VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Born A Crime demonstrate that, no…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Born A Crime is a 2016 memoir written by Trevor Noah which follows Trevor’s own journey through relationships,…
Born A Crime is a 2016 memoir written by Trevor Noah which follows Trevor’s own journey through relationships, racism, and oppression growing up in the world of post-Apartheid South Africa. Throughout the book, the theme of change both societally and individually is frequently touched upon, and Noah proves within his writing that change is generally difficult to achieve and often requires great challenges. He does this by demonstrating the hardships characters face in the pursuit of change, as well as using resilience as a tool for change. Additionally, Noah proves that societal change is impossible unless social barriers and norms are confronted.
Noah explores how growth and change often arise from hardships in Born A Crime. A key relationship of the memoir is that of Trevor and his mother, Patricia, who was married to Trevor’s abusive stepfather, Abel. Abel “beat” Patricia in order to “show he was a man,” but in reality, his support from the law enforcement, even after shooting Patricia, only showed the brutal inequality of the patriarchy. “Abel shot mum” Noah’s stark simplicity when revealing this complex and horrible experience allows him to truly demonstrate to the reader how much pain and hardships he had endured, as something as tragic as his mother being shot is presented as almost unsurprising. However, after years of torment suffered at the hands of Abel, Trevor and Patricia were eventually Able to get rid of him, and change for the better, gaining resilience and strength, even despite this change being so difficult to achieve. Furthermore, Trevor’s experience growing up as a mixed child in South Africa reflects the change he experienced as a result of persevering through hardships. Due to his illegal conception from one white and one black parent, Noah describes himself as being “born a crime,” implying that he was never treated equal and the same as others, and felt like an outsider. This is an undeniably unfortunate circumstance, however the difficulties Noah faced due to it allowed him to grow as a person, becoming incredibly adaptable and resilient when faced with unfair situations. Ultimately Born A Crime is a story which proves how hardships can be the recipe for growth and change.
In the memoir, Noah emphasizes how in order to build change, it is necessary to possess resilience. A key moment in which this is exemplified by Trevor himself is early in the memoir, when he details the moment he and his mother had to jump off a moving bus to escape death, and instead of complaining, they shrug it off and end up laughing and joking about
VCE · Language Analysis
Language Analysis: keep in mind this essay is not on the…
VCE Language Analysis essay scoring 95%: Revised Introduction (micro focus added) In her persuasive social media post to the Amundsen Council’s private…
Revised Introduction (micro focus added)
In her persuasive social media post to the Amundsen Council’s private group, art therapist Cara Ferguson crafts a nuanced defence of local graffiti, reframing it as a form of “unique,” “valuable” artistic expression rather than “vandalism.” Through a carefully modulated voice that oscillates between warmth and quiet authority, Ferguson manipulates tone, modality, and visual evidence to shift the reader’s perception from condemnation to appreciation. Her use of colloquial diction (“popping up around town”) mimics online discourse, while the interspersed technical lexis of art therapy (“process our emotions,” “grounded and in control”) lends professional gravitas. Together, these textual choices underpin her purpose: to persuade sceptical residents to recontextualise graffiti as a vital manifestation of community creativity and psychological wellbeing.
Revised Body Paragraph 1 – Linguistic Precision and Tone Calibration
Ferguson’s opening line — “I’ve seen a lot of talk about the street art that’s been popping up around town” — exemplifies how informal register establishes accessibility. The verb phrase “popping up” carries light, kinetic connotations that render graffiti energetic and spontaneous rather than invasive. Her parenthetical aside, “perhaps a little confused,” softens accusation through the hedging adverb “perhaps”, positioning dissenting residents not as ignorant but as uncertain. This linguistic mitigation functions to reduce defensiveness and prepare readers for reframing.
Her repetition of evaluative adjectives — “unique,” “valuable,” “improved” — layers positive semantic prosody over what might otherwise be contentious images of spray paint and tagging. In doing so, Ferguson linguistically inverts the connotations of vandalism. The juxtaposition of “vandalism” in scare quotes signals her challenge to its legitimacy as a descriptor, visually cueing scepticism and inviting the audience to question entrenched labels. These subtle tonal calibrations collectively construct Ferguson’s credibility: she is neither dismissive nor deferential, but calmly authoritative.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ‘Malouf’s stories explore transformative…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Set during moments of mortality, coming of age rituals and reckonings with one’s life, Malouf’s stories represent…
Set during moments of mortality, coming of age rituals and reckonings with one’s life, Malouf’s
stories represent the way critical events and forces shape and transform the lives of characters.
For some characters, being confronted with death is the cause for significant introspection, while
others find their lives altered by moments and places that lead them into the adult world.
Throughout Malouf’s stories, a key phase of change for characters is the transition from a
teenager into an adult. This time of transformation is explored in detail in ‘The Valley of Lagoons.’
In this story, the sixteen year old narrator Angus finds himself increasingly adrift in life as a “gap”
emerges between himself and his best friend and he feels “lonely.” He has a growing sense of the
social, cultural and intellectual division between himself and the other people in his outback town
and that unlike his peers, he “won’t stay here.” Malouf symbolises the narrator’s confusion and
nascent awakening about his coming of age transformation in the “dreamlike” quality of the Valley
of Lagoons landscape where Angus and other men from his town go hunting. Within this “sacred”
space, characters “discover” or are “let into” a secret world. Here, Angus embraces his transition
into adulthood, finding himself literally and figuratively walking “into a freshening distance” where
it is “myself I was moving into”. In contrast, another character in the story - Stuart - is unable to
cope, his self inflicted gun shot injury an emblem of his failure to adjust to the divide that develops
between himself and his would be girlfriend as they journey into adulthood. Similarly to Angus, in
‘War Baby’, Charlie Dowd is on cusp of adulthood. He’s been drafted to fight in Vietnam, and just
as the Valley of Lagoons hunt is an opportunity for Angus to find himself, so too does the
impending experience of war offer Charlie Down the chance to find “his life direction”. As he
prepares to enter the army, Charlie undergoes a period of introspection where he seeks to
“resolve in some way the puzzle of what he was”. Central to Charlie’s transition is to accept “the
experience [that] had offered itself”, rather than fight against it like Stuart in ‘Valley of the
Lagoons’. Through the way these young characters of Charlie and Angus immerse themselves in
“the motor of change”, Malouf represents that complexity and fluidity of experiences that shape
people as they journey into the grown up world.
While some of Malouf’s stories examine the journey into adulthood, others reflect on how death
and grief shape and impact our lives. In ‘Elsewhere’, the death and then the funeral of his sister-
in-law Debbie is the catalyst for Andy to travel to the city and ‘elsewhere’ and to examine the
meaning of his life. To Andy - a miner from a small town -
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Analyse the ways in which argument and…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: In “Save Our Sanctuary: The Wetlands Deserve More Than Concrete”, the author delivers a compelling and…
In “Save Our Sanctuary: The Wetlands Deserve More Than Concrete”, the author delivers a compelling and impassioned argument against a proposed commercial redevelopment of a local wetland area. By appealing to shared community values, positioning nature as both sacred and endangered, and blending evocative language with striking visual elements, the author constructs a persuasive piece that urges the audience to reject the development and take active steps to protect their environment. The article integrates emotional, logical, and ethical appeals, ensuring readers are engaged not only intellectually but morally and viscerally.
The headline itself frames the wetlands as a “sanctuary,” immediately elevating their status from a physical space to one of emotional and spiritual refuge. This word choice activates a moral dimension, aligning environmental protection with safeguarding something sacred. The phrase “deserve more than concrete” introduces a stark binary between organic life and industrial intrusion, priming the reader to see the development as an act of degradation. Through this, the author subtly appeals to the audience’s sense of justice — positioning nature as a voiceless entity worthy of defence.
Central to the article’s strategy is the use of inclusive language. Phrases such as “our sanctuary,” “we stand to lose,” and “our shared future” construct a collective identity and moral obligation. This rhetorical move invites the reader into the conversation as an active stakeholder, not a distant observer. The article’s opening reference to “the wetlands we explored as children” furthers this connection, weaving nostalgia and local identity into the argument. By personalising the issue, the author encourages the audience to see the wetlands not just as land, but as an extension of their memory, values, and heritage.
The piece’s persuasive force is heightened through vivid sensory imagery. Descriptions of “the low murmur of frogs,” “the shimmer of dragonfly wings,” and “a mosaic of life” conjure a rich, living ecosystem. This is strategically contrasted with dehumanising depictions of the development as “grey slabs of corporate ambition” and “glass towers
VCE · Language Analysis
Language Analysis: keep in mind this essay is not on the…
VCE Language Analysis essay scoring 82.5%: Introduction In her persuasive social media post to the Amundsen Council’s private group, art therapist Cara…
Introduction
In her persuasive social media post to the Amundsen Council’s private group, art therapist Cara Ferguson argues that graffiti should not be dismissed as vandalism but rather embraced as a meaningful form of artistic and psychological self-expression. Responding to community complaints about street art, Ferguson appeals to residents’ empathy, reason and sense of collective pride to reframe graffiti as a practice that beautifies and connects rather than defaces. Through a blend of inclusive language, professional credibility and emotive imagery, Ferguson crafts a conciliatory yet assertive argument that invites her audience to reconsider their assumptions and engage in a more compassionate discussion about art in public spaces.
Body Paragraph 1 – Building Credibility and Establishing Common Ground
Ferguson opens her post with an inclusive and conversational tone, immediately positioning herself as a reasonable and community-minded figure rather than a confrontational outsider. By acknowledging that “some people are just unsure — and perhaps a little confused” about graffiti, she establishes common ground with sceptical readers, validating their discomfort while gently challenging its basis. The casual diction (“I’ve seen a lot of talk about the street art that’s been popping up”) mirrors the informal style of social media and reinforces her relatability. This tone is further softened through the collective pronoun “we”, which creates a sense of shared responsibility in “talking about what ‘real’ art is.” Such language transforms potential hostility into a collaborative discussion, preparing the audience to engage more openly with her perspective. Her role as an art therapist — introduced early — bolsters her ethos, signalling both professional expertise and emotional sensitivity. This balance of familiarity and authority enhances Ferguson’s credibility and makes her argument appear informed rather than opinionated.
Body Paragraph 2 – Emotional Appeals and Humanising Graffiti Artists
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: The title is "Every voice is…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 87.5%: Every voice is important: "I'm not really political" because you can afford to be. Protest has always been…
Every voice is important: "I'm not really political" because you can afford to be.
Protest has always been humanity’s loudest answer to silence. From the suffragettes demanding the right to vote, to the marches for Palestinian freedom at the State Library in the city, it has always been spreading like wildfire. These crucial moments remind us of the power it holds, and the necessity protest brings. It also reminds us of confronting those who choose to stay in a place of complacency. It reveals to us how silence is also a political act.
Growing up in an environment where speaking up was seen as an act of rebellion, I have been exposed to different cultural attitudes towards politics. So, when discussing human rights issues or recent political events with others, and someone responds with"
“I’m not really political”
It makes me realise just how privileged they are, and makes me wonder how they view and engage with the world around them.
We have this view of protest, thanks to social media and media coverage, that it is only loud. That it only consists of rallies in our city streets, violent clashes, or altercations between protesters and police. But protest isn't confined to the streets. It extends to the choices we make. And that is how change happens.
It happens in one gesture, such as what we choose to buy. In one person, such as who we choose to vote for. Or one moment at a time, such as what we choose to scroll past and ignore.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: To what extent does Sunset Boulevard…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: Billy Wilder's Film Noir "Sunset Boulevard (1957)" reveals the power of manipulating other people. Hollywood's…
Billy Wilder's Film Noir "Sunset Boulevard (1957)" reveals the power of manipulating other people. Hollywood's destructive nature of reducing its stars to a commodity is explored. Furthermore the recurring theme of manipulation is explored by people who manipulate others for their own benefits, as well as using manipulation and feeding into others' delusion.
Hollywood is seen as a "dream making factory" from the outside although the gates separating the stars from the others say otherwise. Hollywood only seeks to reduce its stars to commodities, later when they do not generate profit anymore they are discarded as Hollywood's obsession with youthful glamour never changes. Hence Norma Desmond who is a faded film star is always dressed extravagantly as she seeks to appear young, and is always ready to be in front of the cameras once again. Joe Gillis adds to this by saying "there's nothing wrong with being 50, not unless you try to look 25" highlighting Norma's desperation to be young once again. Norma being the former star she was visited the Paramount Studios but was denied access until an older security guard recognised her yelling. Wilder aims to reveal how Norma has a former star. After Hollywood only holds transactional relationships within the film as portrayed by Billy Wilders, after Joes death as Norma never got a chance infront of the camera ever again as she was seen as too old and irrelevant. However, after Joes death Paramount news rushed to her faded mansion as the news would be headlines, as they flooded her room with cameras. Ultimately revealing how Hollywood manipulates Stars into thinking they are appreciated which is quite the opposite as they are only reduced to a label.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: The title - the truth Stimulus -…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 75%: HELP ME! HELP ME! A cry for help can break out like a dam – raw, urgent and impossible to ignore. Yet at times…
HELP ME! HELP ME! A cry for help can break out like a dam – raw, urgent and impossible to ignore. Yet at times help never comes. Many who suffer remain silent, paralysed not by weakness but by the weight of fear, shame and despair. The truth is that silence is not always chosen; sometimes it is forced upon us by a world that refuses to listen. Though I was not among those silenced, I have stood close enough to see how injustice renders speech almost impossible – how the cracks in that dam of silence begin to tremble before truth finally breaks through. And when it does, it comes not as destruction, but as release — a flood of courage that reshapes everything in its path. It begins with a lone voice, trembling but unyielding, and grows into a chorus that no force can contain.
As I speak before you sociologists – experts in the forces that bind us as a society – I do so not to recount my own oppression, but to reflect on a truth that I have witnessed in others: that one voice, brave enough to rise, can awaken many others; that protest transforms not only societies, but souls.
I grew up alongside a boy named Elijah — a quiet soul with eyes the colour of storm clouds and a voice so soft it seemed afraid of echoing. Every morning he would slip into the back of the classroom, his shoulders drawn inward as though trying to make himself invisible. The fluorescent lights flickered above us, washing the chipped desks and tired posters in a harsh, sterile glow. The teacher’s voice — sharp, impatient — would slice through the stillness: “Anyone? No one?” Around us, laughter scattered like pebbles against glass, but Elijah’s silence was heavier than any noise. Sometimes, he would lift his hand — hesitant, trembling — only to be met with the rustle of snickers or the teacher’s sigh of dismissal. I remember the faint flush that rose to his cheeks, the way his fingers would curl back into his sleeve as though retreating from the world. He once told me that the worst part wasn’t the laughter, but the way people looked through him — as though he were made of air. The walk home was always quiet; the crunch of gravel beneath our shoes filled the space where words should have been. When I asked why he didn’t fight back, he said softly, “What’s the point of shouting when no one wants to listen?”
Yet slowly, the cracks began to show in that wall of silence. Through small acts of courage, Elijah began to resist — lifting his head a little higher, meeting the gaze of those who mocked him, answering questions with a steady voice. These may appear to be minor gestures, but to him they were transformative. When Elijah raised his hand, voice quivering but steady, and the teacher finally called on him, the room stilled. I noticed a few classmates leaning forward, listening. In that pause — a classroom holding its breath — the power of one voice to ripple outward became
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Change The best way out is always…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 77.5%: change I think every kid should learn how to swim. That’s why my mother put me into swimming lessons as soon…
change
I think every kid should learn how to swim. That’s why my mother put me into swimming lessons as soon as I was in prep. It wasn’t so hard. I just had to keep afloat and breathe.
At a young age I learnt how to keep my head above water. I would tread and kick my legs till exhaustion. I remember the distinct taste of the raspberry flavoured lolly after my overpriced swimming lessons, a token of my achievement. The sweetness brought me relief, it was stale yet brought me joy. As I grew up, I continued to keep my head above the water. Not letting my nerves drown me, not school nor people. But inevitably I have known what it feels like to drown even before I stepped near the water. I had known the burning tightness swelling in my chest when my parents undermined my efforts. I had known the desperate voices I drowned out when my future wanted to be destined by anyone but myself. As a first-born daughter in an Asian household, an island of wealth and achievement waited before me before I knew how to swim across the vast ocean of expectation and pride.
My experience of growing up in an Asian household is not unique. Like a school of fish, those of a pressuring childhood swam along the currents of the fear of failure. Though I did not preform well academically, an abnormality from typical Asian stereotypes. But I was young, and the world beamed curiously at me whilst I would gaze out my school window, no mind to the numbers and letters on the whiteboard. So, when the clock struck six, the warmth of the blue lined swimming pool fostered where I became free.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Ruby’s decision to kill off all her…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Throughout the anthology, Tessa Hadley demonstrates how revelations can drive the transition from innocence to…
Throughout the anthology, Tessa Hadley demonstrates how revelations can drive the transition from innocence to experience. Despite the incomprehensibility of East Lynne’s grandeur, Ruby’s sheltered beliefs are shattered — likened to a raw and wild concept being “dragged from where it was concealed, into the daylight.” The metaphor exposes how confronting revelations can violently rewrite a child’s perspective. She no longer understands death as an abstract concept but feels its weight within the novel. This is bolstered by Hadley’s motif of natural light, continuously reflecting her progress towards experience. The moonlight, a darker force in comparison to the daylight or absence of light conveys the damaged trust that Ruby’s family has caused. Similarly, Bad Dreams echoes this idea though its protagonist. Forced to confront the “litany of deaths” in “gloating language”, the dream provides painful insights which pressured her to insistently reread. Moreover, her mother was unaware because the child believed she is alone. Society’s expectation of a gradual transition towards experience ultimately conceals the moments of epiphany children go
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: The idea of having human rights is a…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 72.5%: Ayubowan, Vannakum, Assalamu Alaikum. Today, I stand before you today, at this Aragalaya protest, not as a…
Ayubowan, Vannakum, Assalamu Alaikum.
Today, I stand before you today, at this Aragalaya protest, not as a politician, but as a hardworking farmer. My name is Ranil and I am a man who works from the crack of dawn to dusk, farming crop after crop until my hands split. But this year, that all changed when the Rajapaksa government made yet another reckless decision that threatened my life and the life of many farmers here today. As I look into the crowd, I see parts of me in all of you. I see the parts that are tired, hungry and unbroken, and I see the part that yearns for a new government. And I believe we should all let that part speak for us today as we stand before the Presidential house.
Because, unfortunately we have always had a government that deems our lives, our rights and our voices meaningless. And if we do not have respect in our country, then the only right we are spared is the right to fight for a new government, and fight to defend our brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, children and most importantly:
Ourselves.
My brothers and sisters,
Last month the Rajapaksa government banned chemical fertilisers overnight, with no warning + no respect for our right to grow our crops the best way possible. Many farmers around the country were left with dying crops, and no way to feed their families. You would think our farmers' union received funding to supply us with better fertiliser, but no! Our government officials feasted on imported goods while we were left to starve. They say we are a democratic nation, but what equality do we experience. To me, at least, if the Rajapaksa family eats while we scrape the dirt for what's left, perhaps the working class are treated as workers for the system, and not humans worthy of the basic human need to feed their children.
we plant. we water. we wait.
And what do they do? They take. They lie. They steal.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ‘Here at last was the original of all…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: Through complete short stories ‘Every Move You Make’ David Malouf evaluates the relationship between external…
Through complete short stories ‘Every Move You Make’ David Malouf evaluates the relationship between external inhabitancy and one’s livelihood, portraying it as irrelevant and destructive. However, simultaneously, highlights external inhabitation as an essential element in character development. Malouf presents these concepts by critiquing the worth of external spaces and depicting the connections that characters long for being internal. Furthermore, in a more reckless way Malouf introduces the places individuals choose to inhabit as destructive to themselves and their world around them. Nonetheless, despite this harmful connection, Malouf outlines the importance of changing external environments in developing ones self-image. These themes are evoked by Malouf with the use of motifs such as lightness and phantoms.
Malouf critiques the value of external spaces through illustrating that genuine connection comes from peace within ones internal world. In ‘War Baby’ Charlie is depicted to live a very repetitive lifestyle with his frequent visits to the ‘pub’ where he would often ‘read a little and drink a little’. Internally as a young male, Charlie remains conflicted as he feels unmasculine as highlighted by his desire to “sleep with a girl”, or as Malouf describes Charlie “a unfired gun”. Malouf uses the symbolism of a unfired gun to demonstrate Charlie as lacking of masculinity, yet shows his ‘fire’ for progression in his life. Moreover, upon the Vietnam war, Charlie begins to view his departure as a opportunity to find this so called direction he has been searching for which he could not locate back at ‘home’. Yet, three years later he returned “unscathed and nearly two stone heavier”, highlighting the insignificance of the war in terms of Charlie’s personal longing for direction. More specifically upon his return from the war during his visit at the playground, Malouf claimed the war to be “a wall of silence he felt between himself and others”, this is used to demonstrate an inverse effect of war and how shifting areas of inhabitation can lead to isolation rather than connection. Through exploring the same region of young masculinity, Malouf simultaneously connects with this concept in ‘The Valley Of Lagoons’, and Angus’s journey. Somewhat similar to Charlie, Angus constructs an ongoing belief that his trip to the ‘magic valley’ with the McGowans will confirm the direct he longed for and did not receive in “the district”. Nevertheless, through getting a “little blood on his hands” and witnessing Stuart McGowan deliberately shooting himself in the thigh Angus walks to the bush away from Stuart. Malouf uses this action by Angus to show the readers his transcendence as a character, as Angus begins to undergo a natural change. Following these series of events, Angus is left feeling ‘lighter’ on his return home, indicating that the directional change he longed for simply required masculine experience. Through Charlie and Angus, Malouf highlights the lack of connection the external world can bring, and the idea the motif of lightness can only be achieved through conquering one’s internal world first.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In Oedipus the King, individuals’ poor…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: In Oedipus the King, individuals' poor choices are responsible for the suffering of others. Do you agree?…
In Oedipus the King, individuals' poor choices are responsible for the suffering of others. Do you agree?
Sophocles' Greek tragedy Oedipus the King, written in 429 BCE explores how the actions of others can impact everyone around them. The ancient Greek theocratic polis is a place where people need to be careful of their actions as they can impact everyone surrounding them. Through the play, Sophocles highlights how the poor choices of individuals can not only impact themselves but others too. The choices of the titular character are one that impact everyone around him and the whole of Thebes. Sophocles also emphasizes that actions that disrespect the divine can also lead to terrible consequences. Through the play, Sophocles also undermines how actions of others impact everyone around them.
Sophocles through the play presents how individual's poor choices are responsible for their own suffering. Oedipus, the "king of the land" and "man of great power" attempts to solve the mystery of Laius' murder and set Thebes free from the plague. However, in trying to solve the mysteries, Oedipus commits some terrible actions that not only impacts him but everyone around him. He first meets Tiresias, a blind prophet who knows the truth. Oedipus asks him for information but when he denies, claiming that he will "not reveal his dreadful secrets", Oedipus "forces and twists it out of him". The violent connotations of "force" and "twist" is employed by Sophocles to reveal how Oedipus torments the vulnerable to obtain information. Oedipus' actions to torture a pious individual who is in a liminal state between the realms of the mortal and the divine also highlight how one's actions can lead to suffering. The shepard is also tortured by Oedipus as the guards seize him when he does not want to "cause pain for Oedipus". Even though the shepard yells, "do not torture an old man", Oedipus causes more suffering to the shepard through his actions of torment. Oedipus' hubris and hamartia are also the reason he suffers as his action of not believing Tiresias' words led him to blind himself. Oedipus' anagnorisis to accept the truth led him and the audience to achieve a state of catharsis, where he emotionally cleanses himself and blinds himself.
his eyes, the very thing he mocked Tiresias for, ridiculing him for his eyes that "were stone-blind". Through Oedipus' actions, Sophocles highlights how actions of one can lead to everyone suffering.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Protest Title: Time for Transformation
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 75%: Time for Transformation History is shaped not by those who accepted the status quo, but by those who recognized…
Time for Transformation
History is shaped not by those who accepted the status quo, but by those who recognized the need for transformation and dared to act. When injustice becomes a part of the system, silence is complicity; thus, change becomes not only necessary, but urgent. This urgency was echoed through the non-violent resistance of Mahatma Gandhi during the Salt March, the moral clarity of Martin Luther King Jr.'s civil rights activism, and the courageous uprisings of ordinary citizens during the Arab Spring. Each moment was born of injustice, galvanized by hope, and driven by a vision of a better future. While the contexts differed, the shared theme is clear: transformation begins when individuals unite with the belief that a better world is not only possible—but imperative.
In 1930, Mahatma Gandhi initiated a revolution not with violence, but with salt. The Salt March was more than a protest against British colonial rule in India—it was a symbolic stand against systemic oppression. The British monopoly on salt was not just an economic injustice; it was a daily reminder of India’s subjugation. Gandhi’s march to the Arabian Sea to make salt was a deliberate, peaceful defiance—a call for transformation that resonated through the villages of India and into the halls of British power. It demonstrated that transformation often begins with reclaiming agency over the small, everyday things. Gandhi knew that true change starts when people believe they deserve it. His actions were a spark that ignited a larger independence movement. In this way, the Salt March teaches us that transformation is not always sudden and violent—it can be quiet, persistent, and deeply symbolic.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard presents a world…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Billy Wilder’s 1950 “Sunset Boulevard” depicts the classic era of Hollywood, a world of fame, glamour, and wealth.…
Billy Wilder’s 1950 “Sunset Boulevard” depicts the classic era of Hollywood, a world of fame, glamour, and wealth. However, beneath this glittering surface, Wilder exposes the industry’s flaws, revealing how human emotion and connection are systematically exploited for profit. In this world, relationships are often driven by self-interest and manipulation rather than genuine affection. Creativity is commoditised, with artistic expression sacrificed in the pursuit of financial gain. Meanwhile, moments of raw, unconditional emotion are rarely reciprocated, leaving sincerity isolated and vulnerable. Wilder suggests that under the moral and commercial pressures of Hollywood, authentic human connection becomes virtually impossible.
The reality Wilder presents is one where relationships are filled with subtext of people’s exploitation of each other. Characters in the film rarely interact with one another without an intent to gain something from one another. Both Joe Gillis and Norma Desmond only ever scheme against each other, each interaction layered in subtext of each trying to gain something from the other. After his first interaction with Norma, Joe makes it clear through his narration that he only see’s her as something the exploit, beginning to hatch “a little scheme of his own.” Similarly, Norma was prepared to kick Joe out of her house until learning he was a writer, something that she needed. When Joe prepares to leave Norma instead of noting anything about her to Betty he instead remarks on the, “caviar on ice,” and “eighteen suits.” Wilder suggests that Joe views his relationship with Norma as monetary, choosing to have Joe only note on the assets Norma provides to him rather than anything about her. Similarly as Joe departs, Norma kills him as a means to protect her perceived stardom as “No one leaves a star.” Wilder implies to the audience that Norma only means to prevent Joe from leaving to protect herself. Norma and Joe only see the value the other brings rather than any genuine connection between one another. Wilder suggests the impossibility of a real human moment in a world where everyone is prepared to sacrifice others for their own gain.
Wilder suggests Hollywood partakes in the commoditisation of emotion in moviemaking, stripping creativity in the pursuit of profit. Writing talent becomes watered down, turned into formulaic scripts designed to appeal to audiences rather than convey authentic emotion. Sheldrake, introduced as a “smart producer,” places little value on the emotional investment behind a film. He ironical
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: "In Flames, grief manifests in…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Through his multi-perspective novel Flames, Robbie Arnott presents an unorthodox exploration of the universal theme…
Through his multi-perspective novel Flames, Robbie Arnott presents an unorthodox exploration of the universal theme of grief. Arnott illustrates how grief can drive individuals to irrational actions and strip them of their identity and purpose. However, through the powerful force of nature, Arnott reveals how grief’s manifestations can ultimately be dissolved.
Arnott explores the way profound grief can cloud rational judgment, compelling individuals to behave in erratic and extreme ways. Levi McAllister is portrayed as a deeply grieving character whose emotional turmoil drives much of the action within the novel, propelling his increasingly erratic behaviour. Arnott showcases that rather than confronting his pain directly, Levi becomes fixated on building a ‘coffin’ for his sister, a symbolic act that consumes him entirely. His physical decline, becoming ‘emaciated’ and ‘weak,’ Arnott reflects how grief can cause psychological deterioration and a desperate attempt to assert control over death. The coffin itself becomes a powerful symbol of denial, control, and sorrow, embodying Levi’s futile effort to protect his sister from an inevitable fate. Arnott presents Levi as a man so overwhelmed by loss that he isolates himself, pushing away those he cares for most. Levi’s grief clouds his vision and causes his sister, Charlotte, to embody ‘uncontrollable fits of screaming’ and ultimately ‘run away.’ Through the fractured bond between the two siblings, Arnott powerfully illustrates that grief not only manifests as sorrow but often drives individuals to irrational lengths in an attempt to reclaim any sense of control. Thus, it can lead to ultimate isolation and loss, pushing away the people who care for them. Similarly, seen through the other Mcallister sibling, Charlotte, is characterised as being distraught after the death of her mother. This distress ultimately fuels her illogical thoughts to become her future actions. Arnott employs the recurring motif of Charlotte's ‘burn’ of ‘flames’ that eventually become so strong and forbidding they become ‘flames that cannot be put out.’ Arnott utilises Charlotte’s ‘flames’ as a powerful metaphor for her uncontrollable rage buried inside of her, symbolising the intensity of her grief as it erupts in the form of physical fire. Additionally, Charlotte's journey to ‘the bottom of the world’ that ultimately leads to ‘flames rolling over hills’, solidifies to readership how such intensified sadness can cause individuals to run, rather than process their emotions. Charlotte’s journey to Meleacula is not only a physical escape from her anguish, it is also a manifestation of her emotional confusion. Through the Mcallister siblings, Arnott showcases how even though both individuals reacted to their internal grief in very different ways, a parrellel can be drawn between their irrational actions and the inability to make logical decisions. Thus, Arnott displays how extreme anguish can distort normal thinking, leading individuals to act in unpredictable and impulsive ways.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Jackson demonstrate the lengths…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Throughout history, fear has been one of the core tenets in the attempt to control and subordinate those with less…
Throughout history, fear has been one of the core tenets in the attempt to control and subordinate those with less sociopolitical power. Shirley Jackson explores this notion within her 1962 gothic novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle, in which she devises two sisters who live in a world full of fears, and must go to extreme lengths to regather their power by either eliminating their fears, or becoming symbols of fear themselves. Ultimately, Jackson suggests that in order to conquer one's fears, one must change their social milieu and go to large lengths.
Depicting the ambiguous and pervasive nature of fear, Jackson unearths how, despite the harmlessness of what causes the fear, it can still cause unwavering harm. Jackson illustrates this through the recurring symbols of Merricat's 'safeguards' and 'protection spells' which she uses so that 'nothing could get in to harm [them].' Particularly, the ambiguity of the word 'nothing' in this case gives rise to the notion that Merricat does not know what she's fearful of, which suggests that although her fears are unreasonable and unjustified, she must still go to large lengths to protect herself from her fears. Provided, the specificity of Merricat's safeguards, being buried 'silver dollars' and 'book nailed to [a] tree', symbols of wealth and power respectively, delineates Merricat's unconscious need to protect herself, and her sister from things that will rob them of the little power they hold over their adversaries, their villagers, such as their wealth and class. Similarly, Merricat's other burials, her 'baby teeth' and 'a doll' stem from her inability to accept being treated as a child, by Constance, Charles, and the rest of her family, such as Charles asking if she's 'got a kiss' for him when he arrives to the Blackwood home. Ultimately, Jackson intends to demonstrate that fears, whether warranted or not, can be conquered through personal safeguards, providing, at least a sense of, protection.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: what role does fear and intimidation play…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 62.5%: Yoko Ogawa's dystopian science fiction, 'The Memory Police', originally published in Japanese in 1994 and later…
Yoko Ogawa's dystopian science fiction, 'The Memory Police', originally published in Japanese in 1994 and later translated into English in 2019, explores the everlasting impacts of totalitarian regimes on society. Following the life of the unnamed narrator, it is revealed that a mysterious force erases objects from the island and its inhabitants. The author portrays how fear and intimidation of an unjust power can be detrimental to society, as it creates passivity and removes identity. However, Ogawa also implies that under authoritarian regimes, fear can be used to drive resistance.
Throughout the text, the author portrays how a life full of fear can leave a person vulnerable to passivity. The Memory Police had an omnipotent forefront to allude the islanders into complying with their ideology. Overtime, the islanders became more scared of the Memory Police, making them less likely to rebel against them. Evidently, the protagonist recalls how the inhibitions are getting 'more and more brutal' each time, implying that the islanders are becoming more oppressed. Through this, Ogawa conveys how living in fear out of being harmed can invariably make you accepting of unfair circumstances, because you are too scared to fight back. This also demonstrates how the author believes that under unjust leaders, fear is purposely used to make humans passive, which is detrimental to overcoming totalitarianism. Additionally, Ogawa also asserts how fear of what the future holds can result in acceptance. As the unnamed narrator's body begins to disappear, she reveals to R that she is worried for when her 'body disappears'. Thus, this symbolism of the disappeared objects parallels to creating a life full of fear to implement censorship. By doing this, the author represents how the islanders invariably left their life up to fate, because their lives were so sacred that they were constantly scared of what came next. Once again, this conveys Ogawa's belief that censorship can instill a sense of fear that forces individuals to become passive, because they have no hope for a better future.Moreover, the earthquake is a symbolism of the literal and figurative destruction that the Memory Police had on the islanders. By illustrating the islanders all being scared of the 'tsunami', 'engulf[ing]' the town, the author underlines how physical practices implemented by dictatorial leaders don't only physically harm individuals, but mentally harm them too, creating a sense of fear. Moreover, Ogawa emphasizes that despite the earthquake only happening once, the impact was so massive that it instilled a sense of dread of it reoccurring, that the islanders just gave in to their fate. Thus, through the thematic concern of passivity, the author reveals how living in fear under unhuman leaders will ultimately cause you to accept their actions.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “MEMORY IS A STRANGE THING BOUND BY THE…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: Yoko Ogawa’s dystopian novel ‘The Memory Police’, originally published in Japanese in 1994 and further translated…
Yoko Ogawa’s dystopian novel ‘The Memory Police’, originally published in Japanese in 1994 and further translated to English in 2019, critiques the implementation of a dictatorship within a society. The text follows the pathway of an unnamed narrator situated on a stranded island, where random objects inexplicably go disappearing, with their remnants being forcefully removed by the oligarchy, the memory police. Within her writing, Ogawa encompasses the fragility of memory on an individual level showing how it can easily be manipulated. However, she also contends the underlying message in the text, devising the idea that maybe memories of the disappearances are never truly forgotten, more so just supressed. In doing so, Ogawa explores the stance memory takes in an egalitarian society
‘The Memory Police’ portrays how memory partners with the vulnerability of identity increasing the inhabitants susceptibility to loss of individuality. With the brutal threats offered from the doctorial force to those who do not comply with their impose regime, Ogawa adapts to the idea that ‘if you don't cooperate, you become their victim’. More specifically the text implies that for those who don't comply by retaining memory, they will be forced to succumb to the memory police’s regimes consequences, suggesting death. With the consequences upheld, the inhabitants gain a sense of fear of becoming a victim, resulting in them becoming submissive to the expression of their individuality, ‘afraid of creating a disturbance’. However, in doing so, identity becomes blank, and the collective suppression of uniqueness constructs a homogenised society. More over this correlates to the symbolism behind the unnamed narrators mother’s past sculptures. When analysing the group of sculptures in hope to reignite memory associated with each sculpture, the narrator notes that while it ‘seemed as though they could be combined to form a single object’, all three were distinct ‘and bore no resemblance to each other’. More significantly this parallels to the inhabitants collective identity following the suppression of memory, as although they all look different, it remains as though they share a single identity. Ogawa specifically reveals the vulnerability of memory in this way, to reveal how a homogenised society is easier to control, and therefore why it was utilised by the powerful force
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Family Ties Frayed: Estrangement,…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 95%: In many semi‑autobiographical narratives with elements of bildungsroman, trauma‑informed memories are shaped by…
In many semi‑autobiographical narratives with elements of bildungsroman, trauma‑informed memories are shaped by both emotional pain and the necessity of self‑preservation. Vicki Laveau‑Harvie’s non‑linear memoir The Erratics, set against the stark Albertan landscape, questions the assumption that kinship automatically guarantees affection and protection. The omission of quotation marks and recurring motifs of rupture and retreat reveal how familial ties can become psychologically corrosive when burdened by duplicity, cruelty, and generational silence. These painful recollections become an ethical, life‑preserving response to toxic inheritance, enabling the narrator to confront, rather than repeat, intergenerational trauma. By doing so, Laveau‑Harvie invites readers to reconsider familiar notions of family loyalty and love. Her act of catharsis balances psychological realism with moments of dark humour while ultimately challenging the belief that family loyalty should supersede individual wellbeing.
Laveau-Harvie presents emotional and physical distance as essential survival strategies for navigating the toxic, suffocating bonds of family. Through the narrator’s dark humour, she converts pain into irony, exposing the absurdity of cruelty while shielding herself from its full psychological impact. Her description of the family as “a kind of flesh and blood pyramid scheme” and her mother as “MMA. Mad as a meat-axe” cloaks grief in satire, revealing how humour functions as a protective linguistic shield. This tonal detachment does not trivialise suffering; rather, it transforms trauma into language that can be controlled. The act of naming what is grotesque allows Vicki to confront pain without being consumed by it, illustrating that irony is not denial but endurance. The memoir’s recurring image of the Albertan landscape “not a welcoming place” further externalises this inner estrangement. The frozen barrenness and vast emptiness mirror the emotional coldness of her family, implying that withdrawal is a necessary condition for self-preservation. Laveau-Harvie’s episodic, non-linear structure mirrors trauma’s fragmentation, privileging emotional intensity over chronological order. Each vignette functions as an isolated moment of reckoning, emphasising that memory and healing resist linear progression. The omission of quotation marks “we didn’t use quotation marks in this family” dissolves the boundaries between voice, memory, and reality, reflecting trauma’s destabilising effects on identity and speech. Finally, the contrast between Vicki’s pragmatic detachment and her sister’s sentimental fixation underscores divergent survival mechanisms: while her sister replays scenes of parental betrayal until she becomes “sick,” Vicki’s decision to “liquidate the losses on the chin” reveals resilience through distance. Ultimately, Laveau-Harvie constructs distance not as abandonment but as self-preservation an act of quiet defiance that transforms survival itself into a moral victory.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Protest Stimulus: 'Indifference is a…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 75%: Where We Draw The Line Reports of another outbreaks of Racism, the contagious virus, has just been recorded…
Where We Draw The Line
Reports of another outbreaks of Racism, the contagious virus, has just been recorded within major Australian cities, including Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. To which these cities are where Racism is most enedemic. It is becoming clear to identify those affected by this unusual disease, by which common symptoms include apathy, ignorance and motivation to spontaneously spread hate against different races through a verbal or physical manner. 'Racists' is the most common term used to identify those who have been unfortunately affect by this virus.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: To what extent does Sophocles present…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 67.5%: In his Greek tragedy, Oedipus The King, Sophocles demonstrates the relationship between ignorance and knowledge…
In his Greek tragedy, Oedipus The King, Sophocles demonstrates the relationship between ignorance and knowledge and their effects on our fates. The author contends how although fate is inescapable, only when you realise the truth can you fully be affected by it. Throughout his play, Sophocles asserts how our destinies are predetermined by the divine order and therefore inescapable, underscoring the gods as a truly powerful force. However, the author conveys how knowledge can lead to your own demise in Oedipus The King once your realise your fate has been fulfilled. Ultimately, to prevent the consequences of becoming knowledgeable of your own fate, the author exemplifies how it is best just to submit to the gods and accept suffering as a part of life. Throughout Oedipus The King, Sophocles illustrates how humans in their pursuit of knowledge, cannot escape the suffering ordained by the gods and that true wisdom lies in accepting the futility of human agency or control.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: “It does not matter how slowly you go…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 95%: Blue was the first colour I ever learned to feel. Not the soft blue of dawn or the fleeting shimmer of sunlight…
Blue was the first colour I ever learned to feel. Not the soft blue of dawn or the fleeting shimmer of sunlight on water, but a heavy, suffocating blue, pressing down on my chest like fog, relentless and inescapable. I thought it was the colour of failure. The colour of being too slow, too small, too late.
In Year 9, we ran the cross-country. Five kilometres of mud, grass, and humiliation. The whistle blew, and everyone surged forward like a river. I stumbled immediately. My lungs burned. My shoes filled with water. I was last. Every step felt like a betrayal of the expectations I could not meet. I wanted to stop. I wanted to sink into the grass and let the world go on without me.
But something — stubbornness, pride, perhaps a fragment of hope — urged me forward. I walked most of the way. When I crested the final hill, the field was empty except for one girl tying her shoelaces. She looked up and clapped. Once. Twice. It was not pity. It was recognition: slow does not mean weak. That quiet acknowledgement etched itself into me, a lesson I would carry silently for years.
Years later, I stand at a different kind of starting line: the hospital corridor outside my mother’s room. She has been sick for months, the kind of illness that rearranges a family, reshaping routines, rewriting expectations, bending hope into fragile, tentative shapes. I bring her sunlight, small stories, and the scent of jasmine from our backyard. I sit by her bedside, tracing the lines of her hands, memorising every detail of a life I cannot preserve.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Title: “Good things take time” Stim 1:…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 70%: Growing up I was always bullied as a child; everyone would make fun of my weight. The endless name calling,…
Growing up I was always bullied as a child; everyone would make fun of my weight. The endless name calling, “fatty”, “piggy”, “panda”, there were so many names that I got called however I could never recall all of them. These very words made me want to disappear from the world and hiding away for good. I was always displeased with the way I looked; it made me insecure.
My parents grew up poor, as they had to experience pol pot, pol pot was one of the many wars that Cambodia had faced, my father had to live through a war, living off grains of rice, wanting to eat more but physically could not afford it, their living standards were bare minimum all they got was rice grains to eat to survive for 3 years, and if they were lucky they would have gotten some meat.
I was privileged enough to have seconds of food while my mother and father could only scrape by to survive each day, wondering if they had enough food to last them.
Due to this I always grew up knowing to never leave a grain of rice in the bowl, my grandma was one of the many people that kept saying “you must finish all the food in your bowl before you can leave” I always listened to my grandma as she was always right, and she fed and raised my whole family, she was the sole reason that my mother was able to have my family, the sole reason why majority of the family had survived the war, she was the saviour of my mother’s side.
I was always called “Ah-Kmab”, A Cambodian word for fatty, this one phrase was something I despised the most. It was not only a word for humiliation but a word that had always made me insecure about my looks and affected my mental health.
Whenever my sisters would have left over food, the first thing that they would do is go to me, I was considered the “human vacuum” at first, I didn’t mind it as I thought it was funny however they were right. I basically ate anything that came to sight, I didn’t know when to stop and that resulted me into being overweight.
The bullying had started from year six all the way