VCE · Language Analysis
Language Analysis: Task: The Power Play Write a…
VCE Language Analysis essay scoring 72.5%: SIC -> The Lithium-Ion Paradox 12/03/2026 Lithium-ion batteries are the most common types batteries used in…
SIC -> The Lithium-Ion Paradox 12/03/2026
Lithium-ion batteries are the most common types batteries used in the world. However, for the production of lithium-ions batteries, cobalt is required. This is a prevalent issue for Australia because it lacks significant cobalt-reserves. To combat this problem, Australia should switch to cobalt-free batteries and instead implement lithium-iron-phosphate batteries.
Lithium-ion batteries operate through the movement of lithium ions between the anode and the cathode. When the battery is being used the lithium ions (Li+) move from the anode to the cathode through an electrolyte. While moving through the electrolyte, it releases electrons that power the device. In this battery, the cathode requires cobalt (Co), which provides thermal stability. It is used as it prevents thermal runaway. Thermal runaway is when an initial increase in temperature triggers a exothermic reaction which leads to an extreme increase in pressure and temperature. This can lead to fires, release of toxic gases, and explosions. Cobalt is used to prevent all of these.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: The Unseen Luggage
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 95%: The Unseen Luggage The 3 p.m. heat filled the air as laughter emerged from every corner. The smell of orange…
The Unseen Luggage
The 3 p.m. heat filled the air as laughter emerged from every corner. The smell of orange juice and smelly boys was pungent while the aroma of perfume fogged the atmosphere.
Paper planes of all kinds flew across the room, while tea parties took place with endless chatter. I forced my feet onto the glimmering plastic heels that barely fit, the edges pressing against my heel before clipping on the earrings. They were heavy, jeweled clusters that marked my ears red. Colourful eyeshadow palettes scattered among the floral plates that looked nothing like the ones on TV. We leaned against the canopy chairs, crossing our legs and straightening our backs, trying our best to talk like ‘grown ups’.
I gracefully wrapped my pinky around the teacup pretending to slurp on hot tea, knowing that caffeine was the one thing my mum would never let me touch.
She’d always tuck the jar away in the back of the cupboard behind the packets of tiny teddies and burger rings.
“You’re too young,” she'd say.
Shrugging at her remark, I’d secretly tiptoe my way to try the tea she’d serve guests, ignoring her sharp glances that pierced through my soul. The caramel colour perfectly captured my reflection as I dipped the honeycomb biscuit, determined to get each edge lathered in the bittersweet tea.
Sitting in the corner I gazed at the red lipstick left open on the counter as the half eaten biscuit in my hand submerged into the hot tea. Pulling my finger away from the sudden rush of heat, I envisioned myself with rows of lipsticks in my drawer beside piles of neatly organised makeup brushes. Kicking my feet against the thin air a small smile grew across my face as I counted down the years to come.
As I closed my eyes, the red marks on my earlobes faded into piercings, until the fake jeweled clusters were buried beneath boxes of old toys.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: issue: Racism
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 85%: 'Challenge and Change’ To my brothers and sisters, I come to you all today as someone who has been in your…
'Challenge and Change’
To my brothers and sisters, I come to you all today as someone who has been in your shoes, lived through your experiences, and faced the challenges you will inevitably come to face. However I am not here to cradle you.
I am here to remind you all of who you are. WAKE UP! For too long we have been complacent, and young black individuals are going under the radar in society. Gems are hidden in plain sight. I understand it’s difficult to make it under the system, it’s set against you, against me, and all of us African-Americans. We have to work twice as hard for half the applause. Yet all the same, I want each and every one of you to leave here with one thing. Challenge and change. Challenge the stereotype, change the narrative. Fight back against the ignorant racists, fight back against the white man who believes that you and I are uneducated, that we are dumb, that we are lesser than. Each of you are capable of being in those high status occupations, you just need to wake up every day and fight. For yourselves and your peers.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Trevor Noah’s memoir is as much as a…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: Trevor Noah’s memoir, Born a Crime, depicts a deeply personal and socially charged account of growing up in…
Trevor Noah’s memoir, Born a Crime, depicts a deeply personal and socially charged account of growing up in pre-apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa. Throughout the text, the two conflicting themes of tragedy and comedy are interwoven within anecdotal recounts. Noah exemplifies both themes in his writing, accentuating a required equilibrium to appropriately discuss the genuine atrocities, while ensuring that he is not simply defined by his tragic upbringing. Noah’s memoir intricately explores the relationship between tragedy and comedy highlighting how, while the pain of tragedy shouldn’t be dismissed, it should not bind who is today.
Noah recounts his childhood as a mixed kid in a segregated society, using humour to find belonging. Noah’s mixed blood defied apartheid’s “Immorality Act”, branding him as the evidence of his parent’s crime. This led to most of his early childhood being spent confined indoors, isolating him out of fear that his existence would lead to the capture of Patricia. This early isolation forced Noah to mature faster, learning that he “was good at being alone”. When children should be out socialising and playing, Noah was confined to a room, forced to adopt adult attitudes and adapt to experiences he shouldn’t have been exposed to. His retelling of his experiences as the “tuck-shop guy” at Sandringham however, illustrate that Noah refuses to let his loneliness as a child determine his identity today. Isolated further as the only mixed kid in highschool, Noah retells his anecdotes in humorous tones. Naming himself the “weed dealer”, Noah denies himself from remembering his past as the restrictive experience that it was, instead as comedic memories in which he can look back upon as entertaining. Noah’s upbringing was that of tragedy, yet he refuses to write it in that way, determined to not let it solely define his character.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Personal journey
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 87.5%: The Steam of Memory Pho absolutely represents a soul of Vietnamese’s culture. If you don’t accept it, even…
The Steam of Memory
Pho absolutely represents a soul of Vietnamese’s culture. If you don’t accept it, even you visit a thousand times to Vietnam, you will never and never understand the heart of Vietnam’s cultural identity. Pho is an unforgettable food with unique spices and an indescribable flavor. Any Vietnamese born adult exclaim” Oh my god! It’s so delicious” and I also think that’s the reason why a foreign food in a small country can sit comfortably in the Oxford dictionary and make people feel like that position belongs to it. Pho acts as a guard who witnesses the cycle of time over day, it wakes up from the early morning with the labor who in rush. It follows until nighttime when the worker has a supper and some chat after a hard-working day. Like red plastic chair text from Amy Duong, pho becomes an indispensable food and reinforces the value of Vietnam’s people.
Eating pho is also the best way to use our senses. It will act as a controller to direct our vision and smell and taste when we eat pho. If you only eat it by digesting the food through your mouth, so you are completely wrong, you need to eat by “eye”, “nose” then “mouth”. However, I also used to misunderstand the hidden concept of pho and didn’t respect that food. Up to here, I think most audience will wonder whether I’m a Vietnamese person or not. Although I born and lived in Vietnam for 15 years, I was actually never interested in pho. To be honest, I’m kind of a careless person so it’s hard for me to pick each vegetable stalk into the bowl , wait for it to cool down and then eat it. In the past, I thought this process was a waste of time.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: The Book thief Book Analysis
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: What is one of the ways in which Zusak’s choice of narrator adds to the novel’s effect on the reader? One way…
What is one of the ways in which Zusak’s choice of narrator adds to the novel’s effect on the
reader?
One way Markus Zusak’s choice of narrator enhances the novel’s emotional impact is through Death’s
ability to foreshadow events, creating a sense of tragic inevitability while encouraging an appreciation
of life. Instead of the typical cold ‘Grim Reaper’ character, Death is portrayed as exhausted, sarcastic,
and empathetic towards the souls he carries. As a being who foresees the future, Death often
foreshadows significant events before they happen, which removes traditional suspense and instead
replaces it with poignant tension, shifting the focus from what will happen to how it happens. This
encourages readers to appreciate the characters more, as they are aware of the ephemeral nature of
life. Early in the novel, Death bluntly states that Rudy Steiner will die; yet despite this, readers remain
driven to understand the cause of his death, as he ‘didn’t deserve to die the way he did,
’ maintaining a
sense of melancholic suspense and dramatic irony, as readers are aware of his fate while Rudy himself
remains oblivious. Additionally, Death foreshadows the bombing of Himmel Street throughout the
novel, using provocative imagery to subtly reveal that he will collect many souls from Liesel
Meminger’s neighbourhood. In the prologue, he describes the sky as ‘home-cooked red,
’ implying
that the bombing is the result of Germany’s own political decisions, suggesting that the violence is not
natural, but something constructed and sustained. The imagery of red—a primary colour of the Nazi
flag—represents the fire and bloodshed of Himmel Street, signifying the loss of many lives.
Ultimately, through the use of foreshadowing, Death is presented as a narrator who not only reveals
the inevitability of loss, but also challenges readers to recognise the complex nature of human
connection amidst times of suffering.
How does Zusak convey the joy of childhood in such a sad setting?
Zusak conveys the joy of childhood in The Book Thief through the contrast between innocence and
brutality, highlighting the resilience and ephemerality of youth. Throughout the novel, Liesel
Meminger and Rudy Steiner maintain a childlike spirit despite the continuous bomb threats on
Himmel Street, demonstrating how innocence persists even in dangerous circumstances. This
innocence is sharply contrasted with Max Vandenburg’s suffering, which intensifies the juxtaposition
between the carefree German children and the harsh realities of war, reminding readers that joy is both
fragile and precious. When Liesel sneaks snow into the basement for Max, the confined, fearful
setting juxtaposes the playful act of building a snowman. The snowman itself becomes a symbol of
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: They took the idols and smashed them." In…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 62.5%: In Sunset Boulevard, Billy Wilder exposes Hollywood as a space of macabre and dramatic decline, where the…
In Sunset Boulevard, Billy Wilder exposes Hollywood as a space of macabre and dramatic decline, where the ‘masterminds’ have taken the ‘idols and smashed them’. Opening with the macabre image of Joe's corpse, “the poor dope”, floating in a swimming pool, the film inverts the industry’s promise of prosperity and success. Drawing on the fatalism of film noir and the atmosphere of gothic horror, Wilder presents Hollywood as a self-destructive system that traps its icons in a “grim sunset castle,” discarding them once they cease to be profitable. At the same time, the film critiques a post war America where aspiration has mutated into a “wicked dream” that consumes the individual. Yet, Wilder does not present a completely hopeless vision. Through Betty Schaefer, he reveals that the desire to “write something that’ll say a little something” has not been completely wiped out by greed. In the end, he portrays Hollywood as a world of its own making, where the shattering of its own legacy is both unavoidable and heartbreakingly destructive.
Wilder’s cautionary tale exposes Hollywood as a space of macabre and dramatic decline, a cannibalistic machine that feeds on its own history. Through the noirish cinematography of the opening scene, where the anti-hero Joe Gillis is found “dead as a doornail” in a swimming pool, a macabre subversion of the pool as a symbol of the American Dream. The anti-hero protagonist Joe has achieved fame and fortune through a death that will be ‘distorted and blown out of proportion’ by the Paramount news reel cameras, his spectral presence and posthumous narration an ironic nod by Wilder to a hollow industry that feeds off its aspirants . Drawing on gothic horror, Wilder shows how Norma Desmond embodies the psychological ruin of this decline; she is an “old-time star ” trapped in a mise en scène of decay. Her crumbling mansion, a “big white elephant,” functions as a mausoleum to a dead era, lit with chiaroscuro lighting to suggest she is a ghost haunting her own life. Wilder reinforces this through a visual motif of confinement, using barred gates and shadowy interiors to reveal another: fame in Hollywood is not a reward; it is a high end prison. Meanwhile, the studio system, embodied by the crass Sheldrake and the callous Morino who pretend to be Joe’s friends, is shown to be mercilessly self destructive, treating writers as machines for the "popcorn business." By smashing artistic integrity for commercial gain, the industry ensures its own drastic downfall. Ultimately, Wilder portrays Hollywood as a distorted microcosm of its own making, uncovering the final when an industry smashes its superstars, it shatters its own soul, leaving behind nothing but spiritual emptiness.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Task Instructions Discuss the extent to…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: The motif of hope in both Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 play ‘A Raisin in the sun’ along with Daniel Petrie’s 1961 film…
The motif of hope in both Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 play ‘A Raisin in the sun’ along with Daniel Petrie’s 1961 film adaptation, is endorsed in that the Younger family’s new residence symbolises a belief in a better life despite the oppressive nature of lower class Chicago. Although both the play and film utilize different mediums of storytelling, both forms illustrate an emerging family dynamic as they embark on a collective journey towards upward mobility, alluding to the idea that hope is just a dream that must be imagined before its realised.
Due to a series of economic and cultural barriers - such as ticket prices and subject matter catered to White middle-class audiences - theatre as a medium for working-class people in the late 50s was inaccessible. By comparison, Hansberry’s play was able to reach a far wider audience in 1961 with Petrie’s adaptation, as cinema was by contrast far cheaper and situated in each neighbourhood of Chicago, meaning that Black and working-class families were able to integrate it into their everyday lives. Petrie was known to incorporate themes of emotional truth, internal conflict, moral tension and social consciousness in his films. His goal was to avoid turning A Raisin in the Sun into a ‘Hollywoodised’ version that diluted its seriousness, a transgressive position to take in the era of the Hollywood production code, which severely limited the political and confrontational content of a film. Additionally, the film was radical in that it focused on a Black family moving up into middle-class status, illustrating to the audience the complexity of the Younger family’s hope for a better life, and refusing to fall into stereotypes about a singular Black experience. As a result, a more nuanced representation of Black communities was able to infiltrate the literary and cinematic canon, and thus shaped perceptions in the real world.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: personal journey and identity
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 60%: The bus sighed as it pulled away, leaving a ribbon of dust curling behind it like a reluctant goodbye. I stood…
The bus sighed as it pulled away, leaving a ribbon of dust curling behind it like a reluctant goodbye. I stood alone at the edge of the unfamiliar town, my suitcase heavier than it should have been, not because of clothes but because of everything I hadn't yet figured out.
A crooked wooden sign read welcome to Greyhaven. The paint was peeling, as if even the town wasn't sure it wanted to be seen.
"That is it?" I muttered.
"This is always it," I answered myself, though the words felt borrowed.
The first few days passed like fog. Thick. Quiet. Directionless. I rented a small room above a bakery that smelled perpetually of cinnamon and brown sugar. Every morning, the scent curled through the floorboards, wrapping around me like a memory I couldn't quite place.
"You're new," the baker said on my third day. She had flour on her cheek like a careless badge of honor.
"Is that obvious?"
She smiled. "you look like someone waiting to leave."
"i'm not" I said too quickly.
"Good," she replied, handing me a warm loaf. "Then stay long enough to prove it"
At night, I wandered. Greyhaven wasn't large, but it stretched in unexpected ways, narrow alleys that opened into wide, empty fields, streets that curved back into themselves like questions without answers.
One evening, I found a lake.
It lay still, a sheet of dark glass reflecting a sky bruised with twilight. I crouched at the edge and saw my reflection ripple, unfamiliar.
"Who are you supposed to be?" I whispered.
The water didn't answer, but a voice behind me did.
"Someone figuring it out, I hope."
I turned. A boy - no, not a boy, maybe my age-
stood with his hands in his pockets.
"Do you always sneak up on people?" I asked.
"Only the ones talking to the lakes."
I almost smiled. "i'm just thinking"
"Dangerous habit."
"What about you?"
"I come here when I need things to be quiet," he said. "Name's Eli"
I hesitated. "I'm--"
But the name stuck in my throat. It felt wrong, like wearing someone else's coat.
"I'm still deciding" I finished.
Eli didn't laugh. "Fair enough."
Days turned into something more solid. I started helping at the bakery, kneading dough, shaping something with my hands even when my thoughts refused to take form.
"You're getting better," the baker said, watching me.
"At bread?"
"At staying"
I paused. 'I don't know if I belong here"
She wiped her hands on her apron. "Belonging isn't something you find. it's something you grow into"
"Like dough?"
She grinned. "Exactly like dough."
But growth isn't gentle.
One afternoon, a letter arrived. The handwriting was unmistakable - sharp, precise, like every word had been measured.
I didn't open it right away. Instead, I took it to the lake.
Eli was already there.
"Trouble?" he asked.
"History," I said, holding up the envelope.
"Same thing, sometimes"
I turned the envelope over in my hands. "If I don't it still says the same things"
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Title: Breaking Point Stimulus:…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 85%: Who are we if we do not persist? What is living, if not trying? Would you stay calm in a crisis if no one was…
Who are we if we do not persist?
What is living, if not trying?
Would you stay calm in a crisis if no one was watching?
Or put on a brave face, just for yourself?
We perform courage, bravery, ambition, and purpose. Yet deep down we are taught to suppress our fears, conceal our failures and reshape our identities. All our lives, we are told, pressure doesn’t create crisis. It reveals what was already there. It is not just a stage; it’s a rehearsal room, a mask waiting to expose who is hiding underneath.
When the moment for the biggest stage arrives, we tell everyone we have rehearsed. We eat and grow so our parents feel fulfilled. We study and work to contribute to society. We make sacrifices so others do not have to. Not just for applause, but for approval, for survival, because deep down we really do care.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: 'The caterpillar transforms without…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 77.5%: Chameleon – In the sombreness of the primary school playground, she stood out like an orchid in a meadow of…
Chameleon –
In the sombreness of the primary school playground, she stood out like an orchid in a meadow of daises. The laughter of fair faces echoed around her, and her brown skin seemed to fade like a shadow amidst the sunlight. As her unruly curls danced in the wind, she watched her classmates play, their blonde, straight locks, swaying with every moment. She couldn’t help but wonder, ‘why can’t my hair be like theirs?’ As time passed, she began to change the food she brought to school, trading her homemade meals of rice and egg curry for a vegemite sandwich, that she loathed the taste of. A lunchbox, once a symbol of her cultural heritage, become a battleground where she sacrificed authenticity for fleeting acceptance.
In the classroom, she observed how her classmates interacted, their easy conversation and shared experiences. She listened intently to their conversations, noting the way the words rolled off their tongues with a distinct twang. They greeted each other with a cheerful ‘G’day’ and asked ‘how ya going?’ She began to mimic them, practicing the pronunciation of every word in front of the mirror each night. But she stumbled over the strange words and sounds that she never heard at home. She felt like an imposter, like a puppeteer controlling their voice in a never-ending performance. During recess, they played games of netball and footy, and sang unknown nursery rhymes, activities she had never known. She longed to join in, to be a part of their world but she felt like an outsider with no place. In this innocent phase of life, the seeds of assimilation were unknowingly planted and her struggles of identity began to take root.
Metamorphosis –
As she traversed the bustling hallways of high school, she instantly felt a difference between her and the other students. In a sea of similarity, her caramel skin and large hair were abnormal, drawing unwanted attention from her peers. Determined to carve a place in the contours of high school, she embarked on a journey of transformation. She started to change her appearance, the hair straightener became a tool of conformity. She traded her modest attire for revealing clothing, and her makeup became more dramatic with each day passed. She even adopted her friend’s reckless and carefree attitudes, neglecting hard work and education, and her other values, just to fit in. The movies she watched, the food she ate, the songs she listened to, transformed, slowly aligning more and more with the Australian lifestyle.
‘Why was I doing this? Would this make me happy?’
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Who I really am
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 87.5%: I stood dead straight at the gates of Karan College, my flaky hands gripping the backpack straps as voices…
I stood dead straight at the gates of Karan College, my flaky hands gripping the backpack straps as voices scattered through my ears. Stepping through the gates made me feel a sudden sense of dread, this didn’t feel like school. Laughter bounced off classroom walls, but none of it felt meant for me. I walked through the courtyard, seeing that it was smaller than my old school. Trees stacked beside like sentinels, offering shade but no comfort. Within minutes, Karan college started to get louder - quick glances, quiet whispers and I was jostled around like a toy. The walls weren’t naked, appealing inappropriate drawing words that made the place rough. Dust hung in the air, it smelt different, it didn’t want me.
“Nerd!”
It didn’t take long for that word to spill out. My glasses, my slouched posture and the way I looked – it was all they needed. The label followed me through classrooms and corridors and even slipping into conversations beside me. My tongue felt sour and dry, feeling a knot of anxiety when peers stared at me. I felt smaller than the others, butterflies ran through my stomach. My doubts lingered quietly, knowing my déjà vu will happen again. THUD! A scrambled paper ball was thrown at me, something inside it felt weird. I didn’t pick it up; it was war for me.
*
It wasn’t always like this. At my old school, being quiet didn’t make me the target, it just made me lonely in a different way. No one wanted to talk to me, besides the nerds. Everyone wanted to talk to me if they needed answers. I was just a weapon. But here, I felt agonized, and silence here is different. I wasn’t going to be an academic weapon again, but I was going to be a punching bag.
*
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: We Have Always Lived in the Castle…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 60%: Shirley Jackson's gothic novel, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, presents isolation from society as both a means…
Shirley Jackson's gothic novel, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, presents isolation from society as both a means of survival and internal decay. Jackson highlights the need for comfort and safety through the hostile behaviour of the villagers, but argues that the same protection can become destabilising internally. Through the mannerisms of the Blackwoods and the events taking place as a result of isolation, Jackson questions whether isolation truly protects, or destroys.
Jackson argues a need for isolation through the hostility of the villagers. In a society which outcasts and has "always hated" the Blackwoods, Merricat and Constance isolate themselves to protect themselves from the outsiders. Their home becomes a refuge, the fence surrounding it guarding them. The hostility of the villagers is emphasised further through the childish nursery rhyme - "Merricat, said Constance, would you like a cup of tea?" - which reduces the trauma of the Blackwoods into communal entertainment, strengthening the necessity to sever their connection with the outsiders. By demonstrating the cruelty and distate held by the villagers, Jackson exposes the danger in coexistance with a society by which the sisters have been ostracised.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: How play evolves through life
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 72.5%: Every night at 10pm, my sister and I would have secret meetings with our stuffed toys, which seven-year-old…
Every night at 10pm, my sister and I would have secret meetings with our stuffed toys, which seven-year-old me would swear up and down were real. While I can confidently say that at 17, we no longer do this, I have found other ways to find play in my life. Play is often seen as something we grow out of, something that leaves us as soon as we get to a certain age. However, in reality, it never actually disappears. We just get older and the free, creative play we had when we were young becomes structured, influenced by social norms or responsibilities. But with all these changes, no matter how hard it is to hold close, play is waiting to be found, somewhere in your life.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: conflict of values
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 75%: Rain banged against the roof in a steady, insistent rhythm. The windshield wipers carved lines through the…
Rain banged against the roof in a steady, insistent rhythm. The windshield wipers carved lines through the water, leaving streaks of neon red. The heater hummed quietly, warm but not enough to chase away the tension in the car. I sat in the passenger seat, fingers pressed together in my lap, tracing invisible circles over the fabric of my jeans. Every sound seemed amplified, the tapping of rain, the hum of the engine, the croaks of thunder.
Dad: “ So… you like that kpop group right?”
Me: “Newjeans? Yeah”
Dad: Pause. His voice soft, deliberate. “Do you… like the lyrics, or… the girls?”
I blinked. I already knew where this was heading, but I kept my tone light, careful.
Me: “…I like both.” A shrug. Casual, or as close to casual as I could manage.
Dad: Exhaled slowly… fingers drumming against the steering wheel, “Yeah… I thought so”. Eyes stuck on the road.
Silence ensued. My fingers twitched in my lap. Neon streaks slid across the dashboard, painting the interior in pale yellow. The rain smacked against the glass in slow, irregular bursts, each one echoing in the small space between us.
Dad: “…Do you… think about the girls differently than the lyrics?”
Me: “Well…not really. I just… like their songs.”
Dad: His voice slowed, careful, weighted, almost like each word might shatter something fragile. “You don't like them because… I don’t know… you’re curious about… yourself, right?”
My chest coiled as the pressure of my next response weighed on me. He wasn’t asking about music. He was feeling for something bigger. Something he feared, but didn’t say out loud.
Me:“I… like music. That’s it.” Soft, yet only half the truth.
Dad: He exhaled. The air seemed heavier between us. His gaze flicked briefly to me, then back to the road. “And you… you’re sure you don’t… like… boys?”
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: conflict of values
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 75%: Rain banged against the roof in a steady, insistent rhythm. The windshield wipers carved lines through the…
Rain banged against the roof in a steady, insistent rhythm. The windshield wipers carved lines through the water, leaving streaks of neon red. The heater hummed quietly, warm but not enough to chase away the tension in the car. I sat in the passenger seat, fingers pressed together in my lap, tracing invisible circles over the fabric of my jeans. Every sound seemed amplified, the tapping of rain, the hum of the engine, the croaks of thunder.
Dad: “ So… you like that kpop group right?”
Me: “Newjeans? Yeah”
Dad: Pause. His voice soft, deliberate. “Do you… like the lyrics, or… the girls?”
I blinked. I already knew where this was heading, but I kept my tone light, careful.
Me: “…I like both.” A shrug. Casual, or as close to casual as I could manage.
Dad: Exhaled slowly… fingers drumming against the steering wheel, “Yeah… I thought so”. Eyes stuck on the road.
Silence ensued. My fingers twitched in my lap. Neon streaks slid across the dashboard, painting the interior in pale yellow. The rain smacked against the glass in slow, irregular bursts, each one echoing in the small space between us.
Dad: “…Do you… think about the girls differently than the lyrics?”
Me: “…Not really. I just… like their songs.”
Dad: His voice slowed, careful, weighted, almost like each word might shatter something fragile. “You don't like them because… I don’t know… you’re curious about… yourself, right?”
My chest wound as the pressure of my next response weighed on me. He wasn’t asking about music. He was feeling for something bigger. Something he feared, but didn’t say out loud.
Me:“I… like music. That’s it.” Soft, yet only half the truth.
Dad: He exhaled. The air seemed heavier between us. His gaze flicked briefly to me, then back to the road. “And you… you’re sure you don’t… like… boys?”
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Title: Hear My Cry Passage: A free…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 62.5%: Hear My Cries Today I am more than grateful to be standing here and accepting this award in a room filled…
Hear My Cries
Today I am more than grateful to be standing here and accepting this award in a room filled with people who believe in musical expression and creativity. I too, have believed in articulating myself in my art. However, my heart can’t help but feel vexation and disappointment. Because whilst we are here, sipping our fancy champagne and snacking from our cheeseboards, hundreds of immigrants who rightfully earned the right to be here, are being arrested by so-called ‘law enforcement’.
Families are separated.
Children are scared.
On March 12 2025, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a father of 3 who has lived here for over a decade, was detained while picking up his kids. The justification for this was later provided that he was ‘gang affiliated’. Along with that, the president himself showed an image of a tattoo on his knuckle with the word ‘MS-13', which any person in this digital age could tell was added on.
More recently, ICE detained a 5 year old.
That’s right.
You heard me right.
A 5 year-old detained like a criminal in broad daylight. Teachers are left anxious and confused on how to explain it to his classmates. ICE even used the child as ‘bait’ to lure out his mother and family.
Furthermore, every new source that has reported views on the situation opposing the President’s around the country are being dismissed and labeled ‘fake news’ by the President. Of course they are. Because nothing beats the reliability of our good ol’ president.
All the news I see. Every headline. It’s always ‘man resisting arrest’, ‘100 illegal immigrants deported in a raid’. It’s never ‘ICE agents shot and killed an unarmed man’, never ‘ICE violating the constitution by arresting without due process’.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: 'How do you get them to be better than…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 75%: Clint Eastwood’s film Invictus reveals the challenges of transforming the nation of South Africa, wrought with…
Clint Eastwood’s film Invictus reveals the challenges of transforming the nation of South Africa, wrought with division and stagnant segregation which prevent it from changing, to a nation that celebrates its identity with a great sense of pride by exploring themes of leadership. Eastwood suggests that the revolution that South Africa thirsts for, is a change that can only be brought about by progressive leadership and a universal effort from its leaders to improve and collaborate. The symbiotic relationship between Mandela and Francois becomes evident as they both desire to achieve “great change” by shifting their sight towards visions of unity and forgiveness. The film explores themes of division and racial segregation by demonstrating the devastating effects of Apartheid as a result of unstable leadership, further developing the theme of progression and constructing ideas of unanimity in coaction by demonstrating how they work alongside each other to achieve greatness for their nation.
Initially, Eastwood reveals that neither the Springboks nor South Africa had achieved “great change” until the foundation laid by the “great leadership” of Mandela and Francois. The opening scenes highlight the discord and violence between white and black South Africans at that time. These scenes of conflict include flames, death and destruction, which further disorient the viewer through the use of handheld cameras. This filming technique is vital in creating point of view shots perfectly conveying the extent of violence and chaos. Another example of this theme in the film is the scenes portraying the lack of leadership by white, biased leaders being directly compared to the forward-thinking presidential acts of Mandela. This displays not only their contrasting political views and ideals but also how the division of leadership previously has led to the division in society presently evident in the film. This provides deeper insight into how leadership influences social transformation by proving that without Mandela’s revolutionary direction, no change could be achieved and South Africa was left in a state of division so deep, it seemed no one could lead them forthwith to unity.
Eastwood wants the audience to see that both Mandela and Francois can learn from each other. He is making a direct parallel between the leadersip abilities of the prime minister with that of the rugby team captain. In the scene where Mandela and Francois meet over tea, Mandela asks Francois how he gets his rugby team “to be better than they think they can be”. Using the team as a figurative analogy for all of the South Africa, this moment helps convey Mandela’s deep longing to ameliorate the condition of all his countrymen of all colour and race.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: 'Survival is insufficient.' To what extent…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 60%: THIS IS AN INTRO + BP * Within the post-apocalyptic world of Station Eleven, written by Canadian author Emily St.…
THIS IS AN INTRO + BP *
Within the post-apocalyptic world of Station Eleven, written by Canadian author Emily St. John Mandel, the non-linear text explores how art and beauty sustain civilisation. The Georgia Flu acts as a catalyst for change, in which a flawed civilisation crumbles under pressure. Mandel illustrates the significance of individual's passions in establishing community, within an anarchic society. However, Mandel emphasises the importance of art in depicting moral values, as civilisations are formed upon ethics. In addition, the author emphasises how art provides unification between fragmented communities to create a new world. Ultimately, Mandel ascertains to the reader the importance of creativity and wonder in establishing society after destruction.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: The film Invictus prompts us to reflect on…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 65%: The 2009 film Invictus directed by Clint Eastwood explores how forgiveness impacts society in South Africa post…
The 2009 film Invictus directed by Clint Eastwood explores how forgiveness impacts society in South Africa post apartheid. Invictus helps to look back on how anger, accusations and consequences are not as strong as forgiveness. While anger stops people from moving forward, forgiveness is the driving change. Similarly blame can divide a nation while forgiveness can bring people together. Finally, Invictus makes the point that long lasting conflict can be repaired through forgiveness.
Holding onto anger keeps people stuck in the past, while forgiveness helps them move forward together. Invictus helps to prove that frustration is not the answer for uniting a society. Eastwood illustrates the immense power of forgiveness by framing Mandela as a strong leader who prioritises compassion in order to make sure that the rainbow nation starts anew. This reinforces the idea that South Africa is a divided nation that Mandela is dedicated to uniting. Furthermore, Eastwood conveys that choosing to hold onto the past cannot let a divided nation forgive through the use of a close up shot of Mandela stating "Reconciliation starts here" This moment reveals that Mandela's leadership style by example to achieve a cohesive society. This links back to the idea that for a community to move into the future with compassion they have to let go of anger from the past.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Boarders “Boarders protect; Boarders…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 70%: [Loud Chatter] Amor can you please turn the air conditioning on. You just have to kick it a bit and it will…
[Loud Chatter]
Amor can you please turn the air conditioning on. You just have to kick it a bit and it will turn on. Perfect ok thankyou.
Please everyone sit, we’ve been standing in the heat long enough.
I know we all have stores to open, kitchens to run, and customers to satisfy, so I thank you for accepting my invitation to gather here today. As you all may know my name is Oscar Martinez and the owner of Buena Vida one of the oldest family restaurants founded here by my grandparents and carried through generations in the Old City of Cartagena. For over twenty years, I have served the people of Cartagena with my wife, and for even longer, I have watched this city through the eyes of those who built their lives within it. And in that time, I have come to understand two things. Firstly, that you, each of you, are the veins that holds the heart of this city together. You do not simply work within Cartagena; you’ve built it. Its history, its culture, its memory lives in what you do every day. You can transport an Abuelita back to her youth through a single sip of aguapanela with lemon at Alberto’s Bar, you can bring a family back to itself through something as simple as a shared table, through a bowl of fish and plantain passed between generations, where stories are told the same way they have always been.
But secondly, and this is why I have asked you here today, I have watched that same heart begin to strain.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: The memory police is more about resistance…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 65%: In Yōko Ogawa's novel, The Memory Police, the author depicts an island where objects disappear and, soon after, the…
In Yōko Ogawa's novel, The Memory Police, the author depicts an island where objects disappear and, soon after, the memories and meaning attached to them fade as well. The Memory Police reinforce each disappearance by removing traces and punishing those who do not forget, creating a society shaped by fear and erasure. However, the novel does not only document control. Ogawa repeatedly foregrounds quiet resistance through storytelling, deliberate attention to memory, and human connection, suggesting that meaning can still be protected even when the world is being emptied. To a significant extent, The Memory Police is more about resistance than control, although control remains the constant pressure that makes resistance fragile, compromised, and necessary.
Ogawa presents storytelling as resistance because language can preserve meaning even when the Memory Police try to make objects disappear completely. During the book-burning, a woman being dragged away defies the Memory Police when she cries, “No one can erase the stories! ”, calling out and refusing the regime’s deepest goal to wipe out all fragments of a disappearance. Burning books means much more than burning paper and what it contains. It means an attempt to burn away memories, identities and histories. By insisting stories cannot be "erase[d]", she exposes a limit to authoritarian power because meaning can still move between people even when objects are destroyed. Ogawa then shows how fear rewires the public response to defiance, as the narrator’s whispers, “Do you think she’s mad?", which turns resistance into something that looks irrational and unsafe. The narrator 'whisper[ing]' reveals how control shrinks language into secrecy, making people doubt the legitimacy of their own instincts. The narrator's question, "And what will happen if words disappear?" suggests that the island is losing not just objects but also the capacity to name anything at all, making the threat feel even more complete. Even so, the narrator keeps writing in a world built to empty itself, and the impulse behind that persistence is captured in the idea that when “the surface of your soul begins to stir", you want to “capture the sensation in writing". In other words, storytelling becomes a subtle refusal to allow disappearance to limit what can be felt, recalled, or understood.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: 'The time has come for you to be tamed'.…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: In Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriele Garcia Marquez, he portrays a society where women are systematically…
In Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriele Garcia Marquez, he portrays a society where women are systematically ‘tamed’ by patriarchal codes. However, he also demonstrates that they assert subtle yet significant agency that ultimately shapes the narrative. Set within a conservative, honour-bound Latin American community, the novella reflects a social order governed by expectation surrounding gender, sexuality and reputation. Within these restrictions, female autonomy is limited by social pressures that strip women of power. Yet Marquez complicates this oppression by showing how speech and word are form of agency for women in the novella, and additionally demonstrates how maternal protective intentions which drive the narrative serve to illustrate women’s power, ultimately suggesting that women have agency and power within that system.
Marquez presents a society in which women’s autonomy is constrained by entrenched patriarchal codes that dictate their behaviour and roles. For example, Santiago’s diatribe towards Divina Flor that ‘the time has come for you to be tamed’, showcases the power discrepancy between men and young women. Marquez employs the word ‘tamed’ to liken Divina to a wild animal that can be domesticated by Santiago, highlighting her lack of power in the community. Also, her reaction is crucial; she feels fear and disgust but doesn’t resist openly. This reflects a cycle where women are consistently denied agency of their own futures, and where such male exploitation is normalised. Through this notion, Marquez reinforces that the women in the novella are systematically oppressed by these normalised patriarchal codes. Furthermore, Angela Vicario’s forced marriage to Bayardo San Roman highlights how limited female autonomy is in the novella. According to the narrator it was ‘imposed on her the obligation to marry a man whom she had barely seen’ where Márquez’ deliberate use of ‘obligation’ in describing the marriage showcases the cultural expectations of the era. Women are ‘obliged’ to marry men as an act of status rather than love or an emotional bond, and hence are treated as a commodity for trade between families. This demonstrates the denial of personal freedom experience by the women of the culture and how patriarchal codes form the basis of female oppression in the conservative community.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: how changing form can effect…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 60%: In both Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s 1862 novel Lady Audley’s Secret and Betsan Morris Evans’ 2000 film adaptation, the…
In both Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s 1862 novel Lady Audley’s Secret and Betsan Morris Evans’ 2000 film adaptation, the arson sequence centring on Lady Audley’s attempt to burn down the inn where Robert Audley resides functions as the pivotal moment of psychological exposure in both texts. Each creator employs the conventions of the same central ideas, the instability concealed beneath a composed exterior, and the moral ambiguity that defines sensation fiction. Braddon constructs Lady Audley’s duality through deliberate narrative pacing, symbolic imagery and dialogue, creating suspense in the slow accumulation of textual detail. Evans, by contrast, externalises that interiority through visual and auditory techniques, close-up cinematography, lighting, and diegetic sound to create immediacy and position the audience’s interpretation of Lady Audley’s psychological state. While both texts ultimately argue that Lady Audley’s calculated manipulation is a product of the intersection between Victorian anxieties surrounding female instability, the adaptation’s exclusion of Phoebe fundamentally shifts the moral framework of the event, rendering Lady Audley more isolated and her transgression more legible as individual madness than as a response to systemic constraint.
Throughout the novel it uses imagery, setting and symbolism to place an audience in interpreting the storyline in a specific way. The passage using descriptive narration and usual dialogue to provoke internal thoughts and foreshadowing of the event. The description of Lady Audley setting fire to the inn creates suspense, “she was obliged to place the flaming tallow candle very close to the lace curtains about the glass,” that “the stifled muslin seemed to draw the flame towards it.” The language personifies the fabric, suggesting an inevitable attraction of the muslin and flame. The symbolic imagery implying a thought-out intentional plan that was devised to occur, illuminating a sense of Lady Audley’s identity along with the muslin and flame, both symbolising being reactive and easy to ignite. The novel uses terms such as “sardonic smile” and being “impelled by some horrible demoniac force” creates a deeper meaning to Lady Audley’s aristocratic and delicate facade. In this passage in the novel Braddon reinforces the dual nature of Lady Audley by portraying her as polite and elegant, being considerate and moral however juxtaposing with this later in the passage through her actions, language and interactions, such as with Phoebe accusing her of having ill intention when coming to the inn. This is evident when Phoebe says, “I think that you went to that place tonight to set fire to it,” and in response Lady Audley calls her a “madwoman,” articulating suspense and the accusation foreshadowing the control and manipulation she has over people. The novel creates a slow depiction of this event, with Phoebe’s accusation scaring and angering Lady Audley for she has been caught out and her falsified self being revealed, the accusation frightens and angers Lady Audley precisely because her falsified self has been witnessed, a slow, measured unravelling that is characteristic of Braddon’s narrative technique of developing tension through slow measured pacing and foreshadowing.