VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Title: Let Go
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 80%: How can a nation call itself free when its head of state still wears a foreign crown? It is not a symbol of…
How can a nation call itself free when its head of state still wears a foreign crown? It is not a symbol of unity, but a relic of empire, one that still echoes with the silence of stolen voices and stands in the way of a nation ready to speak for itself. This was powerfully clear in Lydia Thorpe’s protest at King Charle’s III’s proclamation, as she protested for a free Australia. Australia’s continued allegiance to the British Monarchy, a relic of colonization in 1788, remains a painful symbol of invasion and injustice for many, particularly the First Nations People here with us today. My name is Radvi, a new face to the senate, and I am speaking to you — young Australians preparing to vote for the first time — because your voice has never been more important. This is your opportunity to help our country take its final step towards independence by supporting the removal of Australia’s ties to the British Royal Family. Australia must cut ties to the British Royal Family, not just to break free from a foreign monarch, but to confront the violent legacy of colonization, reclaim full national sovereignty, and reshape our identity to reflect the values of a modern, diverse, and democratic nation.
Firstly, The British Monarchy is a living symbol of Australia’s violent colonial history and the continued injustice faced by Indigenous Australians. When the British arrived in 1788 under the authority of King George III, they declared the land “terra nullius”, claiming it belonged to no one. This false doctrine erased the existence of First Nations people and gave moral and legal cover to invasion, dispossession, and massacres. It wasn’t just land that was taken in that moment. It was language. Family. Culture. Identity. This trauma still echoes today. Senator Lydia Thorpe’s protest in 2022, shouting “You are not my King! You are not our King!”, during the proclamation of King Charles III, wasn’t a political stunt, it was a cry of generational pain. For many Indigenous Australians, the monarchy isn’t neutral. It is a living reminder of a system that tore through their communities. And yet, we still carry the Crown, a symbol of that legacy, on our coins, in our Constitution, and in our laws. The monarchy is a wound dressed in gold-polished on the surface, but painful underneath. To truly move forward, we must face that truth and cut ties with the power that authorized our nation’s original injustice, make your first vote count, every voice matters.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: The longing to act honourably may lead to…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 82.5%: Sophocles develops the idea that the longing to act honourably may lead to mental and physical anguish. In…
Sophocles develops the idea that the longing to act honourably may lead to mental and physical anguish. In Jocasta and King Laius' attempt to escape the prophecy, "fated to [his] father and marry his mother," believing they took the noble act in preventing this disastrous occurrence from happening to their family.. Sophocles suggests through this that in one's attempt to escape divine will the already assured outcome will lead to an enhanced suffering, as seen in Jocasta hanging herself and Oedipus gouging out his eyes. This serves as a reminder to the Athenian audience that acts that underestimate the divine control will will result in mental and physical anguish. Attempts to discover the truth in an act of serving and saving the city of Thebes lead to a more meaningful and harsh confrontation with reality. Oedipus' hubristic endeavour to take control of
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Title: Resist and Pesist 'People…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 72.5%: They gathered before sunrise. A slow wave of bodies spilling into the plaza. From my desk on the fifteenth…
They gathered before sunrise. A slow wave of bodies spilling into the plaza.
From my desk on the fifteenth floor, I watched as the glass warped them into one big shape of light and movement. One here to say, we will not back down.
The office lights came on behind me. Another day. Another crisis to ignore.
This was the problem with working for one of the biggest uranium mining companies in the nation.
An email from management pulsed across my screen: Disruption expected. Remain calm. Do not engage.
But I couldn’t stop watching.
Even from here, I could sense their breath turning white in the early air. Their signs blurred in the distance, but the rise and fall of their voices carried itself upward like heat.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Title:The Art of Protest Stimulus:…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 62.5%: “Can She Even Lift That?”: Persistence in a Hard-Hat World, The Art of Protest Author: Memphis Walton (trade…
“Can She Even Lift That?”: Persistence in a Hard-Hat World, The Art of Protest
Author: Memphis Walton (trade labourer), Published: August 19, 2024, ABC news
They didn’t say it to my face, but I heard it anyway: “Can she even lift that?” It echoed from behind stacks of timber and between smug chuckles from the men I worked beside. The question wasn’t really about strength. It was about belonging. Yet I kept showing up. No change could be made until I stood up to the people who didn't believe in me, that is the true art of protest. Doing something as simple as showing up to work, creates a protest.
That slow, steady persistence of women like me, has started to carve a path into one of Australia’s most male-dominated industries: construction.
Construction has long been framed as a man’s domain, gritty, physical, and tough. For decades, women were either outright excluded or quietly pushed aside. Even as gender equity movements surged in other sectors, this field remained largely untouched. According to bigbuild.vic.gov.au, this industry remains the least gender diverse in Australia, and hasn’t changed for a decade. For civil construction and onsite roles, the percentage of women on site remain around 14% and 2% respectively. Women were told they weren’t strong enough, fast enough, or practical enough. Few were trained, fewer were hired, and even fewer stayed. That decrease of women ultimately came from silence. Our voice is our power, the tool that will change our lives, the art of protest.
I kept showing up, I knew that change doesn't happen from sitting back and watching things unfold it comes from a loud voice speaking up for what's right.
One Step at a Time: My First Day on Site
I still remember the weight of my steel-capped boots that first morning, too big and unfamiliar. The sun hadn’t yet risen, but I stood at the site gate anyway, unsure if I belonged but determined to find out. The foreman looked me up and down. “Didn’t expect you to turn up,” he said, more surprised than rude.
VCE · Language Analysis
Language Analysis: Background information The website…
VCE Language Analysis essay scoring 65%: We need a better system Key points (Chronological): Climate change is a big issue; point that out first. Then…
We need a better system
Key points (Chronological):
Climate change is a big issue; point that out first.
Then addresses a suggestion to turn to PT
Uses facts and statistics
Flips entirely and changes POV
“Actually, quite a bit” sudden mic drop affect
Using logos and point out the relatable sides of PT, and even gathers universal info
The image seems to show a different perspective, then it will make more sense after the reader reads more
“Having had plenty of experience” is an anecdote.
“Goodbye, punctuality” – a near-humorous outcome, the “IKR” feeling
Using ethos and logos as the author states a near hyperbolic tone, though it seems logical to the audience “twenty years ago”
10% used again
“Crushed like sardines” - metaphor
Adds more info for the readers to relate, maintain the tone for a smooth sail
Using strong emotive language “Sting”
Using ethos like city names
Lastly a wrap up with facts and statistics, leaving a large summation for the reader to keep in mind
Using logic to conflict with the outside issue
Overall, the author uses 2 main issues
Introduction: Rising environmental impacts are an issue with transportation, but it is hidden within the system. “We need a better system” is an opinion piece written by Jamie Florence, a youth activist and a staff writer. She contends that there is a bigger issue within a problem, over climate change. Public transportation is an issue within society as it indirectly impacts the environment, while it’s purpose is to provide a more greener society. Although public transport is an easier and environmentally friendly option, ultimately, the issues it faces causes individuals to turn on CO2 machines, cars. While it can save time and traffic, PT can arrive significantly late, impacting user’s punctuality.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Explore how a characters personal…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 60%: Personal Journey. From Mud to light Good evening everyone, teammates, coaches, parents, and friends. Standing…
Personal Journey.
From Mud to light
Good evening everyone, teammates, coaches, parents, and friends. Standing here tonight, trophy in hand, I'm meant to talk about victory. About success. About the season that made history. But what I really want to talk about is, mud.
Because thats where it started, knee-deep in it, training in the rain, lungs burning. The oval more a swamp than field. I used to hate those mornings. The cold that clawed through your bones. The way your socks stuck to your skin. The mud that clung, refused to let go. Back then, I thought football was about escaping that, about rising above it, proving I was faster, stronger, better.
I was wrong.
Somewhere between the first whistle and the final siren, something changed. Maybe it was the missed goals, maybe it was the silence after a loss. Maybe it was the moment I realised that leadership wasn't about being in front. It was about standing beside.
Theres a kind of loneliness that comes with being a captain, the height of expectation, the eyes that wait for you to fix things. Early on, I tried to carry it alone. I barked orders, demanded more, mistook control for confidence. And yet, the tighter I gripped, the more the team slipped away.
Until one game, pouring rain again, we were down by three goals. I remember looking around seeing not defeat, but exhaustion. Fear. Pride.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Too long but not too late Stimulus:
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 70%: Imagine The broadcast interrupts Love island to promote an upcoming pill.... Ladies, Imagine your best friend…
Imagine The broadcast interrupts Love island to promote an upcoming pill....
Ladies,
Imagine your best friend talking about her long distance fiance, and how she feels restrained and lacks freedom when around him. He forces her to use no contraception, overprotective, and forces patriachal ideas onto her. She says she is about to marry him, but doesn't know if breaking up is best for her.
Sound familiar? You got it! This is the reality for women currently on a BlueGovs pill. This pill currently dominates the market and has been for 60+ years. If you fall into the trap of purchasing BlueGovs pill, you are signing your life away. But it's not too late
BlueGov has prides themselves on saftey, security and customers bests intreests in mind. The truth is simple, BlueGov truley "prides themselves" on pushing nuclear family idealogies, abortion control and invasion of building the ultimate patriachal society. Have a Bump into your ex? One night stand? Too much alcohol? You will be forced to have the child. It's in their conditions remember? I forgot to mention the frequent cat calls, being a stay at home mum, and the pink tax as well just like how they forget to mention it in their policies
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: "The thought of a ring around my finger…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: 'We Have Always Lived In The Castle' Essay 1 Published in 1962, Shirley Jackson's gothic novel, 'We Have Always…
'We Have Always Lived In The Castle' Essay 1
Published in 1962, Shirley Jackson's gothic novel, 'We Have Always Lived In The Castle,' follows the Blackwood sisters, Mary Katherine (Merricat) and Constance who reject the gendered expectations society pins them to. Through the novel, Jackson suggests women are trapped by societal standards. She shows the idea of confinement from society by the descent into a freeing insanity when rejecting the societal expectations. she undermines this through desperation bordering madness. however this insanity creates another way in which women are trapped.
In the novel, Jackson suggests that Societal expectations trap women. The harmfulness of societal expectations is seen through the ostracisation of women from civilisation. Constance as a young adolescent was forced into an adult role of domestic activities such as cooking and cleaning. "She should not have been doing the cooking," Said by Mrs Wright
during her visit. Mrs' Wrights disaproval of Constance taking on the maternal role of the home homely tasks had on her, and the family, meaning it is unjust to subject Constance to a role not yet fit for her age. Jackson uses Constance's domestic role to elude to the idea that the expectations placed upon her were proved harmful, as they ultimately made the killing of the Blackwood family attainable.
After being accused of the Blackwood murders, Constance extracts herself from the world, "I never go anywhere". By stating she does not go anywhere, it highlights the scrutiny and rejection Constance experienced from the villagers that influenced her unconsensual descent into isolation. It is seen Constance is willing to integrate into society again through her talk with Helen Clarke, yet feels she cannot by the judgement of the town's people. Jackson uses Constance's agoraphobia to exhibit the Societies reluctancess to accept women who deviate from social norms. As a result, the reader sees how societal expectations set to trap women within the Patriarchy to be harmful.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: A house that is falling apart within…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 87.5%: When I was a boy, my grandfather used to tell me that memories live on within her song. He said that when his…
When I was a boy, my grandfather used to tell me that memories live on within her song. He said that when his time was up on this earth, his voice would carry on just like his parents and their’s before him. He always hoped that one day I too would understand her language and face the healing she always provided. The river stretched far and wide, twisting and coiling as it ran through our town of Jeparit. Wherever she flowed, luscious green foliage would follow in her tracks. Her warm blue blood constantly battling the harsh Australian sun, always coming out victorious.
It’s been years since my grandfather passed. Since his departure the town has become old and frail. He was the heart of the town, making sure everyone was ok, ensuring the towns success. With him gone people began to depart the close-knick town of Jeparit. Shops that used to thrive, were soon reduced to dark, abandoned building left to rot. The streets where people used to gather and celebrate, now laid empty and dusty, falling apart with so much as a glance. My house was the finest building in town, bringing joy and setting the bar for others, striving to achieve its look with their own houses. Now all that remained of my house was a chimney, the cracked house slab and the plants that had overgrown the old, decerpet wood beams. When my grandpa passed, it’s almost like the town went along with him. The saddest part of it all wasn’t everyone moving away, or the building becoming ghostly; it was the fact the river now showed her cracked clay spine to the light blue Australian sky. She had begun to dry. Her murky blue water slowly vaporized over the years. When she finally crumbled, so did the life she provided with her blood. Animals that would travel great distances to taste her love, soon became no longer seen. The once vibrant green plants that towered her body became reduced to dead, yellow bushes that when touched, turned to dust, floating away with the wind. She left her skeleton, reduced to nothing but a long, wide hole. Bridges that sored over her, defining her beauty just provided a look at what once was the true life of Jeparit.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Writing about personal journey
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 70%: The true nature of us as a human is to grow up to try, try for a better outcome and future. Walking through…
The true nature of us as a human is to grow up to try, try for a better outcome and future. Walking through difficulties is what make us strong but still the shattered glasses of these hardships is under our skin. Our purposes, hopes, values and beliefs is what make us keep going. Growing up in Iran as a child, and facing the system that is built up oppression, and injustice was the first sign of these hardships, a system that is served as a step back for its people. This is the reality of my life, growing up under the pressure of dictatorship and a long continuum road to endure for a better future and to becoming a better, healthier, and happier person.
unfunctioning childhood memories
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Sophocles frames the pursuit of truth as a…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: In Sophocles’ Greek tragedy ‘Oedipus the King’, the pursuit of truth is presented as a complex and perilous…
In Sophocles’ Greek tragedy ‘Oedipus the King’, the pursuit of truth is presented as a complex and perilous journey. While it is Oedipus’s relentless quest for knowledge that unravels his identity and brings about his ruin and the inevitable costs of truth, the play ultimately suggests that this self-destructive path is a necessary component of restoring divine order and moral justice. The pursuit of truth, therefore, is not merely a flaw that brings about ruin, but a paradoxical force, leading to downfall when driven by hubris, yet becoming redemptive when it aligns with cosmic harmony and self-accountability.
Central to the text, Sophocles presents the pursuit of truth as a path to destruction when driven by arrogance, suggesting that a hubristic search to uncover reality ultimately leads to downfall. Enforced through Oedipus’s conceited proclamation that he personally “must bring what is dark to light.”, Sophocles employs declarative tone and self-aggrandising diction to highlight his ego-driven sense of identity. Sophocles portrays his pursuit of truth as constructed on self-assurance and confidence in his own importance over humility or moral duty. By foreshadowing how this pursuit will eventually dismantle Oedipus's constructed identity, Sophocles positions his downfall as the direct result of unchecked pride. For an Athenian audience, Oedipus becomes a cautionary figure whose desire for knowledge is not inherently noble, and is instead corrupted by hubris, thus forming a imperative warning to hold true to their values of human reason and achievement. This critique is extended through Tiresias’s metaphorical remark, which ironically indicts Oedipus for being “blind to the corruption of [his] life” despite his “precious eyes,” showing how his physical sight ironically masks his metaphorical blindness to the truth. While Tiresias embodies divine truth, Oedipus rejects prophetic authority in favour of his own false reasoning, contradicting an Athenian audience’s awareness of the almighty prophecy, thus reinforcing the dramatic irony that frames his relentless pursuit of truth as tragically misguided. Through this, Sophocles explores the tensions between sacred knowledge and mortal arrogance, from which he presents the pursuit of truth as destructive when it challenges divine order, seeking to warn his audience against prideful curiosity untethered from reverence.
Continuing, even when eventually uncovered, Sophocles presents a pursuit of the truth’s emotional and psychological consequences as devastating, reinforcing the tragic cost of awareness. The inherent suffering in knowledge is captured in Tiresias's desperate plea that it is 'only pain' for those who 'see the truth', expressing the inherent suffering in knowledge through universal language and paradox. Through this, truth is portrayed as a burden that overwhelms those who discover it. Sophocles thus frames
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Protest Title: Listen
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 82.5%: Newspaper, in response to "A King's Perception" (24th May 2001) Sourced from Kyzinskommandt Volume 45.…
Newspaper, in response to "A King's Perception" (24th May 2001)
Sourced from Kyzinskommandt Volume 45.
"Listen!"
Author: Alexia Avanzikt
The great Kyzinskovsk is in peril from the iron fist of the Lijkzervin rule,and we must act now to save it.
The King, Lijkzervin II believes in upholding reputation and authoritarian rule over the rights of his citizens with his newly published document "A King of Kyzinskovsk" revealing his ignorance. Ignorance that flows through the ink of his pen into his letters, ignorance that flows blood and money on his hands, the very hands that tear families apart and send citizens to the grave.
Lijkzervin says that we citizens are "blind to the future", that we are "incapable of understanding how [his] decisions are trading off short term suffering for long term beneficence."
He ignores the needs of the Kovskians and refuses to heed to our pleas and demonstrations and refuses to show Kyzinskovsk is in a national crisis! He believes that masking the issues of our nation through brutality will overhaul our country into its former glory state. Our demands and desperation for change through peaceful means has fallen on deaf ears, almost like Lijkzervin plugs his ears and mocks the population.
500 citizens, all men, women and children have indiscriminately been killed for suspicion of treason this month. We live in a society where youths as young as 7 years old are being tortured and maimed all because Lijkzervin cannot afford the truth. The truth that his system is only that of a glorification of the Lijkzervin family, portraying a facade of their angelic and divine image and not an education system that informs our present and future generations.
He is 'cleansing false claims through the purification of the state' when in reality he taints his hands with innocent blood who call for change, those who have seen enough hardship for a lifetime. Tongues cut out to those who 'speak evil', eyes poked through to those who 'see evil' and dismemberment of limbs to those who 'do evil'. In reality, we speak no evil, see no evil, and do no evil.
VCE · Language Analysis
Language Analysis: 2024 Argument Analysis - Section C…
VCE Language Analysis essay scoring 70%: Upon recent withdrawal of council subsidy funding 'Our Local Gym', Sandy Gestalt, chair of the gym committee,…
Upon recent withdrawal of council subsidy funding 'Our Local Gym', Sandy Gestalt, chair of the gym committee, presented a speech at an emergency meeting. As the presentation unfolds, Gestalt shifts between a collegial, somber and logical tone, specifically targeting members of 'Our Local Gym's' committee to vote for the opportunity to broaden their reach by tapping into the customer base and marketing expertise of the long live lollies partnership, as an optimistic perspective in a time of crisis.
Gestalt's opening remarks provide an insightful evaluation of 'Our Local Gym's' circumstances, whilst expressing gratitude to committee members, in order to establish trust and a sense of community. To support her argument, Gestalt acknowledges that members have 'worked together', and in an alternate context of the business itself, "worked out together." Through the employment of repetition and inclusivity, this opening statement grants a nostalgic moment - priming members to make the decision to keep facilities operating. Building on this pre-established notion of community, the historical context of 'operation for 47 years', intertwining with the gratitude for the efforts of the gym's members, lightens the argumentative scenes by eliciting feelings of pride and disparity in the threat of it's final moments. Gestalt claims that the magnitude of the issue is soaring, by utilising the hyperbole of 'obnoxiously loud music' and in tandem with the vivid imagery of 'shiny new equipment' and "giant flatscreen TVs", triggering fury and frustration of towards commercial gyms that succeed on the foundations of excessive funding and thriving clientele. It further embodies the condescending nature, urged to be employed, by the committee members, a call to underscore in hopes to join with long live lollies. The 'cause and effect' in claiming that 'Our Local Gym' has never been like that', acts as a tool in transforming gym members from a set of disjointed set of individuals into a unified community. To add additional weight to the core establishment of community and background, Gestalt's finalises this acknowledgement by optimistically reasoning that a 'lifeline' is available, as a distinct contradiction to the pre-consequences of its inaction - the 'privatisation', 'closing' and 'demolition]'. This perfect juxtaposition between the interplay of 'demolition' to a 'lifeline' tempers urgency by asserting that the business holds the embodiment of the members itself, and requires immediate attention. In this establishment of background, and gratitude to the members, Gestalt creates a framework that compels action through an application to pathos.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: SECTION B - Personal Journey Stimulus…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 67.5%: SECTION B - Personal Journey To have such a strong force on a global scale that manipulates how we live is…
SECTION B - Personal Journey
To have such a strong force on a global scale that manipulates how we live is scary. The rapid evolution of social media shapes our spirit. Our mindset, outlooks and future decisions that can alter the paths we take. While it can be a joy, being able to offer support, fast, real time communication, and entertainment, it can also bring you pain with negative effects like mental health issues (anxiety, depression etc), poor self-esteem, as well issues with sleep, increased stress and addiction. You will fall and experience those negative side effects, although you will rise again, receiving that dopamine hit social media gives us. Therefore, each day as you pick up your phone and turn the screen on, you won't be who you were before it. In this new world, social media is all around us, it is innevitable.
Learning how to moderately live with it will keep you on the rise. For young kids growing up in this environment, it can feel as though they are being swirled and sucked down a whirlpool, never being able to come up for air, suffocating their personalities. Let's specifically explore their experiences and how it changes them.
'They are not who they where before'
Life would have been simpler for a young person before discovering social media. With no such thing as online bullying, intrusive and distracting notifications, or the pressure of being available 24/7, they would of felt as free as a bird. However, as soon as social media is introduced to them, it has been proven that social skills, physical development and exploration of life opportunities becomes limited.
Nowadays, with an increasing number of young kids being on platforms like Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok, which are highly addictive apps, time spent on screens is through the roof being more than 5 hours a day. Social Media is a time thief, and that time wasted can never be regained back. As a result of this, kids that are rapidly evolving into teens and adults are constantly changing, although sometimes its not for the better.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Title: Lost Play Stimulus 1 ‘We don’t…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 72.5%: Lost Play Ever since I was a kid, I was obsessed with the numbers leading me to love mathematics. It's the…
Lost Play
Ever since I was a kid, I was obsessed with the numbers leading me to love mathematics. It's the logic of numbers that really resonates with me. I remember learning the times tables for fun and reciting with my parent to see who can list them all off first. It was that connection with numbers that taught me the key skills that I use to this day.
When people hear that I love mathematics, they think I'm a madman. They ask "what about maths is lovable?" I love maths because it tickles a part of how my brain functions, with logic and reasoning. And that there is always an answer to a problem, in addition, you can tackle a problem from many different angles.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Discuss how Rainbow's End explores the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: A loss to one's culture and identity can take a toll on who you are, but it can transform you for the better. This…
A loss to one's culture and identity can take a toll on who you are, but it can transform you for the better. This is illustrated in Jane Harrison's play, "Rainbow's End", following the lives of three generations of Koori women as they navigate love, hardships, and the disappointments that can follow, in 1950s white Australia, a period characterised by oppression and white hegemony. Harrison sympathises that a loss of identity and Aboriginal culture can indeed damage you as a person, but she expresses that this loss can transform you into something even better, empowering you as you go.
Transformation is illustrated in Harrison's characterisation of Gladys. Gladys is written to be a dreamer, hopeful for the future that awaits her community, and especially Dolly, whom she wishes to complete her education and get a job, "My girl...a graduate..." a dream that may seem bleak in 1950s white Australia. From this, Gladys is also an admirer of the Royal family, "She pulls Gladys into an informal hug", as demonstrated through Harrison's usage of theatrical conventions called "dream sequences", a convention symbolising the disattachment from reality but the enjoyment it brings to those who do dream, such as Gladys. However, this transformation to Gladys being a dreamer to a realist, is seen through her speech in which Harrison's stage direction, "She marches up to the podium", illustrates a physical shift in Gladys' character but a transformation of her identity as she takes a defiant step, and speaks with pride, "We demand for the right to control our destiny", both her identity and her culture. Harrison's deliberate use of dialogue and stage directions signals to audiences that Gladys is undergoing a transformation in both herself and her culture.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: picture of a dense forest viewed from…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 87.5%: When I was a boy, my grandfather would tell me that the river always remembers. He would speak about her…
When I was a boy, my grandfather would tell me that the river always remembers. He would speak about her language, hoping one day I would understand her voice. My home, Jeparit, sat along her banks, in which always provided wonderous life to our local community. Her warm blue blood carried fish and brought new life to her skin, building luscious green plants, wherever she flowed. Trees stood tall, holding homes for animals that could climb to reach the branches. Her body twisted and coiled promoting a glimmering sparkle, representing hope and adventure to the newly born town.
Years have passed since my grandfather died, bringing the once prosperous town to the grave along with him. My grandfather created the town, making him the heart of the community. He was the person who brought everyone together. The loss of my grandfather forced the town into chaos. People left their unfinished homes, packing their belongings and leaving. Shops became abandoned, creating dark black buildings that voiced ghostly sounds. The streets had cracked and crumbled, resembling small stones and large potholes, that no one would want to drive on. My home, built along the bank of the river, was the highlight of the town. People came from far and wide just to see it and all its beauty. The last time I saw it; I was reminded that the river was what made my home shine. The house was nothing but rusted tin and remnants of a structure we used to live in. It had become overgrown with weeds and sand, no longer a home – a place reclaimed by nature from our lack of presence. The river had been reduced to dirt and clay, showing her open ribcage to the tough Australian sun. Her blood had run dry. No more did animals travel great distances to taste her love. No more did the vibrant green colour cover every inch of the town. Yellow and dust was all that remained. Her love had faded, along with ours.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Sophocles shape the audience's…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 62.5%: Sophocles' Oedipus The King, written in 420 BCE, is a play depicting a story of tragedy and prophecy. He explores…
Sophocles' Oedipus The King, written in 420 BCE, is a play depicting a story of tragedy and prophecy. He explores tragic events that occur to Oedipus, hence shaping the audience's sympathy for him throughout the play. He does so through use of dramatic irony regarding Oedipus' lack of awareness of his dreadful reality. He develops sympathy for him by also conveying his tragic experience despite his heroism. Finally, Sophocles inflicts pity for Oedipus as a victim of over consuming hubris.
Sophocles installs sympathy for Oedipus by using dramatic irony. His horrific prophecies being fulfilled "many years" before the play even commences, implies potential for Oedipus to be simply unaware of certain details of his reality. However Oedipus has a strong will to uncover truths about, such as the murder of Laius, and wants to "fight for him as if he was [his] father", unknowing that Laius was in fact his biological father. He also classifies himself "a stranger to the story," even though ironically, he was the very opposite of a "stranger", but rather the primary perpetrator of the events that occurred at the crossroads. Sophocles uses this dramatic irony to extract pity from the audience, for Oedipus, due to his extent of unknowingness to his horrific truth, which however is known by the audience. He does so to more strongly inflict a deeper relationship between Oedipus and the audience, who feel sorry for him, and hence would have more engagement and connection to the play. This hence blends into the play's tragic characteristics, by having the protagonist, Oedipus, so dramatically unaware of the dreadful truth he will eventually figure out, but doesn't ever know for majority of the play. Through this, Sophocles shapes the audience's sympathy for him, ultimately using him as a message of warning, not to be overly naive.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In Oedipus the King, all who deserve it…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Sophocles' Oedipus The King raises complex questions about just punishment in world governed by fate. The play…
Sophocles' Oedipus The King raises complex questions about just punishment in world governed by fate. The play emphasises repercussions against Oedipus, regardless of the basis of premeditation or righteous search. However, the plague placed upon the Theban society as a collective raises the ambiguity of just punishment within the play. Despite this, Sophocles simultaneously establishes Oedipus' punishment as a source of moral insight. Punishment is not always just in the standards of human morals, though it is the price for wisdom and clarity in the play. Indeed, Sophocles presents a viewing where just punishment is not always rightly deserved, though regardless, it accounts for growth even if it is painful.
Sophocles depicts Oedipus' punishment as deservingly just in the weight of their crimes - highlighting accountability through his flaws. Despite doing so unknowingly, Oedipus fulfils his prophecy of "coupling with [his] mother" and "killing [his] father". The severity of such crimes contributes to Oedipus' debilitating discovery of his circumstances. Through this, Sophocles places emphasis on the notion of moral responsibility, where ignorance does not absolve one from guilt. His fall from kingship through self-discovery is ultimately a result of his hamartia - his excessive pride through his hubris. Indeed, Oedipus' solving of the Sphinx's riddle made him "the first of men" to Thebans, declaring himself as someone who could "grant [their] prayers" instead of the gods. Hence, Oedipus' rooted pride is emphasised to the point where he challenges the authority of the gods. Such praise only inflates the responsibility of Oedipus in saving Thebes from the plague, pushing him to defy Tiresias' warning that he himself is the "corruption of the land" and to continue his search. Sophocles highlights how arrogance can indeed push one closer towards their own downfall, suggesting that Oedipus' punishment is the price of his own hubris. The declaration that he "must hear" from the messenger, depicts this very notion, as he willingly seeks out his own birth, and thus his very own downfall. By this point, Oedipus already possesses an understanding as he is at the "edge of hearing horrors", though chooses to confront his fate as a result of his arrogant search for knowledge. Hence, Sophocles magnifies how an individual's own hubris can lead to one's downfall.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Laveau-Harvie suggests that individuals…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: Set in the backdrop of rural Canada, 'The Erratics' reflects the emotional isolation and hidden dysfunction…
Set in the backdrop of rural Canada, 'The Erratics' reflects the emotional isolation and hidden dysfunction concealed within family of that era. Vicki Laveau-Harvie's nonlinear memoir suggests that while understanding your past helps you reconcile with your past and others in order to move forward with their lives. However, Laveau-Harvie complicates this notion by demonstrating that progress can also be achieved by fleeing the past, a path Vicki takes in stark contrast to her sister, who remains trapped by a history she cannot comprehend. Additionally this is contrasted with Vicki who understood her past and is able to move forward with her past. However Vicki doesn’t fully reconcile her past but she moves forward by fleeing her past. Ultimately this distancing both physically and mentally is what allows her to understand her past.
Vicki's sister is unable to move past with her life as she still holds a grudge from her childhood, which she can't understand. Vicki's sister is shaped by the 'bear trap' of her childhood trauma and is unable to 'extricate herself no matter how hard she pull'. The metaphor presents trauma as hard to escape and contrasts how both sisters reconcile with their pasts. By choosing this violent metaphor she expresses the effect of childhood trauma on adults. Indeed, the sister holds a shows anger from resentment from their childhood as interacting with the mother results in Vicki's sister shaking 'violently after every confrontation with our mother'. This physical response demonstrates how trauma becomes embodied, revealing the extent of the lasting emotional scars and the mother's ongoing power which prevents the sister with moving forward from her past childhood trauma. As a result of her complicated past she is burdened with suppressed emotions, where it's manifested as a 'geyser of rage' which threatens 'plumes up into the sky, black and viscous, coating everything as it falls to earth'. This metaphor describes the effects of the pent-up emotions as being harmful. These suppressed emotions impact her behavior, compelling her to seek closure through fraught attempts at connection, which are ultimately unsuccessful as she is 'beaten back when she has tried'. Consequently this means of connection stems from her inability to come to terms with her trauma, and tries to seek closure through other means.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Laveau-Harvie suggests that individuals…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: Set in the backdrop of rural Canada, 'The Erratics' reflects the emotional isolation and hidden dysfunction…
Set in the backdrop of rural Canada, 'The Erratics' reflects the emotional isolation and hidden dysfunction concealed within family of that era. Vicki Laveau-Harvie's nonlinear memoir suggests that while understanding your past helps you reconcile with your past and others in order to move forward with their lives. However, Laveau-Harvie complicates this notion, demonstrating through Vicki that moving forward can also be achieved by fleeing the past. Certainly understanding your past is important as Vicki's sister never understood her past that’s why she can't let go of her past trauma. Additionally this is contrasted with Vicki who understood her past and is able to move forward with her past. However Vicki doesn’t fully reconcile her past but she moves forward by fleeing her past. Ultimately this distancing both physically and mentally is what allows her to understand her past.
Vicki's sister is unable to move past with her life as she still holds a grudge from her childhood, which she can't understand. Vicki's sister is shaped by the 'bear trap' of her childhood trauma and is unable to 'extricate herself no matter how hard she pull'. The metaphor presents trauma as hard to escape and contrasts how both sisters reconcile with their pasts. By choosing this violent metaphor she expresses the effect of childhood trauma on adults. Indeed, the sister holds a shows anger from resentment from their childhood as interacting with the mother results in Vicki's sister shaking 'violently after every confrontation with our mother'. This physical response demonstrates how trauma becomes embodied, revealing the extent of the lasting emotional scars and the mother's ongoing power which prevents the sister with moving forward from her past childhood trauma. As a result of her complicated past she is burdened with suppressed emotions, where it's manifested as a 'geyser of rage' which threatens 'plumes up into the sky, black and viscous, coating everything as it falls to earth'. This metaphor describes the effects of the pent-up emotions as being harmful. These suppressed emotions impact her behavior, compelling her to seek closure through fraught attempts at connection, which are ultimately unsuccessful as she is 'beaten back when she has tried'. Consequently this means of connection stems from her inability to come to terms with her trauma, and tries to seek closure through other means.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: "...but its no use going back at…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 85%: Finding My Way The diagnosis appeared without warning, slipping quietly into her life like a misplaced file in…
Finding My Way
The diagnosis appeared without warning, slipping quietly into her life like a misplaced file in the archives of her mind. She had been running that night, fit and healthy, and soon found herself sitting beneath the clinic cloaked in the sterile white glow that the word “early onset dementia” was spoken aloud, setting her on a degrading path from which there was no return. As the disease sharply wove its way through her brain, the threads of her past unravelled. Threads of memory loosening, familiar faces fading into a shadow. What remained was a mind collapsing in on itself, a dark world of thoughts racing in every direction with no one to calm them. The arrows on the road beneath her feet pointed her forward, but her heart still searched for the yesterdays she could no longer reach.
Eliza drifted through the ruins of her memory, the present slipping through gaps she could no longer bridge, the past pressing in like walls she could not scale. She would often wander the halls of the wretched nursing home, her eyes distant as if searching for a door back to her vibrant self. But her legs knew only one path, forward, towards someone she no longer recognised. Straight ahead into a different ending, a person forgotten and alone, struggling to even remember the colour of her socks she had on. In these moments, flashes of her former life would pierce the fog, the feel of a scalpel in her hand, the rush of adrenaline in the operating room, the warmth of gratitude in a patient’s eyes and the arrival of a new challenge that she could no longer conquer. These memories surfaced like rejected sutures, sharp edged fragments of a life her mind could no longer hold together.
Yet it was not only the dementia that broke down her dignity, but also the care or lack
thereof, she received within the walls of Silver Linings. Requests for help with basic
needs often went unanswered, her voice lost in the void between her mind and the
world around her. She would lie awake at night, the silence of her room interrupted
by the distant cry of others like her, each calling out for a compassion that never
came.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Laveau-Harvie suggests that individuals…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: Set in the backdrop of rural Canada, 'The Erratics' reflects the emotional isolation and hidden dysfunction…
Set in the backdrop of rural Canada, 'The Erratics' reflects the emotional isolation and hidden dysfunction concealed within family of that era. Vicki Laveau-Harvie's nonlinear memoir suggests that while understanding your past helps you reconcile with your past and others in order to move forward with their lives. However, it's not necessary to move forward, this is shown with Vicki who moves forward with her life by fleeing her past. Certainly understanding your past is important as Vicki's sister never understood her past that’s why she can't let go of her past trauma. Additionally this is contrasted with Vicki who understood her past and is able to move forward with her past. However Vicki doesn’t fully reconcile her past but she moves forward by fleeing her past. Ultimately this distancing both physically and mentally is what allows her to understand her past.
Vicki's sister is unable to move past with her life as she still holds a grudge from her childhood, which she can't understand. Vicki's sister is shaped by the 'bear trap' of her childhood trauma and is unable to 'extricate herself no matter how hard she pull'. The metaphor presents trauma as hard to escape and contrasts how both sisters reconcile with their pasts. By choosing this violent metaphor she expresses the effect of childhood trauma on adults. Indeed, the sister holds a shows anger from resentment from their childhood as interacting with the mother results in Vicki's sister shaking 'violently after every confrontation with our mother'. This physical response demonstrates how trauma becomes embodied, revealing the extent of the lasting emotional scars and the mother's ongoing power which prevents the sister with moving forward from her past childhood trauma. As a result of her complicated past she is burdened with suppressed emotions, where it's manifested as a 'geyser of rage' which threatens 'plumes up into the sky, black and viscous, coating everything as it falls to earth'. This metaphor describes the effects of the pent-up emotions as being harmful. These suppressed emotions impact her behavior, compelling her to seek closure through fraught attempts at connection, which are ultimately unsuccessful as she is 'beaten back when she has tried'. Consequently this means of connection stems from her inability to come to terms with her trauma, and tries to seek closure through other means.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: title - listen , stimulus - mighty…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 80%: Section B - base piece Listen @stirring the pot 27 January 2025 Good afternoon everyone! Its Abby. I know I…
Section B - base piece
Listen
@stirring the pot
27 January 2025
Good afternoon everyone! Its Abby. I know I usually start these posts with butter, or maybe basil, on the rare occasion a story about my grandmothers famous pavlova. However, this week, I cant quite bring myself to whisk egg whites when the air outside feels so heavy. Today is not a recipe for peach cobbler, but instead a recipe for disaster.
Yesterday, whilst chopping onions for dinner, I was unable to disregard the roars from my balcony, chants echoing through the city like the sound of a boiling kettle about to spill over. Thousands marching, thousands watching, some angry, some yearning, some like me, unsure how to stir whats inside without it burning. But sounds like this, rising like dough, it was impossible not to listen. So today I shy away from cooking to express to my followers the youth of Australia and the next generations leaders about how solicitous I am.
[insert picture from stimulus]
Listening isnt always gentle, it can sting, the same way lemon juice does when it hits a small cut. For years, I have associated the day of Australia day, January 26th with sizzling sausages and backyard laughter, now it tastes different. Smokier, Bitter. I reflect on those whos hands first lit fires here long before the barbecues, whos stories were silenced under layers of tradition where nobody can listen to them. It is not a day of pride, but a day of pain. To listen means to sit with that truth, even if its unsettling.
and understanding, where small acorns of awareness start to grow.