VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: A written piece exploring the…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 82.5%: Title: The Scent of Cardamom I’ve never liked the smell of cardamom. It reminds me of my grandmother’s…
Title: The Scent of Cardamom
I’ve never liked the smell of cardamom.
It reminds me of my grandmother’s kitchen in Kochi—the way it clung to her saree, the way it seeped into the wooden cabinets, the way it marked time in our family like a stubborn, fragrant ghost. For years, I ran from it. I packed my bags for Melbourne and left that scent behind like a forgotten prayer.
But then I met you.
And you smelled like rain.
*
The first time I saw you, you were standing under the awning outside the State Library, trying to shield yourself from a downpour you hadn’t anticipated. I was holding a takeaway cup of chai, the cardamom brewing inside it like a memory I couldn’t shake. You looked at me, then at the cup, and smiled.
“Smells like home,” you said.
You were from Brisbane. You’d never even been to India.
*
Amma used to say that love is not something you find, but something that finds you—like a monsoon after a long drought.
I didn’t believe her until you.
You, who asked me to teach you Malayalam words over bad coffee.
You, who listened to stories about Onam festivals and snake boat races as if they were fairy tales.
You, who held my hand the first time I made appam from memory and burned half of them.
“It still tastes like home,” you said, chewing carefully.
And for the first time, home didn’t feel like something I’d left behind.
*
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: A written piece exploring the…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 95%: Title: The Story-Keeper Vignette 1: The First Draft Kalamata, 2005 We landed on stories before we landed on…
Title: The Story-Keeper
Vignette 1: The First Draft
Kalamata, 2005
We landed on stories before we landed on soil. My grandfather, Yia-yia’s voice, a low hum from the passenger seat as we drove from the airport: “This hill, your great-uncle fought here… This olive grove, the Germans burned it… This village square, we danced here, even with empty stomachs.” Greece was not a country to me then, but a palimpsest—a text written over and over with triumph and ash. He pointed to a crumbling stone house. “My first home.” I saw only ruin. He saw a cradle. I wrote it all down in a blue notebook, my ten-year-old hand cramping. I was the family scribe, the keeper of the single, heroic story he offered: We are survivors. We are resilient. We are Greek. I didn’t ask what was erased to make that story fit.
Vignette 2: The Redacted Pages
Melbourne, 2012
The notebook gathered dust. At school, I was an Australian with a funny name, Sophia Stavrou. “Stavrou… like stavros, cross?” Mr. Davies asked in History, his smile a beacon of inclusion. I nodded, burning with a pride that felt borrowed. In the library, I searched for myself. I found ancient Greeks: philosophers and warriors. I found migrants: struggling, noble, assimilating. A neat, sorrowful arc. But the messy, in-between years—the Civil War, the political exiles, the silence that stretched from my grandparents’ mouths like a grey road—were absent. They were the redacted pages of our epic. At home, Yia-yia would sometimes start a sentence, “During the emfylios…” then wave her hand, as if swatting a fly. “*Telos*,” she’d say. End. The story I was keeping had borders, and they were guarded by pain.
Vignette 3: The Marginalia
Melbourne, 2019
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: A written piece exploring the…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 87.5%: Title: The Unstitched Seams Vignette 1: The Wool My grandmother’s hands were a map of crossed rivers and…
Title: The Unstitched Seams
Vignette 1: The Wool
My grandmother’s hands were a map of crossed rivers and pulled threads. Every Sunday, they would dance—a steady, silent choreography of steel knitting needles. Click-clack. Click-clack. The sound was the metronome of my childhood, a rhythm that measured out afternoons in the suburban stillness of Glen Waverley. The wool she used was always the same: a practical, muted beige, bought on sale from Spotlight. “Warm,” she’d say, her English a careful, hesitant construction. “No fuss.” She knitted scarves for Melbourne’s winters, beanies for my cousins, but never, I noticed, anything for herself. The garments were functional, love rendered in plain stitch. I saw only the monotony, the beige blur against the floral couch. I did not see the thread as a lifeline, spun from the raw fleece of a homeland she never mentioned—a place called Punjab, which existed only in the faded colours of a single photo album, tucked under her bed.
Vignette 2: The Pattern
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Fosse use the Kit Kat Klub's…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: Over the course of history, art and artistic spaces have paralleled and critiqued politics and society. Bob…
Over the course of history, art and artistic spaces have paralleled and critiqued politics and society. Bob Fosse’s 1972 ‘Cabaret’ examines the tensions present in Weimar Berlin, a period of time between wars where frivolity commandeered society. ‘Cabaret’ displays the rise of Nazism and the militarisation of Germany, exemplified by the satirical performances of the Kit Kat Club. Fosse demonstrates that the club acts as a microcosm of Berlin, where satire song and dance paralleled political turbulence in Berlin. Further, ‘Cabaret’ illuminates the way in which the club fosters an escapist facade where ignorance prevails over awareness, enabling the authoritarian rise. Moreover, Fosse suggests that the diegetic audience and viewers of ‘Cabaret’ experience the Kit Kat Club unanimously, and are both distracted by the ostentatious performances.
Fosse accentuates the way that the Kit Kat Club functions as a microcosm of Berlin, mirroring wider political turbulence. The musical exemplifies the insidious rise of Nazism through the club. In the opening number, ‘Wilkommen’ viewers see a distorted reflection of the Emcee, beckoning society to indulge in the decadence within. The mirror is a reflection of the true society, explaining why viewers do not see it while the Emcee’s licentious performances are displayed – they are distracted. In the closing moments of the film however, the audience sees a reflection of a sea of Swastikas in the audience. This exemplifies how the insidious rise of authoritarianism occurred behind the backs of a sybaritic society. This moment also creates a cyclical structure, demonstrating how society has changed with the club. The last reflection is much clearer than the previous, amplifying the idea that the future is much more foreseeable than the past. This illuminates the club's parallels to the political tension as the viewers are ignorant to the rising authoritarianism until it is too late. This idea is further highlighted through Sally Bowles' final number ‘Life is a Cabaret.’ This performance illustrates the frivolous attitude of Sally, while suggesting that the Cabaret performances are representative of the club's attitudes. The piece demonstrates the connection between life in Weimar Berlin and the club's sybaritic and frivolous ways. The club acting as a microcosm representing Weimar Berlin is furthered by the juxtapositions between brutal acts of Nazis and the dances within the club. This is exemplified by the Bavarian slap dance flashing to gruesome imagery of a Nazi brown shirt beating the owner. This presents the way ostentatious dances within the Kit Kat Club parallel society at the time but in a subdued way. The performances represent the political decline and parallels to Weimar society while the Kit Kat Club acts as a microcosm of Berlin.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: creative piece protest (framework…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 75%: I was born in the shadow of the Wall, in a town called Hearthstone, a place arranged so neatly it felt curated…
I was born in the shadow of the Wall, in a town called Hearthstone, a place arranged so neatly it felt curated rather than lived in. Every house is identical. Every shop window filled with the same polished goods. Every citizen repeating the same approved phrases about safety and gratitude. We didn’t just follow rules; we consumed them, displayed them, worshipped them.
The elders said the Wall kept us safe.
The teachers said it kept us orderly.
My parents said it kept us alive.
But even as a child, I sensed the contradiction. If we were so protected, why did everyone walk as if the ground might collapse beneath them? If we were so free, why did every choice feel pre-selected, like items in a catalogue? If life had meaning, why did it feel like we were performing someone else’s script?
Every morning, the Wall greeted us with its cold silence. It swallowed the wind. It muted the sun. It taught us to bow our heads, as if the sky were something we hadn’t earned. People learned to love it or at least to fear the consequences of not loving it.
And there were consequences.
When I was twelve, I asked my teacher what lay beyond the Wall. She froze. The class froze. By the end of the day, my parents received a “Civic Compliance Notice” warning them that curiosity was a “destabilising impulse.” That night, my father whispered, “Don’t ask questions like that again. They’re watching.” His voice trembled in a way that told me he wasn’t warning me he was begging me.
That was the first time I understood:
The Wall didn’t just surround us.
It defined us.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In We Have Always Lived in the Castle,…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: Jackson utilises the domestic space of the Blackwood estate to manifest not only the sisters' physical isolation…
Jackson utilises the domestic space of the Blackwood estate to manifest not only the sisters' physical isolation but also their profound psychological isolation from the surrounding village community. Jackson emphasises this seclusion through the 'high fence' and 'locked gates' that border the property to establish a physical boundary between the blackwoods and the public. however for Merricat, the physical barriers are insuffcient, Merricats’s paranoia and incessant need for total separation lead her to feel as though she and Constance will not be safe without further intervention. Therefore, she reinforces this separation through magical rituals such as the usage of her 3 magical words: 'melody, glaucester [and] pegasus'. Suggesting their isolation is not just by choice, but out of necessity to keep the 'poison' of the outside world at bay. While these physical barriers help to provide a literal shield against the decay of the
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In We Have Always Lived in the Castle,…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 60%: Jackson utilises the domestic space of the Blackwood estate to manifest not only the sisters' physical isolation…
Jackson utilises the domestic space of the Blackwood estate to manifest not only the sisters' physical isolation but also their profound psychological isolation from the surrounding village community. Jackson emphasises this seclusion through the 'high fence' and 'locked gates' that border the property to establish a physical boundary between the blackwoods and the public. however for Merricat, the physical barriers are insuffcient, Merricats paranoia and incessant need for total separation lead her to feel as though she and Constance will not be safe without further intervention. therefore she reinforces this separation through magical rituals such as the usage of her 3 magical words: 'melody, glaucester [and] pegasus'. Suggesting their isolation is not just by choice, but out of necessity to keep the 'poison' of the outside world at bay. While these physical barriers help to provide a literal shield against the decay of the
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Hadley suggests violence is not always…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: Hadley suggests violence is not always physical. Discuss Over the course of history, wars, murders, and domestic…
Hadley suggests violence is not always physical. Discuss
Over the course of history, wars, murders, and domestic abuse have headlined as the only violence prevalent in society. Tessa Hadley’s ‘Bad Dreams and Other Stories’ (2017) depicts ten female protagonists sprawled across modern Britain in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Ultimately, the anthology reveals violence as a persistent force engrained in society, place, and experienced by all, through its characters plights. Hadley reveals tensions ingrained in domestic spaces. Furthermore, she depicts desertion as a cause of pain, thus condemning societies dependence on connection. Ultimately, the anthology illuminates patriarchal societal structures that domesticate women cyclically as a cause of immense suffering. Hadley’s collection depicts violence as everlasting and imbedded in constructs, contrasting history’s depiction of cruelty as purely physical.
Hadley reveals the everlasting tension and power imbalance in Britain’s spheres. Familial feuds are common throughout Hadley’s works, catalysed by power imbalances and stagnant settings. The unnamed family in the titular piece ‘Bad Dreams’, depicts the underlying conflict present in family, acting as a representation of the universal domestic experience due to their anonymous characterisation. The descriptions of the father’s opulence, ‘shiny trumpet’, ‘case open’, implies an entitlement prescribed only to the male sex, as his possessions juxtapose that of the mothers ‘put away’ sewing kit that ‘drove their days’. The mundanity of the mothers’ items suggests that the luxuries available to the father are unavailable and distant to her. Thus, Hadley depicts a stark power imbalance, mirroring British societies way of condemning women to the ‘lower things’ in life. The later revelation of the mother, in which she decides to go down a ‘long road of antagonism’, suggests that she is somewhat trapped in the domestic sphere and that her only option is to alienate her husband. Through this, the piece illuminates the entrapment of women in domestic spheres built on conflict, therefore highlighting the inescapability of tensions. Similarly, Susan and Claire’s long-term fight in ‘Flight’ encapsulates the conflict embedded within homes. The scarf made of a ‘silky fabric’ act as a symbol for the sister’s inability to communicate which perpetuates their conflict. Through Susan’s denial of the gift, Hadley depicts the conflict as underlying and persistent – unable to be reconciled. Susan’s long-term alienation of Claire exemplifies the silent and damaging violence present in the anthology. The imagery of Claires ‘heels [being] eerily loud on the cobbled footpath’ illuminates her unfamiliarity and exile from not only Susan’s house but also her world, including the ‘working-class’ suburbs of London. Through this, Hadley exemplifies conflict as a severing force, highlighting the tensions that drag families apart. Overall, Hadley illuminates silent and insidious violence within domestic spheres that alienates her characters.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “Jane Eyre is a novel about the struggle…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 92.5%: Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre ultimately presents autonomy not as a stable achievement but as a contested moral…
Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre ultimately presents autonomy not as a stable achievement but as a contested moral state, forged through suffering, self-denial and ethical resistance. While the novel traces Jane’s movement from social powerlessness to material independence, Brontë resists a simplistic narrative of liberation. Instead, autonomy emerges as the capacity to act in alignment with one’s moral conscience despite emotional, social and patriarchal pressures. Through Jane’s resistance to institutional oppression, her refusal of Rochester’s morally compromised love, and her rejection of St John’s spiritual tyranny, Brontë constructs autonomy as an inward, principled authority rather than external freedom alone. In doing so, Jane Eyre interrogates Victorian assumptions about female dependence and redefines autonomy as moral self-governance.
From its opening chapters, Brontë establishes autonomy as something denied to Jane within oppressive social structures, particularly those that conflate power with moral legitimacy. At Gateshead, Jane’s exclusion from the Reed family’s domestic sphere reflects her lack of agency within a rigid class hierarchy that privileges inheritance over merit. Mrs Reed’s condemnation of Jane as “deceitful” and “ungrateful” functions as a linguistic mechanism of control, using moral language to justify emotional and physical repression. Jane’s confinement in the Red Room symbolises the punitive consequences of self-assertion within patriarchal authority, as her attempt to articulate injustice is met with isolation rather than dialogue. However, Brontë frames Jane’s resistance — her insistence that she is “not deceitful” — as the nascent expression of autonomy. Even when materially powerless, Jane’s refusal to internalise unjust judgments signals Brontë’s belief that autonomy originates in self-definition rather than social validation. Thus, autonomy is initially represented as fragile but morally potent, existing in opposition to institutional power.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Jackson’s novel is ultimately about…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: Shirley Jackson’s gothic narrative grapples with a patriarchal society’s fear of women who refuse to capitulate to…
Shirley Jackson’s gothic narrative grapples with a patriarchal society’s fear of women who refuse to capitulate to its norms, who are the ‘other’. In a world where men hold central power, those who do not conform will ultimately be met with disproportionate force, which is demonstrated through Merricat and Constance Blackwood. They emphasise the sheer magnitude of society’s fear of dissenting women and the resulting ostracism they suer. Bleakly, their only viable solution is to lock themselves away, in total isolation from the putrescence of the outside world, a world whose decay is symbolised by the 'rotten' food Merricat imagines poisoning the villagers with. Jackson establishes a staunchly repressive world, in which women who merely attempt to seek control over their lives are greeted with hostility, and otherised. The young and unruly Merricat encapsulates this notion, serving as the antithesis of the docile, passive women of mid-century America. A frequently “misbehaving child”, Merricat often exercised her autonomy, defying the patriarchal figurehead of her home, John Blackwood. The disproportionate and excessive “punishment” he would administer to his daughter exemplifies society’s fear of women who undermine its power. This trepidation is so intense, Merricat’s freedom must be completely restricted, and thus why she is essentially imprisoned in her room, and deprived of her supper. As such, this inherent fear of ‘the other’ is one of the driving forces behind Merricat’s drastic action of poisoning her family six years prior. Here, Jackson expresses her disdain for a society that oppresses those that do not conform to its norms, demonstrating that this will inevitably result in a cataclysmic confrontation. In this context, it is the men who “stayed young and did the gossiping” while “the women aged with grey evil weariness”: anyone who does not adhere to this dynamic will ultimately be targeted. For this reason, Constance, the domestic “slave”, is encouraged to “come back into the world” by Helen Clarke, for her alignment with traditionality and entrenched gender roles. As such, society’s acceptance of subordinate, conforming women only illuminates its contempt for the female ‘other’, who exert any control over their lives, and refuse to live with a ‘man of the house’.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Writing a creative test based on…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 72.5%: Together we rise In the midst of running trams and Australians hurrying to work, a woman steps onto a podium…
Together we rise
In the midst of running trams and Australians hurrying to work, a woman steps onto a podium in the heart of Melbourne. Palestinian flags ripple above the crowd, their red, green, black, and white cutting through the grey of the city. Some are draped over shoulders, others clenched tightly in raised hands. She pauses—steady, composed— her keffiyeh resting against her collarbones; her fingers brush its edge, as if grounding herself. Then she lifts her gaze to the crowd and begins.
On the streets of this city today, I am standing here because distance has placed me in safety, but it has not absolved me of responsibility. Thank you - because your presence here gives me the courage to carry the voices of those who cannot stand here themselves today. And I know many of you feel that same pull — that ache of being far, yet unable to look away. That feeling is not passive; it asks something of us.
And maybe that’s why I need to share something with you - something personal. You know the feeling when you receive calls from family back home - excitement and longing. But for me - it’s quite the opposite. The call usually rings late, when the house is quiet and the world here feels distant. I always hesitate before answering, as if the silence itself is a warning. When my family speaks, they speak carefully, as though the air around them is listening. “I’m still alive,” is always the first thing they say. Maybe as a reassurance, or maybe as a reminder that they’re still fighting this battle. Then they begin to describe what the night has taken: a street I once knew by heart has vanished; a neighbour wasn’t able to return home that night; children and elders have stopped their daily laughter and conversations, now hiding deep inside their homes. Our neighbourhood, once filled with laughter and peace, has become a street of despair and terror. They tell me the sky no longer means rain or sun, only whether to run or to wait. They speak through exhaustion and grief, through voices worn thin by nights that offer no safety. Walls collapse into dust; streets forget the sound of ordinary footsteps, replaced by the traces of survival. Time there does not move forward - it waits, forcing the innocent to live inside the echo of what has already been taken.
And I listen to these stories from here—restless, desperate. And now, all of you have listened too — not as spectators, but as witnesses.
The woman pauses. Then continues.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “The greatest act of freedom is choosing…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 62.5%: In the film, Barbie (2023), directed by Greta Gerwig, Barbie explores her purpose and engages in personal growth…
In the film, Barbie (2023), directed by Greta Gerwig, Barbie explores her purpose and engages in personal growth and choice through unfamiliar interactions and eye-opening events. Barbie’s exposure to Real World relationships, such as Sasha and Glora, reveals the difficult, but realistic, obstacles experienced by members of the Real World. By interacting with real people, Barbie is introduced to the expression of emotions other than happiness. By combining Barbie’s newly experienced reactions with her conversations with Ruth Handler, she can engage in choice-making and find her purpose.
Contrasting the film's beginning, which highlights Barbie’s perfectionism, with the malfunctioning of her flat feet, etc., Barbie’s liberty and everyday routine are challenged. Greta explores this through her lyrical change in the soundtrack ‘Pink’, portrayed through the additional line “or is it the irrepressible thoughts of death”. This shift in lyrics and momentum is analysed to illustrate the larger picture of Barbie’s “perfect day” being contested. Instead of taking pride in her mistakes, Barbie resorts to “going back to how everything was”, by picking the heel instead of the Birkenstock when offered a choice from Weird Barbie. However, this ‘shoe selection’ foreshadows Barbie’s personal growth and mindset change as she interacts with members of the Real World. After contributing to the demolition of patriarchy in Barbie Land, with the support and motivation of Gloria and Sasha. Their support is shown through Gloria’s persistence in assisting Barbie in overcoming her cognitive dissonance under patriarchy and her loss of self-worth. After overcoming this challenge, Barbie is shown to be wearing Birkenstocks at the end of the film, which Greta uses as a form of symbolism, highlighting Barbie’s change and acceptance.
VCE · Language Analysis
Language Analysis: 2020 VCAA Exam Section C
VCE Language Analysis essay scoring 72.5%: PARA 2: Bandle begins by arguing that untrained recreational drone users pose serious risks to farmers,…
PARA 2: Bandle begins by arguing that untrained recreational drone users pose serious risks to farmers, raising awareness of the problem through a critical argument and resentful tone. This immediately engages the audience and encourages them to empathise with farmers’ vulnerability. He appeals to fear, asking, “What happens when a drone flies out of range?”. This suggests that drones can quickly become dangerous when mishandled and is included to make the audience consider the immediate risks of careless operators. The hypothetical scenario encourages readers to imagine the potential for chaos, increasing concern for safety and prompting support for stronger regulations. Bandle also describes drones with emotive language “crashing through crops, or leaving gates open and letting livestock out” and “rust away in the field”, which conveys ongoing destruction and negligence. By emphasising that farmers are “the backbone of this community, many of us having lived in this area for generations”, he appeals to family values and tradition, encouraging respect for their hard work and creating a moral dimension to the problem. These elements combined make the audience feel both frustration at the recklessness of drone users and empathy for farmers, motivating agreement that protective measures are necessary.
VCE · Language Analysis
Language Analysis: Isolation vs society in we have always…
VCE Language Analysis essay scoring 70%: In We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson explores the damaging relationship between isolation and…
In We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson explores the damaging relationship between isolation and society, showing how each contributes to the other’s corruption. Through the Blackwood family’s separation from the village, Jackson demonstrates that isolation is first imposed by societal cruelty, but later becomes a chosen state that distorts morality and perception. The novel ultimately suggests that society’s intolerance pushes individuals into isolation, while isolation, once established, allows destructive behaviour to flourish without accountability.
From the beginning of the novel, society is presented as the primary force driving the Blackwoods into isolation. Merricat’s trips into the village reveal constant hostility, including mockery, intimidation, and fear-driven superstition. Although Constance was legally acquitted after the poisoning, the villagers refuse to accept her innocence and continue to define her as a murderer. Children chant cruel rhymes while adults silently condone the behaviour, demonstrating how social exclusion replaces formal justice. Jackson portrays society as rigid and unforgiving, using collective judgment to permanently exile the Blackwoods and establish isolation as a form of punishment.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Sunset Boulevard suggests that the essence…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 60%: In his 1950 metacinematic film 'Sunset Boulevard", Billy Wilder divulges the true conniving nature of Hollywood,…
In his 1950 metacinematic film 'Sunset Boulevard", Billy Wilder divulges the true conniving nature of Hollywood, particularly it's propagation of lies to society as well as those working in the industry. The film follows the events of Joe's life, a struggling screenplay writer, with an emphasis on his involvement with forgotten silent film era star, Norma Desmond, leading up to his demise at the hands of Hollywood, and features aspects of both gothic horror and the film noir genre. Wilder suggests that although not everyone is privy to it, the intentional misrepresentation of the industry is a fundamentally rooted practice in Hollywood. The film foregrounds a multitude of falsehoods that Hollywood sells, specifically revealing the truth behind the glamourous portrayal of Hollywood, exposing the industries true value for artists as mere commodities, the delusion of eternal stardom, . While some are aware of Hollywood's prevarications, ultimately, wilder suggests that these people are often forced to accept them as they lack the power to succeed otherwise.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Idenity in Rainbows End by Jane Harrison
VCE Text Response essay scoring 67.5%: Harrison constructs the identities of the Dear family as intergenerational responses to Aboriginal dispossession…
Harrison constructs the identities of the Dear family as intergenerational responses to Aboriginal dispossession and assimilation. Right from the beginning of the play, Harrison emphasises Gladys’ and Nan Dear’s distinctive identities through their interactions with the Queen's visit. Gladys, who wouldn’t miss meeting the queen for ‘all the tea in China’ is succumbed by white royalty, suggested by her ‘white gloves’ which symbolise her subscription to the power of queen. Conversely, Nan Dear who has experienced past trauma with her daughter ‘taken away’ and the historic ‘Cummenjara’ walk-off is '[disgusted]' by the queen and claims ‘she [isn't her] queen’. Through their differences in views of the Queen, Harrison boldens the obvious statement that reactions to the queen differ negatively in terms of age, due to the longer possession of Indigenous identity, an identity described by Harrison, which has been upheld to constant racism and oppression as well as marginalised power and voice. This notion is further exemplified through Dolly, the youngest in the family, whose short lived violence by ‘white’ people, propels her influence by assimilation. Her high levels of education, being a
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: To what extent high ground suggests a just…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: Johnson portrays how the definition of justice can be diverse, suggesting that underlying morality can never be…
Johnson portrays how the definition of justice can be diverse, suggesting that underlying morality can never be universally consistent. In the meeting between the Wild Mob and settler authorities, Moran rhetorically attempts to enforce law he’s “duty-bound to uphold.“ In response, Darrpa expresses his deep admiration towards law that “comes from the soil“ and that “makes [them] one,” refusing to obey law that “comes from across the sea.“ To convince his audience, Johnson externalises the difference in their understanding of law, thus justice. As the shot captures the Wild Mob, they are painted in white ochres, blending into nature. They stand tall in the vicinity of each other, holding spears, in consistent with the verticality of the tall gum trees that surround them, casting their ethical system as grounded in the land and as a vital unification tool for them. The opposite is the shot of white characters that captures a contrast view. Moran stands pompously in an armchair, wearing
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: MEDEA analysis essay TOPICS: How does…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: In Euripides' tragic play ‘Medea', explored is the multifaceted nature of human suffering, and how it arises from…
In Euripides' tragic play ‘Medea', explored is the multifaceted nature of human suffering, and how it arises from both social and personal forces is explored. Euripides expresses that human despair is both an inevitable and complex emotion, highlighting how one’s personal misery can be brought through the upright agony of betrayal, the distraught effect of exile and the danger of unchecked emotions. Thus, Euripides warns his audience that human life is both fragile and chaotic, that both actions and emotions can have devastating effects on oneself and others around them.
Euripides explores how betrayal is the focal point for human despair, that broken trust within intimate relationships provokes intense distress within oneself and severe consequences towards those within. Euripides appeals strongly to Pathos, via Medea’s impassioned laments to the chorus, as she asserts that ‘of all creatures that have life…we women are the most wretched’; universalising Medea’s pain, Euripides targets the compassion of the audience by exposing both the grief and vulnerability of women bound by marriage. Thus, Euripides demonstrates that Jason’s betrayal of Medea not only caused her personal harm but symbolises the greater oppression of women in Ancient Greek society.
Furthermore, Euripides’s use of stichomythia amplifies the severe emotional toll of disloyalty; via Jason’s attempts to rationalize his acts, considering them to be pragmatic, hoping Medea would “stop thinking good is bad” and that she is actually “fortunate” are however, met by Medea’s sharp, anguished retorts of her actually being ‘alone’, nothing more than an ‘exile’. Theis rapid-back-and-forth and forth structure of their argument, mirrors the intensity of the adverse effects of Jason’s unrepentance and further emphasizes the psychological and emotional devastation caused by Jason’s disloyalty. Overall, Euripides warns, that the betrayal of others not only acts as the catalyst for one’s complete and utter despair, but also has the ability of converting an individual’s personal bonds into sources of misery.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Do I Dare Disturb the universe
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 65%: Muted, suffocating stillness filled the air. I looked up at the dirt brown sky, my head the only one still…
Muted, suffocating stillness filled the air. I looked up at the dirt brown sky, my head the only one still moving. A hard cylinder pressed on my back.Do i
“Stay still.”
I didn’t mean to move, but when I did, when my spine straightened, the universe shifted, just slightly, as though it had been waiting for me to breathe. My eyes flew back down to my knees. Around me stunk of unwashed bodies and dirty rags. The quiet rhythm of obedience hummed as I swore I could hear the weight of everyone’s silence pressing against me, a silence that said, “This is safer.”
On the platform ahead, the Commander spoke in the same hollow voice we had all learned to imitate. His words slid through the soil like air like oil - smooth, heavy and without substance.
“Order. Unity. Sacrifice.”
The crowd murmured back the same three words, our voices bleeding into one another until they were indistinguishable. A shiver raced up my spine, as I reminisced of how the world felt smaller when we spoke like that. As though the air shrank to fit the sound.
A scrap of blue lodged in the corner of my eye. A flicker of motion. A bird, impossibly alive, weaving through the smog, darting across the square before vanishing into the clouds.
No one else looked up. For a moment, my chest ached with something nameless, for I couldn’t recall the last time I had seen something of such colour. A blue that didn’t belong to government banners, but the kind that belonged to the now muddied sky. My urge to see it again rose.
The soldier behind me shifted, the barrel nudging harder between my scapula.
“Do not move.”
My gaze lowered itself again. I told myself that it was all just my imagination, that the colour, the sudden spring of life, it was all fake. Yet, the thought still stayed, sharp and insistent. What if I hadn’t imagined it?
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Mary Oliver’s poetry explore the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: Oliver critiques traditional perspectives of death, where through nature illustrates how its inevitability should…
Oliver critiques traditional perspectives of death, where through nature illustrates how its inevitability should be honoured and the cyclical connection between life and death that can define our personal experiences. The author underscores that nature can be a reflection of unfiltered truths. In ‘Vultures’, Oliver describes the vultures as “large dark / lazy / butterflies they sweep over / the glades looking / for death”. The comparison between vultures which are often a symbol for death to butterflies a symbol for life demonstrates the co-existence of life and death and also reframes the idea of death to be delicate and transformative rather than final. The author develops this further in the alliteration of the lines “they discover / and descend to, demonstrating / each time the earth’s / appetite, the unending / waterfalls of change”. Oliver develops a sense of continuity that surpasses death, and a plosive speech sound in the repetition of ‘d’ to create dramatic tension and intensity. The juxtaposition between the plosive speech and the contents of the lines, outlining ‘discovery’, illustrate a sense of rebirth and transformation when one accepts the inevitability of death. In addition to the imagery of the ‘waterfalls of change’, it
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Ghost Wall suggests that obsession with an…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: In Ghost Wall, Sarah Moss presents the longing for an “authentic” past as neither innocent nostalgia nor neutral…
In Ghost Wall, Sarah Moss presents the longing for an “authentic” past as neither innocent nostalgia nor neutral scholarship, but as a powerful mechanism for enforcing control in the present. Through Bill’s brutal fixation on Iron Age “authenticity”, the complicity of academic structures, and Silvie’s gradual recognition of history as a constructed narrative rather than an unchallengeable truth, Moss exposes how invented versions of the past legitimise contemporary hierarchies of gender, class and nation. The novel’s tightly controlled first-person narration, its framing prologue and its symbolic use of landscape all work together to suggest that claims to authenticity are less about recovering the past than about deciding who must submit in the present.
Moss first figures the obsession with an “authentic” past as a fundamentally patriarchal fantasy that enables Bill’s domestic tyranny. As Silvie’s father and a self‑taught “expert” in Iron Age Britain, Bill repeatedly invokes a purer, pre‑modern past to naturalise his authority over his wife and daughter, insisting, for example, that women “managed well enough before” modern conveniences and therefore do not “need” basic sanitary products. His nostalgia for a supposedly harsher, more “honest” way of life thus becomes a pretext for policing female bodies and enforcing their discomfort as historically proper. Characterisation and narrative voice are crucial here: because the novel is focalised through Silvie’s first‑person account, Bill’s obsession appears not as abstract ideology but as lived bodily harm, visible in the “bruises” on Alison’s arms and Silvie’s habitual flinching at the sound of his voice. The domestic setting is itself shaped by his fantasy of authenticity; he deliberately keeps the family’s life “pared back” and isolated, reflecting his belief that modern softness corrupts “real” Britishness. Moss thereby critiques a value system in which the past is selectively reconstructed as masculine, white and stoic, and then used to justify ongoing violence in the home.
VCE · Language Analysis
Language Analysis: “In The Crucible authority and…
VCE Language Analysis essay scoring 75%: In The Crucible, Arthur Miller reveals how the prioritisation of authority and reputation over truth leads to…
In The Crucible, Arthur Miller reveals how the prioritisation of authority and reputation over truth leads to widespread injustice and moral collapse.Arthur Miller contends that when power and social standing are valued above honesty, individuals are compelled to abandon truth, enabling corruption and the persecution of the innocent.Miller demonstrates that unquestioned authority discourages critical thinking, allowing falsehoods to be legitimised as truth.Miller exposes how the fear of reputational damage motivates characters to lie, accuse others, and participate in injustice.Miller suggests that those who uphold truth and moral integrity pose a threat to power, and are therefore silenced or destroyed.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: 'Sunset Boulevard' reveals the dark side…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: Billy Wilder's 1950 noir melodrama 'Sunset Boulevard' delivers a vehement criticism of Hollywood culture during the…
Billy Wilder's 1950 noir melodrama 'Sunset Boulevard' delivers a vehement criticism of Hollywood culture during the 1940s and 50s. The film follows struggling screenwriter 'Joe Gillis' who becomes ensconced in the world of former silent film star 'Norma Desmond', eventually leading to Joe's loss of autonomy and subsequent murder. Although Wilder acknowledges the benefits of stardom, such as wealth, power and influence, ultimately he exposes the sinister side of notoriety, presenting fame as an addiction few can escape. Furthermore, Wilder explores how women suffer more greatly at the cruel hands of popularity compared to men, due to intense pressure placed on female stars to retain youth and perfection despite age.
Wilder's characterisation of Norma Desmond is central to his portrayal of the dangers of fame. Prior to the arrival of Joe Gillis, Norma lives in almost complete isolation from reality. Max von Mayerling, the 'waxworks' and Norma's deceased pet chimpanzee were her only connections to others. Norma's self induced isolation appears driven primarily by fear; Norma is no longer the star she once was, and it is far easier to live alone than admit this truth. Though Norma subconsciously knows she is no longer relevant, she cannot escape her obsession with stardom, filling her home with pictures of herself and constantly watching her own films. Max von Mayerling, Norma's devoted servant attends to Norma's every whim, even sending her forged fan letters to keep her happy.
This lack of interaction with other people causes Norma to lack social and communication skills. Wilder characterises Norma as struggling to form and maintain balanced relationships. Norma treats Max in a 'humiliating' way, ordering him around her mansion, rather than treating him as an equal. Norma's relationship with Joe is also fraught with issues, Norma constantly offers Joe money and expensive gifts, as if she believes that by doing so she can buy his friendship, or even love. This highlights how Norma sees wealth as a form of validation, likely used to being awarded money for her acting as a young woman. Though she is a woman of fifty, Norma has a juvenile personality, becoming upset with frequently changing emotions. Joe describes Norma as 'a bundle of raw nerves', highlighting her lack of emotional regulation. Norma is also known to have a 'childlike scrawl', demonstrating her immaturity. Wilder portrays Norma in this way to convey her loss of self after she rose to fame as a seventeen year old. Fame has frozen Norma's personality and prevented her from growing up in a normal fashion. Hence, Wilder portrays stardom as responsible for celebrity's becoming detached from reality, as it prevents personal growth.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: 'Sunset Boulevard' reveals the dark side…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 67.5%: Billy Wilder's 1950 noir melodrama 'Sunset Boulevard' delivers a vehement criticism of Hollywood culture during…
Billy Wilder's 1950 noir melodrama 'Sunset Boulevard' delivers a vehement criticism of Hollywood culture during the 1940s and 50s. The film follows struggling screenwriter 'Joe Gillis' who becomes ensconced in the world of former silent film star 'Norma Desmond', eventually leading to Joe's loss of autonomy and subsequent murder. Although Wilder acknowledges the benefits of stardom, such as wealth, power and influence, ultimately he exposes the sinister side of notoriety, presenting fame as an addiction few can escape. Furthermore, Wilder explores how women suffer more greatly at the cruel hands of popularity compared to men, due to intense pressure placed on female stars to retain youth and perfection despite age.
Wilder's characterisation of Norma Desmond is central to his portrayal of the dangers of fame. Prior to the arrival of Joe Gillis, Norma lives in almost complete isolation from reality. Max von Mayerling, the 'waxworks' and Norma's deceased pet chimpanzee were her only connections to others. Norma's self induced isolation appears driven primarily by fear; Norma is no longer the star she once was, and it is far easier to live alone than admit this truth. Though Norma subconsciously knows she is no longer relevant, she cannot escape her obsession with stardom. Max von Mayerling, Norma's devoted servant attends to Norma's every whim, even sending her forged fan letters to filling her home with pictures of herself and constantly and ecstatically watching her own films.
keep her happy. This lack of interaction with other people causes Norma to lack social and communication skills. Wilder characterises Norma as struggling to form and maintain balanced relationships. Norma treats Max in a 'humiliating' way, ordering him around her mansion, rather than treating him as an equal. Norma's relationship with Joe is also fraught with issues. Norma constantly offers Joe money and expensive gifts, as if she believes that by doing so she can buy his friendship, or even love. This highlights how Norma sees wealth as a form of validation, likely used to being awarded money for her acting as a young woman. Though she is a woman of fifty, Norma has a juvenile personality, becoming upset with frequently changing emotions. Joe describes Norma as 'a bundle of raw nerves', highlighting her lack of emotional regulation. Norma is also known to have a 'childlike scrawl', demonstrating her immaturity. Wilder portrays Norma this way to convey her loss of self after she rose to fame as a seventeen year old. Fame has frozen Norma's personality and prevented her from growing up in a normal fashion. Hence, Wilder portrays stardom as responsible for celebrity's becoming detached from reality, as it prevents personal growth.