear much different compared to reality.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In sunset boulevard, romantic…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard (1950) is a film noir that interrogates the dark underbelly of Hollywood,…
Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard (1950) is a film noir that interrogates the dark underbelly of Hollywood, exposing its obsession with fame, power, and self-delusion. Central to this critique is the way the film represents romantic relationships: not as authentic connections grounded in reality, but as arrangements steeped in illusion, manipulation, and fantasy. Through Norma Desmond’s desperate clinging to past stardom, Joe Gillis’s opportunistic submission to a toxic liaison, and Betty Schaefer’s idealistic yet equally compromised attraction to Joe, Wilder demonstrates that romance in the world of Sunset Boulevard is less about love and more about sustaining illusions.
Norma Desmond epitomises the destructive power of fantasy, with her love for Joe serving not as an expression of mutual affection but as a projection of her delusional world. A faded silent film star, Norma lives in an isolated mansion, frozen in the illusion that she is still adored by millions. Her relationship with Joe is less a romance than an enactment of fantasy: she treats him as both a lover and a surrogate audience, a vessel through which she can reanimate her lost glory. Norma’s declarations of love are theatrical, melodramatic, and scripted, revealing that her attachment to Joe is an extension of her broader illusion of relevance. When Joe attempts to break free and confronts her with the truth, Norma’s inability to distinguish between performance and reality culminates in violence, exposing how destructive it is when romance becomes inseparable from illusion.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: We can have a kind of sympathy as well as…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: We can have a kind of sympathy as well as a kind of distaste for both Norma Desmond and Joe Gillis in Sunset…
We can have a kind of sympathy as well as a kind of distaste for both Norma Desmond and Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard. Do you agree?
Billy Wilder’s 1950s acerbic film noir, Sunset Boulevard, is orchestrated as a cautionary and eye-opening tale that exposes the brutal toxicity of Hollywood. The director presents the gulf between Hollywood’s celebration of youth and its erasure of obsolescence that fatefully leads to the demise of the principal characters who seek their own respective desires. Wilder’s melodrama encourages the audience to become ambivalent and conflicted on the opinions of the characters. The exploration of exploitation and the various power dynamics invigorates appeals of hatred and empathy. It is also the ethical considerations of one’s mischievous actions that can argue the outlook of their characters. Lastly, it is fundamentally the grand scheme of the film industry that alleviates the vain emotions of hate for these characters.
Wilder’s coordination of deception and the acts of controlling another incites the audience to despise Norma Desmond. The director initially introduces the themes of manipulation and control through a recurring motif of the “contraption on her finger”. The utilisation of the minor prop married with the soliloquy of Joe depicts how he was “caught, like the cigarette” in Norma’s trap and was ultimately under her reign. Joe, who has passively surrendered his authority right into Norma’s hands, his existential defeat encourages empathy towards Joe and hatred towards Norma, who has benefitted psychotically. The director’s implementation of a symbol paired with a metaphor of the estranged and exotic companion further dictates the relationship of Joe and Norma. Joe, who approaches the “great big white castle” is unaware of his role, being the replacement of the “organ grinder” Norma isolates herself with. Wilder’s exploration of the characterisation of Norma is clever, where he contrasts Norma’s lack of acknowledgement for human life, the callousness she conceals to present the true femme fatale in this film noir. The antagonist is coldly represented through mise-en-scene and the lack of consideration for humans detaches any positive emotions and only encourages disdain.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Sophocles presents the search for…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: In Sophocles' classic tragedy, Oedipus The king, the playwright establishes a problematic microcosm in which human…
In Sophocles' classic tragedy, Oedipus The king, the playwright establishes a problematic microcosm in which human beings must negotiate contrary forces, in order to survive. In Oedipus The King, Sophocles highlights that destruction results from inescapable forces and uncontrolled search for truth. Sophocles warns that seeking knowledge and challenging divine authority precipitates a path to ruin, it also highlights admirable determination, ultimately making the pursuit for truth both heroic and dangerous. Within the play the defiance of celestial forces creates a condemned path that leads to one’s demise. Furthermore, the discovery of truth forces self-recognition, exposing moral failings that catalyses destruction. However, while the pursuit for truth leads to destruction, Sophocles also presents this as admirable which suggests courage and determination to uncover the truth.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “The whole place seemed to have been…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Billy Wilder’s non-linear film noir Sunset Boulevard details the dark side of Hollywood and it’s destructive…
Billy Wilder’s non-linear film noir Sunset Boulevard details the dark side of Hollywood and it’s destructive effects on film ‘stars’ and writers. Although Wilder presents Norma Desmond as a tragedy in the melodrama, other character’s who lie under the film industry must also be considered as greater calamities. The contrast between illusion and reality underlines Norma’s succession into insanity. Furthermore, it is also the direct interactions with Norma which pose as a bigger threat. Ultimately, the demise and trap set by Hollywood is the most prominent issue in 1950’s film.
Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard presents mental health and denial as the root cause of the disasters shown. Norma’s isolation in her “grim sunset castle” displays as a rising event to her climax. Wilder’s characterisation of Norma through her costuming, with sunglasses indoors and leopard-patterned clothing, proves to the audience how socially unaware she is in the film, resulting in isolation. The sunglasses she ponders signify how outdoors for her is inside, how she’s crazy. However, Wilder sets this up to later reveal her denial of the outside truth, being “brushed off” by the industry. The audience may be inclined to feel empathy for Norma as Wilder conveys the message of Hollywood’s exploitative industry. Norma is seen at her climax herself after murdering Joe, smashing through the fourth wall in the film. Wilder’s inclusion of this close-up shot paired with dialogue expresses the detachment in reality she faces - otherwise known as the ‘madness’. Her once “castle” turned into a “film set” proved to the audience the obsession with fame she held, the “creepy paralysis” she was set in. Wilder’s implementation of this indicated that she had hit a maximum level of mental despair; Hollywood had consumed so much of her mental capacity. The audience now knew the true reality of being let go by the film industry - the struggles of moving on. Norma Desmond’s isolation and the aftermath of Joe’s death demonstrated the culmination of a catastrophe that strikes in Wilder’s film, truly expressing the message about Hollywood’s nature.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Jackson challenges stereotypical ways of…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 75%: In the gothic horror novel "We Have Always Lived in the Castle”, author Shirley Jackson explores the lives of…
In the gothic horror novel "We Have Always Lived in the Castle”, author Shirley Jackson explores the lives of outcasts and their struggles to fit into their expected roles in society of the time. The novel was written in 1962, during a time where counter culture movements began to rise in popularity and came into direct conflict with the entrenched structure and institutions that defined how one should live in society. Jackson’s portrayal of outsiders and their struggles against the expected way of life reflect this conflict at the time, as people who do not subscribe to the idea of the “American dream” are pushed to the edges of society. Jackson confronts society's expected social norms by highlighting how the ‘desired’ lifestyle is not suited for everyone and how this leads to prejudice against outsiders. Jackson criticises the ‘American dream’ and the lifestyle it promotes by exhibiting how family and unity is lost in a pursuit of material gain and power. Jackson further challenges the status quo of how one should live by highlighting how people have different values and goals, which results in importance being placed on aspects of life that are not a part of the “American dream”. Jackson further challenges this idea by warning the reader of the consequences that society can have on those whose ideas do not align with the expectations, highlighting the tendency to ostracise and prejudice those different to us.
Jackson criticises society's obsession with chasing the so-called “American dream” suggesting that family bonds and individuality is lost in the greed for wealth and power. This is seen through the Blackwood men, who are described as “dishonest” by uncle Julian, who can see how power and wealth corrupted his brothers into prioritising their “place in the world” over their family. Jackson uses the Blackwood men as an example of how capitalism can strip a family from togetherness and connection in favour of material positions. Jackson suggests that as a society focuses more on capital and money, we lose identity and connection to one another. This is seen in Jackson's portrayal of cousin Charles, who is driven by greed to the extent that he is stripped of humanity and empathy for his own family. When the Blackwood house is burning Charles prioritises “getting out the safe” instead of making sure his cousins are safe. Charles views the house as a “whole damn fortune” instead of a haven and sanctuary for generations of his family. His willingness to disregard family in favour of possessions “worth a great deal of money” exemplifies Jackson's idea of the severing of family bonds due to capitalism that is driven by the foundations in modern life. The contrast in values is seen between the Blackwood sisters when compared to Charles. In a way, Jackson criticises the American dream and its tendency to trump greed at the expense of humanity through her portrayal of Charles, as his desire for money causes him to lose his connection to his family.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “I felt caught like the cigarette in that…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 75%: A world built on manipulation and control is central to Billy Wilder’s 1950 pax-Americana film noir, ‘Sunset…
A world built on manipulation and control is central to Billy Wilder’s 1950 pax-Americana film noir, ‘Sunset Boulevard’. Set after the advent of the ‘talkies’, the film explores the exploitation encompassed in Hollywood to maintain its power over the players . Additionally, Wilder showcases a community where characters rely on illusions of others to further push their own agenda. Despite this, the film reveals that the world of Hollywood is not all governed by the evil of manipulation and control, but there are also genuine people and relationships striving of goals other than dominance . Ultimately, Wilder exposes a world driven by exploitation for self-gain, though also makes it apparent that there is hope for a world of veritable connections and true intentions.
From the outset of the film, Wilder unveils the exploitive nature of Hollywood to ensure its control over the players in the industry. For instance, Wilder indicates the financial exploitations through those in executive or managerial positions, particularly in Agent and Sheldrake, who both reject Joe's request of financial help. Benefiting from 'Poor Joe Gilis', Agent neglects his job to 'dig up a job' and instead enjoys his wealth in 'Bel air, making with the golf sticks'. Known as a 'Big faker', Wilder presents the audience with the idea that Agent has no personal care for his clients, claiming 'im your friend' but really is just in it for the '10%'.Moreover, illustrated in the lavish setting of Sheldrakes office with expensive pens, multiple telephones and awards all around, Wilder juxtaposes the opulent lifestyle of a higher up to a simple writer such a Joe. However with all this wealth, when asked to lend Joe 300$, the 'smart producer' cunningly goes on about a long explanation why he is unable to. Analogous to Hollywood, Wilder demonstrates the way those in affluent positions and power exploit those under them to perpetuate their authority overhead. Wilder further exposes the toxic rule Hollywood has over the industry, the way in which players are treated like products, showcased by its cruel beauty standards. For example, Betty proclaims how she was forced to pay '300$' for a nose job because the studio 'didn’t like her nose' . Wilder exposes the harsh reality of asthetic norms in Hollywood controlling those to succumb to their regulations. On top of that, Exhibited through a montage of extreme closeups, Wilder depicts the 'merciless series of treatments' Norma must withstand to live up to the Hollywood expectations. Encapsulated through militaristic language describing how 'An army of beauty experts invaded her house', Wilder conveys the severity and lengths one must go to be accepted by Hollywood's barbarous standards. Hence, Wilder exposes the manipulative essence of Hollywood in which they sustain power over members in the industry.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Hadley's stories explore the challenges of…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Exploring the difficulties of relationships within the human experience, Tessa Hadley's 2017 Bildungsroman Bad…
Exploring the difficulties of relationships within the human experience, Tessa Hadley's 2017 Bildungsroman Bad Dreams critiques the rigid societal structures that affect all relationships. Through her range of stories, encompassing the British middle class over the last century, Hadley condemns strict societal expectations for their damaging consequences on interpersonal connections within the human odyssey. Ultimately, Hadley admonishes the detrimental impact of social constructs on relationships.
Accentuating rigid social norms, Hadley highlights how societal constructs are the cause of diminished relationships within the human experience. Portraying the managerial bourgeoisie's expectation to uphold standards of outward appearance, Hadley critiques Ruby's family in Her Share of the Sorrow for imposing expected standards, thus inciting social isolation. Hadley iterates how Ruby's family's expectation to be “beautiful and tall” like Dahlia places a pressure upon Ruby that she feels inadequate to satisfy. Thus, Hadley reveals how, in order to escape this crushing pressure of external beauty, Ruby, feeling like the “jangling” of the family, must escape and spend “all day in the attic.” This repeated motif of an attic crafts a sense of hidden secrets and illustrates how the pressure to satisfy her mother's beauty will always weigh over Ruby's life. Extending the isolation from her family, Ruby “hides the key” and responds back to her mother in a “secretive” manner, emphasising how Ruby is closing off her relationship with her family due to the imposed familial expectation to be photogenic. Extending beyond the isolation caused by societal expectations of women, Nigel in An Abduction represents the exclusion men face when failing to uphold traditional hegemonic masculine traits. Nigel is framed as impotent with Daniel “shifting through the gears” in Nigel's father's car, emphasising Nigel's lack of control and thus his traditional masculinity as another man drives his father's car. Echoing this sense of isolation, Nigel feels, as a homosexual man “not much interested in girls,” tucked into his small space. Therefore, Hadley elucidates how Nigel's failure to uphold a hegemonic masculinity leads to his feeling of isolation. In this way, Hadley deplores societal expectations, framing them as the cause of social exclusion and a lack of strong relationships.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: how does Hadley explore the impact of…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Exploring how perceived small moments can subtly shift the trajectory of lives, Tessa Hadley’s 2017 anthology Bad…
Exploring how perceived small moments can subtly shift the trajectory of lives, Tessa Hadley’s 2017 anthology Bad Dreams presents how mundane moments can alter the identity of the British middle class. Through her stories covering the last century of the British bourgeoisie, Hadley reveals how even the ordinary can be extraordinary, specifically for women stifled by a patriarchal society. Ultimately, the author brings to light the struggles that females face in a society in which even the most banal events can crush their identity or confirm their self-worth in times of struggle.
Deploring rigid societal constructs for their suffocating effects, Hadley exposes how supposedly ordinary moments can leave women isolated and lost. Reflecting how a society controlled by men leaves women exploited, Jane in An Abduction echoes Hadley’s critique of how society leaves growing women deserted. Hadley illustrates how Jane’s sexual encounter with Daniel is made to be irrelevant in a period of society which expects women to maintain a certain figure by “going outside” and not to question masculine authority, highlighted by the metaphor for Jane to “eat whatever they put in front” of her and not to be a “nuisance.” Hadley shows how, due to her parents’ endeavoring to uphold these expectations of female subservience and external appearance, Jane’s development into adulthood and germinating awareness of sexuality is dismissed and minimized by their negligence, failing to realize their daughter “was abducted.” Highlighting the consequences of minimizing such events and treating them as ordinary, Jane is left to feel on the wrong side of a “barrier” her whole life. This imagery reflects how Jane is barred from being able to access her true self and emotions due to the fact that she was never able to “assimilate the experience” in a society which ignores the sexual exploitation of women’s innocence. Thereby, Hadley explores how moments that are life-changing to young women are downplayed and ignored by society, impacting the rest of their lives.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Trevor Noah explores the complexities of…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: Set against the regime of apartheid, Trevor Noah’s memoir, Born a Crime, documents the complexities of…
Set against the regime of apartheid, Trevor Noah’s memoir, Born a Crime, documents the complexities of relationships between men and women in South Africa (S.A). Noah exposes how patriarchal power often shapes relationships between men and women, through control and violence. Additionally, Noah praises women’s resilience that carves out their independence despite cultural and social barriers. Furthermore, Noah establishes the complexities created by cultural tradition in which male dominance clashes with women's determination to define their own lives.
Noah exposes how patriarchal power often shapes relationships between men and women, through control and violence. Noah describes that “Tsonga culture” aims for a world in which “women bow” when “greeting a man”. Noah illustrates the controlling behavior instilled within the culture of Abel, foreshadowing the later expectations from his marriage. Patriarchal control is further explored as Abel expected a “traditional marriage” with a “traditional wife”. By depicting Abel's expectations, Noah contextualizes the systematic controlling demeanor implanted within the men in SA, thereby condemning the prevalence of controlling behavior over the women in SA, demonstrated by the men. Moreover, the author elucidates the abuse of patriarchal power through violent measures taken by the men. Through the use of a metaphor, Noah expresses Abel smacking Patricia as a “clap of thunder”. Noah represents Abel’s violence and aggression as unpredictable and destructive, similar to thunder, creating fear, whilst enforcing control over women and the household. Further to this, Noah depicts the frequent outbursts by revealing how Abel “beat” Patricia with “a bike”. Through the bike incident, the author exemplifies patriarchal violence as a common occurrence, as it is presented as an anecdote from Trevor's childhood perspective, thereby highlighting both the physical danger women face and the fear it instills. Therefore, Noah castigates patriarchal power for causing instability and danger in women’s lives under male authority.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: The personification of the landscape is…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Authors of semi-autobiographical literary works often tend to utilise the external environment in which they are in…
Authors of semi-autobiographical literary works often tend to utilise the external environment in which they are in to promulgate their traumata. Within Vicki Laveau-Harvie’s non-linear memoir, The Erratics, she personifies the Canadian landscape and the family home to embody the enduring trauma of her abusive upbringing, however, it is precisely this external environment which also functions as a source of distance and detachment for Laveau-Harvie, allowing her to reframe pain and construct resilience. Laveau-Harvie depicts how the family home is a factor contributing to her traumatisation, as the claustrophobic setting mirrors her mother’s behaviour. Furthermore, the vast landscape of the Erratic’s aids in the ongoing and unresolved nature of memory and trauma as the icy climate provokes similar senses to which Laveau-Harvie received from her mother. Lastly, Laveau-Harvie highlights that though the Canadian environment can be quite daring, it is the same setting that assists her in creating physical distance from the source of her trauma.
Laveau-Harvie depicts how the interior landscape of the dysfunctional family home is a key factor which contributes to Vicki’s traumatisation, because of the memories and experiences of the past. Laveau-Harvie explicates that the family home is a place of continuous re-traumatisation, as it reminds her of the abusive upbringing which she experienced from her mother. She describes the family home as being a “fortress” that “opens” to “no one”, being “sealed off” from the rest of the world. Her depiction of the family house provokes a sense of entrapment and emotional suffocation, which reinforces how the environment mirrors her mother’s behaviour, as well as allowing her to paint a picture of how the home represents a space of exile and hostility, rather than warmth and refuge. Additionally, she reveals how the “longer” she stayed at the family home, the “less real” it made her “feel”. This disassociation suggests that her sense of self has begun to deteriorate, and how the prolonged exposure to the familial traumata experienced at the house has led to her boundary between reality and emotional numbness to be blurred. Furthermore, she shares how the family home made her question her existence and presence as a human being, labelling herself as “the daughter that never existed”, highlighting how this made her feel “transparent” at her own family’s house. By hinting at a metaphoric sense of invisibility, Laveau-Harvie elucidates that as a result of such an abusive and trauma-filled upbringing, it has led to her losing her sense of belonging and connection with her own family and the family home, highlighting how she feels like a stranger to the same environment she spent most of her life. Moreover, Laveau-Harvie illustrates that during the Christmas time, for the “average Canadian joe”, their home, having “cascades of fairy lights”, is where they can “go inside” and “feel a little better”, though for her, being a different story, highlighting the presence of a “yule void” in the family house. By emphasising the sheer contrast between her home and others around her, allows Laveau-Harvie to once again demonstrate the dysfunctionality of her family, and how they fail to celebrate an annual cultural event as one, despite it being the norm.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Sunset Boulevard explore the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Intro: Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard interrogates the rigid gender roles of 1950s America, both reinforcing and…
Intro:
Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard interrogates the rigid gender roles of 1950s America, both reinforcing and critiquing the expectations placed upon men and women. The film exposes how Hollywood’s obsession with youth and beauty condemned women like Norma Desmond to obsolescence while allowing male figures to maintain authority well into old age. Through Betty Schaefer, Wilder captures the emergence of female ambition beyond the domestic sphere, though he reveals the persistent cultural and romantic constraints that limit her dependence. Meanwhile, Joe Gillis and Max embody the contradictions of masculinity, showing how the pressure to act as providers could collapse into dependence, exploitation, and servitude. By combining stark cinematic techniques with incisive characterisation, Wilder constructs a critique of the destructive imbalance of power between men and women, demonstrating how the rigid prescriptions of gender roles deformed lives and relationships alike.
BP1:
Norma Desmond epitomises the sexist dismissal of women in Hollywood, where female worth is bound to youth and beauty, and her decline stands in stark contrast to the enduring authority of male figures such as Cecil DeMille. Norma’s obsessive beauty rituals, facials, heavy makeup, and even the grotesque funeral for her pet money underscore the relentless pressure on women to preserve an image of desirability. Wilder reinforces this through harsh spotlighting during Normas nightly beauty regime exaggerating the wrinkles of Norma’s face, presenting her as trapped within the role of the ‘ageing starlet’, unable to accept a society that discards women once their youth has faded. Her defiant declaration, “I am big. It’s the pictures that got small”, conveys both her refusal to be erased and the hollowness of her protest, the industry has shifted to idolise younger women, leaving Norma irrelevant. By contrast, DeMille retains his authority and respect well into old age, greeted on set with reverence by actors and crew. Wilders decision to stage Norma’s humiliating visit to DeMille’s studio where she is dwarfed by the bustle of the new generation and gently placated rather than taken seriously symbolises Hollywood’s patriarchal double standard. Men could age into respected positions of power, while women were cast aside. The irony of Norma’s final breakdown, where she brandishes a gun and later descends into madness as she proclaims to the cameras, “All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up”, reflects not only her personal tragedy but Wilder’s critique of the destructive consequences of 1950s gender roles. In contrasting Norma’s decline with DeMill’s enduring authority, Wilder exposes how Hollywood’s structures are entrenched in male dominance while rendering women as disposable.
BP2:
Betty Schaefer is characterised as the emerging ambition of women seeking fulfilment outside traditional domestic roles, yet Wilder tempers her independence by exposing the persistent obstacles of a male dominated industry. Unlike Norma, Betty is introduced as youthful and unglamorous, per plain clothes and
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How is Oedipus displayed as a tragic hero?
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Sophocles lauds the qualities of a noble leader by displaying virtues of compassion and intellect that form the…
Sophocles lauds the qualities of a noble leader by displaying virtues of compassion and intellect that form the foundation of a tragic hero’s eminence. Written in the Golden Age of Athens, the Athenian audience saw significant philosophical and social transformation, a tension that Sophocles attempts to warn through Oedipus’ privileging of human intellect over divine wisdom. From the outset, Sophocles deliberately frames his protagonist as the archetypal hero, a hope for his city and people sickened by the plague as he demonstrates admirable qualities of man. Through the employment of stage directions, with the play beginning with Oedipus “com[ing] forward, majestic but for a telltale limp”, he “slowly views the condition of his people”, highlighting strong pride of civic duty, a deeply rooted sense of responsibility towards citizens of Thebes, whom he refers to as his “children.” Having once defeated the Sphinx through
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Discuss how stereotypes are depicted in…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: Gary Ross’ 'Pleasantville,' set in the idealistic world of a 1950s sitcom, when women stayed at home to cook and…
Gary Ross’ 'Pleasantville,' set in the idealistic world of a 1950s sitcom, when women stayed at home to cook and clean, holding hands was the height of sexual relationships, and everyone kept within their own insulated community. Ross suggests that stereotypes must be challenged in order for people to discover their true selves and passions. In Pleasantville, the citizens conform to stereotypes limiting their individuality and free will. As Jennifer and David incorporate their lifestyle into Pleasantville, people start to change by gaining independence, challenging Pleasantville’s stereotypical world. After the newly founded sense of free will, characters are shown to demonstrate the discovery of their true self.
In Pleasantville, the citizens adhere to stereotypes limiting their individuality and free will. At the beginning of the film, Betty announced “what’s a mother to do?” Betty's
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Norma Desmond is the villain of Sunset…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: Hollywood’s cutthroat nature produces and discards mass legions of hopefuls and fawning sycophants. Billy Wilder’s…
Hollywood’s cutthroat nature produces and discards mass legions of hopefuls and fawning sycophants. Billy Wilder’s film noir, Sunset Boulevard, is a snapshot into the realities of the predatory 1950s film industry. In a twisted fairytale, Wilder utilises gothic horror tropes to expose both the industry’s and the audience’s patriarchal objectification of women, presenting a compelling narrative containing multi-faceted anti-heroes and villains who are more than they appear. Leveraging the audience’s misogynistic preconceived notions and biases prevalent in the post-war period, Wilder suggests that Norma Desmond is the film’s obvious villain. Though, as the film progresses, Wilder sheds light on Desmond’s tragic circumstances and begins to reveal the film’s true villain – Hollywood itself.
Amidst a time of raging conservatism and censorship within Hollywood, as well as beyond the screen, Wilder paints an androcentric narrative, insinuating a discernible antagonist in order to uphold Hollywood expectations of the 1950s. From the outset, Wilder fulfils film industry guidelines of the 1950s by portraying Desmond as an ominous being; lurking within the confines of her “grim sunset castle”, she is constantly consumed by dark shadows wearing bug-like, soulless sunglasses that hide her aging eyes. Juxtaposed with the witty narrator Joe Gillis, it is here that Wilder first establishes Gillis as the film’s protagonist and Desmond as its obvious antagonist – the good and evil of the film – a requirement of the period’s Hays code. Reminiscent of a traditional gothic horror monster or witch, Desmond ghoulishly hides away in her decaying mansion, frozen in time and “crowded with Norma Desmonds” of the past. Progressing their cynical, parasitic relationship, Gillis accepts Desmond’s job offer as they mutually exploit each other’s involvement in the industry. Ironically, instead of earning “dough”, Gillis becomes stripped of both his financial and physical autonomy by Desmond. After losing his car, Gillis’ only means of transportation is through her old automobile, “upholstered in leopard skin”, her predatory disposition is highlighted as he is forced into her close proximity and constant “hovering”. Reinforced by her habitual clawed hands, her femme fatale role fulfils the film noir conventions audiences of the time expected to indulge in. Wilder’s deliberate employment of mise-en-scene builds throughout the film’s first act to instil a sense of unease toward Desmond, intentionally vilifying the film’s femme fatale to appeal to the misogynistic subconsciouses and biases of an androcentric 1950s film industry.
Though, as the code-stretching film progresses, Wilder exposes the tragic reality of Hollywood’s ephemeral stars as the nuance behind each character garners audience sympathies. At the midpoint of the film, Desmond’s new year’s eve party reveals the extent of her lonely and delusional state. The grand ballroom, shiny and freshly “waxed”, is completely destitute of “other guests”, and as Gillis and Desmond dance alone, they are depicted to be tiny and powerless through a birds-eye-view lens. Disillusioned, Gillis threatens to leave her, though immediately runs back after discovering her injuries. Upon his return, Desmond’s melodramatic and emotional state, with her wrists bound in bandages and her uncontrollable weeping, tugs at the audience’s commiseration as she is now depicted as more of a damsel in distress in the gothic fairytale. The feeling of abandonment is all too familiar for her. It is a reminder of the film industry’s disposal of her with the rise of the ‘talkies’, and though she sinisterly weaponizes Gillis’ concern for her, it is also all she has ever known and, in this instance, proves to be effective. In comparison, the introduction of Betty Chafer, a manifestation of innocence and
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: s.“Poor strangers...they have so much to…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: Fear permeates Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle, manifesting in multiple forms—fear of the…
Fear permeates Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle, manifesting in multiple forms—fear of the outsider, fear of societal judgement, fear of familial betrayal, and fear of change. While many of these fears are irrational or exaggerated, Jackson positions them as deeply rooted in trauma, memory, and lived experience, making them psychologically and emotionally valid. Through her use of the Gothic mode, unreliable narration, and a claustrophobic setting, Jackson blurs the line between justified fear and paranoia, ultimately revealing that while not all fear in the novel is objectively warranted, it is subjectively inescapable. The townspeople’s fear of the Blackwoods is grounded in local lore and class resentment; the sisters’ fear of the outside world, though exaggerated, is shaped by violence and exclusion; and Merricat’s obsessive rituals, while delusional, are portrayed as a survival mechanism in a hostile world. Jackson therefore suggests that fear, in this novel, is rarely rational—but always real.
From the outset, Jackson presents the townspeople’s fear of the Blackwood family as both disproportionate and yet historically grounded in class tension. The villagers refer to the Blackwoods with suspicion and contempt, despite—or perhaps because of—their wealth and aloofness. They chant cruel nursery rhymes and spread rumours about the poisoning, reducing the sisters to local myth. The quote "Poor strangers...they have so much to be afraid of" is delivered by Merricat with an air of amusement, framing the outsiders as deserving of their fear due to their intrusion into the Blackwoods' domain. However, Jackson complicates this dynamic by suggesting that the villagers’ fear is also fuelled by their exclusion from Blackwood privilege and the family's refusal to assimilate into community life. Jim Donell’s sarcastic remark, "Not… that I ever got invited to take my dinner with them," reveals the bitterness that underpins this fear. It is less about actual danger and more about resentment of the Blackwoods’ perceived elitism. In this way, Jackson critiques the small-mindedness of insular communities who turn fear into hostility when faced with difference.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ''Jacksons novel shows readers how…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: In its profound exploration of isolation, Shirly Jackson’s swansong We Have Always Lived in the Castle offers a…
In its profound exploration of isolation, Shirly Jackson’s swansong We Have Always Lived in the Castle offers a sophisticated multifaceted view on the seclusion. Published in 1962, New England, We Have Always Lived in the Castle constructs a complex narrative that delves deep to untangle the intricacies between sanctuary and imprisonment. Initially the novel frames the villagers’ ostracism as a weapon that is used to impersonate the Blackwood's for their elitism. However through Merricat’s unreliable narration Jackson illustrates how Merricat fantasizes of being absolutely independent from the village as a defensive mechanism to combat their hostility. Moreover, Jackson at the resolution of the novel, Jackson suggest that deliberate seclusion could act as a form of sanctuary that emancipates individuals from social and patriarchal control. Ultimately Jackson offers a nuanced exploration of solitude that condemns ostracism, but also frames seclusion as an escape from the hostility of society.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ‘The characters in We Have Always Lived in…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: Shirley Jackson’s neo-gothic novella ‘We Have Always Lived in the Castle’ interrogates the ways individuals distort…
Shirley Jackson’s neo-gothic novella ‘We Have Always Lived in the Castle’ interrogates the ways individuals distort reality in a world scarred by exclusion, male chauvinism, and prejudice. Written in 1962, when women’s roles were confined to domestic roles while men wielded public power, Jackson sets her story against this backdrop to expose how self-deception and outward deception operate in unison to sustain fragile illusions of security. The roots of self-deception lie in trauma and social rejection pushing characters into denial and fantasy. While illusion preserves survival, they simultaneously breed paranoia and deepen isolation. Yet, Jackson also depicts deliberate acts of deception towards others, in order to survive deception is mandatory. Ultimately Jackson critiques a society that forces marginalised individuals to survive through fragile illusions rather than genuine belonging.
At the crux of Jackson’s novella lies the trauma of exclusion and the weight of patriarchal society, driving characters to retreat into denial and fantasy. Merricat, as the unreliable narrator, exemplifies this impulse through her rituals and manifestations. She creates “safeguards” such as a “box of silver dollars” forming a “powerful taunt web” designed to shield her and Constance from intrusion. This precaution elevates money from a symbol of material wealth to a superstitious charm, illustrating her attempt to impose order and control over a hostile world. Jackson’s use of witchcraft reflects both Merricat’s guilt over poisoning her family and her fear of the outside world. However, this also suggests illusion functions as a coping mechanism. Constance deceives herself by performing the role of the 1950’s quintessential housewife, seemingly content to “work like a slave”, connoting no autonomy over the matter but rather entrapment in a controlled space. Mr Blackwood has entrenched the ideals of traditional femininity prevailing past his death. While she is idealised as a domestic “fairy princess,” described as “pink and white and golden,” her quiet remark that “someday I’ll go” betrays a suppressed longing for freedom. Jackson suggests this patriarchal performance represses female autonomy, forcing women into illusions of contentment. While Merricat fully condemns societal norms, Constance’s position is more ambiguous. Her performance of domesticity is both a submission to and a subversion of the patriarchy suggesting the complexity of self-deception is not a simple escape, but a multifaceted performance tied to survival. The Blackwoods’ class prejudice intensifies this retreat, priding themselves on superiority to villagers with their “dirty little houses”, a belief that masks vulnerability as they are ostracised by men of the village. Jackson thereby positions self-deception as a product of trauma and exclusion, rooted in historical forces that deny women autonomy and elevate material success.