VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does high ground reveal that thr line…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 62.5%: Saaya How does High Ground reveal that the line between justice and revenge is not always clear? Stephen…
Saaya
How does High Ground reveal that the line between justice and revenge is not always clear?
Stephen Johnson's 2020 film 'High Ground' explores the impact of western colonisation on Indigenous Australians through the story of Gutjuk, a young Yolngu man who lost his family at a young age and was assimilated. Living between the conflicting worlds of the colonisers and his remaining family, he grapples with the conflict of justice and his morality. The film is set in Arnhem Land, during the 1930's, examining themes of colonial violence, cultural connection and Aboriginal dispossession. Johnson conveys that often in the pursuit of justice, many follow a path of revenge instead. However, he highlights that in times where justice is absent, individuals are forced to rely on revenge as a form of personal revenge.
Through High Ground, it is made evident that the journey of justice often unfolds into one of revenge. He highlights the uncertainty of the two concepts when attempts at justice ultimately results in revenge. The lack of clarity of the boundary between revenge and justice is made evident through the change in pathway of character and the conflict of their morality and their actions. This is primarily depicted through the climax of the film where Gutjuk is seen to lead a path of revenge rather than justice. The climax presents Gutjuk actively fighting the soldiers, relying on guns and bullets. Guns and bullets, being a weapon mostly used by colonisers against Aboriginal Australians is used by Johnson as a symbol of colonial violence. The climax being comprised of Gutjuk relying on this weapon is indicative of him turning to a system and a way of life that actively goes against him and his people. Despite starting off his journey saying that he wants justice, Johnson presents that in the climax lets his anger take control, disregarding Dharrpa's words of needing to "protect himself" and to "listen to mother Earth". Instead of adopting such attitudes of justice, he chose to succumb to his anger and thus means of revenge. The diversion of Gutjuk's journey of what he himself said to be "justice", to one that served as personal revenge as highlighted in the climax, Johnson demonstrates that ambiguity between justice and revenge is prevalent in how individuals are easily able to leave a path of one for the other. The lack of clarity between the two is further explored through the symbolic use of fire. During the scene where Baywara burns the station, a different angle shot of Baywara standing on a rock is implemented, with flame present in the foreground and background of the image. Baywara does this in retaliation of the massacre of his family years ago, using fire to gain justice by combating colonial power using Aboriginal weapon of fire. However, the vagueness in distinction of justice and revenge is often seen, as uncontrolled and erratic like flames. In the shot as the flames consume all in its path, Johnson symbolises that revenge fuelled by anger consumes Baywara, as "he let the anger consume him". The placement of the flames all around him in the shot, while still maintaining a low angle showing power and authority, is utilised by Johnson to portray the ambivalent nature of the distinction between justice and revenge. In depicting the interchangeability of forms of justice and revenge, and the ambiguity of the distinction between the two is used by Johnson to demonstrate how the line is not always clear.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: title: listen stimulus: Image of a…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 82.5%: Section B writing about protest stimulus 2 Listen 'Published posthumously, in memory of Aleesha Grace Thomas,…
Section B writing about protest
stimulus 2
Listen
'Published posthumously, in memory of Aleesha Grace Thomas, Aged 26.'
This is not how I wanted to be remembered
If you're reading this, I've already become a headline. I've become a name in your newsfeed, a statistic. I am another unfortunate girl killed by the man who promised love her. I know you've heard this story before, but you've never heard it like this, never from me.
I am not just a story anymore. No longer am I a victim. I am the storyteller. I have a voice. And I refuse to not be heard. I will not be quiet. Or silent. Or complacent. I know how this world works; it waits until we're silent to finally start listening. My words will ring louder now then they ever did when I was alive. The world must listen now, even if it is far too late to save me.
So I write this for those still out there; those girls with bruises hidden behind makeup, insults whispered in their ear under the guise of care, jealousy disguised as concern. The world will be forced to hear you now.
But maybe they already do. Maybe, our cries have been echoing in their heads for years now, they just refuse to acknowledge them.
They refuse to see our pain.
They refuse to see our abusers for what they truly are.
They refuse to open their eyes to the truths right in front of them.
In their minds, no evidence will ever be enough. Not our bruises, and certainly not our testimonies. The systems in place will continue to protect the guilty, and crush the vulnerable.
People - women, girls - will continue to die. Their voices will be kept silent. When will it be enough for the rest of you to act?
Listen to me now. You are not innocent just because you did not throw the punch. You are not innocent just because you were unaware of what occurred behind closed doors.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Jackson’s novel examine the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: Orchestrated in the mist of the early 1900s in 1962, Shirley Jackson's gothic novel We Have Always lived in the…
Orchestrated in the mist of the early 1900s in 1962, Shirley Jackson's gothic novel We Have Always lived in the castle clearly emphasised gender imbalance as a notion to power being distributed unevenly. Showcasing a range of difficulties that the stereotypical women face due to the set of status in society, Jackson amplifies this through the living conditions amongst male dominance and the consequences colliding with an uneven power imbalance.
Jackson challenges fairytale allusions when illustrating difficulties of living in a world where power is distributed unevenly through gendered roles and generic perspectives. In reflection to rapunzuel, Jackson positions constance to be a helpless princess in desperation of saving while charles is the knight to her fantasies, crafting a gendered perspective to her readers. Although constance was living contently in the blackwood estate with her sister Merricat, Jackson sprouted the notion of saviour for constance against Merricat. Deploying charles as a character who feels the obligation to "save constance". This fairytale allusion instantly distributes higher authority to males, however is challenged via the gothic genre of Merricat being resistent to feminine norms. with a character like Merricat, Jackson challenges this typical fairytale notion, conflicting it with charles masculine dominance. While charles tries to save constance, Merricat tries to protect constance, showcasing a colliding perspective of feminine roles of being protected and the masuline sterotype to protect.
Analogously, Jackson examines the difficulties of living amongst a world of uneven power distribution. Contrasting masulinity to black magic, Jackson expresses the gothic genre of we have always lived in the castle in illustration to her two characters, charles and Merricat. Positioning the angelic nature of constance
Orchestrated in the mist of the early 1900s in 1962, Shirley Jackson's gothic novel We Have Always lived in the castle clearly emphasised gender imbalance as a notion to power being distributed unevenly. showcasing a range of difficulties that the stereotypical women face due to the set of status in society, Jackson emplifies this through the living conditions amongst male dominance and the consequences colliding with an uneven power imbalance.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: • You must use the title provided. •…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 80%: Section B Keeping it fun The shadows danced around me as I lay silently in my bed, listening out for a crack or…
Section B Keeping it fun
The shadows danced around me as I lay silently in my bed, listening out for a crack or a thud or anything that was out of the ordinary. In fear, I hid under the covers leaving just the smallest of hole so I could still breath but not see the monster standing at my door. It lurked around me, twisting and morphing as my imagination addled and changed the terrifying features of the monster-thing. Its long sharp claws, scaley neck and crackly skin, it circled me like a predator and I was the prey hiding under my covers, trembling. The sun had gone down, and my imagination was no longer the fun child and wildspirited like it had been during the day, it was like it got tired of keeping it fun, and let the darkness take over. It put away the childish thoughts and brought out the petrifying ones, the ones that would keep me awake haunt me until dawn.
As a 12 year old girl I should have been having fun outside, dancing and playing with my brother but I was trapped inside my own head. As months past, the darkness of the night began to creep into the day and suddenly everywhere I went I was looking over my shoulder to check no monster was following me. I felt like I was constantly being watched by the real eyes of the monster that stood at my door, waiting to pounce.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “Better a witty fool than a foolish wit”…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: William Shakespeare’s 1601 play Twelfth Night, written at the height of his dramatic maturity, is a Renaissance…
William Shakespeare’s 1601 play Twelfth Night, written at the height of his dramatic maturity, is a Renaissance comedy set within the fictional land of Illyria. The comedic aspects of the play interrogate the archetypal societal expectations of wisdom among different classes in Elizabethan society. To a considerable extent, Shakespeare suggests that folly and intelligence can be linked. However, it is one’s understanding of others that reflects true wisdom. This is introduced through the witty use of foolishness, highlighting its necessity for individuals to satisfy their desires, reinforcing the notion that it is better to be a “witty fool”. In contrast, some individuals can embrace both folly and wisdom as distinct qualities. Moreover, Shakespeare reveals folly as a means to critiquing predetermined assumptions of wisdom, affirming the notion that wisdom is based solely on an individual’s ability to connect with others.
Shakespeare introduces the acceptance of folly as an indication of wisdom, being used as a tool of influence. Foolishness is primarily portrayed through the fool Feste, who aims to be a “witty fool” rather than a “foolish wit”, and reveals through paradox that true wisdom resides in one’s ability to know oneself. It is through Feste’s self-awareness in he can portray the archetypal Shakespearean Fool, a character who provides comedic relief whilst giving commentary on the morals and actions of other characters. With his intelligence residing in his ability to make insightful connections between characters and their actions, Feste can be a “corruptor of words”. By masking himself as a fool, he transcends his societal role and speaks freely, influencing others under a humorous guise. Through presenting a fool as highly perceptive, Shakespeare reveals that wisdom is not linked to intelligence, but rather one’s ability to unite folly and wit to influence those around them. Additionally, the acceptance of foolishness is developed further through Sir Toby, through his calculated manipulations. Sir Toby’s character is grounded in buffoonery, as he is defined through his excessive drinking and absurdity, underpinning his actions throughout the play. To fuel his alcoholism, Sir Toby utilises his wisdom to manipulate Sir Andrew and Cesario into a duel. Fuelled by his own desire for entertainment and a drinking partner, Sir Toby initiates this duel by falsely labelling Sir Andrew as “a devil in private brawl”, eliciting fear within Cesario. Through Sir Toby’s actions, Shakespeare demonstrates that indulgent folly can intertwine with intelligence when it can influence those around them. Ultimately, Shakespeare constructs wisdom as a quality that is built on one’s ability to accept folly and utilise it to control those around them.
Shakespeare suggests that folly and wisdom can coexist, working separately within an individual to steer others’ judgements. Folly is a nuanced theme within Twelfth Night and is portrayed through disguise and deception. In particular, Viola’s disguise acts as a comedic outlet in the play; however, Viola’s main intention is not one of petty foolishness. Her disguise becomes the “form of [her] intent” as she employs cross-dressing to grant herself mobility within
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Title: Resist and Persist
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 90%: Absolutely, LORD HARRISON. Here is a **refined adaptation of your text to align fully with the title “Resist…
Absolutely, LORD HARRISON. Here is a **refined adaptation of your text to align fully with the title “Resist and Persist,”** keeping the tone formal, symbolic, and metallurgically resonant, while emphasizing the duality of rebellion and repair:
---
# **Resist and Persist**
### *The Manual of Dissent*
**Foreword – To the New Apprentice**
Welcome to the Guild of Resistance.
You have chosen an ancient craft — equal parts rebellion and repair. Remember: dissent is not destruction; it is the hammer that reforges society before it rusts. Manuals before this one were forged in candlelight, hidden in coat linings, whispered across fences. Read them carefully, for protest survives only through those who remember its craft.
---
## **Section 1 – Tools of the Trade**
**Item 1: A Mirror.** To see the system reflected in yourself. Clean it often; corruption leaves fingerprints.
**Item 2: A Compass.** Calibrated by conscience, not convenience.
**Item 3: A Pen.** Sharp enough to cut through silence, gentle enough to sign beside another’s.
**Item 4: A Seed.** Keep it warm. Every act of kindness is future growth.
**Item 5: Earplugs.** To silence the chorus of “It’s just the way things are.”
**Item 6: A Spare Heart.** Because one will break.
Carry them lightly. Steel may rust; conviction does not.
*(Voice & Expression / Personal Protest / Hope & Perseverance)*
---
## **Section 2 – Locating the Fault Line**
Listen first. Systems hum before they fracture.
Seek where comfort outweighs compassion — there dissent begins.
Map the landscape: overcrowded wards, underpaid hands, silenced stories.
Write in margins what cannot fit in official reports. Bureaucracies fear margins; they hold truth too wide for forms.
Remember: obedience is often the first language of fear. Translate it into courage, word by word.
*(System & Society / Moral Conviction / Resistance & Defiance)*
---
## **Section 3 – Ignition Protocol**
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: "this is my law. it comes from the soil.…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 65%: High Ground is a Northern Revisionist film directed by Stephen Johnson, which explores the colonisation of post…
High Ground is a Northern Revisionist film directed by Stephen Johnson, which explores the colonisation of post World War 1 Australia. Johnson suggests that British justice system results in violence and forced assimilation, and instead emphasises the importance of connection to culture as a form of justice. Johnson explores the violent effects of the power and control of the British Justice system, and reveals how forced assimilation can be a byproduct of the British Justice system. However, Johnson offers Indigenous people's connection to culture as a superior form of justice.
Johnson explores the violent effects of power and control of the British system. In the beginning of the film, Gutjuk's family is attacked by white British men who are seeking justice for a cow that was stolen. The soldier's uniforms contrast the Indigenous' clothing and traditional paint, emphasising their connection to the British empire. As digetic gunshots ring through the forest, the camera constantly cuts to different people to emphasise the panic of the situation. During the aftermath, Johnson shows a close up of Dhappra, holding his dead daughter's head in his hands, crying out in agony "My beautiful daughter", his voice shaking. Here, Johnson aims to demonstrate to the audience that all this pain and suffering is a result of the British seeking justice. In a later scene, Gulwirri and Gutjuk are seated around a fire in a cave. The fire crackles, gently illuminating the otherwise dark faces of Gutjuk and Gulwirri. Gulwirri shares with Gutjuk a personal story of when she was abused by white men as a young child, claiming "Bossman thought he owned us". Her solemn expression and serious tone, paired with the darkness of the room and occasional cuts to a midshot of Gutjuk's shocked reaction highlights the travesty and seriousness of the situation. Here, Johnson attempts to position the audience to see the harm caused by misuse of power within the British system. Johnson explores the abuse of colonial power and underlines the violent consequences of British Justice.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “How can over 50,000 yrs mean nothing?”…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: Green and Kinsella’s False Claims of Colonial Thieves dismantles the sanitised myths of Australian history,…
Green and Kinsella’s False Claims of Colonial Thieves dismantles the sanitised myths of Australian history, forcing readers to reconsider a forgotten past of mistreatment towards centuries of First Nations people on Australian soil.
Green, a descendant of First Nations people, along with Kinsella, a passionate ally, condemns colonisation, the breakdown of Indigenous culture, and exploitative tourism, as the unethical yet ignored aspects of white Australia’s actions against Indigenous people’s history.
The poets condemn colonisation of white settlers as the root initiator of violence towards the centuries-withstanding Indigenous race. Green utilizes “Always Thieves” to question the audience regarding white Australia’s truly bloodied history, rewinding to a time where “massacres” were “strategic for any interference”. The pun embedded in interference highlights the critique of colonised euphemism, where genocidal acts are reframed as responses to minor resistance.
Kinsella follows to critique white settler violence through challenging the vicious degradation of sacred Indigenous land by miners. He strips land-exploiters of their human values by suggesting the “king brown” doesn’t die “from its own poison” “within its body”, analogising uranium (the miner’s gold) as being a king brown snake, being potentially lethal yet harmless if it is left there “intact”. Green and Kinsella unveil the torture that colonisation has brought upon Indigenous people and land, who deserve nothing less than justice after 50,000 years of existing before colonisation.
Green and Kinsella seek to find solace in a recognition of Indigenous culture that was spiritually and physically squashed by white Australian culture.
Green critiques white Australia’s satisfaction of enjoying a picturesque vacation on a historical graveyard, labelling Rottnest Island as a “prison memory of
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: wilders film condems the illusion of fame.…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: Introduction Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard (1950) is a bleak and unflinching portrayal of Hollywood’s dream…
Introduction
Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard (1950) is a bleak and unflinching portrayal of Hollywood’s dream factory, exposing how the pursuit of fame corrupts identity, morality, and truth itself. Framed through film-noir conventions—voice-over narration, chiaroscuro lighting, and fatalistic structure—Wilder dismantles the myth that celebrity equals happiness. Through the intertwined downfalls of Norma Desmond and Joe Gillis, he condemns the illusion of fame as a seductive lie that promises transcendence but delivers decay. Wilder’s critique extends beyond individual tragedy; it reflects a system that feeds on ambition and discards its own creations once their shine fades.
Body Paragraph 1 – Illusion and Isolation
Wilder begins by revealing the fragility behind Hollywood’s glittering surface. Norma Desmond, a forgotten silent-film star, lives entombed in a mansion that resembles both a museum and a tomb. The once-grand house—curtains drawn, dust thick on forgotten trophies—embodies the rot beneath cinematic glamour. Wilder’s low-key lighting and tight framing trap Norma within darkness, mirroring her mental confinement. Her famous line, “I am big. It’s the pictures that got small,” encapsulates her delusion: she refuses to see that fame has abandoned her. The camera’s obsessive close-ups parody the adoring lenses that once idolised her, turning worship into ridicule. By surrounding Norma with relics of her former glory—projectors, photographs, silent reels—Wilder visualises how fame fossilises the human spirit. His portrayal condemns not only Norma’s blindness but the culture that created her, one that confuses attention with love and visibility with worth.
Body Paragraph 2 – Ambition and Moral Collapse
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: wilders film condems the illusion of fame.…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 62.5%: Introduction In Sunset Boulevard, director Billy Wilder explores the dark side of Hollywood and the false…
Introduction
In Sunset Boulevard, director Billy Wilder explores the dark side of Hollywood and the false promises of fame. He shows that the dream of success and recognition often leads to loneliness and despair. Through characters like Norma Desmond and Joe Gillis, Wilder condemns the illusion of fame as something that destroys those who believe in it.
Body Paragraph 1
Wilder shows that fame in Hollywood is not as perfect as it seems, but instead a trap that destroys those who chase it. Norma Desmond’s mansion, filled with old photos and silent movie relics, symbolises how fame quickly fades and leaves people stuck in the past. She lives in darkness and isolation, pretending she is still loved by the world. When she says, “I am big. It’s the pictures that got small,” Wilder shows how fame has made her blind to reality. The use of low lighting and close-up shots make her look unstable and trapped in her fantasy. Through Norma’s downfall, Wilder warns viewers that fame is an illusion that promises happiness but delivers emptiness and madness instead.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Title: Make you proud
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 90%: The sky was the colour of wet concrete when I opened my report. Around me, my friends’ laughter shimmered like…
The sky was the colour of wet concrete when I opened my report. Around me, my friends’ laughter shimmered like sunlight—grades full of A’s, A+’s, futures bright as midday. Mine: a column of red F’s. Their voices blurred into a chorus of mockery—idiot, dumbass—but I smiled anyway, stretching my lips into the sun I didn’t feel.
By the time my shoes touched the welcome mat, the sun had set inside me. My father was already waiting, eyes lit with a storm. The word disappointment struck harder than his fist ever could. He raged about wasted chances, about shame. I escaped to my room, where the only light was the streetlamp leaking through the blinds. It drew bars across my wall—like a cage of shadows.
Lying there, I thought of my mother. The warmth of her skin when I was three, the lullabies that smelled of soap and milk. She had left us, and since then, the world had dimmed. My father drowned in bottles; I drowned in silence.
When I woke again, hunger twisted through me. I stumbled to the kitchen—and froze. My father lay sprawled on the floor, face ghost-pale under the fluorescent light. For a second, the world stopped breathing. His hand, once so heavy on my shoulder, was still.
At the hospital, the rhythmic beep of machines mimicked my heartbeat—fast, frantic. I waited through the night, watching dawn smear pink across the window. The doctor’s shoes echoed down the corridor. “Are you Lucas?” he asked. My legs carried me into the room before my mind could follow.
Dad looked smaller than I remembered. His voice cracked through the static: “I’m sorry, son… for everything.” His eyes—once fiery—were now pools of regret. “Do good in life. Make me proud.”
The words sank into me like sunlight into frost. When the monitor fell silent, the room dimmed again—but something inside me had caught light.
After the funeral, I promised him I’d change. No more excuses. No more shadows.
Child services placed me with strangers who called me troubled. Every door closed as soon as it opened. I ran away, juggling three jobs—mopping diner floors, stacking shelves, washing cars—anything to survive. My apartment was barely more than a box, with one flickering bulb that hummed through the night. Yet every morning I looked in the cracked mirror and whispered, Make him proud.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Jackson’s novel examine the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 60%: Orchestrated in the mist of the early 1900s in 1962, Shirley Jackson's gothic novel We Have Always lived in the…
Orchestrated in the mist of the early 1900s in 1962, Shirley Jackson's gothic novel We Have Always lived in the castle clearly emphasised gender imbalance as a notion to power being distributed unevenly. Showcasing a range of difficulties that the stereotypical women face due to the set of status in society, Jackson amplifies this through the living conditions amongst male dominance and the consequences colliding with an uneven power imbalance.
Jackson challenges fairytale allusions when illustrating difficulties of living in a world where power is distributed unevenly through gendered roles and generic perspectives. In reflection to rapunzuel, Jackson positions constance to be a helpless princess in desperation of saving while charles is the knight to her fantasies, crafting a gendered perspective to her readers. Although constance was living contently in the blackwood estate with her sister Merricat, Jackson sprouted the notion of saviour for constance against Merricat. Deploying charles as a character who feels the obligation to "save constance". This fairytale allusion instantly distributes higher authority to males, however is challenged via the gothic genre of Merricat being resistent to feminine norms. with a character like Merricat, Jackson challenges this typical fairytale notion, conflicting it with charles masculine dominance. While charles tries to save constance, Merricat tries to protect constance, showcasing a colliding perspective of feminine roles of being protected and the masuline sterotype to protect.
Analogously, Jackson examines the difficulties of living amongst a world of uneven power distribution. Contrasting masulinity to black magic, Jackson expresses the gothic genre of we have always lived in the castle in illustration to her two characters, charles and Merricat. Positioning the angelic nature of constance
Orchestrated in the mist of the early 1900s in 1962, Shirley Jackson's gothic novel We Have Always lived in the castle clearly emphasised gender imbalance as a notion to power being distributed unevenly. showcasing a range of difficulties that the stereotypical women face due to the set of status in society, Jackson emplifies this through the living conditions amongst male dominance and the consequences colliding with an uneven power imbalance.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: how does the play reveal that wisdom and…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 62.5%: Universally regarded as the "tragedy of fate", Oedipus the king is one of three Theban plays written by the…
Universally regarded as the "tragedy of fate", Oedipus the king is one of three Theban plays written by the renound playwright Sophocles in 429 BCE. Set in Athens in Ancient Greece, the dramatised folktale aims to exemplify the authority of the gods whilst also encouraging the suppression of hubris through the vehicle of the protagonist. The deterioration of Oedipus' character throughout the play demonstrates that even a noble leader can face an agonising fate. Sophocles uses a cathartic structure to position the audience to view Oedipus as a wise man, and that his determination to reveal the truth is the catalyst of his downward spiral as he meets his demise.
Sophocles initially illustrates Oedipus as a virtuous leader, revered by the people of Thebes. Described as the "first of men", Oedipus impetuously acts to save the "dying" Thebes, pleading that "[he] will do anything" to help end the plague. Oedipus explains how he has "wept through the nights" knowing his Thebans are suffering. Sophocles uses this imagery to illustrate Oedipus' empathy and further demonstrate his noble leadership qualities. The chorus endears their leader, pleading their "good helmsman" to "steer [them] through the storm". The use of nautical imagery exhibits Oedipus' bravery, as the ocean was considered a dangerous place for Athenians at the time. Sophocles utilises the role of the chorus as a means to demonstrate to the audience to also endear the protagonist and view him as a likeable character.
As Oedipus speaks about his past achievements, he mentions how the "flight of [his] own intelligence hit the mark", as a way of proving his wisdom. His eagerness to "bring [the truth] to light" further emphasises his good judgement and capabilities to lead. It is but the audiences pre-ordained knowledge during the parados that proves that Oedipus' wisdom inevitably results in pain. In order to link the two concepts, Sophocles must first position the audience to revere the protagonist in order to view him as a wise leader who chooses to act honourably.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “I was not allowed to help: I was not…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 75%: Shirley Jackson’s 1950s We Have Always Lived in the Castle , based in America Vermont, blends an eerie atmosphere…
Shirley Jackson’s 1950s We Have Always Lived in the Castle , based in America Vermont, blends an eerie atmosphere with wit. The novel explores the idea of power, and the things it can do to people. Jackson exposes how authority whether domestic, patriarchal, or collective, can suppress individuality and breed fear. Yet she also warns that resistance to power, when shaped by trauma and obsession, can become just as destructive. By depicting both the domination of the powerless and the ways they reclaim control, Jackson issues a caution that power, in any form, corrodes those who wield it and those who suffer under it.
Jackson first warns of the dangers of power through the oppressive domestic hierarchy that silences and confines certain characters. Merricat’s complaint “I was not allowed to help; I was not allowed to prepare food”—captures her exclusion from the central rituals of the home, symbolising the gendered authority that governs their household. Even after her father’s death, his presence lingers through rigid routines and unspoken rules. Constance’s obsessive tidiness that “everything must be done properly”, reveals how she has internalised patriarchal control, transforming domestic order into a form of self-punishment. The kitchen, once a space of nourishment, becomes a shrine to submission. Jackson suggests that such authority not only robs women of agency but also fosters resentment and rebellion. Merricat’s act of poisoning her family, while horrifying, becomes the only means by which she can reclaim power in a system that denies her participation. Through this subversion, Jackson reveals that domination within the private sphere inevitably distorts both morality and love, turning the family home a supposed haven, into a site of repression and decay.
Jackson exposes throughout the novel that control almost in nearly every situation lead to domination. The townspeople’s sing-song taunts“Merricat, said Connie, would you like a cup of tea? “disguise cruelty beneath a veneer
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: title: in bloom stimulus 1: “Whoever…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 95%: I can still hear it—the puck thudding into the boards, the horn splitting the air, skates carving white…
I can still hear it—the puck thudding into the boards, the horn splitting the air, skates carving white shavings that catch the light. Those sounds don’t fade; they settle under the skin and rise the moment I step inside a rink.
Our local rink isn’t much. Breath lifts in white ribbons. There’s a hush before the first stride, the kind of quiet that makes the smallest scrape sound huge. It’s a concrete box on the edge of town, but it felt like home. I trained here every week for as long as I can remember: team meetings in the change room, coach’s talks on the bench, tape snapping off a roll, laughter fogging the glass.
When he wasn’t working, Dad stood behind the glass in sweatpants and his old NHL hoodie. He didn’t shout; he watched. If I missed, he gave a small nod—not disappointment, just a quiet way of saying try again, keep going, you’re close. It told me effort counted even when the scoreboard didn’t.
Before he was my dad in a frayed hoodie, he was a name on draft sheets—a big prospect with speed and a heavy shot. In his last varsity game, he tore his ACL. One twist and the future he’d skated toward vanished. He never called it failure or let it turn him hard. When doubt tightened in my chest, he’d say, “You’re in bloom. You might not be the best now, but persistence opens paths. It’s uphill from here—in the right way.” He rarely lectured; he showed me how to stay steady when things got hard.
Year 10 was harsh. I learned the weight of the bench. I stared at the rubber matting more than I saw the ice. When the coach finally tapped my shoulder, the puck felt foreign on my blade. I shuffled the pass away and hid in the flow. At school, the looks—half question, half pity—pressed the doubt deeper.
Mum and Dad wouldn’t let those thoughts root. “Whoever wants to understand much must play much,” Mum reminded me, tapping the fridge magnet with that line. Learning lives in the doing. Her words pulled up an old picture of me at six in a paper chef’s hat, waving a wooden spoon, a frypan too heavy for my wrist. I wasn’t cooking; I was playing at cooking—and
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: how does the play reveal that wisdom and…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Universally regarded as the "tragedy of fate", Oedipus the king is one of three Theban plays written by the renound…
Universally regarded as the "tragedy of fate", Oedipus the king is one of three Theban plays written by the renound playwright Sophocles in 429 BCE. Set in Athens in Ancient Greece, the dramatised folktale aims to exemplify the authority of the gods whilst also encouraging the suppression of hubris through the vehicle of the protagonist. The deterioration of Oedipus' character throughout the play demonstrates that even a noble leader can face an agonising fate. Sophocles uses a cathartic structure, created by Aristotle to position the audience to view Oedipus as a wise man, and that his determination to reveal the truth is the catalyst of his downward spiral as he meets his demise.
Sophocles initially illustrates Oedipus as a virtuous leader, revered by the people of Thebes. Described as the "first of men", Oedipus impetuously acts to save the "dying" Thebes, pleading that "[he] will do anything" to help end the plague. Oedipus explains how he has "wept through the nights" knowing his Thebans are suffering. Sophocles uses this imagery to illustrate Oedipus' empathy and further demonstrate his noble leadership qualities. The chorus endears their leader, pleading their "good helmsman" to "steer [them] through the storm". The use of nautical imagery exhibits Oedipus' bravery, as the ocean was considered a dangerous place for Athenians at the time. Sophocles utilises the role of the chorus as a means to demonstrate to the audience to also endear the protagonist and view him as a likeable character.
As Oedipus speaks about his past achievements, he mentions how the "flight of [his] own intelligence hit the mark", as a way of proving his wisdom. His eagerness to "bring [the truth] to light" further emphasises his good judgement and capabilities to lead. It is but the audiences pre-ordained knowledge during the parados that proves that Oedipus' wisdom inevitably results in pain. In order to link the two concepts, Sophocles must first position the audience to revere the protagonist in order to view him as a wise leader who chooses to act honourably.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: The Memory Police shows the impossibility…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 65%: Power is a destroyer of lives. More than just a dystopian thriller, Yoko Ogawa’s “The Memory Police” follows the…
Power is a destroyer of lives. More than just a dystopian thriller, Yoko Ogawa’s “The Memory Police” follows the lives of a small, island community struggling against the power of an authoritarian regime. Detailing the battle for control, she presents a message of hope as characters quietly find ways to resist, however she ultimately depicts the inability of the community to maintain authority over their own lives. In retaliation, various characters display great strength to find ways of maintaining agency and independence. Nonetheless, a mysterious, supernatural force wipes away memories of increasing importance, resulting in the identities of characters slowly fading away. In addition to this, in an effort to enforce the physical disappearance of correlating memories, the Memory Police use brutality to force the community into submission.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Title: Overpower Stimulus: Once when a…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 75%: 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 that was here to say, we will not be overpowered.
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.
Below, faces tilted upward. Even from here, I could sense their breath turning white in the early air. Their signs blurred in the distance, but their rhythm – the rise and fall of voices, the trembling of something unstoppable – carried itself upward like heat.
By mid-morning, the building locked its doors. The glass thickened the world into silence. Through it, I saw a woman place her palm against the entryway – not striking, or shouting, just pressing, as though wishing the wall would soften.
Her expression was calm - almost kind.
For a second, I mirrored her movement, and with my hand against the pane, felt a warm chill run through it.
I stepped back quickly. No one noticed. My colleagues stayed glued to their screens, expressions vacant.
Behind me, my supervisor’s voice cut through:
‘Once when a mother
Was asked would she send
Her darling boy to fight,
She just answered -- "No";
And I think you'll admit she was right.’
‘Those protestors outside, are the ones who chose to fight. We didn’t. Look how far it got them, and how far it got us. I think you can admit, we made the right decision.’
He noted, whilst lodging my shoulder with a firm pat.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Finding my way
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 87.5%: Finding My Way The smell of coriander clings to my hands as I eat quietly in the school bathroom. The tiles…
Finding My Way
The smell of coriander clings to my hands as I eat quietly in the school bathroom. The tiles are cold, the air sharp with disinfectant, but the warmth of the bánh mì seeps through the foil — a small rebellion against invisibility. I tell myself I’ll wash the scent away before class, that no one will know. Yet the smell always lingers, stubborn as memory.
Sometimes I dream of rivers. Wide and brown, heavy with silt, carrying secrets toward the sea. In those dreams, my grandmother’s voice hums above the current: Nước không quên nguồn — water does not forget its beginning. I wake with the taste of salt and mud in my mouth, unsure if it’s from Vietnam or the tears I didn’t realise I’d shed.
When I was seven, we left the banks of the Mekong for a sky made of silver and flight paths. “Qua sông để đổi đời,” my mother whispered — cross the river to change your life. I clutched her hand as the plane rose through the clouds, thinking we were ascending into a future where everything would shine. But in Australia, the light was too bright, the words too heavy.
At primary school, my English was a fragile bridge. Thank you became tenk you, school became skoo. The laughter that followed wasn’t cruel — just effortless. I learned the quiet art of shrinking. My Vietnamese words — má, cơm, nước mắm — became small coins I buried deep, afraid they’d mark me as counterfeit.
Once, my teacher asked us to draw “where we came from.” I filled the page with lotus ponds — green circles of calm holding pink blooms afloat. She called them “water lilies,” smiling proudly as she pinned my work to the wall. I nodded, but something
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: 'Oedipus cannot use Apollo's prophecy as a…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: Set against the backdrop of the plague-stricken ancient Athenian city of Thebes, Sophocles' perennial Greek tragedy…
Set against the backdrop of the plague-stricken ancient Athenian city of Thebes, Sophocles' perennial Greek tragedy titled Oedipus the King, explores the series of tragic events that led to the prophesised downfall of eponymous Oedipus. To a large extent, Oedipus cannot blame Apollo's prophecy for his downfall, as Sophocles shows that while fate shapes his destiny, it is Oedipus' own hubris that seal his tragic demise. Although fate establishes the framework of Oedipus' downfall, it is also his own personal flaws that accelerate his destiny. By portraying King Oedipus as both the agent and victim of fate, Sophocles exposes how human pride, not prophecy, seals his tragic destiny.
Sophocles presents fate as an inescapable framework within which Oedipus’ tragedy unfolds. From the onset of Oedipus' birth, he is bound by Apollo's prophecy that he will "couple with [his] mother" and "kill [his] father", a divine curse that predetermines the tragic trajectory of his life. Sophocles’ use of the verbs “couple” and “kill” evokes both sexual and violent transgression, symbolising the defilement of natural and moral order. The prophecy’s blunt, declarative phrasing strips Oedipus of agency, positioning him as a pawn of inescapable divine will. To an Athenian audience, Oedipus' tragic destiny would have reinforced the belief that mortal attempts to evade fate are futile, as the gods dictate the limits of human freedom. Sophocles establishes fate not as a passive backdrop but as an active, omnipotent force governing human existence. Additionally, although Oedipus says that it was his own "hand that" "struck" his "eyes", the blind prophet Tiresias declared from the beginning that he would become "blind", "grop[ping] his way toward a foreign soil, a stick tapping before him step by step". This dramatic irony foreshadows that Oedipus' fate was pre-determined, in that he would become blind, highlighting the insignificance of free will in Oedipus' life due to this prophecy of his downfall. These prophecies underscore the inevitability of fate in determining Oedipus’ destiny, through the divine decree. Thus, the tragedian demonstrates fate as both the framework and catalyst of Oedipus' tragic demise.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: ART OF BECOMING
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 87.5%: The Art of Becoming My mother’s expectations were stitched into me long before I understood what expectations…
The Art of Becoming
My mother’s expectations were stitched into me long before I understood what expectations were. She moved through the world with a certainty I admired and feared in equal measure. Her voice shaped my reflection. Her pride was the mirror I measured myself against. And so I tried to become her idea of a good daughter — quiet, obedient, already written before I learned how to hold a pen.
At ten years old, she placed a hijab in my hands. It was soft, a delicate shade of blue. She called it my protection. My dignity. My responsibility. She said it with a gentleness that didn’t match the firmness in her eyes. I didn’t yet understand the language of silence — the way love can hide in expectation, the way fear can masquerade as care.
At first, I wore it the way I brushed my teeth — a habit, unexamined. Fabric looped and pinned with practiced fingers, the routine so familiar it required no thought. I saw women wearing it with confidence and grace, moving through the world like artwork — strength inked into cloth. I envied that beauty. But beauty means little when you aren’t allowed to seek it yourself.
The problem was never the hijab.
It was that I hadn’t chosen it.
Each morning, my reflection felt slightly less like mine. The girl in the mirror smiled the way she was taught to. She never asked questions. She never faltered. She performed faith as though it were choreography she hadn’t rehearsed — memorising steps she didn’t yet understand. When something sacred becomes routine without meaning, its weight shifts. It becomes a testament to obedience, not love.
There were moments — quiet, fleeting — where doubt pricked at the edge of my thoughts. Was it wrong to want space? Was it disrespectful to not feel what my mother felt? I swallowed those questions before they fully formed. If faith was a story, I told myself I had no right to edit the lines.
But pressure doesn’t disappear when ignored. It accumulates — like air too tight inside the lungs.
The day I took it off, there was no shouting. No slammed doors. Just my own unsteady breath fogging up a mirror. I traced a finger through the condensation,
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Laveau-Harvie suggests that individuals…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: Arg1- Vicki's sister never understood her past that’s why she cant let go of her past trauma Arg2- Vicki…
Arg1- Vicki's sister never understood her past that’s why she cant let go of her past trauma
Arg2- Vicki understood her past that why she is able to reconcile with her past
Arg3- However vicki doesn’t fully undestand her past but she moves forward by feeing her past.
Contention- while understanding your past helps you recouncile with your past and others its not necessary to move forward as shown with vicki as she movwa forward with her life by fleeing her past.
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.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: an education in play
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 80%: OVERLAND Overland literary journal > Latest > Education 28/10/25 Open letter addressed to The Hon Jason Clare…
OVERLAND
Overland literary journal > Latest > Education
28/10/25
Open letter addressed to The Hon Jason Clare MP Minister for Education from Plenty Valley Christian College Principal Amelia Bartoli, VIC
MP Jason Clare must continue to fund and support initiatives that prioritise play.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Finding my way
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 75%: Finding My Way When I was seven, my mother told me we were crossing a river. Not the Mekong — though she said…
Finding My Way
When I was seven, my mother told me we were crossing a river. Not the Mekong — though she said it with the same reverence — but one made of sky and saltwater, stretching between Vietnam and a place called Australia. I imagined a wooden boat drifting endlessly through clouds, our suitcases balanced like small offerings. “Qua sông để đổi đời,” she whispered — cross the river to change your life. I didn’t yet understand that change could mean leaving behind more than you could carry.
At first, everything about Australia felt too large: the streets, the words, the silence between people. In Vietnam, the air was always busy — motorbikes humming, vendors calling, the smell of grilled corn curling through alleys. Here, the air was still, as if it were waiting for me to say something I didn’t yet know how to. I learned quickly that silence was safer than being wrong.
At primary school, my tongue tripped on English vowels. Thank you became tenk you, and school sounded like skoo. The other children laughed softly, not cruelly but carelessly, like laughter had no weight. I shrank into myself. My Vietnamese words — má, cơm, nước mắm — became secrets I kept in my mouth. They tasted of home but carried the risk of difference.
My teacher, Mrs. Avery, once asked me to share a story from “where I came from.” I drew a picture of the lotus ponds near my grandmother’s house — wide green circles holding pale pink flowers. She smiled and pinned it to the wall, but when she called it a “water lily,” something inside me folded. It wasn’t her fault. But in that moment, I realised that even beauty could be lost in translation.
By the time I reached high school, I thought I had mastered the current. My English flowed more smoothly; my Vietnamese, less so. I stopped bringing bánh mì for lunch and bought meat pies instead. My mother still packed them for me sometimes, wrapped carefully in foil, as though warmth could cross oceans of shame. I’d eat them in the bathroom, the smell of