VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Oedipus the King reveals that discovering…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 82.5%: Sophocles' didactic play Oedipus the King serves as a cautionary tale of the dangers of ignorance and the…
Sophocles' didactic play Oedipus the King serves as a cautionary tale of the dangers of ignorance and the inevitability of truth. Performed around 430 BCE, Sophocles reveals that discovering the truth can be as dangerous as ignoring it, however, ignorance can additionally provide bliss. Whilst the consequences of refusing knowledge and understanding truth are explored, the prosperity of being ignorant is emphasized.
Sophocles presents the punishment of ignoring the truth. The play's prologue reveals that a plague is destroying Thebes and bringing "numberless miseries", and a "red sea of death". Sophocles utilizes a metaphorical sea as a brutal reflection of the magnitude of suffering brought to the city, which is furthered through descriptions of "life on life [going] down". This imagery serves as a warning to the play's traditional Athenian audience of the consequences of ignorance, as this plague is depicted in response to an undiscovered "corruption" in Thebes due to the people's disregard of Laius' death. This acts as a demonstration of the dangers of ignoring the truth. Sophocles further reflects this idea through Oedipus who, as outlined in the stage directions, "[turns] his back on Tiresias" upon hearing the truth. This represents a defiance of the word of the gods as Tiresias serves "Apollo". Similarly, Jocasta rejects the prophets by claiming that prophecy is "neither here nor there". This inability to place faith in the oracle ultimately heightens the tragedy of the play, as Jocasta is brought to madness and becomes "frantic" before taking her life, and moreover, as if a superhuman power Oedipus similarly, driven to insanity, like a maddened beast". This comparison reflects the great extent to which a sense of balance has been lost, which was a core value in Ancient Greece. This reflects how ignorance can corrupt morality and displays the punishments brought by ignoring the truth.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ‘In High Ground, a desire for control is…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: Stephen Johnson’s northern film ‘High Ground’ showcases violent tensions between First Nations peoples and…
Stephen Johnson’s northern film ‘High Ground’ showcases violent tensions between First Nations peoples and European settlers in the early 20th century, uncovering the devastating consequences of colonial control. The film highlights how control influences decision-making, especially those seeking dominance over land and people. Although control is a key factor, there are more important driving factors such as identity and reconciliation. Colonial authorities seek dominance, but for Indigenous figures, decisions are tied to their culture. Likewise, white settlers' struggles represent the influence of reconciliation and justice. High Ground suggests that while control matters, deeper human motivations ultimately shape events.
Control is central to colonial authorities’ decision-making as they use power and violence to enforce dominance over the Indigenous. This is seen from the start of the film through the massacre, showing how control dictates the settlers’ decisions. Moran and his men see violence as necessary to maintain control. As Moran states "This land needs law and order", justifying brutal actions to keep colonial rule. There is a use of wide shots during the massacre to contrast the cruel white settlers with frightened, defenseless Indigenous people, reinforcing the power imbalances. It is evident that control plays a major role in decision-making. The settlers’ desire for dominance fuels their cruel actions, proving that their desire for control is a driving factor. Although control is a major factor, other motivations overshine control such as identity and reconciliation, especially for indigenous characters.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “For a man to help others with all his…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: Mankind’s perennial struggle against the forces that transcend human benevolence are prevalent in Sophocles 5th…
Mankind’s perennial struggle against the forces that transcend human benevolence are prevalent in Sophocles 5th century BCE tragedy Oedipus the King. Initially, Sophocles urges his audience to revere divinity, evincing that the gods’ will is omnipresent among mortal agency. Moreover, Sophocles condemns excessive hubris, illustrating how pride malevolently guides all human choices. However, Sophocles fundamentally concludes that mankind is innately righteous, exposing the futility in seeking complacency. Ultimately, the playwright promulgates that while a desire to help others is not the primary factor behind human actions, it is an innate trait in humanity.
From the prologos, Oedipus the King underscores that the gods’ have dominion over all of moral freedom, emphasising the necessity to venerate divinity. Establishing the all-seeing wrath of divinity, Sophocles emphasises the “[corrupt]” and “Plague [stricken] city of Thebes,” evincing that Laius’ moral failures calls upon the fury of the gods. Through this, Sophocles underscores how defiance of prophesied fate inevitably invites ruin. Indeed, to an ancient Athenian audience the prologos of Oedipus the King serves as a warning against credence in human agency and champions the necessity to venerate the gods, suggesting that freedom is indisputably governed by heavenly forces. Compounding this point, the Priest of Zeus’ words that “a god was with [Oedipus]... and we believe it,” reiterates the notion that behind all action lies guidance by divinity. Hence, Sophocles advocates for acknowledging the omnipresent counsel of the gods, suggesting that in order to avoid cataclysm, society must venerate supreme sanctity. Moreover, the “triple crossroads” present free will as illusionary. To an ancient Athenian audience aware of the dramatic irony in Oedipus’ being “cursed in his origin,” the quasi-agency Oedipus perceives at the three crossroads illustrates the inescapability of divine will. Through this, Sophocles further emphasises the importance in acknowledging the guidance bestowed upon mankind in human decision making by the gods. Therefore, Oedipus the King promulgates that a central factor among all mortal actions is providence.
VCE · Language Analysis
Language Analysis: 2020 vcaa section c
VCE Language Analysis essay scoring 87.5%: Drones -AA The increasing popularity of recreational drones has sparked controversy over their safety and…
Drones -AA
The increasing popularity of recreational drones has sparked controversy over their safety and appropriateness. Contributing to this debate, Byways farmer Warwick Bandle, in his address to the Byways Shire Council, contends that such devices endanger both people and property. Through a reasoned yet categorical tone, Bandle appeals to his audience of fellow rural residents and councillors, emphasising shared values of community safety and responsibility. By positioning drones as a threat to livelihoods and local harmony, he urges tighter regulation to ensure the protection of his community.
Warwick opens with a definitive portrayal of drones and the damage they can cause, establishing a firm platform from which he argues against their recreational use in order to protect his fellow farmers. By associating “drones” with “inexperienced users”, Bandle immediately positions his audience to perceive recreational drone users as careless outsiders who endanger rural livelihoods. This deliberate framing fosters distrust and frustration, prompting his audience to be more inclined to side with his call and for tighter regulation to protect the local community. In his declarative statement ‘drones are not toys’, Bandle augments the perceived dangers of drones by likening their users to irresponsible children. This comparison diminishes the credibility of recreational operators, suggesting immaturity and recklessness and eliciting within his listeners a sense of distrust in recreational operators. Accompanying his argument, the image of a drone in the foreground and a woman in the background creates an ominous and unsettling tone. The tilted camera angle evokes instability and imbalance, visually reflecting Bandle’s warning that recreational drones disrupt the harmony and order of the rural community. The implication that the drone has damaged the land while a tourist searches for it symbolically reinforces Bandle’s categorical assertion that drones cause “havoc [when visitors] are searching for their wayward drones,” prompting his audience to align with his arguments to protect their community.
Having established the potential for danger when drone users are unregulated, Bandle transitions into a balanced consideration of
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: 'The Complete Maus' is ultimately a…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 75%: The graphic novel 'The Complete Maus', written and illustrated by Art Spiegelman portrays the life of his father…
The graphic novel 'The Complete Maus', written and illustrated by Art Spiegelman portrays the life of his father (Vladek) who is a Holocaust survivor during and after the war, and the plight and challenges he experienced. Spiegelman aims to spread awareness of the atrocities committed, rather than celebrate human spirit ad survival through his detailed illustrations and meaningful symbolism seen throughout the book.
'Maus' is not intended to be a celebration, but rather spreads awareness about the Holocaust, through accurately depicting the horrors committed by the Nazis against the Jews. Throughout the novel, many of Vladek's friends and family are slaughtered at the hands of Germans. Richeu, his own son, was separated from him and Anja for his safety, only to face his inevitable fate along with other children searching for refuge and safety. Unfortunately, this was not uncommon. 'Most they took were kids... the Germans swinged them by the legs against a wall' children were not treated with brutality; they experienced the same brutality as everyone else. Moreover, Although Vladek made it out of the war alive, it came at the expense of his trust.
The Holocaust meant families (including Vladek's) were torn apart, and it was 'everybody to take care for himself.' Furthermore, many betrayals caused Vladek to become untrusting, such as when Janina remarks how she thinks him and Anja 'as part of my family', only to betray them later on. With all of Vladek's tragic losses as well as the extreme impact on his trust, it is clear the novel is not a celebration.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Oedipus the King explores the consequences…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: Sophocles tragedian play “Oedipus the King” explores the complexities of human flaws and the extent to which…
Sophocles tragedian play “Oedipus the King” explores the complexities of human flaws and the extent to which these flaws extend to us. The playwright utilizes the inaction of the polis, Jocasta and Tiresias in conjunction with a ferociously developing plot to demonstrate how ignorance and the avoidance of civic duty can cause future strife. Furthermore, Sophocles exposes the hubris of Oedipus, which contributes to rash decisions. Ultimately the characters fail to achieve balance, and the qualities and traits considered vital by contemporary Athenian society, in which the play was first written. As a result, Sophocles provides a cautionary tale of the consequences of inaction and a fail to have balance.
Sophocles, quite literally, presents the health of the polis to be inseparable from its moral cleanliness. The Oracle at Delphi states “Drive the corruption from the land, don’t harbor it any longer”. The murder of Laius, Thebe’s own king, had gone unpunished. Considering the importance of civic responsibility in Athenian society, it can be argued that the inaction of the characters may be one of the greatest flaws of all. Oedipus is framed by the people as “the greatest of men”. He is the ideal Athenian character in regards that he is a man of swift and vigorous action. His will to action never falters, even as he nears the “horrible truth” because as he says, “That is my blood, my nature...never fail to search and learn my birth.” The motif of sight throughout the text further highlights the idea that the characters, such as Tiresias and Jocasta, would rather not face the truth despite the ongoing plague. Consequentially the polis suffers from the plagues' ongoing effects. “See with your own eyes-our ship pitches wildly, cannot lift her head from the depths, the red waves of death.” The dramatic imagery highlights the consequences of remaining inactive and remaining blind. In this regard, Oedipus himself reveals the flaws of the polis by this admired trait. However, Oedipus himself contains a more common flaw in tragedies. Oedipus’s main hamartia is his hubris, his lack of balance within himself that leads to rash decision making throughout the story. From the beginning the audience is shown how Oedipus views himself. From the pedestal he holds himself to, “You pray to the Gods? Let me grant your prayers.” This excessive pride drives the rash decision to accuse Creon of treason, an act brought on because he is appalled at being accused of a crime himself. It is seen as an attack on the light in which he views himself. As he accuses Tiresias of being, “Stone blind, stone deaf-senses, eyes as blind as stone!” His pathos is almost made pathetic Tiresias, who retorts “I pity you, flinging the very insults each man will fling at you so soon.” Sophocles utilizes Oedipus’s scathing remarks to the blind prophet, when he ironically will be just as blind in the future, foreshadowed by Tiresias. This intends to associate the immaturity of Oedipus because of his hubris. It counteracts his bravery to seek the truth, as he distances himself from it further. This dismissal of his guilt despite the fact he had killed someone on the way to Thebes before, further enunciates how his own hubris “blinds” him. One would expect this to be something Oedipus would think about, but he doesn’t even entertain the idea until Jocasta gives him more details of the crime. The playwright has woven the most egregious flaws known by Athenian culture into its cast of characters, as a catalyst to further explore the paradox of choice in the tragedy.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Ogawa explore the idea of memory…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: Yoko Ogawa's novel, 'The Memory Police' explores the interrelationship between memory and human identity through…
Yoko Ogawa's novel, 'The Memory Police' explores the interrelationship between memory and human identity through the totalitarian regime that controls the extent to which the citizens on the unnamed island are able to remember. As memories and objects are systematically erased, individuals not only lose their past but also their sense of identity, emotional connection, despite attempts in resisting the absence of memories.
By highlighting the importance of memory, Ogawa demonstrates how recollecting is essential for maintaining personal identity. Early in the novel, the narrator "wonder[s] what disappeared first", immediately revealing how forgetting has become deeply immersed into their society. By introducing the novel with a reflection, Ogawa crates a world where memories are fragile, attempting to elicit reminiscence from the audience and enhance the need to reflect on the past in order to understand what is in the present. It is the norm in the novel that, "No one can recall" nor "seem to care" depicting the acceptance of their fate, despite the unusual disappearance of connections to items. Majority of the civilians do not question the disappearances and act accordingly, readjusting if their sole purpose and passion no longer exists. Through this, Ogawa portrays how remembering and maintaining the emotional connections to significant items is crucial for one's own sanity. Additionally, the disappearance of novels causes the narrator to feel a loss of purpose and as though her "soul seems to be breaking down". As writing novels was her occupation and passion, she is now unable to associate and express herself freely with words. In this, Ogawa demonstrates the dehumanising effects of authoritative control and therefore, emphasises the need to remember in order to be human.
Through memory loss, Ogawa demonstrates the emotional toll associated with loss. Through the confiscation of her father's items related to birds, the narrator feels as though she is "on the verge of being drawn into its terrible depth" due to the associated emotions that had been retained within his research. This is symbolic to the narrator's fear of being overtaken by the oppressive force of failing to remember. In this, Ogawa demonstrates the devastating psychological impact of authoritarian control and how enforcement erodes their sense of
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: sunset boulevard
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: In a biting critique of Hollywood’s prominent hierarchy, Sheldrake’s dismissiveness in warping Joe Gillis’ “Bases…
In a biting critique of Hollywood’s prominent hierarchy, Sheldrake’s dismissiveness in warping Joe Gillis’ “Bases Loaded” to a “girls softball team” serves as a marker for the higher-ups predatory indifference to struggling creatives, as the jab is not only an insult to Joe’s work, but a self-deprecating nod towards the superficial cynicism of the Hollywood film industry. With a rhetoric that belies a deeper disillusionment with Hollywood, his focus on “mak[ing] a living” overshadows the desire to craft stories that are “too original”, reduced to mere fodder feeding formulaic reruns like “Plot-27A” devoid of substance and reality. While supposedly portraying a masculine, “talent[ed]” writer, Wilder derides Joe’s desperate “flat and banal” script; a commodified product in the Golden Age of Hollywood era in whereby films do not “say a little something” in masking the wide social disparity and cut-throat Hollywood industry.
As a by-product of the exploitative star system that shaped Hollywood’s silent and post-war eras, Norma’s insistence that she “[is] big” reveals a sinister reality; her presence in a mere fantasy that does not accept the passage of time, clinging desperately onto her faded stardom. At the epicentre of this delusion, Max von Mayerling, her devoted “first husband” turned “servant”, serves as both an enabler and perpetrator of her delusions, crafting “millions” of “fan letters” to maintain a facade that she is still the “greatest star of them all”. However, Wilder subtly suggests that the failed “young director” who once peaked alongside Norma is not merely an enabler, but a victim of the very delusions he helps sustain, bound to a Hollywood “parade” that has long “passed… by” him. Wilder accentuates this as Max, posing as “Mr. Demille”, orchestrates Norma’s final “close-up”, blurring the line between reality and fantasy, much like the lens itself, reflecting their tragic co-dependance and inability to move beyond “yesteryear’s” successes. Thus, her “white elephant” of a mansion turned mausoleum and “shrine” to her past, with each shot “crowded” with “Norma Desmonds,” becomes Wilder’s depiction of Hollywood as a silent graveyard; a wax museum of forgotten stars like Norma, Max, and others, clinging to a faded hall of fame that survives only in the memories of those unwilling to let go.
VCE · Language Analysis
Language Analysis: oyr local gym aa
VCE Language Analysis essay scoring 80%: The recent phasing out of subsidies for Our Local Gym in favour of re-allocating council funding has been met…
The recent phasing out of subsidies for Our Local Gym in favour of re-allocating council funding
has been met with intense controversy regarding the future direction of the supposedly
community-based business. In her enthused yet pleading speech, chair of the Our Local Gym
committee, Sandy Gestalt, emphasises the financial predicament of the business and presents
the collaboration with Long Live Lollies as an effective solution. Addressing the debate primarily
through a community-focussed lens, Gestalt calls upon gym members to vote in favour of the
partnership as a means to keep the business running as per usual. Accompanying the speech is
a visual depicting the motto of Long Live Lollies and an image illustrating the integration of
exercise and lollies.
From the outset, Gestalt overlays a primarily social argument, detailing the heritage of Our
Local Gym and its past involvement in improving the lives of clientele. The strategic placement
of such a culturally focussed argument at the forefront of her piece enables Gestalt to
immediately foster a greater appreciation of the business and its communal value. Indeed,
Gestalt’s phrase “worked together – we worked out together” suggests a dual collaboration in
both a professional and physical context, priming listeners to associate her forthcoming
“business” proposal as a mere extension of these existing obligations. Through citing “we’ve
built your fitness, your strength and your confidence” Gestalt attempts to remind gym members
at the meeting of the physical and mental wellbeing they have derived from Our Local Gym,
predisposing them to reciprocate this gesture through supporting the new business partnership.
Whilst the tangible rewards of “fitness” and “strength” appeal to rationally inclined listeners, the
psychological rewards of increased “confidence” emphasises the role of the gym in providing a
deeper, existential fulfillment of gym-goers beyond the physical benefits. This emphasis on
intangible outcomes as a core service exclusive to Our Local Gym is continued when Gestalt
references the “shiny new equipment, giant flatscreen TVs” which characterise “larger
commercial gyms”. The juxtaposition of the conceited gym-goers who “[post] gym selfies” and
Our Local’s humble mission to “[accept] all bodies and all fitness journeys”, places the gym as
inclusive of all demographics and a force for social cohesion as opposed to the “competitive”
environment fostered at larger gyms. Through deliberately placing a sense of community as a
core and unique facet of Our Local Gyms, Gestalt seeks to portray her forthcoming request for
the Live Long Lollies business partnership as one that is vested in social interests rather than
commercial ones.
Developing from such a communal argument to a more solutions-based argument, Gestalt
presents the business partnership as a viable route for ensuring the continued operation of Our
Local Gym. Such
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: The novel, The Memory Police, illustrates…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 92.5%: In The Memory Police, Yōko Ogawa constructs a striking allegory of authoritarianism in which memory, truth, and…
In The Memory Police, Yōko Ogawa constructs a striking allegory of authoritarianism in which memory, truth, and identity are systematically dismantled. Set on an isolated island where objects and their associated memories vanish, the novel traces the passivity of its inhabitants and the oppressive reach of the Memory Police. Inspired in part by the concealment of Anne Frank during the Nazi occupation, Ogawa underscores how authoritarian regimes threaten not only physical safety but also the preservation of memory and truth. Its Japanese title, Hisoyaka na Kesshō (“The Slow Crystallisation”), encapsulates the novel’s central concern — the gradual strengthening of forgetting and the quiet erosion of memory. Through her depiction of surveillance, control, and fragile resistance, Ogawa crafts a profound political warning: unchecked authoritarian power does not merely suppress freedom but erodes the very foundations of human existence.
Ogawa exposes the peril of authoritarian control by illustrating how regimes thrive on collective passivity. She conveys this through the narrator’s observation, “But no one ever complains” (p. 11), as the islanders unquestioningly discard roses after their disappearance. Through this refrain, Ogawa foregrounds a culture of complicity and acquiescence, where dissent is unthinkable and forgetting becomes habitual. Later, the narrator admits, “The disappearances are beyond our control. We simply follow the rules and things go on as before” (p. 47), a chilling recognition of how obedience has become naturalised in society. By employing a cyclical structure in which disappearances follow predictable rhythms of compliance and amnesia, Ogawa reveals how authoritarianism flourishes not only through coercion but through the inertia of those who yield to it. The political warning is clear: silence in the face of oppression hastens the destruction of truth and identity.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: sunset boulevard both challenges and…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Billy Wilder's 'Sunset Boulevard' (1950) interrogates the complex dynamics of gender, power and identity within…
Billy Wilder's 'Sunset Boulevard' (1950) interrogates the complex dynamics of gender, power and identity within Hollywood and broader Society. The film simultaneously challenges and reinforces traditional gender expectations by portraying Norma Desmond as a powerful, transgressive woman and Joe Gillis as a morally grounded, conventional man, ultimately highlighting both the instability of gender roles and the consequences of defying societal norms. This essay will examine how Norma challenges traditional femininity, how her downfall reinforces gender norms, and how Joe embodies conventional masculinity, with cinematic techniques reinforcing these ideas.
Norma Desmond subverts traditional gender roles through her assertive nature, control and refusal to accept societal marginalisation. Unlike the 1950's ideal version of a woman to be passive and domestic, Desmond continued to control and dominate Gillis' environment, asserting power in a male dominated world. 'I am big, it's the pictures that got small,' captures her refusal to accept Hollywood's dismissal of older women. Wilder's use of low camera angle, emphasizes his appeal to show Norma as a physically dominant, reinforcing her temporary challenge to traditional femininity. High contrast lighting casts dramatic shadows across her mansion, emphasizing her larger than life presence. Additionally, Norma's extravagant costumes and heavy makeup exaggerates her authority and obsession with fame, visually rejecting domestic female norms. This combination of dialogue, cinematography and costume communicates her power and autonomy.While Norma challenges traditional expectations, her ultimate downfall simultaneously reinforces the very norms she defies.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Title: Time to Play Stimulus: “I can…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 90%: I was never just a toy. Once, I was everything. Chosen from the store shelf, unboxed with ceremony and…
I was never just a toy.
Once, I was everything.
Chosen from the store shelf, unboxed with ceremony and excitement. Held tightly, carried everywhere like a talisman against nightmares. He gave me a name. Not the one printed on my packaging – “Delta Blazer 5000” – but something smaller. Something his.
Rocket.
In his hands, I was real.
We fought invisible enemies. The kitchen was a war zone, the stairs our launch ramp, the hallway a wormhole to distant galaxies. He gave me missions, voices, sound effects. Even though my arm never bent quite right and my visor was scratched, I never felt more powerful. In those moments, we lived by no rules but our own. We could think whatever we liked to think. We could play however we liked to play.
Then came the silence.
Not all at once. First, he left me at the foot of the bed. Then by the bookshelf. One day, I was placed on the top shelf. Out of reach. Out of mind.
No farewell. No final mission.
The sun that once warmed my armour now stopped just short. The light couldn’t reach me anymore – and neither could he. I counted footsteps. Waited for my name – Rocket! – but it never came.
The others faded quickly. The plush fox curled in on itself. The wind-up monkey stopped grinning. Even the ballerina from the music box spun slower and slower until she froze. We were still. Forgotten.
But not me.
Because after dark – when the world grew quiet, when the screens went black and breathing slowed – we remembered.
We played.
It always began the same way. The ballerina’s music would chime softly. A creak from the toy chest. A whisper from under the bed. I’d climb down from my shelf like I used to leap from chairs, joints stiffer now but still functional.
VCE · Language Analysis
Language Analysis: Dear valued Martin & Maloney staff in…
VCE Language Analysis essay scoring 72.5%: An advertising firm, “Martin and Maloney”, recently distributed an open letter initially written by Martin to…
An advertising firm, “Martin and Maloney”, recently distributed an open letter initially written by Martin to all staff regarding implementing changes to their working from home policies, while providing information on the new face-to-face expectations
Martin begins his letter by expressing his appreciation for all the staff's hard work and commitment at “Martin and Maloney”, while acknowledging their dedication to maintaining the company's reputation and earning the highest possible funds, additionally drafting the “changes” occurring in the span of the next year. This idea is likely to show how staff are valued and as important as the company to Martin, which allows him to win over the staff and for them to agree and follow along with the decision while assuring staff that their hard work has not been neglected and put aside, while making sure his support and appreciation will not change even after the “changes” have been made. To convince his staff, Martin opens his letter with this wording as a way to reassure them that, as employees, their presence also matters. This idea is further supported by the group's logo of hands, which presents a variety of skin colours, suggesting the diversity and inclusivity that his company acknowledges. This shows the teamwork and inclusivity needed, as well as sharing different ideas to build on these connections with others, also as a way to learn new things that you had never imagined. Furthermore, Martin portrays his positive tone as he proceeds to reassure staff will feel “our appreciation” through the “Christmas parties” organised especially for them. This positions staff to feel that they truly deserve this love and support, and that this treatment should come off as a thank you on behalf of everyone from the company for overcoming any problems faced during the work-from-home period and that this should make up for their strong efforts and commitment
VCE · Language Analysis
Language Analysis: Write an analysis of the ways in which…
VCE Language Analysis essay scoring 70%: Our Local Gyms recent emergency meeting with the local community has sparked debate whether a partnership with…
Our Local Gyms recent emergency meeting with the local community has sparked debate whether a partnership with Long Live Lollies is a viable solution to their lack of funding. Sandy Gestalt, the chairwoman of the Our Local Gym committee, presents a speech with accompanying slides contends that the only possible solution to keep Our Local Gym running is to welcome a partnership with Long Live Lollies. Gestalt targets the sociability and (family nature) of the community to encourage them to approve and support the new partnership.
Initially, Gestalt opens her piece by addressing the members of Our Local Gym in a warm and appreciative tone, expressing the uncertainty of Our Local Gym’s financial situation. The author uses inclusive language with “a group of people who have worked together” and how “we know that together we can save Our Local Gym”, encouraging the reader to position themselves in a position where they are already in Gestalt's point of view. Gestalt uses (ad hominem ?? what idk) by addressing the audience before introducing her argument, ‘acknowledging the history and value of Our Local Gym’, allowing the audience to feel invited and trusting Gestalt, inviting them to feel more likely to agree with her because of their social connection. Moreover, Gestalt mocks other local gyms, and how they “flame their shiny new equipment”, criticising other competition and making themselves seem more superior, inviting the audience to stay with Our Local Gym.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: High Ground explores the consequence of…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: Stephen Maxwell Johnson’s meat pie western film ‘High ground’ is an influential and confronting exploration of…
Stephen Maxwell Johnson’s meat pie western film ‘High ground’ is an influential and confronting exploration of Australians hidden colonial history, detailing the damaging repercussions of juxtaposing cultures and values. Set on Arham land in the mid twentieth century, the film progresses through a multi-narrative lens of young aboriginal Gutjuk and ex solider Travis as they navigate the raging path of destruction left behind the brutal massacre of the Yulong people. Johnson not only recounts the haunting violence of European settlers but highlights the effects within the characters and the entrenched war between the two cultures. The cultural misunderstanding present in ‘High Ground’ is the reason for the continuous violence against first nations people and the loss of their connections to land and each other which has the potential to further impact their values, as seen with Gutjuk. His loss of connection to his culture after being orphaned as a result of the massacre revels his struggle with his identity and trust with Travis as the film progresses. The xenophobia treatment of first nations people in ‘High Ground’ is the result of unjust conflict and the racist core of Australian colonial history.
The crux of violence portrayed in ‘High Ground’ not only is the reason for prolonged war but also the lamination of cultural misunderstandings. The cruel mass killing of Gutjuks family, the Yulong tribe, is an eye opening scene that sets the tone for the rest of the film. The first viewing of the aboriginal community is through the sniper of Travis, who lies above. This camera angle translates the vulnerability of the Yulong tribe to both gun power and the colonial system. Eddy assures the implied audience that “[n]o one shoots but him”, but the next moments of panic and a misunderstanding between Eddy and Baywarra contradict that statement. Johnson employs close up camera angles to spy the exact moments the first shot was fired and the painful, egotistical emotion displayed by Eddy. The following panic and diegetic sound of gunshots and screaming leaves the implied audience in horror as the Europeans murder in a mindless frenzy, leaving only two survivors – Gutjuk and Baywarra. The confronting scenes outline the violent foundation in which colonialism was built on and leaves the audience with sounds of crows to sink in the significance. The repercussions of this massacre span the entirety of the film, with a main focus point on the further violence covered up as “Justice” by both cultures. Eddy insists that they “act as a unit” to cover up their murder, whilst Travis opposes. Johnson uses Travis as a vessel of humanity within the colonial system, causing his morals to
VCE · Language Analysis
Language Analysis: Analyse the use of language in the text
VCE Language Analysis essay scoring 70%: Analysing articles Practise SAC Ashlon Lever Page 1 In January of 2025, Grace Tame, former Australian of the…
Analysing articles Practise SAC Ashlon Lever Page 1
In January of 2025, Grace Tame, former Australian of the year Grace Tame arrived at a morning tea for Australian of the year nominees wearing a shirt with the phrase "Fuck Murdoch" as a form of protest. In response, a writer Paul Hansome, a writer for his own independant news site 'Uncancelled Australia Blog' published an article titled, "When Protest Becomes Performance." Hansomes kept a solid stance that whilst everyone has the right to protest, there are situations in which it is innapropriate and ends up overshadowing the message they intended to promote. Written in a concerned, didactic tone, Hansome's article is aimed towards younger adults, people that have the ability to shift and transform this modern protest culture into a healthier, more impactful form that doesn't overthrow the issue at hand.
Hansome commences by praising Tame, calling her "Brave [and] uncompromising" and giving credit to her for what she does. Hansome's choice to lead his article with this, creates alongside the didactic nature of the tone, creates an environment for the younger adults in which a debate and opinions are open and free. He inclines the reader to agree more with his opinion by positioning them in a way that doesn't conduct rage or blind following, but rather a more critical thinking approach and logical approach. The inclusion of inclusive language also helps to ensure it is not just the main target audience, but everyone who reads it is being transported into this free speech environment. Hansome does this to show the younger adults how to think critically about a topic and acknowledge the both sides.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: titel: here i stand
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 90%: Here I stand Silence: The roar that shook the Empire By Reginald H. Fairchild, Manchester Guardian, May 5 1930…
Here I stand
Silence: The roar that shook the Empire
By Reginald H. Fairchild, Manchester Guardian, May 5 1930
On that oppressively sultry April afternoon at Dandi, I was held in rapt attention at an odd tableau: the scene was striking in exotic nature, hundreds if not thousands of Indians, devoid of any noise and demands, but the monotonous scrape of feet as they crossed the barren land. The silent procession, in all its solemnity, was a spectacle so absurdly paradoxical like a quiet revolt dressed in silence, that it made me pause and wonder about the rebellion stirring beneath the calm exterior.
BAREFOOT REVOLUTIONARIES: GANDHI’S QUEST TO SALT THE EARTH
More than an idealist, Gandhi is a self-proclaimed prophet of nonviolence, an ever-present figure in his loincloth, deluding himself that walking barefoot across the subcontinent would bring the British Empire to its knees. It was impossible to understand the Fakir of Delhi unless something was known of the Hindu religion. “An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind,” as he famously said remains a central force in Gandhi’s philosophy. While such an idea may seem well-suited to religious devotion, it appears, to many, a rather far-fetched approach when pitted against the might of an empire.
I remember one man in particular, much like the saint himself, walked steadily, head high, hands clasped behind his back, as if the very act of marching could bend the course of history. The constabulary, representatives of the Raj's authority, advanced. Then followed only the sickening sound of the cracking of a baton against bone. Crimson spread swiftly through the white khadi cloth, soaking into the parched, fractured earth below…a silent witness to the unspoken brutality.
Before I could register the horrid scene before me a small figure had emerged from the sizable crowd, a child, no older than ten. “Baba!” she screamed, her voice striking through the stunned silence. She wrapped her thin arms around her fathers battered body, as if her tiny body could shield him from the next blow. The officer hovered
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Jane Eyre examines the tensions between…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: Jane Eyre examines the tensions between love and self-respect. Discuss. Beneath Victorian society’s rigid…
Jane Eyre examines the tensions between love and self-respect. Discuss.
Beneath Victorian society’s rigid hierarchies lay an ideology that conflated love with duty and submission, demanding that women sacrifice dignity for attachment. Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 Jane Eyre challenges this androcentric construct, instead presenting love as inseparable from the preservation of selfhood. Indeed, Brontë reveals that even within deprivation, the smallest acts of compassion can fortify dignity and affirm worth. However, the novel also exposes the fragility of intimacy when passion is severed from principle, revealing the instability of affection that compromises self-respect. Hence, Jane Eyre ultimately envisions love as meaningful only when sustained by respect and equality, a union that preserves rather than effaces identity.
From the outset, Brontë interrogates how love functions as an insurgent force of resistance against the oppressive structures that conspire to erode human dignity. Situated within the desolate crucible of Gateshead’s emotional sterility, Bessie’s affectionate invitation to “kiss [her]” punctures the tyranny of the Reed household, conferring upon Jane a fleeting but vital recognition of her self-respect. Through Jane's retrospective narration, Brontë counterpoints the carceral lexicon of the Reed household—saturated with "anguish" and "darkness" —with the luminance of Bessie’s “gleam of sunshine,” a momentary rupture in the hermetic order of repression. This imagistic polarity heightens the semiotic charge of tenderness within this despotic context, intimating that even the most unadorned affection can transgress the dehumanising hierarchies that seek to nullify ontological worth. In charting love’s metamorphosis from instinctive affection to principled compassion, Miss Temple’s public vindication of Jane, “pronounc[ing] her completely cleared from every imputation” orchestrates a juridical restoration of both self-respect and moral rectitude. Within an institution engineered to discipline and diminish, such principled advocacy fractures the punitive moral codes of Victorian charity schools, suturing the injury to Jane’s selfhood inflicted by public slander. Brontë thereby asserts that dignity can be reclaimed even within apparatuses of repression, destabilising deterministic paradigms of institutional authority by transfiguring love into a redemptive enactment of selfhood. Amidst the ascetic rigours of Lowood, Helen Burns’ exhortation that “life appears … too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs” embodies a biblical ethos grounded in spiritual compassion. Antithetical to Jane’s proclivity for impassioned revolt, Brontë advances an alternative model of self-respect, wherein Helen’s stoic equanimity exemplifies a didactic evangelical morality that safeguards internal liberty against systematic subjugation. Thus, Bronte elevates such principled forbearance as a love that affirms intrinsic dignity, fortifying moral resilience amid an environment intent on the attrition of selfhood. Thus, in these formative encounters, Bronte delineates love as a radical assertion of dignity within oppressive environments, a nascent consciousness that matures as the eponymous heroine navigates increasingly complex moral landscapes.
VCE · Language Analysis
Language Analysis: Analyze the ways in which argument,…
VCE Language Analysis essay scoring 75%: Section C – 9/10/2025 The contentious debate surrounding the local café scene for everyday Melburnians has…
Section C – 9/10/2025
The contentious debate surrounding the local café scene for everyday Melburnians has transcended from silent questioning to overt demands for change. In a newsletter, culture editor, Annette Williams, addresses recent concerns about the ever-present existence of dogs in local spaces, such as café’s, post lockdown. Williams establishes her stance with a comforting and sympathetic tone, as she outlines the current issue at hand for her audience, the authoritative and informative language she employs works to persuade readers against banning dogs from existing in public alongside their owners. Williams appeals to the audience’s sympathy, including a compelling visual to further provoke the reader to consider her point of view.
As the article begins, Williams opens by painting a vivid image of an everyday scenario “every Melburnian” would be familiar with. The use of descriptive imagery to describe the “aroma of roasting coffee beans”, paired with the “cyclists … clad in lycra”, the audience is instantly put at ease in a “gentle” picture of their local café on a Sunday morning. Williams maintains her candid tone when detailing the extensive range of stakeholders concerned within the issue, spanning from “vegans” to “protein-bulkers”, all who are participants in the weekend café scene, as she aims to cement the depth of the issue and remind the readers of who exactly is being affected. Thereafter, Williams shifts her tone, employing the use of a rhetorical question to evoke feelings of doubt and questioning into her audience. As her argument unfolds, Williams repeats her use of rhetorical questions, each question presenting a more exaggerated potential outcome. She questions at first, the safety of petting a dog, before arguing that a “pooch” will be sitting beside her tax accountant next July, openly pondering whether there will be “support donkey[s]” on her next grocery trip. The sense of fear and feelings of doubt the audience experience when reading Williams exaggerated scenarios entices the reader to question their own previous thinking, as their ideas and beliefs are being directly threatened by William’s hyperbolic statements. Williams intentionally crafts unrealistic and unlikely scenarios as a form of playful jest with their reader, positioning the audience and author relationships in a new light. As a result, the audience is made to feel as if the issue is over dramatized, as the idea of a “cowering Doberman” infiltrating the life “rituals” for everyday citizens is highly unrealistic. Moreover, the overarching effect this imprints on the reader is the re-established audience and author relationship. As Williams continues to equip inclusive language, stating, “we can’t throw this puppy out with Saturday’s eggshells” they aim to envelop all readers into the issue, making it a widespread concern, more specifically, creating the sense that the reader is a direct part of debate. Within this, Williams subtly criticises the opposing views of this issue, addressing “those calling for bans” in the comment section of the newsletter, as lacking “a bit of empathy”, notably disagreeing with their “harass[ment]” of local baristas to banish a dog outside their establishment. Williams negative characterisation of the opposing side of the argument aims to deter the reader away from feeling loyalty or in agreement with the “menacing” side. The use of negative connotations cleverly enforces the aura of right and wrong, implying to the audience that they should identify with William’s perspective as a dog lover.
The
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: 'In Twelfth Night, love is presented as a…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: Within Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, love emerges not as a stable, rational sentiment but as a destabilising force…
Within Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, love emerges not as a stable, rational sentiment but as a destabilising force that unsettles identities, subverts hierarchies, and often borders on absurdity. Rather than depicting love as a redemptive or ennobling quality, the play foregrounds love's manifestation as performative self-indulgence, where romantic desire becomes divorced from authentic connection and transforms into aesthetic fantasy. Furthermore, love functions as a fragmenting force that fractures coherent identity, compelling individuals to inhabit contradictory roles that undermine their essential nature. Yet the playwright complicates this critique by presenting love's capacity for paradoxical resolution, where apparent foolishness ultimately enables genuine transformation and social harmony. By entwining comic misrule with sincere yearning, Twelfth Night positions love as both ridiculous and irresistible, exposing its inherent folly while acknowledging its transformative potential.
Love in Twelfth Night frequently manifests as self-indulgent fantasy rather than authentic connection. This is evident in Duke Orsino's opening invocation, "If music be the food of love, play on," a metaphor that immediately equates desire with gluttony, signalling his indulgence in love's aesthetic pleasures rather than its emotional substance. The luxuriant rhythms of his speech, teeming with hyperbole and elaborate conceits, convey infatuation more with the performance of longing than with Olivia herself. His claim that his love has "high fantastical" qualities reveals the narcissistic pleasure he derives from his own romantic suffering, transforming authentic feeling into theatrical display. This performative dimension of love intensifies in Act 1 Scene 5, where Olivia's exaggerated vow to mourn her brother for "seven years' heat" before unveiling her face epitomises devotion distorted into melodramatic spectacle. The lexical field of ritualised mourning, with its references to "element," "eye-offending brine," and "seasoned woe," satirises the excesses of courtly love conventions. Her elaborate mourning ritual functions as a protective barrier against romantic vulnerability, yet ironically renders her more susceptible to sudden passion when confronted with Cesario's wit. The juxtaposition between Orsino's aesthetic romanticism and Olivia's performative grief reveals how love manifests as indulgent fantasy, reducing complex individuals to performers in their own romantic dramas.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “That was last year. This year I’m trying…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard is a 1950’s melodramatic noir film that explores the satirical demonstration of…
Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard is a 1950’s melodramatic noir film that explores the satirical demonstration of struggle in Hollywood. Wilder illuminates struggle as inherently fatal, driving individuals within the film industry to moral sacrifices in exchange for material gain. Additionally, Wilder portrays how the characters use other means to achieve success, yet he acknowledges the need for struggle in order to build integrity in Hollywood.
Aspirations for financial stability is depicted by Wilder as a corrupting force which taints struggling individuals in Hollywood. Wilder demonstrates how struggle in Hollywood forces individuals within the film industry to resort to alternative means to achieve financial stability. In particular, Wilder uses Joe’s car as a symbol of his financial stability, akin to the worn down car, his financial stance also reflects the state of his vehicle. Joe’s assertion that losing his car is like “having [his] legs cut off” underscores his desperation to maintain his vehicle and avoid having it get impounded by the repo men. By using Joe’s car as a symbol of wealth in Hollywood, Wilder accentuates how short-term monetary gain taints the characters to unethical means to obtain wealth. This is reinforced by Wilder when Joe offers Norma intimacy because he wants the “dough” to pay for his car, forcing him to be overtly reliant on Norma’s wealth, leading to him being emasculated and consumed by Norma’s exploiting web. Wilder portrays how Joe’s desperation not only reduces him to being an object of ownership, but also sacrifices morality for financial dependence, illuminating how struggle in Hollywood drives individuals to be consumed by Hollywood’s facade in exchange for materialism.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Title: “Where is home?” Stimulus 1…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 95%: The first sound I heard in the kitchen brought me joy — the hiss of onions surrendering to olive oil, sharp and…
The first sound I heard in the kitchen brought me joy — the hiss of onions surrendering to olive oil, sharp and sweet. It was almost worth skipping school for. While the chatter of classrooms promised knowledge, it was here, in this sanctuary of scent and sound, that I began to understand where home truly was. Not a building, not a town, but a space where the body and spirit finally meet — rooted in the earth, yet reaching for something beyond it.
My mother never measured, never checked a recipe. Her hands moved with quiet certainty — a pinch of salt, snapped by the wrist; the plash of stock meeting heat. She cooked with memory, not method. Honey poured from the jar like sunlight over the bench, and I remember thinking that the world could be rebuilt from gestures like these. Our cookbook was filled with blank pages, not from neglect, but from trust — an invitation to write our own stories in flavour. I didn’t know it then, but I was learning more than how to cook; I was learning how to belong.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In The Erratics Vicki Laveau-Harvie argues…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: In the memoir ‘The Erratics’, Vicki Laveau-Harvie emphasises that an individual’s upbringing being tainted by…
In the memoir ‘The Erratics’, Vicki Laveau-Harvie emphasises that an individual’s upbringing being tainted by trauma has the potential to influence one’s perception of family. Despite this, Laveau-Harvie simultaneously explores the ability to overcome a shaped perception and transcend an identity linked to family, whilst also illuminating the multifaceted and complex nature of a familial unit.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ‘Sunset Boulevard shows that the pursuit…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 75%: Billy Wilder's 1950 film noir ‘Sunset Boulevard’ offers an insight into the cut throat film industries predominant…
Billy Wilder's 1950 film noir ‘Sunset Boulevard’ offers an insight into the cut throat film industries predominant within Hollywood exposing the dark underside shrouded by the glamorous surface. Wilder presents the journey for fame within Sunset Boulevard as one of moral ambiguity and erosion whilst simultaneously exposing Hollywood's role in the creation of dangerous situations through the commodification of artists and pushes into desperate ploys to survive, however Wilder highlights how dedication and ambition can lead to the journey becoming less unfavourable however it is still stained by countless risks. Firstly Wilder portrays Hollywood as an opportunistic industry that acts to maximise profitability through the commodification and cruel disregard of artists, Building on this Wilder emphasises how the relentless pursuit of fame ultimately leads to morality and integrity gradually becoming eroded due to the necessity to survive, however Wilder exemplifies how through ambition and dedication along the journey to fame can create a favourable experience however this journey is still stained and marked by the dangers of Hollywood.