VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Travis's morals never change within the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: In Stephen Maxwell Johnson's High Ground, the morality of the characters is explored as heavily nuanced and…
In Stephen Maxwell Johnson's High Ground, the morality of the characters is explored as heavily nuanced and multilayered rather than completely clear or direct. Travis, the former WW1 sniper, is forced to navigate and confront his colonial ideologies and the role he has played in condoning systemic violence. Johnson illustrates this through Travis ' transition from inactive remorse to external resistance. This is highlighted through his initial outward indifference towards Gutjuk, progressing towards his sacrificial defiance at the end of the film. Thus, suggesting his internalised guilt is insufficient for true moral progression. Ultimately, the film suggests that Travis’s beliefs and the expression of his values evolve over the course of the film in rejection of the standard of frontier society, eventually transcending the period of moral stagnation and self-serving redemption.
Johnson first portrays Travis as detached from his violence and complicity, as his weaponised role as colonial authority obscures him from moral accountability. Initially, the film characterises Travis through his role as a sniper in the war. This is evident through the POV shot in the massacre, where he is positioned as isolated and dominant, viewing the Yolngu people through the scope of his rifle. Therefore, this signifies that Travis’s core identity and beliefs centre around his perception of power and control. Johnson employs this visual technique to reflect Travis’s moral narrowness, establishing how he leverages physical distance in order to avoid the reality of the violence he enables. This moral detachment is further reinforced by the reoccurring motif of the ‘high ground’, which Johnson utilises as both a physical enhancement of power and control, and a metaphor that symbolises the colonial power that subdues and oppresses the First Nations people without physical reprehension, due to the distance it creates. By presenting Travis as a product of historical violence and colonial society, Johnson suggests that his morality is initially static and conditioned by the civilisational expectations and brutal experiences of frontier life.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In Oedpius the King, there are no right…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: In Oedipus the King, there are no right choices. Do you agree? Presented as a poignant inquiry into the drastic…
In Oedipus the King, there are no right choices.
Do you agree?
Presented as a poignant inquiry into the drastic implications of hubris and divine inevitability, Sophocles’ Oedipus the King is a tragic dissection of the adversity personal flaws can cause. The play exposes the perils of human pride, as Sophocles illustrates how overconfidence blinds mortals to truth and precipitates catastrophe. The playwright challenges the idea that humans are capable of making “right” choices, instead he presents that free will is shrouded by fate and divine authority. Sophocles presents the idea that humans may think they know right from wrong due to their hubris blinding them from the truth; he believes that it is not up to humans to make their own decisions, rather, it is a matter which should be left to the gods. Ultimately the playwright presents the idea that knowledge and enlightenment will only come when humans recognise that rather than right or wrong choices in life, only the word of the gods is to be followed through the oracle and the prophecies.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: We Have Always Lived In the Castle…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: Jackson illustrates how deviating from the social norms can lead to social ostracism and communal judgement,…
Jackson illustrates how deviating from the social norms can lead to social ostracism and communal judgement, exposing how these actions attempt to force an individual into a cycle of normality. The parochial village in which Merricat and Constance reside believe in conformity, and individuals who choose not to conform are marginalized. The children of the village display their vitriolic behaviour towards Merricat whilst she makes her trip into the village, chanting “Merricat said Connie, would you like a cup of tea. Oh no said Merricat, you’ll poison me,” a cruel rhyme developed by individuals within the village which displays how the poisoning of the Blackwood family is a joke to them. Through the condescending behaviour of the villagers, Jackson critiques how society devalues those who do not fit in with the social norms of the time. She shows that the consequences of resisting expectations is to be treated as incompetent or mentally unstable. Merricat recognises that the “people of the village have always hated
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Trevor Noah balances humour and tragedy to…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: ‘Born a Crime,’ a work of Trevor Noah, is a traumedy that narrates the story of his life during the apartheid…
‘Born a Crime,’ a work of Trevor Noah, is a traumedy that narrates the story of his life during the apartheid regime. Through ongoing humour, he makes the tragic anecdotes more palatable for the reader. Writing this novel was his attempt at exposing the logical fallacies of South African laws, moving beyond a simple life story to a critique of his environment. His comedic tone forces the reader to holistically look at the impact of systemic racism. He frames himself as a ‘chameleon’ who uses satire to navigate through the loopholes and deconstruct the rigid logic of race, reclaiming agency in a world that refused to accept him.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: "In The Hate Race, Maxine Beneba Clarke…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 67.5%: In the Hate Race, Clarke explores how identity is not chosen but rather something forced upon you by society.…
In the Hate Race, Clarke explores how identity is not chosen but rather something forced upon you by society. Clarke is constantly othered, making it impossible for her to belong at school, the playground or in society in general. Clarke is constantly alienated due to her race, which hinders her from truly belonging as an Australian. She states in the prologue, "I learned early that to be different was to be hunted. To be different was to be a target. To be different was to be wrong." this lets the reader empathise with her and to get a better view on how it was to be a different race to every one else where "[she] was a small brown girl in a sea of white". Maxine also states that "The question was always the same: What are you? Not Who are you, but What are you?" This evidence shows how she was viewed due to
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: * In The Memory Police, silence is both a…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: In Yoko Ogawa’s 1994 haunting dystopian novel, “The Memory Police”, the unnamed island serves as a site of profound…
In Yoko Ogawa’s 1994 haunting dystopian novel, “The Memory Police”, the unnamed island serves as a site of profound loss where the state systematically erases physical objects and the memories attached to them. Ogawa suggests that silence is paradoxical; it is used by the totalitarian Memory Police as a pervasive tool of oppression to enforce conformity and erase selfhood, yet it also functions as a fragile tool of resistance for those seeking to protect the truth. While the state-mandated silence eventually leads to the total dissolution of the islanders' identities, Ogawa illustrates that quiet acts of secrecy and the refusal to forget represent a powerful, albeit doomed, rebellion against authority.
Ogawa portrays oppression as inescapable, suggesting that the totalitarian control of the Memory Police is sustained by the enforced silence of the islanders. Through the symbol of the "green-coated" Memory Police, Ogawa illustrates how the state weaponizes silence to cultivate a climate of "self-sustained" fear. This is most evident during the arbitrary raids on citizens’ homes, where the sudden, violent silence of a "removal" serves as a warning to others. Consequently, the islanders become complicit in their own oppression, adopting a "psychological silence" where they rarely question the disappearances of objects like the birds or the calendars. By depicting a society that is "unwilling to speak" for fear of being taken away, Ogawa suggests that the regime’s power lies not just in physical force, but in the erasure of the vocabulary of loss. When the islanders lose the words to describe what has been forgotten, they lose the ability to articulate their own suffering. Ultimately, Ogawa demonstrates that by preventing communication between civilians, the authorities successfully eliminate the collective memory required to form a rebellion.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “The world is full of terrible people.” To…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 82.5%: Shirley Jackson’s gothic novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle serves as a powerful exploration of the…
Shirley Jackson’s gothic novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle serves as a powerful exploration of the conflict between the hostile society and envious village but also the private Blackwood sanctuary causing problems throughout the text. On its surface, the narrative appears to support the contention that the vitriolic hostility of the village does reflect a society that is “full of terrible people”, however Jackson ultimately utilises Merricat’s own moral ambiguity to challenge the idea, suggesting that the most terrible force is actually Merricat’s own negligent isolation and stagnant domesticity to overall cause the delusion of the sisters believing that all of society is dreadful. By contrasting the antagonising village with Merricat’s psychological cruelty and barbarity, the text ultimately argues that the real tragedy inside society is the sisters who believe that all of society is terrible. Jackson showcases this to highlight the complexities of the narrative between society and the sisters themselves, both believing different ideologies.
Through the use of assertive language and a stark simile, Jackson portrays the village as a force of malicious acts and antagonistic actions towards the sisters pushing them into isolation to have safety away from them, highlighting how the 1950’s American society can be a world “full of terrible people”. Throughout the narrative, the villagers use their collective behaviour as they “moved like a wave” outside her house to illustrate their mob mentality and bullying regimes to continue to antagonise the sisters. The use of the stark simile emphasises the continuous attack of the villagers as a “wave” to show how society loses all its humanity when they have collective behaviours. Jackson deeply tries to highlight how these malicious continuous acts reinforce how society as a whole can have hostile behaviours when people join in a group and follow each other to then ostracise those who may isolate or not be part of the village’s community. Moreover, Jackson exposes the cruel entitlement the villagers possess which justifies Merricat’s fear of the people around her. Through the use of assertive language, the villagers demand that they have “a right” to see her “hanged” in a declarative tone, highlighting the villagers belief that they have a right to execute Constance and Merricat, illustrating how society can be full of monstrous people who believe they can take control over the autonomy of the sisters. Thus, Jackson presents how the external chaos, envy and malicious acts on the sisters can reinforce how society is full of terrible people that push Merricat and Constance into a ghostly effect separating their freedoms by creating a social barrier between them.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: 'Shakespeare presents marriage as…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: TITLE: “My whole life I’ve been a seeker, looking for something” My whole life I’ve been a seeker, looking for…
TITLE: “My whole life I’ve been a seeker, looking for something”
My whole life I’ve been a seeker, looking for something. Not treasure, not gold, and not happiness. It was just something, a piece that was somewhere around the hallways, unfinished conversations, and the silence across the corridors of my hallway at 3am.
As a child, I searched in simple places. I would dig up a hole in the backyard convinced I would uncover hidden gold, my tiny hands stained with brown earthy dirt but it carried hope. The world was just a giant puzzle, glitching here and there but glittering with possibility. Every cloud looked like a clue. Every stranger walking by held a story. Every sunset felt like a promise.
But as I grew older, the search changed.
I searched for people. In friendships stitched together laughter was slowly torn apart. In mirrors, staring at my reflection as if identity suddenly decided to show themselves. In achievements, grades, medals was like collecting shells on a beach that looked stunning for a moment before becoming empty in my hands.
Still, my irritation remained.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ‘You do not have to walk on your knees /…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 75%: Through her contemplative voice and sustained engagement with the natural world, Mary Oliver develops a poetic…
Through her contemplative voice and sustained engagement with the natural world, Mary Oliver develops a poetic philosophy centered on attention, compassion, and the search for a more authentic way of living. Oliver illuminates that nature stays alongside every individual and always ready to offer peace for them. Not only that, nature acts as a source of hope that supports the reader when they are at their lowest point. However, Oliver complicates the theme of peace by stating that peace does not always come from beauty, but peace coexists with ugliness and hardship. Across her collections American Primitive (1983) and Dream Work (1986), Oliver utilises many different literary devices such as enjambment, metaphor, and direct address to reinforce that in order to find peace, the reader needs the ability to accept every circumstance that they are facing. For Oliver, peace does not need to be earned or come from perfectionism, but peace comes from accepting what is facing in front of you despite obstacles while having the natural world staying beside you.
Oliver acknowledges that the natural world is what allows the reader to release themselves from a self-imposed expectation, which eventually leads them to peace. In ‘Wild Geese’, Oliver employs direct address to make the reader feel intimate “You do not have to be good / You do not have to walk on your knees / for a hundred miles, repenting.” The direct address creates the closeness, as if Oliver is speaking to the reader’s shame and exhaustion. This helps Oliver to generate a guiding voice, as a mentor correcting every individual’s self-punishing beliefs. The repetition of “You do not have to” acts as an imperative voice, which gives Oliver an authority to command the reader into freeing themselves. Then, Oliver decides to implement the metaphor of “You only have to let the soft animal of your body / love what it loves” in which “soft animal” represents every individual instinct. The enjambment after “body” pauses before revealing the instinctual that Oliver intends to let every individual follow. The speaker is trying to deliver the message that being hard on yourself will only bring exhaustion and tiredness. Instead, it is better to adapt to every situation in order to truly find peace. In addition to this theme, Oliver also introduces the natural world to the reader after delivering the message: freedom is meant for you. The line “Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, / the world offers itself to your imagination”, Oliver personifies “world” by giving it a human quality of granting something to the reader. By doing so, Oliver is able to develop a deeper connection between humans and nature. Therefore, the reader will be able to release themselves from guilt and shame more comfortably as they have nature alongside them. This idea is further complicated in the poem ‘Morning Poem’, in which Oliver introduces nature as a continuous renewal that will always move forward without waiting. The speaker starts her poem with a fresh start and short sentence: “Every morning / the world / is created.” The cyclical structure conveys that the natural world is a cycle, where nights will turn into days and vice versa without any disruption: “the heaped / ashes of the night / turn into leaves again.” The word choice of “again” illuminates that nature is always occurring and continuously without any waiting. At the same time, Oliver is trying to reinforce that staying gloomy and guilty without moving forward does not mean nature will also wait for them as there are many other creatures who are always ready to move forward with their life. Therefore, as a nature, they have the responsibility to always move straight, constantly. Furthermore, Oliver contrasts between “If it is your nature / to be happy / you will swim away along the soft trails / for hours, your imagination / alighting everywhere” and “And if your spirit / carries within you / the thorn / is heavier than leads–” to demonstrate that relieving your pressure is a choice that the reader can make. The word choice of “alighting everywhere” shows that if you decide to be happy, your life will be filled with prosperity. To the contrary, if you decide to be hard on yourself, even thorns that are usually lighter than leads will now also be heavier. Oliver then added “Whether or not / you have ever dared to be happy / whether or not / you have ever dared to pray.” The repetition of “whether or not” illustrates that the choice to be free is entirely yours to decide. Consequently, in order to truly seek peace, individuals need to be decisive in choosing the right path that fits them while having nature to guide you.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Sisterhood in We Have Always Lived in the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: Shirley Jackson Essay – Refined Version Established against the patriarchal milieu of the 1960s, Shirley Jackson’s…
Shirley Jackson Essay – Refined Version
Established against the patriarchal milieu of the 1960s, Shirley Jackson’s proto-feminist novella We Have Always Lived in the Castle presents a nuanced examination of sisterhood as both a protective and entrapping force. While Jackson exposes how sororal bonds safeguard individuals from a hostile society, she also reveals their vulnerability to the corrosive influence of patriarchy. Ultimately, however, Jackson emphasises the liberating power of sisterhood, suggesting that female solidarity enables women to resist the restrictive expectations imposed upon them.
Examining the complex nature of sisterhood, Jackson reveals how it protects individuals from a hostile society. In the novella’s opening, Merricat’s first-person narration emphasises her affection for “My sister Constance, Richard Plantagenet…and the death cup mushroom”. Through this tricolon, Jackson aligns Merricat’s love for Constance with symbols of power and destruction, undermining the docility traditionally associated with femininity. By linking Constance to these transgressive symbols, Jackson suggests that the sisters’ bond exists outside conventional social expectations and therefore possesses a unique form of strength. However, this strength emerges in response to the hostility of the external world. Jackson reinforces this hostility through the gothic image of Merricat “lock[ing]” the gate because the “village people have always hated us”. The gate functions as a protective barrier that shields the sisters from the cruelty of the village, allowing them to sustain a life of isolation and self-sufficiency.
Jackson further develops the antagonistic nature of the outside world through Merricat’s grocery-shopping excursions. The author employs sibilance as Merricat “always stood perfectly straight and still”, creating an unsettling tonal atmosphere that reflects her vulnerability within the public sphere. This vulnerability is intensified through violent imagery when Merricat likens the female villagers to a “flock of taloned hawks…striking…with razor claws”. Combined with the fragmented quality of Merricat’s narration, this imagery transforms the village into a hostile domain that seeks to suppress her autonomy and individuality. Consequently, Jackson attaches greater significance to the protective nature of sisterhood. Structurally, this is reinforced through Merricat’s return to the Blackwood Estate, where the sisters reclaim a sense of agency and stability. Jackson captures this self-sufficient existence through the image of Merricat and Constance “eat[ing] away the year”, suggesting that their bond enables them to live independently of the outside world. By revealing how the sisters “did not ask things of anybody”, Jackson portrays sisterhood as a mutually sustaining force that shields individuals from a deeply antagonistic society. Thus, Jackson ultimately casts sisterly bonds as a form of protection against social hostility.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Oedipus is responsible for his own fate.…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 67.5%: In the Greek tragedy Oedipus the King (429 BC), Sophocles explores a world governed by the divine decree of the…
In the Greek tragedy Oedipus the King (429 BC), Sophocles explores a world governed by the divine decree of the gods and the impossibility of avoiding the fate which they determine. The play, set in Thebes, and performed for a Greek audience that believed in the authority of the gods and fatalism, follows the story of a tragic hero, Oedipus, who tries to evade his fate, told through Apollo’s oracle, and is ultimately led to his downfall, a result of his hamartia. Sophocles suggests that while fate is inevitable, it was Oedipus’ excessive pride and relentless pursuit of the truth that ultimately led to his downfall. However, his unwavering vanity and persistent quest for the truth assisted him to his tragic downfall where he chose to be his own destroyer.
Sophocles explores the theme of fatalism, as the prophecy determining the path of Oedipus’ life is already pronounced before his birth. From the very beginning, the oracle reveals a preordained outcome as Apollo claims that Oedipus is “fated to couple with your mother … you will kill your father”. This sense of inevitability is reinforced through Tiresias’ assertion that “what will come, will come”, emphasising Sophocles’ message that the power of the divine decree overrules all human action and outcomes. The prophet’s further assertion that Oedipus is “blind to the corruption of your life” underscores how he unknowingly fulfills his prophecy despite efforts to avoid it. Thus, Sophocles presents Oedipus’ ultimate downfall as beyond his control, portraying him as a victim of Apollo’s curse, not responsible for his fate.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Individuals can be both villans and…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: Wilder explores how the trauma of being a victim can corrupt the moral compass, transforming the exploited into a…
Wilder explores how the trauma of being a victim can corrupt the moral compass, transforming the exploited into a manipulative predator. This intersection is most poignatly seen in Max Von Mayerling, whose transition from a "promising young director" to a subservient "servant" represents the ultimate corruption of the self, as he was disregarded when the "talkie" arrived. He than gave up his name, career and his dignity to serve Norma as he "discovered he was the one he made her a star," demonstrating his victimhood stems from a misplaced, tragic loyalty. However, by assuming the role of "servent", he does not just serve Norma, he acting manipulates her reality seen through the example of fake fan mail. Max tells Joe "dont look too closely to the postmarks," sustaining her star status, thereby becoming a co-conspirator in her madness. Through Max's devotion, Wilder suggests that the trauma of being discarded by the industry does not
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Ogawa use dystopian…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: As an acclaimed author of the 20th century and post-war Japan, Yoko Ogawa bemoans society’s capitulation to…
As an acclaimed author of the 20th century and post-war Japan, Yoko Ogawa bemoans society’s capitulation to authoritarian values of oppression and surveillance. In her 1994 novel, “The Memory Police”, Ogawa explores the silent acquiesce of an eroding society. Throughout the novel, Ogawa questions the extent of which society is controlled by authoritarian forces, ultimately utilising features of dystopian fiction to criticise various power figures and societal processes, particularly systemic erasure. From the outset of the novel, Ogawa laments the substantial loss society confronts as a result of oppressive power and harrowing societal processes instilled by authoritarian forces. Further, the novel’s dystopian features showcase the complicity that society exhibits as result of their subservience to the power of erasure and societal methods that are docile to erasure. Yet/However, Ogawa’s novel also simultaneously utilises dystopian features to reveal a flourishing human connection stemming from this oppression of power and societal processes.
Initially, Ogawa harnesses features of dystopian fiction to affirm her criticism of authoritarian power, and the oppressive processes these regimes inflict upon society. The oppressive nature of the Memory Police and the typing teacher coupled with a foreboding erasure of reality form the core of both the external narrative and the manuscript. The entrapped typist, in her dreary captivity and dwindling state is reduced to being “unable to move” as she becomes more attuned to her environment with the “only motion [being] falling…snowflakes.” The depreciating natural state of the island concurrent to an individual's own diminishment is reflected in the island becoming “nothing..except the snow that continues to…fall…”. Indeed, Ogawa’s use of dystopian fiction features harness setting as the epitome of character’s emotion as snow is metaphorically representing the perpetual emotional numbing which individuals face as result of Memory Police’s brutal force, culminating to their utterly desensitised state. Thus, Ogawa criticises the extreme to which authoritarian power and oppressive societal methods affect society, reducing them to total loss. Disregarding R’s sympathetic “hand on [her] shoulder.’ the narrator dispossesses her “arm and leg” as “not really [hers],” bleakly likening them to “just shells [and] empty skin.” The loss of the arm and leg as appendages for mobility and self-autonomy insinuates the loss of individualism, rendering the controlling force of the Memory Police more perilous. Such an overt rejection of body parts which Ogawa exacerbates with the dystopian text feature of a morbid metaphor, affirms the importance of spiritual self which is the “real [narrator]”, and without it, one’s body is despairingly meaningless and unable to form connections with others. Indeed, as the authoritarian Memory Police have stripped individuals of their autonomy, Ogawa fervently criticises their harrowing power and implemented societal processes of restriction and surveillance that ultimately erase society’s culture and individuality.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Prompt: Using your main studied text and…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 67.5%: Stephen Chbosky’s ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ and Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ both employ…
Stephen Chbosky’s ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ and Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ both employ conventions of the coming-of-age genre to integrate and explore Sigmund Freud’s concepts of repression and the unconsciousness and its impact on human nature, how mentors and society influence individuals and their view on sexuality, and how innocence can be corrupted with the wrong intentions.
‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ is a novel that explores major psychological concepts on the subconscious through the protagonist’s experiences to drive his character development while maintaining simplicity. These concepts come from a highly regarded psychologist Sigmund Freud, in particular, his theory of repression and the subconscious. The protagonist ‘Charlie’s’ repressed childhood memories of trauma and sexual abuse become the basis for his psychological struggles and anxiety. This manifests as screen memories that substitute for the true repressed event, as throughout the story he talks about how “[he] feel[s] very unsettled” and is “not sure [he’ll] be okay.”. This demonstrates clearly how Charlies repressed trauma is resurfacing as unease. These traumas act as a catalyst for growth while also allowing for the genre convention of self- discovery to be presented as a necessary means to excel.
‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ while not a typical coming of age story, carries many of the genre conventions found within. Repression can be found within Wilde’s writing, but unlike Charlie’s repression leading to his growth and evolution of character, the contrary is portrayed through Dorian as he experiences decadence. As “The picture has revealed to him his own body’s corruption”, Dorians repressed guilt becomes externalised and made plausible to the character himself, although he maintains his ignorance of the consequences by repressing his “wild terror of dying” that was now founded. As this novel doesn’t portray growth but the moral decline instead, it subverts the convention of self-discovery as a means to display it.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Prompt: Using your main studied text and…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 67.5%: Stephen Chbosky’s ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ and Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ both employ…
Stephen Chbosky’s ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ and Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ both employ conventions of the coming-of-age genre to integrate and explore Sigmund Freud’s concepts of repression and the unconsciousness and its impact on human nature, how mentors and society influence individuals and their view on sexuality, and how innocence can be corrupted with the wrong intentions.
‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ is a novel that explores major psychological concepts on the subconscious through the protagonist’s experiences to drive his character development while maintaining simplicity. These concepts come from a highly regarded psychologist Sigmund Freud, in particular, his theory of repression and the subconscious. The protagonist ‘Charlie’s’ repressed childhood memories of trauma and sexual abuse become the basis for his psychological struggles and anxiety. This manifests as screen memories that substitute for the true repressed event, as throughout the story he talks about how “[he] feel[s] very unsettled” and is “not sure [he’ll] be okay.”. This demonstrates clearly how Charlies repressed trauma is resurfacing as unease. These traumas act as a catalyst for growth while also allowing for the genre convention of self- discovery to be presented as a necessary means to excel.
‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ while not a typical coming of age story, carries many of the genre conventions found within. Repression can be found within Wilde’s writing, but unlike Charlie’s repression leading to his growth and evolution of character, the contrary is portrayed through Dorian as he experiences decadence. As “The picture has revealed to him his own body’s corruption”, Dorians repressed guilt becomes externalised and made plausible to the character himself, although he maintains his ignorance of the consequences by repressing his “wild terror of dying” that was now founded. As this novel doesn’t portray growth but the moral decline instead, it subverts the convention of self-discovery as a means to portray it.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Prompt: Using your main studied text and…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 65%: Stephen Chbosky’s ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ and Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ both employ…
Stephen Chbosky’s ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ and Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ both employ conventions of the coming-of-age genre to integrate and explore Sigmund Freud’s concepts of repression and the unconsciousness and its impact on human nature, how mentors and society influence individuals and their view on sexuality, and how innocence can be corrupted with the wrong intentions.
‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ is a novel that explores major psychological concepts through the protagonist’s experiences while maintaining simplicity. These concepts come from a highly regarded psychologist Sigmund Freud, in particular, his theory of repression and the subconscious. The protagonist ‘Charlie’s’ repressed childhood memories of trauma and sexual abuse become the basis for his psychological struggles and anxiety, which manifest as screen memories that substitute for the true repressed event, as throughout the story he talks about how “[he] feel[s] very unsettled” and is “not sure [he’ll] be okay.”. This demonstrates clearly how Charlies repressed trauma is resurfacing as unease. These traumas act as a catalyst for growth while also allowing for the genre convention of self- discovery to be presented as a necessary means to excel.
‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ while not a typical coming of age story, carries many of the genre conventions found within. Repression can be found within Wilde’s writing, but unlike Charlie’s repression leading to his growth and evolution of character, the contrary is portrayed through Dorian as he experiences decadence. As “The picture has revealed to him his own body’s corruption”, Dorians repressed guilt becomes externalised and made plausible to the character himself, although he maintains his ignorance of the consequences by repressing his “wild terror of dying” that was now founded. As this novel doesn’t portray growth but the moral decline instead, it subverts the convention of self-discovery as a means to portray it.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Prompt: Using your main studied text and…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 65%: Stephen Chbosky’s ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ and Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ both employ…
Stephen Chbosky’s ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ and Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ both employ conventions of the coming-of-age genre to integrate and explore Sigmund Freud’s concepts of repression and the unconsciousness and its impact on human nature, how mentors and society influence individuals and their view on sexuality, and how innocence can be corrupted with the wrong intentions.
‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ is a novel that may appear to tend to less refined audiences and topics, instead, explores greater concepts through the protagonist’s experiences. These concepts come from a highly regarded psychologist Sigmund Freud, in particular, his theory of repression and the subconscious. The protagonist ‘Charlie’s’ repressed childhood memories of trauma and sexual abuse become the basis for his psychological struggles and anxiety, which manifest as screen memories that substitute for the true repressed event, as throughout the story he talks about how “[he] feel[s] very unsettled” and is “not sure [he’ll] be okay.”. This demonstrates clearly how Charlies repressed trauma is resurfacing as unease. These trauma’s act as a catalyst for growth while also allowing for the genre convention of self- discovery to be known.
‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ while not a typical coming of age story, carries many of the genre conventions found within. Repression can be found within Wilde’s writing, but unlike Charlie’s repression leading to his growth and evolution of character, the contrary is portrayed through Dorian as he experiences decadence. “The picture has revealed to him his own body’s corruption, and he was filled with a wild terror of dying”. This extract from the novel portrays how the portray externalises Dorian’s repressed guilt. As this novel doesn’t portray growth but the moral decline instead, it subverts the convention of self-discovery as a means to portray it.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: The stories in this collection show that…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 65%: The knowledge we possess forms the basis of how we identify ourselves. Tessa Hadley’s short story collection Bad…
The knowledge we possess forms the basis of how we identify ourselves. Tessa Hadley’s short story collection Bad Dreams and Other Stories details the lives of several women throughout a range of time periods as they undergo experiences which profoundly affect who they are. Through a range of literary devices and textual evidence, Hadley contends throughout that whilst knowledge can be a powerful catalyst for personal growth, those who choose to recoil from it may remain unchanged. Hadley’s protagonists undergo multiple physical experiences which lead to a new perspective on their existence. Furthermore philosophical revelations particularly surrounding death clearly alter characters’ identities, should they choose to embrace it. Despite this, many feel unprepared for the newfound knowledge and remain untransformed.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Prompt: Using your main studied text and…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: Stephen Chbosky’s ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ and Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ both employ…
Stephen Chbosky’s ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ and Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ both employ conventions of the coming-of-age genre to integrate and explore Sigmund Freud’s concepts of repression and the unconsciousness and its impact on human nature, the loss of innocence, sexuality, mentors and their influence on individuals and society.
‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ is a novel that may appear to tend to less refined audiences and topics, instead, explores greater concepts through the protagonist’s experiences. These concepts come from a highly regarded psychologist Sigmund Freud, in particular, his theory of repression and the subconscious. The protagonist ‘Charlie’s’ repressed childhood memories of trauma and sexual abuse become the basis for his psychological struggles and anxiety, which manifest as screen memories that substitute for the true repressed event, as throughout the story he talks about how “[he] feel[s] very unsettled” and is “not sure [he’ll] be okay.”. This demonstrates clearly how Charlies repressed trauma is resurfacing as unease. These trauma’s act as a catalyst for growth while also allowing for the genre convention of self- discovery to be known.
‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ while not a typical coming of age story, carries many of the genre conventions found within. Repression can be found within Wilde’s writing, but unlike Charlie’s repression leading to his growth and evolution of character, the contrary is portrayed through Dorian as he experiences decadence. “The picture has revealed to him his own body’s corruption, and he was filled with a wild terror of dying”. This extract from the novel portrays how the portray externalises Dorian’s repressed guilt. As this novel doesn’t portray growth but the moral decline instead, it still bounces off the convention of self-discovery as a means to portray it.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: I’m we have always lived in the castle…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: Shirley Jackson’s Gothic novel ‘We Have Always Lived in the Castle’, explores the constructs by which individuals…
Shirley Jackson’s Gothic novel ‘We Have Always Lived in the Castle’, explores the constructs by which individuals are shaped, In the text individuals can be seen as being influenced by fear of others different to oneself. However, the desire for power and control is equally as influential on the behaviours seen in the text. Conversely, much of these ideas can be linked to the restrictive societal roles and expectations of the 1950s. Thus, Jackson indicates that individuals in the text are not motivated by any single construct, rather a variety of challenges stemming from the pressures of society.
In the text, Jackson expresses how characters are motivated by fear of others who differentiate from one’s own values and lifestyle. Jackson’s creation of the Blackwood vs village dynamic uses the the barrier (“fence”) separating the Blackwood family from the rest of the world, isolating them within their own bubble of safety. During the years prior to the murders, the Blackwoods were known to “keep their house pretty well locked up”. This portrays the discomfort the Blackwoods felt in the presence of “common people” and Jackson highlights the self-imposed isolation as a result of the lower classes. In contrast, Jackson depicts the villagers’ fear of the Blackwoods, while mostly part of a reaction resulting from the murders, this fear was always present. A Dunham’s reaction to “lifting the broken step” showed a hesitation to confront John for his payment. His reaction in front of a young girl showed confidence in his power but beyond that Jackson shows his continued anger, “scowling”, but fear of the conflict between the villagers and Blackwoods prevented further action.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How do the memory police maintain power…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 65%: Ogawa’s 1994 dystopian novel, The Memory Police, follows an unnamed narrator’s trepid navigation of an isolated…
Ogawa’s 1994 dystopian novel, The Memory Police, follows an unnamed narrator’s trepid navigation of an isolated island dominated by a mysterious authority that causes objects and memories to disappear. As these disappearances gradually reshape the inhabitants' reality, Ogawa explores the human capacity for adaptation within systems of oppressive control, revealing the unsettling ease with which individuals come to accept profound loss. As the narrative progresses, it is made evident that the authoritarian regime’s success in maintaining power and control is driven by the inhabitants of the island. However, Ogawa also affirms that the Memory Police need to constantly uphold their duties to some extent in order to preserve control.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: "In Rainbow’s End, Harrison suggests that…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: Introduction Set against the backdrop of a paternalistic 1950s Australia, Jane Harrison’s domestic drama Rainbow’s…
Introduction Set against the backdrop of a paternalistic 1950s Australia, Jane Harrison’s domestic drama Rainbow’s End critically examines the insidious impact of the government's assimilationist agenda on Indigenous communities. In response to the notion that systemic prejudice operates primarily through macro-level legislation, Harrison contends that colonial oppression is weaponized most corrosively within the intimate, domestic spheres of Aboriginal life. Initially, the playwright foregrounds the physical invasion of the Aboriginal home, exposing how institutional forces utilize domestic surveillance to police Indigenous worthiness. Furthermore, Harrison delves into the psychological toll of this systemic prejudice, illustrating how the dominant culture forces marginalized individuals to internalize assimilationist standards. Ultimately, however, Harrison champions matriarchal resilience and enduring kinship as the ultimate defense against cultural erasure, subverting the state's attempt to dictate Indigenous domesticity.
Body Paragraph 1 (Institutional Surveillance) Exposing the denigrative nature of a paternalistic government, Harrison subverts the notion that assimilation was merely an impersonal policy, instead foregrounding how systemic prejudice was weaponized within the most intimate domestic spheres. Harrison utilizes the clinical stagecraft of the Housing Inspector, who stands "writing notes" within the Dear family’s humpy, to transform the private home into a site of constant state surveillance. By depicting the Inspector's incredulity that the family's laundry "whites are so white" despite their reliance on river water, Harrison illuminates the pervasive nature of 1950s racial stereotypes. Here, the menial domestic chore of laundry is contorted into a performative test of civility, where White authorities act as gatekeepers to basic human rights. Ultimately, by presenting the Inspector's subsequent recommendation for "assimilation" as a cold, bureaucratic inevitability, Harrison condemns the institutional hypocrisy of a state that evaluates Aboriginal worth through arbitrary White domestic standards, thereby stripping Indigenous families of their fundamental autonomy.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: There is always more than one side to…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 65%: Set amidst the radiant ambiance of sunny Los Angeles, the timeless film, “Sunset Boulevard,” directed by auteur,…
Set amidst the radiant ambiance of sunny Los Angeles, the timeless film, “Sunset Boulevard,” directed by auteur, Billy Wilder, explores the concept that people often show different sides of themselves when faced with ambition, temptation, or pressure, yet some remain constant in their loyalty or values, challenging the idea that everyone is divided within themselves. Wilder expands on the Hollywood industry, creating an shift from vulnerability to manipulation. Furthermore, those who have been exposed to the splendours of success and fame, fade away from the idea of ambition. At the same time, some individuals in society remain constant, defined by a single devotion that is strong enough to resist change. Together, these perspectives reveal that while Wilder’s view of Hollywood often exposes the fractured sides of individuals, the film also acknowledges that not every person is shaped by contradiction.
Throughout the film, “Sunset Boulevard” delves into Hollywood’s toxic industry exposing the different sides of individuals, pushing them to shift between vulnerability and manipulation. This is illustrated through the character of Norma Desmond, a woman in her 50s who was discarded by Hollywood, where she shifts between her unguarded personality to her scheming self. At the beginning of the film, as Joe Gillis looks over Norma’s script for her picture ‘Salome’, she would watch over him like a hawk. This is to show her dominating, controlling psyche in which Billy Wilder demonstrates through the use of cameras. Wilder specifically used a low angle of Joe editing Norma’s script with her overlooking him in the background to impose her predatory ways that Hollywood had inflicted upon her. The low camera angle achieves this by making Norma look bigger and taller in comparison to Joe, to display the power imbalance between them, highlighting Norma’s dominating nature. As the film progresses and Norma begins to feel more comfortable around Joe, her defenceless side slowly stands out. When Joe and Norma were sharing an intimate moment of them dancing together during New Years, she seems to get her youthfulness back, erasing her obsessive mindset at that moment, showing genuine love and devotion towards Joe. Wilder expresses the nature of their transactional relationship through mise-en-scene, shot at a high angle. This was used to highlight Norma’s isolation in her “empty house”, by shooting the scene above them, as both Norma and Joe are seen dancing to what seems like an empty room, underlined by his voiceover observation that: "I felt caught, like the cigarette in that contraption on her finger." Towards the end of the film, as Joe was sneaking out to write a script with Betty Schaefer, Norma complains that she “screamed for [Joe],” and “[he] wasn’t here.” Indicating the necessity of Joe in her life and where she does not “want to be left alone.” Through this, Wilder expresses how Norma has shown her true, caring side towards Joe. The side that had been corrupted by the toxic allure and culture of Hollywood. Hence, “Sunset Boulevard” exposes how the Hollywood culture, draws out both vulnerability and manipulative sides to an individual, demonstrating that there is always more than one side to a person.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: "In High Ground, those with power are…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: Johnson exposes a colonial mindset preoccupied with the ironclad grip they seek across Arnhem land, a pursuit of…
Johnson exposes a colonial mindset preoccupied with the ironclad grip they seek across Arnhem land, a pursuit of power that ironically blinds the settlers to the self-inflicted repercussions of their own brutality. In one of the first key scenes in the film, the viewer witnesses the devasting massacre of the Yolngu people, with what was meant to be peaceful expedition, left 17 people dead including innocent women and children. This is the first example Johnson uses to demonstrate how naïve the settlers were in their actions, the diegetic sound of gunshots rearing through the air and the screams of women create a haunting scene, intended by Johnson to expose the scale of how power is used for the settlers. By demonstrating that the first intent in the face of a minor crime is to kill, Johnson is explaining to the viewer that in the moment, the settlers are oblivious to