VCE · Text Response
Text Response: "... but I wanted her to be unhappy,…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 100%: The 1962 American gothic novel “We Have Always Lived in the Castle” by Shirley Jackson explores the societal and…
The 1962 American gothic novel “We Have Always Lived in the Castle” by Shirley Jackson explores the societal and gender norms of mid century America through the lens of village life. The novel follows protagonist Mary Katherine (Merricat) Blackwood and her sister Constance Blackwood as they escape an androcentric world through self imposed isolation. Whilst Jackson develops the world of the novel as a ghastly reflection of mid-century American society, ultimately she asserts the power of hope and beauty in a culture of unabating cruelty. Jackson condemns the misogynistic nature of her own society whilst simultaneously emphasising the power of feminine strength in the face of oppression. In essence, Jackson creates a world of unrelenting cruelty in order to acknowledge the constant presence of hope in even the most severe of circumstances.
Critiquing the suffocatingly oppressive culture of 1960s America, Jackson denounces misogyny and the cruelty it presents. Utilising Charles Blackwood as a symbol of the patriarchy, Jackson characterises him as manipulative and grotesque. Initially “pleased to meet” his Uncle Julian, Charles' jovial manner fades when he realises the extent of Julian’s emasculation. Relying on Constance for his every need, Julian lacks autonomy as a result of his physical and mental impairments. Charles expresses little empathy for Julian’s ill health, and is in fact disturbed by his condition. As Julian becomes confused, Charles becomes angry, yelling at the elderly man and shaking “his finger” sparkling “with grease”. Jackson’s imagery paints an unflattering picture of Charles and more broadly the patriarchy itself, which reverts to conflict in the presence of atypicality. Thereby Jackson emphasises her distaste for the male supremacy prevalent in her own society. This is further pronounced through Jackson’s naming choices of male characters. Villagers Jim Donnell, Joe Dunham and Jim Clarke each have first names beginning with the same consonant. Thus, Jackson denotes their uniformity and mob mentality. Portraying the intimidation tactics enforced by men as a disturbing injustice, Jackson expresses the fear experienced by women in the presence of men. Despite there only being two men present, Jackson creates an unsettling atmosphere from the minute Jim Donnell and Joe Dunham enter Stella’s coffee shop. Sitting “as close to” Merricat “as he could”, Jim Donnell uses his larger body size to dominate Merricat and cause fear within a young woman. By stretching “his legs out” so Merricat cannot “get past him and outside”, Donnell literally restricts Merricat’s autonomy. Jackson uses this as a metaphor for the physical, financial and emotional control that she, and many women of her time experienced at the hands of men. Condemning this behaviour, Jackson celebrates the actions of Stella, who looks at Jim Donnell sternly, to which he responds by moving “his legs” to let Merricat “pass”. Thereby Jackson values female camaraderie as a means of subverting the patriarchy. Overall Jackson creates the world of the novel as a mirror of the cruel, patriarchal system that dominated her life as a woman in the 1960s.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Garcia Marquez encourage readers…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: Set amidst the turbulent violence of La Violencia, Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s post-modern novella Chronicle of a…
Set amidst the turbulent violence of La Violencia, Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s post-modern novella Chronicle of a Death Foretold offers a complex commentary on the social and cultural milieu of mid-twentieth-century Latin America. Through the novella’s postmodern and fragmented construction, Garcia Marquez explores how stories evolve into truth – critiquing the concept of absolute truth, and instead suggesting that truth is only partial. Garcia Marquez initially frames certainty as impossible, as he explores how truth is biased by the opinions and recollections of individuals – making use of the novella’s fragmented structure to in turn reveal how collective acceptance of stories transforms them into a false sense of truth.
Through initially presenting characters, dreams, and narration as paradoxical and uncertain, Garcia Marquez presents truth as unreliable, encouraging readers to not trust any perceived facts. From the outset, Garcia Marquez depicts Placida Linero as having a ‘well earned reputation as an accurate interpreter of … dreams’, yet immediately undermines this as she ‘hadn’t noticed any ominous imagery … preceding his death’ – foreshadowing that perceived certainty reveals nothing, and presenting any sense of authority or reliability as illusory. Furthering this, Garcia Marquez portrays the morning of Santiago Nasar’s death as ‘uncertain’ – ‘it was a very beautiful day’, yet ‘the weather was funeral’ – suggesting that no recollection of inherent truth can be trusted. Here, he repeatedly emphasises the nature of uncertainty, constructing the weather a symbol for the contradictory truth’s told by residents of the town. As such, Garcia Marquez criticises the nature of stories presented as truth – portraying the ‘chronicle’ investigation as an ironic subversion of how recounts are presented as truth. Hence, Garcia Marquez lays out to readers that the narration opposes absolute certainty, using biased and uncertain recounts – signifying how nothing can be trusted as a full truth, and truth from hereon out should be considered only partial.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: how is unchecked ambition the root of all…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: In William Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, ambition is presented as a powerful human desire that becomes destructive…
In William Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, ambition is presented as a powerful human desire that becomes destructive when it is no longer controlled by morality. Shakespeare does not suggest that ambition itself is necessarily evil. Instead, he explores what happens when the desire for power becomes more important than a person’s principles, relationships and sense of right and wrong. Macbeth begins the play as a loyal and respected soldier, but after encountering the witches, his desire to become king gradually takes control of him. His unchecked ambition causes him to sacrifice the peace and security that once gave his life meaning, abandon his moral principles and become increasingly vulnerable to manipulation. Through Macbeth’s downfall, Shakespeare reflects Jacobean concerns about the consequences of challenging the natural and political order, particularly through the murder of a king. Ultimately, Shakespeare demonstrates that when ambition is separated from morality, the pursuit of power does not lead to fulfilment, but instead creates the conditions for personal and social destruction.
Shakespeare first demonstrates the destructive nature of unchecked ambition through Macbeth’s sacrifice of his own peace and wellbeing. Throughout the play, sleep becomes a recurring motif representing innocence, peace and a clear conscience. Before murdering Duncan, Macbeth already understands the consequences of his actions, admitting that he has “no spur / To prick the sides of my intent, but only / Vaulting ambition.” The metaphor of “vaulting ambition” compares Macbeth’s desire for power to someone attempting to jump too high and consequently falling. This suggests that Macbeth recognises his ambition as excessive, yet chooses to pursue it anyway. Importantly, Shakespeare presents Macbeth as conscious of his moral conflict, meaning that his downfall is not simply caused by the witches or Lady Macbeth. He actively chooses to prioritise ambition over his own values. Immediately after murdering Duncan, Macbeth hears a voice cry, “Macbeth does murder sleep.” Through the personification of sleep, Shakespeare presents Macbeth as having destroyed something fundamental to human life. The verb “murder” links Macbeth’s psychological punishment directly to his physical crime, suggesting that in killing Duncan, he has also damaged himself. This becomes even more significant when Macbeth declares, “Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor / Shall sleep no more; Macbeth shall sleep no more.” The repetition of “sleep no more” emphasises that Macbeth’s pursuit of kingship has permanently removed his ability to experience peace. For a Jacobean audience, Macbeth’s inability to rest would reinforce the idea that violating the natural and moral order carries consequences. Shakespeare therefore exposes the irony of Macbeth’s ambition: although he believes becoming king will complete his life, achieving power actually deprives him of the peace necessary to enjoy it. His ambition has not fulfilled him; it has consumed him.
VCE · Language Analysis
Language Analysis: Analysing language only for the first…
VCE Language Analysis essay scoring 70%: Still Waters magnifies the harmful mental impacts of excessive screentime, positioning young adults and…
Still Waters magnifies the harmful mental impacts of excessive screentime, positioning young adults and teenagers who are addicted to reconsider their choices regarding screentime and the impact it may have on them. The meditation group begins by labelling the notifications received as “pings”, which implies that these notifications are small, unneccessary and insignificant things that have no real emotion or meaning behind them. This positions young adults and teenagers to detach a sense of worth from them and think of them as useless distractions, which therefore prompts them to ignore and eliminate these distractions from their day-to-day activities. Moreover, still waters describes screentime and excessive usage as an unneccessary way to damage their mental health, claiming that 80% of individuals are ‘overwhelmed’ by a ‘constant stream’ of content and notifications. This denotes that screen time usage is a major factor in the depreciation of mental health and that
VCE · Language Analysis
Language Analysis: Write an analysis of the ways in which…
VCE Language Analysis essay scoring 90%: Heated public discourse has ensued regarding whether there should be a date change for Australia Day,…
Heated public discourse has ensued regarding whether there should be a date change for Australia Day, especially due to the many political and ethical implications it is associated with. Prompted by the ongoing debate, Australian Catholic University lecturer Anthony Dillon’s opinion piece ‘Changing Australia Day is Pointless—and there is much to celebrate’ logically and analytically contends that Australia Day should not be restricted to a single, rigid purpose. Instead, the occasion can celebrate the nations achievements while acknowledging historical injustices. Published in The Conversation on January 25th 2017, the author appeals to socially curious students and professionals, positioning them to view the date as a multifaceted opportunity, rather than a divisive conflict with little nuance.
From the outset, the author argues that the date must be kept the same because it is a celebration of the nation we live in. Opening his speech with an appeal to national identity and shared experience, Dillon declares Australia Day is celebrated by many Australians with “food, fun, and laughter.” By specifically selecting the quantifier “most” when claiming that “this is a day most Aussies look forward to” Dillon strategically constructs a sense of consensus. This choice carries the connotation of a collective norm, effectively positioning the reader to feel that agreeing is the most normal Australian position. Simultaneously, this pressures opposing readers to align with his point of view to remain part of the majority. Dillon bolsters this with a strategic concession, claiming historical injustice is never “worthy of celebrating” to build significant rapport with the reader. This projects reasonableness by acknowledging the audience’s potential objections. Following this with clarification, that “thousands of others” celebrate for “quite a different reason”, the author strengthens their own argument by resisting scrutiny. The reader is more inclined to view Dillon’s subsequent rejection of the change as a well-reasoned, logical conclusion, rather than an act of dismissal. The source of division within this debate is exposed, as the writer asserts that Australia Day “does not have to be tied to historical events.” Dillon reframes the debate, weakening the basis of the opposition’s argument that relies on the ethical weight of the past. This incites the reader to believe that changing the date in a modern Australia is an overreaction, as the meaning of a date is subjective and cannot be predetermined by historical injustice. Thus, Dillon dismantles the opposition’s arguments and justifies the status quo.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: What were the social impacts of post…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: Apartheid made it incredibly difficult for black people in South Africa to access education. When transferring to…
Apartheid made it incredibly difficult for black people in South Africa to access education. When transferring to H.A Jack, a government school, in year 6, Noah comments on how the contrast between the black majority of the school and the white minority was almost immediate. He sees how the classes were broken up, with the advanced classes being majority white, and the lesser priority “Class B,” in which Noah was told that it would “hold him back”, was majority black. In this, Noah critiques the idea of an integrated division of future society, noticed so early on, and drives young Noah and, presumably, other young kids to redefine their natural human moral grounds for right and wrong, setting the standard that being white meant getting priority and that being black meant getting the leftovers. Furthermore, it could be inferred from the school being government-backed, suggesting that defining social standing by race was central to Apartheid policy. It can also be presumed that the
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ‘Medea’ explores the consequences of human…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 75%: In ‘Medea’, Euripides explores how abandoning moderation drives individuals towards destructive and disastrous…
In ‘Medea’, Euripides explores how abandoning moderation drives individuals towards destructive and disastrous actions. Set in an Ancient Greek society that valued sophrosyne, justice, and moral responsibility, the play judges the consequences of allowing emotion or reason to override moral judgment. Uncontrolled emotions such as grief and pride drive individuals to make impulsive decisions that lead to violence and tragedy. At the same time, Euripides shows that when logic lacks empathy or moral responsibilities it allows selfishness, betrayal and an abuse of power to succeed. Ultimately, he argues that only by balancing reason with compassion can individuals fulfill their moral duties and preserves the natural order.
Euripides explores that when uncontrolled emotions override reason, it leads individuals to irrational and destructive decisions. Within the world of Medea, the Greek ideal sophrosyne valued self-control and moderation as the pillars of a stable society, yet Euripides exposes that the men in the play fail to embody it. They hide their lack of honesty behind a fraudulent mask of logic, using it to frame their cruelty as rational behaviour. This is not the moderation they value but it is a tool used to silence women. When women are abandoned and lose their agency, the expectation of rational restraint becomes impossible. This is evident when the nurse describes how Medea has “no pleasure when she sees” her children and glares at them “like a bull,” while lying in grief with her “eyes fixed to the floor.” Offstage, consumed by rage and sorrow following Jason’s betrayal, Medea is constantly compared to a “lioness shielding her cubs.” This suggests that she is full of rage rather than being rational, foreshadowing the destructive consequences of her state. Through this recurring animal imagery, Euripides implies that overwhelming passion strips away reason and self-control, reducing even a clever woman to act on instinct rather than moral judgement. This is further supported during Medea’s internal conflict, as she goes back and forth between her love for the children and her overwhelming desire for revenge. Her momentary hesitation and plea to “spare the children” confirms that her maternal love and moral conscience still exist. By choosing to take revenge, she acknowledges that “angry passion [has] mastered [her].” She consciously allows her desire to triumph over reason. The Chorus repeatedly warns against violating the natural order and pleads with Medea to abandon her revenge. Ultimately, Euripides suggests that a society which denies women legal justice cannot expect them to remain calm. By forcing Medea into a position where she has no power, the play exposes that her violent instinct is a direct result of the system that demands her silence. He warns that when a society weaponizes reason to justify injustice, it creates a void where only vengeance can survive.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: To what extent do Chapters 8 & 9…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: In Shirley Jacksons We have always lived in the castle, societal order is shown to be an unstable creation that…
In Shirley Jacksons We have always lived in the castle, societal order is shown to be an unstable creation that when dissolved pressures lives into animalistic behaviours. Narrated by the unreliable Merricat Blackwood, and set in a patriarchal 1960’s America, the novel centres on isolation after a family poisoning, an event that leaves them targets of communal hatred and mob violence. This is demonstrated through the villagers' transformation from restrained onlookers into a violent mob, through the selective survival and destruction of objects within the Blackwood house, and through Merricat's own retreat into the rituals she once performed. Jackson suggests that civility is never more than a collective agreement, and that true order, for those targeted by society, can only be found once that society is left behind.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: This is my Family
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 77.5%: The suitcase was my grandfather's. Hard shelled, the colour of rust, with a dent on one corner from when my…
The suitcase was my grandfather's. Hard shelled, the colour of rust, with a dent on one corner from when my father dropped it off a train platform thirty years ago. Time had polished its scratches until they looked less like damage and more like a language only my family could read. Now it sat open on my floor like something waiting to be buried.
"Pack only what matters," my mother had said. As if that wasn't the cruelest instruction she could have given a fourteen year old. Adults always spoke about what mattered, then spent their lives leaving it behind.
I started with clothes because clothes didn't ask anything of me. They carried no memories, demanded no goodbyes. But then my hand found the ring, my great-grandfather's ring, too big for my finger, sitting at the bottom of my father's sock drawer where it always lived, and I sat on the floor holding it for ten minutes before I even understood why my chest had gone tight. It was absurd really; the ring couldn't have weighed more than a few grams, yet somehow it felt heavier than the suitcase beside me.
We were not visiting Australia. We were leaving, permanently, completely, the kind of leaving that doesn't come with a return ticket folded inside it. The kind that quietly divides your life into a before and an after. I never understood why adults were always willing to trade today for a tomorrow nobody had actually seen.
"This is the dream he wanted for us," my father said that night, watching me turn the ring in my fingers. "He crossed an ocean with nothing but this and a promise that his children would never have to want for anything again. Now we're crossing one too."
I had heard that story my whole life, told the same way every time, my great-grandfather as a poor boy turned visionary, the ring as proof that hunger could be turned into something solid if you wanted it badly enough. I used to love that story. That night, for the first time, it just made me angry.
"It's not fair," I said, the words finally cracking loose. "You didn't ask me. You just decided. You're taking everything, my friends, my school, my home, and you're calling it a gift."
I expected him to get angry back. Instead he sat down on the floor next to the suitcase, slowly, like his knees had aged ten years that week alone.
"You think this is hard for you," he said, not unkindly. "Let me tell you what is hard."
VCE · Language Analysis
Language Analysis: Analysing argument essay regarding…
VCE Language Analysis essay scoring 90%: In response to growing public concern about the role of artificial intelligence in education, Kylie…
In response to growing public concern about the role of artificial intelligence in education, Kylie Moore‑Gilbert, a research fellow and academic commentator, presents an opinion piece titled “AI has destroyed value of a degree.” She contends that generative AI is rapidly undermining academic integrity, enabling widespread cheating, and ultimately devaluing university qualifications. Writing for parents, educators, and the broader Australian public, Moore‑Gilbert aims to alert readers to the accelerating dangers AI poses to genuine learning and the credibility of higher education. Throughout the piece, she adopts a concerned yet increasingly urgent tone as her warnings intensify. To reinforce her argument, Moore‑Gilbert integrates two strategically chosen images: an early photograph of two girls casually using a laptop, suggesting how effortlessly students incorporate AI into their work, and a concluding dystopian illustration of a robot puppeteering a powerless human, visually exaggerating AI’s dominance. These contrasting visuals underscore her contention that AI is simultaneously normalised and overpowering, accelerating the collapse of academic integrity.
Initially, Moore‑Gilbert argues that AI has fundamentally altered education and diminished the value of pursuing a university degree. Opening with the personal anecdote that “My stepdaughter is in her final year of high school,” she personalises the issue, establishing credibility as both an academic and a concerned parental figure. By presenting the issue through a relatable family experience, readers are encouraged to view the problem as immediate and relevant to ordinary Australians. This argument is visually reinforced through the photograph of two girls gathered around a laptop, which normalises AI’s presence in everyday study. The relaxed posture and collaborative engagement depicted in the image embody the casual integration of AI into student life, prompting readers to recognise how deeply technology has embedded itself in academic routines. Furthermore, when she states that students are accumulating “tens of thousands of dollars of debt” only to be “graded on who can write the best AI prompts,” Moore‑Gilbert employs emotive language to portray higher education as increasingly meaningless. This encourages prospective students and parents to question whether university remains a worthwhile investment. Additionally, describing universities as engaging in “widespread, industrial‑scale fraud,” she uses hyperbolic and provocative language, shocking readers into reconsidering the legitimacy of modern higher education and encouraging them to perceive the issue as a systemic crisis rather than a minor educational concern.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ‘Medea’ explores the consequences of human…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 75%: Uncontrolled emotions can override reason, leading individuals to irrational and destructive decisions. Within the…
Uncontrolled emotions can override reason, leading individuals to irrational and destructive decisions. Within the world of Medea, the Greek ideal sophrosyne valued self-control and moderation as the pillars of a stable society, yet Euripides exposes that the men in the play fail to embody it. They hide their lack of honesty behind a fraudulent mask of logic, using it to frame their cruelty as rational behaviour. This is not the moderation they value but it is a tool used to silence women. When women are abandoned and lose their agency, the expectation of rational restraint becomes impossible. This is evident when the nurse describes how Medea has “no pleasure when she sees” her children and glares at them “like a bull,” while lying in grief with her “eyes fixed to the floor.” Offstage, consumed by rage and sorrow following Jason’s betrayal, Medea is constantly compared to a “lioness shielding her cubs.” This suggests that she is full of rage rather than being rational, foreshadowing the destructive consequences of
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Texts provide insights into complex…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: Introduction Repressive regimes seek to limit our collective and individual human experience through the…
Introduction
Repressive regimes seek to limit our collective and individual human experience through the corruption of our personal integrity by demanding conformity. However, when confronted with oppression, there is a need to resist for the sanctity of our autonomy, as a way to create meaningful social change. Arthur Miller's play, 'The Crucible' (1953), explores the importance of personal integrity, allegorically comparing the Communist paranoia of 1950s America with the superstitious hysteria of the 1690s Salem witch trials, dramatically representing John Proctor's tragic demise and emphasising the power of stories to both control people but also as a way to challenge oppression.
Body Paragraph 1
Achieving a holistic human experience requires cognitive and philosophical freedoms that allow for a just society. Conceived as a response to the contemporary concerns with McCarthyism, Miller's tragic play 'The Crucible,' is set in an antithetical society where conformity to theological beliefs limits personal freedom. Miller establishes his allegorical use of the tragic form in the narrative commentary, declaring that just as the people of Salem are to be pitied, so too "we shall be pitied someday", alluding to the existence of ideological repression in contemporary America. With no separation between church and state in Salem, the freedom of expression necessary for an authentic human experience is rendered impossible. Mary Warren's plea to Abigail to tell the truth about dancing in the forest, as she exclaims, "witchery's a hangin' error", but "one is only whipped for dancin'", positions us in a society reliant on fear of severe punishment to create conformity to its ruthless Puritan dogma. The overwhelming coercive influence of the church in Salem corrupts the individual integrity necessary for free thought and autonomy. Miller utilises the Christian symbolism of fire in Reverend Parris' simile, proclaiming that "there is either obedience or the church will burn like hell is burning", giving voice to the threat of eternal damnation used to eliminate conflicting beliefs and demanding conformity. In this way, Miller positions us in an unjust world where the repression of individual freedom inevitably leads to the corruption of personal integrity.
Body Paragraph 2
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ‘Punish me? You mean send me to bed…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: ‘Punish me? You mean send me to bed without my dinner?’ What role does punishment play throughout Shirley…
‘Punish me? You mean send me to bed without my dinner?’ What role does punishment play throughout Shirley Jackson’s ‘We Have Always Lived in the Castle’?
Shirley Jackson’s 1962 gothic novella, We Have Always lived in the Castle, punishment is structured as the mechanism through which patriarchal society enforces order, However, the novel suggests that punishment is not fixed to this singular function: the same structure used to oppress the sisters is also the means by which they seize power for themselves. Yet Jackson complicates this contention further, resisting the idea that punishment is simply a weapon which can change hands - the novel's ending does not resolve into the sisters "winning" the cycle of punishment, but escaping it entirely. Thus, she detaches lasting power from punishment altogether, locating it instead in immunity: a state the villagers can no longer touch, and one the narrative itself enforces by denying the reader any ground from which to judge Merricat. WHALITC therefore moves punishment through three functions in turn - oppression, empowerment, and finally irrelevance - to argue that true power is not won within a system of judgement, but achieved only once a person exists entirely outside its reach.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: The playwright, Jane Harrison, claims:…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: Aboriginal playwright, Jane Harrison, utilises her 1998 award-winning play, Stolen, to expose the complex racial…
Aboriginal playwright, Jane Harrison, utilises her 1998 award-winning play, Stolen, to expose the complex racial tensions and harrowing realities of the Stolen Generation during 19th century Australia. Though authoritarian structures are held accountable for their crimes against the stolen generation, Harrison's play is ultimately a celebration of understanding and acceptance, rather than an assertion of blame. Harrison begins by condemning the hypocritical authorities that borrowed cultural assimilation as an excuse for systemic oppression against First Nations people. However, the playwright also commemorates the strong personal connections held by the Stolen Generation despite decades of abuse. Ultimately, Harrison celebrates how Indigenous Australians used humour as a channel for personal acceptance, escaping a cycle of blame and hatred. Thus, Stolen greatly extends beyond simply asserting blame onto perpetrators, instead applauding a new culture of growth and maturity, and challenging traditional narratives about the experiences and journeys of the Stolen Generation.
Harrison begins by critiquing the hypocrisy of government, by exposing the promotion of cultural assimilation as a guise for systematic abuse. The play frames victims of the Stolen Generation as both physical and psychological refugees, enduring continuous pain and irreversible trauma onto young indigenous children. The ringing of the bell on stage acts as a cue for the children at Granby Children's home to begin a long shift of cleaning, becoming an auditory symbol of the oppressive system that the children are trapped within. Harrison foregrounds how this ringing sound effect erases the individuality of each child, reducing them to mere servants, and thus criticises the inhumane treatment of the Stolen Generations in an environment that was supposed to better integrate them into white society and support their wellbeing and childhood. Furthermore, Harrison reveals the irony of the assimilation policies for instead destroying social bonds and relationships of the Stolen Generation, rather than helping them create new ones in society. Ruby, an indigenous child who has experienced reoccurring abuse as a domestic in Caucasian families, is "[rocking] and muttering] to herself" as her family "awkwardly" try to bring her back home. This highlights Harrison's stage direction further how Ruby's mental awareness and presence was shattered as a result of the displacement caused by these assimilation policies, diminishing the moral righteousness of government of officials for regulating abuse against Indigenous people, which could lead to such permanent, irreversible consequences. Harbour utilises the mental and spiritual disconnection experienced by the Stolen Generation to remind the audience of the atrocities committed by supposedly righteous institutions.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: The playwright, Jane Harrison, claims:…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: The playwright, Jane Harrison, claims: 'Stolen is not about blame, it is about understanding and acceptance.'…
The playwright, Jane Harrison, claims: 'Stolen is not about blame, it is about understanding and acceptance.' Does the play support this view?
Aboriginal Australian playwright, Jane Harrison, utilises her 1998 award-winning play, Stolen, to expose the complex racial tensions and harrowing realities of the Stolen Generation during 19th century Australia. Though authoritarian structures are held accountable for their crimes against the stolen generation, Harrison's play is ultimately a celebration of understanding and acceptance, rather than an assertion of blame. Harrison begins by condemning the hypocritical authorities that borrowed cultural assimilation as an excuse for systemic oppression against First Nations people. However, the playwright also commemorates the strong personal connections held by the Stolen Generation despite decades of abuse. Ultimately, Harrison celebrates how Indigenous Australians used humour as a channel for personal acceptance, escaping a cycle of blame and hatred. Thus, Stolen greatly extends beyond simply asserting blame onto perpetrators, instead applauding a new culture of growth and maturity, and challenging traditional narratives about the experiences and journeys of the Stolen Generation.
Harrison begins by critiquing the hypocrisy of government, by exposing the promotion of cultural assimilation as a guise for systematic abuse. The play frames victims of the Stolen Generation as both physical and psychological refugees, enduring continuous pain and irreversible trauma onto young indigenous children. The ringing of the bell on stage acts as a cue for the children at Granby Children's home to begin a long shift of cleaning, becoming an auditory symbol of the oppressive system that the children are trapped within. Harrison foregrounds how this ringing sound effect erases the individuality of each child, reducing them to mere servants, and thus criticises the inhumane treatment of the Stolen Generations in an environment that was supposed to better integrate them into white society and support their wellbeing and childhood. Furthermore, Harrison reveals the irony of the assimilation policies for instead destroying social bonds and relationships of the Stolen Generation, rather than helping them create new ones in society. Ruby, an indigenous child who has experienced reoccurring abuse as a domestic in Caucasian families, is "[rocking] and muttering] to herself" as her family "awkwardly" try to bring her back home. This highlights Harrison's stage direction further how Ruby's mental
awareness and presence was shattered as a result of the displacement caused by these assimilation policies, diminishing the moral and righteous righteousness of government of Ulab for regulating abuse against Indigenous people, which could lead to such permanent, irreversible consequences. Harbour utilises the mental and spiritual disconnection experienced by the Stolen Generation to remind the audience of the atrocities committed by supposedly righteous institutions.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: To what extent is Oedipus the least…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: Sophocles' tragedy, Oedipus the King, sophisticatedly examines the human condition within a preordained world. Set…
Sophocles' tragedy, Oedipus the King, sophisticatedly examines the human condition within a preordained world. Set in the backdrop of 5th century BCE Athenian society, the play aligns with the ideology that human life is orchestrated by the Divine beings. Thus, Sophocles portrays the actions of Oedipus to be more reasonable in that his fated doom is the root cause whereas foil character Jocasta subtly acts unreasonably despite her minimal fated suffering. Yet, Oedipus becomes the least reasonable as his hubrisness and blindness consumes him from acting with moderation.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Wilder provides a critical commentary on…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: Shrouded in the ubiquitous phallocentrism of the post-war American Dream’, emigre Billy Wilder’s quintessentially…
Shrouded in the ubiquitous phallocentrism of the post-war American Dream’, emigre Billy Wilder’s quintessentially American film Sunset Boulevard ensnares an iconoclastic critique of omnipotent patriarchal control, as it renders the success of female stars as ephemeral. At its heart, the film weaponises meta-fiction to lampoon the hypocrisy of the partisanship imposed upon female Hollywood hopefuls and ageing stars by the dream factory, and further satirises this by giving the female characters of the film control and power over the men whether it be in the form of moral consciousness or material success and wealth. Thus, through Wilder’s oscillation between the vilification and moral glorification of female characters, the director constructs a diatribe against the pervasive age and gendered expectations of Hollywood.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does viewing Earth from space change…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: Harvey suggests that viewing Earth from space transforms the astronauts' perspective, allowing them to develop a…
Harvey suggests that viewing Earth from space transforms the astronauts' perspective, allowing them to develop a deeper understanding of themselves, humanity and the significance of their shared home. From the low-Earth orbit of the ISS, the astronauts' bodies wither as their own bodily dependence on Earth is revealed in its absence, where "legs are a thing of the past" and their muscles atrophy, they are reminded of their fragility. They feel this fragility not only physically but mentally, in their need for "Mother Earth" to nurture them, not as their home but also the thing that bore them into existence and nurtured them to life. It is in their shared love for Earth that the six astronauts of varying backgrounds are united as they "feel like children" to the Earth. Harvey continuously describes Earth as alive, vivid and bodily, and from space this can be seen in its entirety as the "planet sings with light", taking on an angelic and awe-inspiring presence. Yet, Harvey reminds readers again of the fragility of humanity as man-made climate change and "politics sculpted and shaped and left evidence of
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: "Travis has no sense of duty, no sense of…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: Stephen Johnson’s 2020 Australian film High Ground explores the theme of loyalty in different contexts. Set in 1919…
Stephen Johnson’s 2020 Australian film High Ground explores the theme of loyalty in different contexts. Set in 1919 and the 1930s during the frontier wars in Arnhem Land, Johnson uses characters like Moran, Travis, and Gutjuk to explore different perspectives of loyalty. Moran, a police superintendent, is undyingly loyal to the colonial system and believes that no matter the circumstances, authority should always be obeyed. Gutjuk, a young indigenous man who witnessed his family’s massacre when he was a boy, is loyal to his indigenous heritage and his surviving family, but also slowly begins to trust Travis, an ex-military sniper, throughout the course of their time together. And finally, Travis, an ex-sniper turned police officer upon the conclusion of the war, is loyal to his own morals and will always choose to do what he believes is right in the moment, decisions un-altered by anyone else’s judgment.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Born a Crime demonstrates that strength…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: In the autobiography Born a Crime, the author Trevor Noah explores his experience of growing up in a racist and…
In the autobiography Born a Crime, the author Trevor Noah explores his experience of growing up in a racist and segregated society, where race remained a factor in law enforcement even after the apartheid system had been officially dismantled. Travor Noah establishes within his memoir how the power of strength has the ability to take many forms to protect oneself, while also implementing the inability of one to hold the power to protect oneself even if that strength has the power to take many forms. Noah fights for his power even through the racism South Africa holds against him, through the suffering of poverty he faced growing up and how he found the power of language giving him the ability to overcome the separation the apartheid system tried to place over him due to the colour of his skin.
Noah initiates the idiocy of racism to express the strength he holds to power against those who believe they hold higher authority due to their colour of their skin, while also admitting the limitations he fell against due to his race. Noah attacks the idea of racism through insulting those who believe one race has more authority than another, the idea of racism being stupid as “it’s easily tricked” giving Noah the power against those who believe he is less due to him being coloured. Therefore, Noah uses the strength of humiliation to fight racism. Noah admits to him getting away with trouble as a kid due to his family having the inability to punish him, allowing him to take more strength through his grandmother not knowing “how to hit a white child” permitting him to have strength over his family being afraid that he is different than them. However, while he found the strength against those that see him as different, he is often excluded for “being too black”, not allowing that strength over those who saw him as different as he was not being given a chance to prove that he is not unlike. While Noah believed as a kid he could “mock the system” of racism the power others had over him did not allow him to hold the ability to prove his beliefs. Noah admitting early on, as hard as he can try to just be himself rather than either black or white “eventually life will force [one] to pick a side”, this pain taking away his strength, holding the inability to prove how his strength could take many different forms when one side is forcing it to be a one-way road.
VCE · Language Analysis
Language Analysis: I had to analyse an introduction for…
VCE Language Analysis essay scoring 70%: To open her opinion piece, Bennet declares that the current gambling reforms imposed by the Albanese government…
To open her opinion piece, Bennet declares that the current gambling reforms imposed by the Albanese government are important, but they lack the magnitude and substantial impact required for Australia’s level of loss. Bennet’s analogy of this ratio, “the equivalent of throwing a bucket of water onto a bushfire”, seeks to minimize the government’s reforms and show how much is really being done, to the audience. The use of “bushfire” signifies the widespread, unpredictability and chaotic nature of gambling throughout all of Australia, while “bucket” shows the lack of action toward the reforms and there minimal impact. Reading this, the audience may feel as though the reforms imposed by Labor and Albanese truly aren’t as impactful as they were made out to be. Following this, the revelation could cause distress and frustration throughout the readers toward Labor’s lack of urgency. Bennet also utilizes the metaphor, “there’s a casino in everyone’s pocket” to show the accessibility of modern day gambling and how the ease in it’s utilization aids Australia’s high gambling loss and addiction rates. The comparison of between something known for loss and widely regarded as somewhere to waste
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: The consequences of the first Arab -…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: The First Arab–Israeli War (1948–49) was a turning point in Middle Eastern history. Beginning after Israel…
The First Arab–Israeli War (1948–49) was a turning point in Middle Eastern history. Beginning after Israel declared independence on 14 May 1948, the war involved the invasion of Israel by Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. Although the fighting ended in 1949, its consequences shaped the political, territorial and humanitarian future of the region. The most significant consequences were the establishment and expansion of Israel, the displacement of Palestinians through the Nakba, and the continuation of the Arab–Israeli conflict due to the failure to achieve a lasting peace.
One of the most significant consequences of the war was the survival and territorial expansion of the State of Israel. Despite being a newly established nation, Israel successfully defended itself against the invading Arab armies through the effective organisation of the Haganah into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), strong military leadership, and the arrival of Czech weapons supplied with Soviet approval. By the end of the war, Israel controlled approximately 78% of the former British Mandate of Palestine, considerably more than the 55% allocated under the United Nations Partition Plan. At the same time, Jordan annexed the West Bank while Egypt occupied the Gaza Strip, meaning no independent Palestinian state was created. This victory secured Israel's existence as a sovereign nation and permanently altered the political map of the Middle East, while leaving unresolved territorial disputes that would contribute to future conflicts.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Stimulus 3 “[Playfulness is] not about…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 97.5%: Play on. I used to think the farm was the whole world, something I have spent the rest of my life trying to…
Play on.
I used to think the farm was the whole world, something I have spent the rest of my life trying to get back.
I’ll never forget soaring over the paddocks as our car sped along the gravel road, the dry river beds that were peppered with trees blurring into craters on a distant planet. In my head we weren’t driving, we were on a rocket ship, flying past asteroid belts and stars. There was a sudden jolt as the rocket crashed – a pothole. I rubbed my eyes and the toxic smell of rocket fuel left the tip of my nose, the galaxies I could almost touch faded away, as the green of the paddocks crept its way back into my vision.
I often catch myself thinking about it differently now, watching James stare out the car window as though the paddocks might still become something else. It is how we first learn the rules of the world while still remaining entirely ourselves.
Scrambling out of the car I craned my neck to take a good look at the castle. “Let the games begin,” I would say to myself. I shaped the castle so its towers stood firm and proud, its drawbridge like a mouth was closed up tight. I’d reach my hand out and place it on the beautiful limestone walls, the bumps getting stuck in the grooves of my little palms. I jerked my hand away as rust fragments scattered towards the ground, not a castle at all – just the corrugated iron walls of the shed.
The metal squeaked as I forced my way in; dust particles danced through the air, burning the surface of my eyes. The musty stench of the shed crept its way up my nose and forced a powdery cough out of me. I turned the corner and gasped when the dazzling sea of blue scales from my sleeping dragon revealed itself to me. The sounds of its snores made the walls of the shed rumble.
Every twist of the throttle fed it, and it answered with a furious snarl that tore the silence. It wasn’t a dragon at all, just my blue motorbike that my little legs were quickly outgrowing.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In Samantha Harvey's, Orbital, the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: Samantha Harvey's 2023 contemporary realist novel, Orbital analyses the influence of both predestination and choice…
Samantha Harvey's 2023 contemporary realist novel, Orbital analyses the influence of both predestination and choice in shaping the lives of individuals to a significant extent. Harvey conveys the impacts of fate in determining one’s future while uncovering the lack of choice people have over their own lives due to the power of external factors and its influence on life’s circumstances. Ultimately, Harvey examines the ability for destiny to shape a person’s lives, while uncovering the restriction caused by the lack of discretion.
Through the characterisation of the crewmembers, Harvey reveals how predestination and fate are able to manipulate the events of individuals' lives. Harvey’s implementation of a metaphor through the declaration that it was "written in the stars" for Anton to go to space, is used to convey the ability for fate to determine this would occur. The inescapable passion ignited as the consequence of fate in his life is explored, by showcasing his arrival to space and validating his sense of predetermination. Additionally, his positioning in space allows for the impacts of destiny to be enhanced and the influence of fate to be proven. Thus, Harvey’s illustration of the impacts of fate is conveyed through the events in Anton's life. Moreover, Harvey implements a hyperbole within the novel to highlight the substantial influences of fate, ultimately analysing how Roman had "decided to be a cosmonaut in the womb". This conveys how his fate had been determined at a young age, and led to a psychological drive within him allowing him to foster his admiration for space as a child and determine the trajectory of his life. Harvey emphasises the outcome that predestination played in the determination that Roman would go to space by framing how his role as a cosmonaut is the product of predetermination as opposed to active choice. Consequently, Harvey underscores the notion that the impacts of predestination lead to significant occurrences in individuals' lives.