VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ‘The new American society was molded by…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: The newly formed society of America was fundamentally underpinned by liberal philosophy; however, the extent to…
The newly formed society of America was fundamentally underpinned by liberal philosophy; however, the extent to which said ideals actually materialized equitably for all, remained questionable. Whilst the radical pursuit of liberty was integral in overthrowing monarchial tyranny, collective inability to function as a nation due to self-destructive freedom, prompted the creation of a compromised constitution that prioritized security and the interests of the propertied elite, in lieu of a liberal utopia.
The aggressive struggle for liberty was the essential ideological force that not only toppled British imperialism but also laid the framework on which future American society was believed to operate upon. Composed primarily of local farmers and tradesmen united under the "Continental Army" banner, the force's ability to "fight, get beaten, rise, and fight again" (Greene) symbolized perseverance in the light of preserving Liberty. The "indispensable man" (Flexner) and leader of the movement, George Washington himself viewed the war as a decision between "bloodshed or slavery", a stark choice, which echoed the Lockean principle that a government which operated without consent, effectively reduced its subjects to slaves. Such steadfast commitment to the cause of civic virtue within the leadership and core of the Continental army enabled it to triumph during instances like the Battle of Trenton (1776), where Fabian tactics successfully aided in the defeat of 1800 Hessian mercenaries. During more despondent periods like the winter of 1777 at Valley Forge when 1/3rd of soldiers had no shoes and Washington believed that the "Army [would] dissolve" (Washington), it was words like "The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph", (Thomas Paine's American Crisis 1776) which transformed the grim reality of war within the infantryman's conflicting mind. Constantly reminded that their suffering was not loss, but rather an investment in a progressive future, the force developed further into a seasoned military that would ultimately conquer the British at Yorktown (1781). Thus confirming that liberal ideas drove America towards revolutionary victory.
VCE · Language Analysis
Language Analysis: the issue for the argument analysis is…
VCE Language Analysis essay scoring 85%: Written by the editorial of the Washington Post — a major American newspaper with an audience of Californian…
Written by the editorial of the Washington Post — a major American newspaper with an audience of Californian citizens who value free speech and stand against laws prohibiting free expression, the editor writes in response to the March 2025 lawsuit against Meta and Google, filed by a woman named KGM. The lawsuit aimed to push large social media giants to admit their platforms were deliberately designed as addictive and to add an age ban to protect the youth from adverse mental health problems. While many progressives praised the jury’s decision to hold the giants accountable, the editorial writes to their conservative audience and intends to warn Californian citizens of their risk of losing free speech platforms by saying the lawsuit is actually a way to restrict citizens from their access to rights. This is done through an overall educate and activate argument structure, where the authors of the Washington Post highlight the risk of losing rights to free speech while urging Californian citizens to protest against the ban.
The author opens the piece by using a head and heart strategy to signify the risk of Californian citizens losing their freedom of expression if negligence is given to their own behaviors. The opening is accompanied by a large photograph where Meta CEO Mark Zuckerburg can be seen leaving court, surrounded by a swam of camera crew and other citizens. The photograph has a tone that highlights Zuckerburg’s nonchalance in the scene he is surrounded by, to emphasize he is just a businessman who created a platform without any ill intention of harming youth. It positions the audience of right-leaning citizens to see the court jury as an exaggerated situation and shift their focus to the main problem introduced in the opening text. The photograph helps to give the contect of the issue, supported by a fact on the court hearing where “$6 mulluon where given in damaged” to KGM for her social media “addiction”. It allows to emphasize how if citizens keep blaming companies who are running businesses, they risk taking away their own rights — signified through the use of inclusive language by highlighting “our” loss. The overall intended effect is to educate the audience about the main issue and inform them of their stake of losing freedom of speech.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Marsden explores how morals are altered in…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: John Marsden’s coming of age novel Tomorrow When The War Began published in 1993, set at the beginning of war,…
John Marsden’s coming of age novel Tomorrow When The War Began published in 1993, set at the beginning of war, suggests that though difficult circumstances can alter people’s perspectives and principles surrounding the world around them, their morals are equally as important when going through those challenging situations. To begin, Marsden believes that morals play an important role in how people view the world. Furthermore, he communicates how one’s morals can affect their actions in difficult situations. Finally, he portrays challenges as a key influence in one’s inner ideals and principles.
John Marsden suggests that morals play a vital role in determining how people view the world and the actions of others around them. Robyn, being Christian has certain morals that she follows every single day. These morals allow her to understand the actions of the people invading their country, “We’ve got all this land and resources, and yet there’s a country a crow’s spit away with people packed like battery hens.” These metaphors demonstrate Robyn’s understanding of the invader’s perspective, revealing her understanding nature and how her Christianity has influenced the way she views others’ actions. However, when Kevin criticizes her for ‘siding with the enemy’, Robyn pushes back by stating how “Understanding isn’t the same as supporting.” By clearly differentiating the concepts of understanding and supporting, she demonstrates that she is defined not just by the teachings of her religion, but also by the morals she had formed throughout her own personal experiences. Through Robyn’s personality and character, Marsden communicates the importance of following one’s own morals and inner beliefs to build understanding of the world around them.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ‘The new American society was molded by…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: The newly formed American society was fundamentally underpinned by liberal philosophy; however, the extent to…
The newly formed American society was fundamentally underpinned by liberal philosophy; however, the extent to which the ideals that pioneered the struggle for independence actually materialized equitably in the new society, remained questionable. Whilst the radical pursuit of liberty was integral towards the overthrow of monarchial tyranny, the collective inability to function as a nation due to self-destructive freedom, prompted the creation of a new constitutional order that prioritized national stability and the interests of the propertied elite, in lieu of an idealist world.
The radical pursuit of liberty was the essential ideological force that not only enabled the overthrow of British imperialism but also laid the framework on which the future American society would operate upon. The "shot heard round the world" in Lexington (1775) marked the beginning of a fight that would shape the colonial identity into one that was distinctly American. Composed primarily of local farmers and tradesmen united under the "Continental Army" banner, the force's ability to "fight, get beaten, rise, and fight again" (Greene) symbolized perseverance in the light of preserving Liberty. The "indispensable man" (Flexner) and leader of the movement, George Washington himself viewed the war as a decision between "bloodshed or slavery", a stark choice, which echoed the Lockean principle that a government which operated without consent, effectively reduced its subjects to slaves. Such steadfast commitment to the cause of freedom within the leadership and core of the Continental army enabled it to prosper during instances like the Battle of Trenton (1776), where Fabian tactics were successfully deployed to defeat nearly 2000 Hessian mercenaries. More despondent periods like the winter of 1777 in Valley Forge where 1/3rd of soldiers had no shoes and Washington believed that the "Army [would] dissolve" (Washington), only pushed the force to develop further into a seasoned military that would ultimately defeat the British at Yorktown (1781). Words like "The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph", (Thomas Paine's American Crisis 1776) transformed the grim reality of war within the infantryman's conflicting mind, constantly reminding that their suffering was not loss, but rather an investment in a progressive future. Thus confirming that liberal ideas drove America towards revolutionary victory.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ‘The new American society was molded by…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: The newly formed American society was fundamentally underpinned by liberal philosophy; however, the extent to which…
The newly formed American society was fundamentally underpinned by liberal philosophy; however, the extent to which the ideals that pioneered the struggle for independence actually materialized equitably in the new society, remained questionable. Whilst the radical pursuit of liberty was integral towards the overthrow of monarchial tyranny, the collective inability to function as a nation due to self-destructive freedom, prompted the creation of a new constitutional order that prioritized national stability and the interests of the propertied elite, in lieu of an idealist world.
The radical pursuit of liberty was the essential ideological force that not only enabled the overthrow of British imperialism but also laid the framework on which the future American society would operate upon. The "shot heard round the world" in Lexington (1775) marked the beginning of a fight that would shape the colonial identity into one that was distinctly American. Comprising primarily of local farmers and tradesmen united under the "Continental Army" banner, the force's ability to "fight, get beaten, rise, and fight again" (Greene) symbolized perseverance in the light of preserving Liberty. The "indispensable man" (Flexner) and leader of the movement, George Washington himself viewed the war as a decision between "bloodshed or slavery", a stark choice, which echoed the Lockean principle that a government which operated without consent, effectively reduced its subjects to slaves. Such steadfast commitment to the cause of freedom within the leadership and core of the Continental army enabled it to prosper during instances like the Battle of Trenton (1776), where Fabian tactics were successfully deployed to defeat nearly 2000 Hessian mercenaries. More despondent periods like the winter of 1777 in Valley Forge where 1/3rd of soldiers had no shoes and Washington believed that the "Army [would] dissolve" (Washington), only pushed the force to develop further into a seasoned military that would ultimately defeat the British at Yorktown (1781). Words like "The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph", (Thomas Paine's American Crisis 1776) transformed the grim reality of war within the infantryman's conflicting mind, constantly reminding that their suffering was not loss, but rather an investment in a progressive future. Thus confirming that liberal ideas drove America towards revolutionary victory.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: The greatest threats the Blackwood sisters…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: In her 1950s proto-feminist novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson illuminates the interplay…
In her 1950s proto-feminist novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson illuminates the interplay between psychological fragility and social hostility within the insular world of the Blackwood sisters. The suggestion that their greatest threats emerge from within invites an examination of how internalised fear and guilt function as forces of self-destruction. Through Merricat’s violent imagination and Constance’s paralysing compliance, Jackson highlights how self-imposed isolation evolves into a mechanism of entrapment. Yet the sisters’ inward collapse is inseparable from the cruelty of the outside world, who persecution reinforces their withdrawal. Ultimately, Jackson blurs the boundary between internal and external danger, revealing fear itself as the novels most destructive agent.
Jackson initially positions the sisters' internal pathologies as the primary threat, suggesting their self-imposed entrapment is more potent than any external force. Merricat’s obsessive thoughts and actions not only reveal her psychological instability but also actively shape the sisters’ environment, transforming their home into a space governed by fear and control. Jackson immediately establishes Merricat's detachment from reality when she confesses her wish to have been “born a werewolf,” a metaphor that establishes Merricat as psychologically unstable and obsessed with control, hinting at her detachment from reality. The werewolf metaphor symbolises her potential for destructive power, through this Jackson intends to show how internal fantasises amplify the threat she poses to herself and the household. Furthermore, Jackson employs the poisoning of her family to literalise self-destruction; her attempt to preserve the family paradoxically destroys it. It positions her internal obsession and fear as the origin of trauma, rather than societal pressure, aligning with the idea that the greatest threats are internal. Moreover, subsequent to the fire and destruction of their home, Constance chooses to remain inside the Blackwood home; stating “this is our home, we cannot leave it”, Jackson reveals how her domestic attachment prevents change or growth for either of the sisters, reinforcing isolation and psychological vulnerability. However, Jackson explores the paradoxical effect of the sisters’ actions; while it is Merricat’s superstition and Constance’s domesticity that ostracise them from society it is these same effects which act as a tool to discover female agency and autonomy. While Merricat’s violent imagination intitiates the household’s instability, it is Constance’s internalised fear and obsessive domesticity that sustain their fragile world, highlighting how Jackson portrays the sisters’ internal threats as both active and during forces that set the stage for the challenged posed by the outside world.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Write an opinion piece on any topic
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 72.5%: As right wing parties continue to gain traction in Australian politics, threatening to follow in the USA’s…
As right wing parties continue to gain traction in Australian politics, threatening to follow in the USA’s footsteps regarding abortion laws, it is impossible, as a woman, not to fear. Fear for my autonomy, for my right to live as I choose, to have children if and when I choose. As a woman, I am unable to turn a blind eye to the possibility that my body will be governed as an object of the state and the right to ignore the existence of my personhood will be legislated.
As of April 2025, following the 2022 overturn of Roe v Wade, the US saw a drastic increase in maternal mortality. In states where abortion was banned, mothers were almost twice as likely to die during pregnancy, childbirth, or shortly after. In Texas alone, maternal mortality rose 56% by 2023. These figures represent real wome, who had lives and aspirations, people who loved them. Women who were murdered by the denial of their right to autonomy. Banning abortions doesn’t “save” lives - it takes them.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Ogawa explore the ways that…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: Ogawa contends that individuals inevitably dissociate from their identity in order to cope with loss. Through the…
Ogawa contends that individuals inevitably dissociate from their identity in order to cope with loss. Through the defining moment of the narrator and the old man casually discussing the insidious “speeding up” of the disappearances, Ogawa contrasts the old man’s usual considerate persona with his resigned acceptance of the “gaps in the island”. Hence, the writer reveals the internal dissociation between the “caring” old man and his incongruent passivity towards the disappearances. Moreover, his apathetic observation that the authoritarian Memory Police are “only after people who aren’t able to forget” illustrates Ogawa’s argument that systematic loss inevitably undermines individuals’ very selfhood. By revealing the intrinsic disparity between the old man’s established characterisation and subservient acceptance, Ogawa argues that systematic loss can fragment the essence of an individual's identity. Ogawa similarly
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: PERSONAL JOURNEYS
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 90%: The quarter zip was folded at the bottom of the box marked MISC and the sleeves crossed over its chest like it…
The quarter zip was folded at the bottom of the box marked MISC and the sleeves crossed over its chest like it was waiting to be identified. I almost didn't recognise it. The navy had been dulled by the colour of dishwater, the zip stiff with rust, the collar gone thin, worn thinner by sleep than by wear. I held it to my face without meaning to, and there it was: a smell I couldn’t name, arriving half a second before the memory did.
I was fourteen the last time I wore it, I think. Old enough to remember, too young to have noticed that anyone cared.
Back then, I wore whatever was folded at the top of the clothing rack. I chose things because they were comfortable, or because they were the first thing on top of the drawer. It never crossed my mind that anyone was watching what I picked. Back then, there was no gap between feeling it and doing it. I ran everywhere instead of walking, even to the mailbox, even when no one was looking or timing me. If someone doubted me, I instinctively argued back before I thought it through. It hadn't occurred to me yet to just go quiet. I tended to speak out before I decided whether it was a good idea to say it. It was in that phase where nobody had told me there was a version of myself that I was expected to be performing instead of the one that already existed.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: To what extent is violence a form of…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: When oppression and injustice remain unresolved, violence can become perceived as a form of justice, perpetuating a…
When oppression and injustice remain unresolved, violence can become perceived as a form of justice, perpetuating a devastating cycle of revenge and suffering. Directed by Stephen Maxwell Johnson and released in 2020, High Ground explores the fractured relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians during the frontier conflicts of 1919 and 1931. Set during a time when indigenous Australians were oppressed, massacred and stripped of their identity, right and culture to the land, the film reflects enduring consequences of colonial violence, exposing how unresolved injustice can perpetuate cycles of revenge and conflict across generations. Johnson establishes how violence is perceived as an act of justice through revenge, fuelled by perpetual injustice. However, Johnson complicates this notion by arguing that violence ultimately perpetuates the very injustice it seeks to overcome. Johnson foregrounds the lasting consequences of the Gan Gan massacre through the characterization of key figures, illustrating how unresolved injustice can distort perceptions of justice, compelling individuals to pursue violent retaliation . Exposing how colonial authorities use violence under the guise of law and justice, revealing how violence can become a tool to maintain oppression rather than justice. However, Johnson challenges the idea that violence can deliver genuine justice, suggesting that true justice stems from acknowledging both sides' wrongdoing not through revenge and retaliation
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does born a crime demonstrate the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: 'Born a Crime' is a memoir written by South Trevor Noah, on the challenges endured during and post apartheid…
'Born a Crime' is a memoir written by South Trevor Noah, on the challenges endured during and post apartheid South Africa. The author explores laments how apartheid was designed to strip opportunities from individuals. However, the Comedian champions how individuals are able to gain opportunities through hustle culture. The Noah also emphasizes the importance of language in South Africa. Ultimately, many individuals seek opportunities through the use of language and social 'hustling', despite apartheid restrictions on marginalised communities.
In 'Born a Crime' Noah condems aparthied and it's ability to subjugate individuals in to poverty, thus stripping their opportunities. Through the use of juxtaposition, Noah highlights the subhurbs comfortable lifestyle as "lavish and green" whilst emphasizing the townships poverty as "overgrazed and eroding." Through this juxtaposition Noah highlights how the difficulty for people in poverty to gain opportunities as they are forced to rely on "on survival, risks, whilst people suburbians are able to explore their opportunities as they live comfortably. Furthermore, Noah laments how that despite knowledge and experience, individuals still aren't able to get opportunities. Through an analogy the other author emphasises that "[individuals] have been taught how to fish, but no one will give them a fishing rod." Through this analogy Noah demonstrates how even if a marginalised individual has deep knowledge and experience in something, they wont get the opportunities to use that knowledge, thus leaves individuals in a cycle of poverty. Additionally, Noah asserts a nuanced perc through the use of symbolism, Noah asserts a nuanced perspective on poverty and what it brings gives melindivuals. Driveways symbolize hope amongst the society in Soweto. This is because even if they don't have cars, they have driveways, as they some day hope to park a car on it. However, despite the hope it gives, it allows Noah to show the hardships of poverty. despite the beggining of new South Africa, individuals still weren't able to get cars. In fact, Noah also highlights how society in povert opress themselves. Noah uses symbolism to demonstrate how values have been ingrained into peoples belefs, this prevents people from achieving opportunities. The "Black Tax" symbolises how Society black traditions shape their opportunities. This is because the "Black Tax" is like a tax where you give back to your family as a sign to assert control, thus prevents people from escaping poverty. Ultimately, Noah's critiques from individuals how Apartheid strips communities opportunities by forcing Black South Africans in a cycle of poverty.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: on our way
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 95%: A dozen rows of anxious workers sit at their stations, heads bent in concentration. The rhythmic hum of sewing…
A dozen rows of anxious workers sit at their stations, heads bent in concentration. The rhythmic hum of sewing machines is drowned out by music blaring from speakers scattered around the room, as though noise could muffle fear. There is no chatter, no laughter, only a silence that feels less like peace and more like submission, the kind of silence tyrants mistake for obedience. In each bent back, in each stitched seam, there is a protest stifled before birth, a cry swallowed in the name of survival.
The cracks in the pillars, discovered the day before, had already spoken the truth. But the owners had issued their own verdict: come to work or starve. Fear became the whip, greed the hand that held it. And so, like prisoners condemned, they returned.
The lights flickered, casting unsettling shadows across the room. The floor beneath their feet trembled, a low rumble growing stronger. And then, within seconds, the world collapsed around them. Darkness swallowed the room. Pillars crumbled. The roofs from the upper floors crashed down in a deadly chain reaction. By the time the dust settled, 1,134 lives were lost, and more than 2,500 were injured. Most of them were women and children. Amma, my mother, was one of them.
In the days following the collapse, Dhaka erupted. The streets, usually choked with rickshaws and tuk tuks, became rivers of protest. I was swept up in the tide of the march, a current of grief and fury pulling me along. My voice, raw and hoarse, joined the chorus of demands, each chant a desperate plea for justice, for some semblance of meaning in the face of such senseless loss. The sun beat down, the air thick with the smell of sweat and dust, but I barely noticed. My focus was on the faces around me, each one a mirror reflecting my own pain, my own anger at the injustice of what Amma had to go through in her final moments.
Then, the arrests. Sohel Rana, the building owner, his face twisted in a mask of fear and defiance, was dragged through the crowd. A wave of satisfaction, sharp and bitter, washed over me. It was a small victory, a single thread of justice in a tapestry of tragedy. But even as the crowd roared its approval, I knew it was not justice, only a performance meant to pacify our rage.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: The novel Frankenstein demonstrates that…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: The novel Frankenstein demonstrates that one must have compassion to be human. Do you agree? Mary Shelley’s 1818…
The novel Frankenstein demonstrates that one must have compassion to be human.
Do you agree?
Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein demonstrates the importance of compassion by contrasting its human protagonist with his inhuman creation. Shelley invites readers to question whether Victor or the Creature is more capable of compassion, and what this says about each character’s claim to be considered human. In her characterisation of Victor, Shelley presents a man whose ego and ambition override his natural humanity and suppress his capacity to feel compassion for his own creation. By contrast, while the Creature is capable of great cruelty, Shelley also presents him sympathetically by demonstrating his capacity to feel compassion. Ultimately, it is the reader’s humanity which is tested, as we are invited to feel compassion for both characters, despite their wicked and destructive actions.
Victor Frankenstein is an egotistical protagonist whose over-reaching ambitions cloud his ability to feel compassion. Frankenstein introduces himself to Walton as having been the “plaything and… idol” of his parents, implying that he was spoiled as a child and therefore lacks a strong model for how to parent well. This foreshadows the tensions which will exist in his relationship with the Creature, who is symbolically his child, but whom he immediately disowns. It is clear from his account that Victor constructs the Creature not out of love but from a desire to prove his scientific theories, meaning that he shows little compassion for how the Creature will experience a life he did not ask for. When he describes his scientific studies, Frankenstein exclaims, “what glory would attend the discovery if I could banish disease from the human frame and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death!” The choice of the word “glory” connotes his self-serving motives, and the desire to be “invulnerable” echoes the implications of the novel’s subtitle – “The modern Prometheus” – in suggesting that Frankenstein sees himself as more than human, wanting to elevate himself to a godlike status by his power to give and sustain life. Shelley thus makes it clear that his motives are not born of compassion but of ambition. This characterisation is reinforced when he sources dead bodies from which to construct the Creature, stating, “a churchyard was to me merely the receptacle of bodies deprived of life”. The coldly scientific tone demonstrates Frankenstein’s lack of compassion for the families of those whose graves he is robbing and whose bodies he is defiling. Recalling the Creature’s first moments of life, Frankenstein poses the rhetorical question, “How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form?” Notably, his focus here is entirely on his own feelings, using possessive pronouns (“my emotions”) and derogatory language about the Creature (“the wretch”). Again, his sense of having accomplished something superhuman, by taking “infinite pains and care” contrasts with his failure to display the characteristic human quality of compassion for this new life he has brought into the world. Like his own parents, Frankenstein fails to rise to the responsibility of a parent by acting in the Creature’s best interests rather than his own. Thus, while Frankenstein is technically human, he fails to manifest the compassion which readers expect of him.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Rainbow's End explores the challenges of…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: Jane Harrison’s Rainbow’s End explores the challenges Indigenous Australians face when dealing with oppressive…
Jane Harrison’s Rainbow’s End explores the challenges Indigenous Australians face when dealing with oppressive forces. Set in 1950s Australia, the play shows how colonialism continues to affect Indigenous people through poor living conditions, racism and pressure to fit into white Australian society. These forces affect both the community and individual identity, making it difficult for characters to feel accepted and in control of their lives. However, Harrison also shows that oppression can be challenged through cultural pride, family, community and resistance. Ultimately, the play suggests that although the effects of colonialism are difficult to overcome, maintaining connections to culture and others can help people resist oppression.
Harrison shows that oppressive forces can create poor living conditions and make it difficult for Indigenous communities to improve their lives. The Flats is repeatedly affected by flooding, with Dolly saying they are “fighting nature all the time.” The phrase “all the time” shows that the community’s problems are ongoing. The flooding makes it difficult for the characters to live safely and comfortably, showing that Indigenous communities have been left in poor conditions because of social and economic inequality. This makes their struggle more than an individual problem, as the whole community is affected. The government’s poor response is further shown through the hessian placed around The Flats, described as a “band-aid over a sore.” The “band-aid” suggests that the government is only covering up the problem instead of fixing it. The hessian is put up so that the poverty of The Flats is hidden from Queen Elizabeth II, showing that the government cares more about Australia’s image than improving the lives of Indigenous people. Harrison therefore shows how government neglect makes dealing with oppression difficult. Nan Dear also remembers being “forced” to leave Cummeragunja. The word “forced” shows that Indigenous people had little control over their own lives. This connects the characters’ current struggles with the injustices experienced by earlier generations, showing that colonial oppression does not simply disappear with time because its effects continue to affect later generations. Therefore, Harrison demonstrates that structural oppression creates ongoing problems that make it difficult for Indigenous communities to escape inequality.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: "Rainbow's End explores the challenges of…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 92.5%: Jane Harrison's Rainbow's End (2007) is set on the flood-prone fringe of a rural Victorian town in the early…
Jane Harrison's Rainbow's End (2007) is set on the flood-prone fringe of a rural Victorian town in the early 1950s, a period in which Indigenous Australians were denied full citizenship and remained subject to sweeping government control over where they could live, work and raise their children. Through this setting, Harrison dramatises oppression as a structure that operates on multiple levels: as official government policy that severs people from land and family, and as an everyday prejudice that restricts opportunity and dignity within the community itself. Yet the play does not present its characters as passive casualties of this system; rather, it insists that resilience, education and an enduring connection to Country provide the means by which these oppressive forces can be confronted and, to some extent, overcome. Harrison therefore constructs a narrative in which institutional control and social discrimination inflict profound and lasting damage, while ultimately suggesting that collective action and self-determination offer a pathway through which her characters can begin to reclaim agency over their own lives.
Harrison first establishes oppression as an institutional force, exercised through government policy that treats Indigenous families as subjects to be relocated, assimilated and controlled rather than as citizens with rights of their own. This is voiced through Nan Dear's memory of a real historical dispossession: "They forced us to leave. Forced us to leave Cummeragunja. Our home." The blunt repetition of "forced" strips the sentence of any agency on the speaker's part, syntactically enacting the very powerlessness the line describes, while the truncated final clause, "Our home," asserts a possessive claim to Country that policy itself refused to recognise. By referencing the actual 1939 walk-off from the Cummeragunja Mission, Harrison grounds her drama in documented history, transforming personal testimony into a form of political record that indicts the Aborigines Protection Board's authority over Indigenous life. This institutional control is reinforced through the play's own stagecraft: the settlement is physically divided from the township by a railway line, a piece of staging that renders segregation not as background information but as a visible boundary the audience watches characters cross and recross, compounded by the era's assimilationist expectation that the family simply "learn to live like" the white community surrounding them. The device transforms an abstract policy into spatial reality, reminding the audience that exclusion in this period was enforced architecturally as much as legally. Harrison extends this critique of colonial authority into the play's historical framing, staging Nan Dear's ambivalence toward the 1953 coronation celebrations through the terse rejection, "She's not my Queen." The clipped, declarative syntax refuses the pageantry of imperial celebration surrounding it, exposing the irony of a nation celebrating unity and loyalty to the Crown while denying its Indigenous population the full rights of citizenship. Together, these moments position government policy and colonial authority as the foundational oppressive force in the play, one that precedes and enables the more immediate discrimination the family encounters in daily life.
VCE · Language Analysis
Language Analysis: Australia should protect the use of…
VCE Language Analysis essay scoring 80%: Intro: “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither…
Intro:
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety".
This is a quote that I first came across in my Year 9 Humanities class. Silently sitting in there, I didn't really give much thought, attention, or value to this issue now, only 3 years later this quote has given me a new perspective on our society.
Benjamin Franklin's words reflect how the sacrifice of fundamental rights risks the loss of both freedom and security. So, what does this mean?
This demonstrates how Australia is quickly transitioning into a cashless future, one that our future generation is approaching with limited choice or say. Unless we make a change, our country's inclusivity and safety will be at risk.
Australia's convenience of contactless payments is being identified as one of the ‘frontrunners’ of digital payments. We are amongst other leading countries such as China, Norway, and South Korea. However, Australia’s gap in data protection services, leave citizens feeling like they lack control over their personal data.
Despite its efficiency and easy to use system of digital payments, cash should remain an important part of our everyday lives. From supporting the vulnerable to equipping our children with the financial literacy that they need to manage life.
We should ensure that we protect the use of cash instead of fading into a cashless society.
Our actions to preserve cash should ensure that cash and digital payments coexist to ensure that we create a more inclusive, one-for-all society.
B1:
According to the Australian Human Rights Commission, almost one in four Australians are digitally excluded from society. This is almost seven million people in our country.
Additionally, cash is essential for those who find it difficult to use or access online banking, such as people living in remote areas, including First Nations communities, as digital services are becoming steadily unreliable over time.
Many shops are already transitioning to ‘card-only’ policies, excluding many vulnerable citizens, such as people with disabilities and victim survivors. So, every time we use digital payments for transactions that could be made with the cash sitting at the bottom of our wallets, Australia moves one step closer to becoming a digital world that is difficult to escape, without considering the needs of all citizens. By continuing to use cash in small parts of our everyday lives, we can help preserve it for our vulnerable citizens, including the elderly.
B2:
Furthermore, cash is an important asset to have as it is vital for emergencies and helps individuals and especially families to budget effectively.
Many of us often face unexpected situations.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “High Ground suggests that truth and…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: Stephen Johnsons 2020 film ‘High Ground’ exposes the devastating consequences of colonial invasion in Arnhem land…
Stephen Johnsons 2020 film ‘High Ground’ exposes the devastating consequences of colonial invasion in Arnhem land during the early 20th century, revealing how incompatible values surrounding land, law and justice shape the lives of the Yolnu people and British colonisers. Johnson challenges that a society built on revenge cannot fully achieve justice and the ability for colonisers to manipulate history further silences the Yolnu people. Whilst truth and justice is implied to be very difficult to uphold, an embracement of identity and land may preserve community and values.
A society that is built on a cycle of revenge and violence results in an inability to achieve justice. Both the Europeans and Indigenous people engage in acts of violence This is driven through leaders Moran and Bawywara. Moran stating “They killed a what woman” with emphasis on “white” reveals a racial hierarchy of grief and revenge. One white death receives urgency and punishment, whereas the deaths of many Indigenous women and children and minimised or concealed. Gutjuk reverses Morans narrative stating that the conflict “didn’t start with {his} uncle, it started with {Moran}”, revealing Baywara’s violence is represented as a response to invasion and massacre, not its cause. Morans loaded labels “wild mob”, “killing livestock”, “burning stations”, construct Baywara’s resistance as savagery. The possessive colonisers value settler property, cattle and stations above indigenous lives, land and law demonstrating their values of authority. The ongoing rotation of violence means revenge will never gain justice for those wanting it which is symbolised through both Moran and Baywara dying at the end of the film.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Desire is the most powerful force in…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: Influenced by the social and cultural anxieties of post-war Hollywood, Billy Wilder’s noir film Sunset Boulevard…
Influenced by the social and cultural anxieties of post-war Hollywood, Billy Wilder’s noir film Sunset Boulevard exposes an industry in which individuals are driven by desires for fame, recognition, security and belonging. Wilder presents desire as a powerful force because it motivates individuals to pursue idealised versions of success, often causing them to compromise their authenticity and relationships. However, the film ultimately suggests that desire becomes most destructive when it is cultivated by Hollywood’s obsession with image, status and commercial value. Through the contrast between aspiration and disillusionment, Wilder reveals that while desire propels individuals towards their ambitions, the institutional values of Hollywood manipulate these desires and determine their consequences. Thus, Sunset Boulevard largely supports the view that desire is a powerful force, but suggests that its destructive potential originates from the culture that teaches individuals what they should desire.
Desire initially operates as a powerful motivator, compelling individuals to pursue success even when their ambitions conflict with reality. The film’s opening establishes this destructive pursuit through Joe’s cynical voice-over as his corpse floats in the swimming pool, revealing that the “poor dope” had always wanted a pool. The dramatic irony between Joe’s aspiration for material success and his death immediately subverts the glamorous associations of Hollywood, suggesting that the pursuit of wealth and status can become fatal. His desire for professional recognition is further expressed when he accepts Norma’s offer to revise her screenplay despite recognising its poor quality. Joe acknowledges that the script is “just so lousy” yet remains because his financial circumstances leave him desperate for security. Wilder’s use of first-person narration exposes the contradiction between Joe’s cynical awareness and his willingness to compromise his values, demonstrating how desire can overpower moral judgement. Similarly, Norma’s desire to return to the screen transforms her past fame into an obsession with reclaiming relevance. Her declaration that “I am big. It’s the pictures that got small” reveals her refusal to accept the changing film industry, while the antithesis between “big” and “small” exposes the distorted logic through which she measures her worth. Her desire is therefore not merely for employment, but for the restoration of an identity founded upon public admiration. Through these competing ambitions, Wilder demonstrates that desire can provide individuals with purpose while simultaneously encouraging them to deny uncomfortable realities.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In sunset boulevard how does wilder…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: Influenced by the cultural and social context of post-war Hollywood, Billy Wilder’s noir drama film ‘Sunset…
Influenced by the cultural and social context of post-war Hollywood, Billy Wilder’s noir drama
film ‘Sunset Boulevard’ elucidates the harsh consequences of an industry that glorifies
manufactured images over human authenticity. Wilder reveals that Hollywood reduces
individuals to their physical appearance and commercial value, disregarding their talent and
humanity once their image becomes unprofitable. Furthermore, he demonstrates that idealised
images entrap individuals within artificial identities, preventing them from accepting change and
confronting reality. Ultimately, through the contrast between Hollywood’s glamorous facade and
the corruption concealed beneath it, The auteur critiques the glorification of images by exposing
how glamorous appearances conceal the corruption, exploitation and decay within Hollywood’s
institution.
Through the characterisation, the auteur initially critiques the glorification of images by revealing
that Hollywood determines an individual’s worth according to physical appearance and
commercial value rather than talent or humanity. This institutional prejudice is evident through
Betty Schaefer, who explains that she “didn’t have the looks” required for acting and was told to
undergo surgery on her nose. Through Betty’s accepting dialogue, Wilder exposes an industry
in which even a young and ambitious woman is encouraged to physically reconstruct herself to
conform to a profitable image. Her rejection despite altering her appearance underscores the
instability of Hollywood’s beauty standards, where individuals are pressured to sacrifice their
identity, yet are offered no guarantee of acceptance in return. Furthermore, Wilder exposes this
commodification through Norma’s assertion, “I am big. It’s the pictures that got small.” The
juxtaposition between “big” and “small” reveals Norma’s refusal to recognise that the film
industry no longer considers her image commercially desirable. However, the director suggests
his criticism towards Hollywood itself, as Norma’s delusion has been curated by an institution
that once celebrated her appearance before abandoning her as she aged. Her bitter observation
that “there just aren’t any faces like that anymore” reduces performers to their appearances,
reflecting how silent cinema transformed Hollywood actors into visual commodities rather than
valuing them as talented human beings. Through close-up shots of Norma’s dramatically
illuminated face, Wilder imitates the visual language of silent cinema while simultaneously
revealing its disturbing consequences. Her face appears theatrical and mask-like, suggesting
that the image Hollywood once glorified has replaced the authentic individual beneath it. Thus,
Wilder critiques an institution that elevates people as profitable images before discarding them
when their appearances no longer satisfy its commercial demands.
Concurrently, the director suggests that the glorification of idealised images prevents individuals
from accepting change, entrapping them within identities constructed from past success.
Norma’s inability to separate herself from her screen image is established when she delusionally
whispers, “No one ever leaves a star. That’s what makes one a star.” Her repetition of “star”
demonstrates that she does not understand fame as a temporary professional status, but as a
permanent identity that entitles her to admiration. Consequently, Joe’s desire to leave becomes
more than romantic rejection as it threatens the artificial image upon which Norma’s entire
sense of self demands. Wilder visually reinforces this entrapment through the mise-en-scène of
Norma’s mansion, which is crowded with photographs of her younger self. These images
surround Norma with idealised versions of her past, transforming her home into both a shrine
and a prison. Rather than preserving her identity, the photographs prevent her from developing
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: The depictions of insanity in Pat Barker’s…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 93.75%: Pat Barker's Regeneration argues, with only one important qualification, that what the novel diagnoses as…
Pat Barker's Regeneration argues, with only one important qualification, that what the novel diagnoses as insanity is overwhelmingly sane and logical when read as a response to war rather than a departure from reason. Symptoms like mutism, stammering, and hallucination are shown to follow a coherent internal logic tied directly to trauma, rather than being random malfunctions of the mind. Barker complicates a simple agreement with the prompt, however, by showing that the label of insanity itself is frequently deployed not as an accurate diagnosis but as an institutional tool, used to discredit conscience and reassert control over men whose bodies are, in fact, responding with perfect rationality to conditions no human psychology evolved to withstand. Ultimately, the novel suggests that the true irrationality lies not in its patients, but in the war and the systems built to manage its human cost.
Barker constructs the patients' symptoms as precise, comprehensible responses to specific traumas rather than arbitrary breakdowns of reason. Prior's mutism, for instance, is diagnosed by Rivers as growing out of "a conflict between wanting to say something, and knowing that if you do say it the consequences will be disastrous," so that his silence becomes the mind's rational solution to an impossible situation rather than a loss of coherent thought. Burns's inability to eat after being blown into a rotting corpse follows the same logic: his body's revulsion at the "taste and smell" of decomposing flesh is not madness but an entirely sane, protective refusal to ingest what nearly killed him. Even Rivers's diagnostic framework treats breakdown as "erosion," the slow accumulation of "weeks and months of stress," rather than a single inexplicable collapse, reinforcing that these responses are traceable, logical consequences of extreme circumstances. By giving each symptom this internal coherence, Barker asks the reader to see shell shock not as a mysterious descent into unreason, but as the psyche doing exactly what any rational system would do when faced with conditions it cannot otherwise survive.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “Then I’ll have to change too. I’ll prove…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 65%: Jane Harrison’s ‘Rainbow’s End’ explores the lives of three Indigenous Australian women from three different…
Jane Harrison’s ‘Rainbow’s End’ explores the lives of three Indigenous Australian women from three different generations, living on “the Flats” in 1950s Victoria. While the play suggests that the harsh and traumatic realities from systematic racism can cause incredible development, Harrison ultimately asserts how a more genuine, and transformative growth comes from deep compassion and empathy. By tracing the lives of the “Dear family”, and a white outsider “Errol”, Harrison demonstrates that empathy that is both for oneself and for others, is an essential catalyst into breaking the cycle between prejudice and injustice. While survival might be born of hardship, the play suggests that it is through compassion and connection, in which individuals truly find the agency to change themselves for the better.
In the play, Harrison suggests that while hardship forces survival and maturity, it is familial compassion that triggers genuine emotional growth. This forced hardship is demonstrated when Gladys is concerned about Dolly, hoping that “they won’t take her.” These feelings originate from Gladys being part of the ‘Stolen Generation’ herself, which imply how Gladys had been forced to mature early, as part of a survival mechanism from being taken away from her family. Furthermore, Harrison’s decision to use Nan Dear’s blunt and restrictive warnings to “keep away from them cork trees,” highlights the grandmother’s tough love, which stems from a protective compassion, born from her past trauma. Harrison uses the cork trees as a symbol representing the dangerous threshold of Dolly’s path to emotional growth; whereas Nan uses the cork trees as a site of trauma to be avoided, where it ultimately becomes the place where Dolly’s innocence is shattered. Although Dolly is stricken with fear about her future, it is ultimately her family that helps her through this experience. This proves that although Dolly’s harsh experience at the cork tree experiences triggered her maturity, it is the genuine familial compassion that ensures that this growth is of hope, rather than despair. Thus, Harrison suggests that while trauma may force an individual to grow, such growth only becomes genuine when there are people to support you.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Wesley is courageous, but his courage…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: Larry Watson’s retrospective novel, Montana 1948 elaborates the influencing factors that affect willingness to take…
Larry Watson’s retrospective novel, Montana 1948 elaborates the influencing factors that affect willingness to take action. The town of Bentrock plays host to Wesley Hayden’s reign as sheriff, as key patriarchal figures influence the importance of legal principle to protect their reputation. Watson presents this through Wesley attempts to act courageously whilst balancing family loyalty and duty as pressures of the Hayden name weigh tremendously on him forcing delayed justice. However, Watson suggests the postponement of Wesley’s actions was a result of his scepticism towards the truth as a result of the influence of his father. By contrasting Wesley’s actions with his family duties and responsibilities, Watson ultimately demonstrates how the postponement of courage comes at a high cost.
Wesley subconsciously strives for validation from Julian, as a result his ideals orbit those of family loyalty and legal duty. Watson emphasises this behaviour as an inability to act purely as a sheriff because what he believes is justice can’t be separated from his customs of family protection. Wesley becomes so obsessed with becoming the son Julian wants him to be, he merges his legal obligations and personal preference so that his identity becomes an amalgamation of Hayden protection. Gail’s attempt to separate his sheriff values away from his bias, is met with Wesley questioning who she is asking for: her “husband” or “sheriff”. As a result Wesley’s moral foundations become questioned to a point that his denial of Frank’s crimes morphs into a curiosity. Even so, his curiosity is no match to his internal commitment in protecting the Hayden reputation as Wesley scurries around the nature of Frank's crime. Watson highlights this through Wesley’s intent to conceal Frank’s sexual assault from the greater Bentrock community as he still dosen’t want “(it) all over town”. Watson ultimately develops the limiting effect of family values on the sheriff striving for father-son validation even though it delays his courage to reveal the truth as the protection of his father’s empirical Hayden reputation comes above all else.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: High Ground suggests there is no easy…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 65%: Conflict between colonists and the indigenous population of Australia has been ongoing since the first arrival of…
Conflict between colonists and the indigenous population of Australia has been ongoing since the first arrival of the settlers, wars over ownership of land, identity and culture have had an overarching effect on any chance of resolution . Set in 1919 Northern Australia amid widespread colonial violence and dispossession, Stephan Maxwell Johnson’s revisionist Western “High Ground" (2020), written by Witiyann Marika (has ancestral roots to the yolngu people) explores the devastating consequences of massacres , the loss of country, and cultural destruction. Stephan Johnson, establishes that whilst there might be no straight forward resolution to a conflict the real answer lies with acknowledging the past trauma inflicted upon the Indigenous community of Australia in order to reconcile with the past mistakes made. Johnson argues that different perspectives of justice prevent a resolution from being reached, which is further averted by the power imbalances between the settlers and Indigenous population. Although Johnson suggests that there is no easy resolution to conflict, He also emphasises the need to recognise the former history, and acknowledge the pain and suffering imposed on the Indigenous Community.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: To what extent is Twelfth Night a play…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 75%: In Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, deception is far more than a source of comedic intrigue; it is a pervasive force…
In Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, deception is far more than a source of comedic intrigue; it is a pervasive force that threatens the psychological and emotional integrity of the characters. While disguise and artifice are initially presented as methods of survival or play, the play reveals that these deceptions are inherently dangerous. By alienating characters from their true selves, fostering harmful illusions, and providing a vehicle for malicious cruelty, Shakespeare argues that the act of concealing the truth inevitably leads to suffering. Ultimately, Twelfth Night suggests that when characters trade reality for artifice, they construct a self-imposed prison from which only the truth can liberate them.
The most immediate danger of deception is the loss of one’s authentic self, a conflict most clearly embodied by Viola. Her adoption of the male persona, Cesario, is initially a strategy of necessity, yet it quickly becomes a form of self-inflicted imprisonment. As she confesses, "I am not what I am," she encapsulates the profound psychological fragmentation that comes with sustaining a lie. The danger here is not merely the deception of others, but the erosion of her own identity; her "Cesario" persona becomes so deeply ingrained that her true desires are stifled. By creating a barrier between her inner life and her external performance, Viola finds herself trapped in a cage of her own making, where the boundary between the mask and the woman becomes dangerously blurred.