VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In the play Oedipus the King, the crucial…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Sophocles' Oedipus the King, performed at the religious festival of Dionysus, glorifies eudaimonia and sophrosyne…
Sophocles' Oedipus the King, performed at the religious festival of Dionysus, glorifies eudaimonia and sophrosyne to his Athenian audience. Depicting the conflict that inhibits the coexistence of emotion and moderation, Sophocles contends that personal desires in great extents initiates disputes against moderation. Sophocles displays the intrapersonal conflict between characters' qualities of intense desire and perception of rationality causes internal disputes within the individual. Additionally, utilising the contrast between characters who are overwhelmed by emotional desires and great moderation, Sophocles conveys the disputes between individuals as a result of these features. However, Sophocles suggests the possession of both passion and reasoning in moderated amounts, while remaining unconflicted.
Through Oedipus' personal conflict between wisdom and determination to discover the truth, Sophocles highlights the internal disputes that arise as a result of these qualities. As Oedipus becomes overridden by his desire to discover the truth, exclaiming "I must know it al," his ability to remain reverent diminishes. Previously acknowledged for his intelligence and granted kleos as he "freed [Thebans] from the Sphinx," Oedipus demonstrated his capability of remaining moderate and wise. Despite this, upon the plague destroying Thebes, Oedipus becomes fixated on discovering the "things [he] might do or say" in order to be the saviour of Thebes. This overwhelming desire to become the saviour of Thebes consumes Oedipus, inhibits him from seeing rationally and becoming aware of his own faults. Sophocles presents Oedipus' desire to "see it all" as detrimental to his perception of rationality, leading him to express hubris and ignorance as he portrays himself to be equivalent to the gods. Demanding that Thebans "let [him] answer [their] prayers" rather than the gods they worship, Oedipus declares his perceived power to be greater than that of the gods as a result of his overwhelming desire to see the truth. As his inflated sense of self continues, Sophocles conveys the ignorance caused towards the truth, as Oedipus remains unknowing despite being told directly by the prophet that "[he] is the corruption of this land." Consumed by his desire for greatness, Oedipus perceives the further accusations from Creon to be attacks, or attempts to "steal [his] crown." Resorting to insults towards those who warn him of the truth of his "birth and destruction," Oedipus begins to defy divine figures, accusing Tiresias, the blind prophet, to be a "pious fraud," claiming the gods to be "nothing." Sophocles demonstrates the internal conflict between reason and desires, expressing desires to overwhelm and mask individuals' ability to perceive rationality, warning Athenians of the resulting conflict.
VCE · Language Analysis
Language Analysis: Hapsey podcast
VCE Language Analysis essay scoring 72.5%: Recently a proposed development plan for 'Hapsey Wetlands' by Nature + Adventure Group has sparked concerns…
Recently a proposed development plan for 'Hapsey Wetlands' by Nature + Adventure Group has sparked concerns among its local Hapsey residents. Janelle Tanley a life long Hapsey resident and local podcaster posts her podcast episode 32, titled 'Hapsey Happenings'. In a concerned and dismissive tone, Tanley argues for the Hapsey community to "consider what is best" for their ecological landmark - the Hapsey wetlands, and avoid to avoid the destruction of their "native" environment. Tanley also appeals to the local Hopsey community and the members of Nature + Adventure group. Accompanying her piece is a cartoon image of the connections to nature upbrings to a society. Also, illustrated a photograph of the consequences of industrial pollution. This complements her piece as the episode to highlight the consequence of development.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ‘In Oedipus the King, suffering is rarely…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Performed in a city-state ravaged by plague and unrest, Sophocles’ timeless Athenian tragedy ‘Oedipus the King’…
Performed in a city-state ravaged by plague and unrest, Sophocles’ timeless Athenian tragedy ‘Oedipus the King’ explores the notion of suffering, exposing how prevalent it is in individual’s lives. Sophocles indicates that suffering is more prevalent within leaders, and how human power is nothing in the face of divine will. Sophocles also suggests that in the face of uncertainty and suffering, individuals seek out the truth, unbeknownst the burden of such truth. Finally, Sophocles highlights the inevitability of fate and how it can act as a humbling force.
Ultimately, Sophocles extends a worldview that fate and suffering are closely intertwined, and as such are prevalent in all individuals' lives.
Firstly, Sophocles exposes how suffering is more pronounced within those who bear the crown, thus showing how humans are weak compared to the gods.
This is demonstrated when Oedipus says that his “spirit grieves for the city”, emphasising how Oedipus, as a leader cares for his people and as such is subject to even more pain, as he experiences great emotional pain and strife. By including this, Sophocles reveals how power as a king is worth no value when compared to divine will, as he experiences more emotional pain than his subjects while holding more power than them, highlighting the inescapability of suffering even for those in power.
Additionally, when the chorus describes Oedipus as their “best of men”, and “king of the land”, this highlights the devotion that the people of Thebes’ hold within Oedipus, exemplifying the responsibility that Oedipus holds, as when he makes incorrect choices, the whole town feels the effects. With this, Sophocles highlights how leaders can cause a great deal of pain for themself and their subjects. In addition, Oedipus mentions how he stopped the sphinx “with no help from the birds”, exposing how he, blinded by his hubris, believes that he is on the level of or above the gods and their power. This evokes divine retribution and fast-tracks Oedipus’ tragic fate. Sophocles uses this to exemplify how human pride and ‘power’ of being a king is worth no value against divine will, further highlighting the inescapability of suffering, regardless of status. Overall, Sophocles suggests that leaders have the potential to suffer more, and warns against letting power get to one’s head, showing how this power is meaningless in the face of the gods.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: 'Sunset Boulevard warns against living in…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Emerging from an era of post-war disillusionment and set against the shifting landscape of 1950s America, Billy…
Emerging from an era of post-war disillusionment and set against the shifting landscape of 1950s America, Billy Wilder’s film noir Sunset Boulevard strips back Hollywood’s glittering veneer to expose the perils awaiting those who surrender to fantasy and illusion. Wilder carefully constructs a penetrating critique of the industry as a commercialised machine, manufacturing stars, marketing dreams, and discarding them once they cease to be profitable. Within this realm of fabricated glamour, individuals cling to illusions of eternal relevance, shielding themselves from obsolescence and becoming victims of a system that prizes appearance over authenticity. Through their tragic fates, Wilder warns of the human cost of investing in Hollywood’s fantasies, revealing how its seductive glamour consumes those it ensnares. Yet, amid this façade, he also presents glimpses of sincerity and renewal, suggesting that authenticity can still emerge within the industry’s illusions.
Wilder exposes the commercialisation of Hollywood, illustrating how the construction of stardom is a meticulously crafted illusion, warning of the perils that befall those who succumb to its seductive fantasies. From its opening moments, Sunset Boulevard subverts the glittering illusion of Hollywood, opening amidst a gutter littered with ‘dead leaves’ and ‘scraps of paper,’ a stark emblem of decay that mirrors the disposable nature of stardom beneath the industry’s manufactured glamour. The title itself, with its reference to ‘Sunset,’ foreshadows the obsolescence of stars, highlighting how the industry discards talent once their commercial value fades, while a high-angle shot looking down on the scene reinforces Wilder’s scathing judgment. This commodified system is embodied in Norma Desmond, the archetypal femme fatale of film noir— a discarded starlet clinging to illusion, left only with “the dream she had clung to so desperately.” Her entrapment is intensified by the dissonant tension of the ‘grim Sunset mansion,’ working as a metaphor of Hollywood’s fatalistic and tragic veneer, which forever traps victims within their glorious ‘heydays’ after rejecting them into its gutter. While obliviously sitting enclosed by her shrine of photographs, ‘crowded with Norma Desmonds', Norma eventually becomes a prisoner of a carefully curated exhibit that Hollywood had set up, as she is seen signing headshots for fans, and eerily impersonating the performers of a bygone Hollywood. The consequences of her entrapment extend to Joe Gillis, addressed from the outset as a ‘poor dope,’ who is lured by the promise of success into a figurative “long-term contract,” trading his artistic integrity for temporary financial security, catalysing both his spiritual and physical decline. Waxman’s non-diegetic orchestral strings, melodramatic and foreboding, signal the peril inherent in Hollywood’s seductive illusions, while Joe’s trance-like narration of his own death reflects the enduring ignorance of Hollywood's victims, signalling the doomed trajectory of characters ensnared by illusion and reinforcing noir’s sense of moral inextricable consequences. This exploitation culminates in the underwater shot of Joe’s body, viewed from below as photographers jostle for the perfect image, reducing his death to mere spectacle. Thus, Wilder portrays the commercialisation of the industry, that no one actually cares who dies. Wilder emphasises that the downfall of Hollywood’s figures is not merely personal misfortune but the result of an industry that ensnares its participants in carefully constructed facades, where amoral motives of fame cannot be without consequence, ultimately serving as a dire warning to the horrors of Hollywood, as the ‘price’ of stardom will always be ‘too high’.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ‘Sunset Boulevard’ reveals the dark side…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: Exposing the powerlessness of naïve ‘dream[s]’ of fulfilment against the toxicity of celebrity which has ‘seized…
Exposing the powerlessness of naïve ‘dream[s]’ of fulfilment against the toxicity of celebrity which has ‘seized [their] heart[s]’, (1) Billy Wilder’s quintessentially American (2) film ‘Sunset Boulevard’ (1950) poignantly unveils the dark side of fame that is inextricable from Hollywood’s allure (3). Compounded by the skilful overlaying of a gothic lens, this noir mystery (4) performs as a deep meditation on the brutality of this business, and a sardonic, yet subtly sympathetic, depiction of the victims of its endless cycle of sadism (5). Through his intelligent blend of fiction and meta-cinema (6), Wilder’s iconoclastic opus emerges as a powerful vivisection of the dangerous illusions of stardom.
Personifying this complex world as a dystopian nightmare, Wilder satirically contextualises the hidden horrors of Hollywood (1). Immediately referencing a classic trope of film noir, (2) a disturbing amalgamation of fantasy and sobering realism is established through the eerie posthumous narration of this ‘poor dope’, with this non-linear structure exposing this inevitable tragedy from the outset. Heightening this strange sense of unease, (3) the foreboding non-diegetic string music of Franz Waxman’s pertinent score (4) warns the audience of this ensuing horror. Indeed, ‘Sunset Boulevard’ itself can no longer be hopefully associated with fame and luxury; rather, its disconcerting introduction in a gutter with ‘dead leaves’ and ‘scraps of paper’ alludes to its burgeoning corruption, as literally emphasised by the titular finiteness of ‘sunset’. Ominously towering over this decrepit street, the silhouetted palm trees embody personified judges (5) of the ‘distorted’ and ‘blown out’ stories that ‘Hollywood columnists’ weave, as fortified by the intense chiaroscuro lighting (6). Similarly, (7) although swimming pools were an iconic image of glamour, the floating corpse ironically exposes that this perpetual chase of fame is a deadly enterprise. As a poignant reflection of this danger, the toxic relationship between Joe Gillis – our cynical antihero – and Norma Desmond – the stereotypical antagonist of a femme fatale – (8) is inherently doomed. This Gothic synthesis of old and new Hollywood thematically foreshadows their demise, as both are dangerously delusional: one is confined by their obsolescence, the other ensnared in the shallowness of the present. Symbolising the subordination that defines their affair, the loss of Joe’s car is a ‘matter of life and death’ that resolutely deforms him into an item of Norma’s possession, as fame is too often synonymous with prostitution. Subverting the traditional gender stereotypes of their time, Edith Head’s pertinent costumes of shared leopard print – a predominant motif of Norma’s wardrobe, which is also reminiscent of her silent-era glamour – illuminates the oppression that this pursuit of celebrity has manufactured. (9) In a house with no locks, Joe is already irreparably caught in the predatory grip of Norma’s atrophic talons, and thus, by extension, trapped by the noxious allure of Hollywood. Functioning as a provocateur to brazenly ‘bite the hand that feeds him’ (Mayer) (10) Wilder controversially deplores the deceptive façade of fame through his pioneering direction.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: "There is nothing tragic about being 50,…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 65%: Through Sunset Boulevard, Billy Wilder explores the toxic infatuation that Hollywood has with youth. By utilising…
Through Sunset Boulevard, Billy Wilder explores the toxic infatuation that Hollywood has with youth. By utilising the backdrop of 1950's Hollywood, specifically emphasising the transition from silent films to talkies, Wilder portrays the suffocating nature of the industry's infatuation. The film noir alludes to real film studios from the era, allowing Wilder to exemplify the obsession with youth that is present through varying calibers in Hollywood. Throughout the film, Wilder presents nuances to the generalised perception of youthful infatuation to portray its' extent across the industry.
The 1950 film noir acts as the self aware commentary on the toxic treatment of aging women in the industry. Wilder's meta-casting of a prominent actress of silent films, Gloria Swanson, represents the industry's discarding of actresses in their old age during the rise of the 'talkies'. Swanson, who plays Norma Desmond reflects the direct comparison to how Hollywood cherishes the new and youthful. This allusion paired with the overly expressive acting of Norma Desmond help Wilder frame her as an individual stuck in her past of, obsessively attached to the silent era of films, being able to "say anything [she] want[s] with [her] eyes". The fixation to her past fame is what translates to the infatuation of youth for Norma. Wilder paints Norma as forgotten by the industry someone who "used to be big", but no longer meets the demands of Hollywood. The director utilises Norma's relentlessness to "return" to films in order to further portray what the industry fixates on. Her short lived lead up to her "return" is highlighted by Norma going through a "merciless series of treatments" in the hope of achieving the youthful appearance. Norma remains attached to her past, her "25" year old self, failing to accept her reality, that she is not the young actress she used to be. Through this Wilder is able to explore the nature of Hollywood's infatuation with youth by magnifying through Norma how this obsession with youth stems from the standards set by Hollywood. The expectation of appearing flawless and young are portrayed as a necessity of the industry by Wilder.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “My mother took me places black people…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 67.5%: Set against the backdrop of apartheid and its aftermath, Trevor Noah’s memoir, Born a Crime, documents how Trevor…
Set against the backdrop of apartheid and its aftermath, Trevor Noah’s memoir, Born a Crime, documents how Trevor and his mother Patricia, actively resist and challenge oppressive rules and expectations enforced by the government. Noah’s text applauds individuals who defy the discriminative nature of the rules and expectations of the Apartheid system and resist social and gender norms. During later reactionary reforms to quell global protests, Noah commends those who defied apartheid laws by rejecting racial segregation and not conforming to the proposed legislations. Additionally, the novel praises individuals who value education through challenging and criticising the law.
Noah establishes early in his memoir that his very birth was an act of resistance against apartheid law. By describing himself as “a half white, half black child who violated a number of laws” and declaring, “I was born a crime,” he positions his existence as a challenge to the system’s restrictions on intimacy across racial boundaries. This autobiographical framing emphasises not only the irrationality of apartheid legislation but also the courage of his mother, Patricia, who deliberately chose to bring him into the world despite the risks. Patricia’s determination to live on her own terms extended beyond the laws of race; she also resisted patriarchal expectations within her community. She asserted her independence by having “a child, not a man stepping in to run her life,” thereby rejecting the cultural norm that women required male authority to validate their choices. In her relationship with Abel, Noah recalls that she “didn’t refuse to do it, she overdid it” when bowing an act of exaggerated compliance that mocked rather than affirmed a tradition of female subservience. Through humour and irony, Patricia transformed acts of oppression into opportunities for rebellion, embodying a refusal to accept the rules imposed on her. Noah underscores this through his declaration: “my mom, however, was a rebel,” portraying her as a role model of resistance who valued dignity and autonomy above conformity. In highlighting his mother’s refusal to be diminished by social or gender norms, Noah communicates his admiration for individuals who possess the courage to defy injustice and values the importance of asserting one’s agency in the face of systemic control. Thus, the memoir demonstrates that even small, everyday acts of rebellion such as mocking Abel’s expectations or choosing single motherhood are powerful forms of resistance that undermine the authority of oppressive systems.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: "There is nothing tragic about being 50,…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 65%: Through Sunset Boulevard, Billy Wilder explores the toxic infatuation that Hollywood has with youth. By utilising…
Through Sunset Boulevard, Billy Wilder explores the toxic infatuation that Hollywood has with youth. By utilising the backdrop of 1950's Hollywood, specifically emphasising the transition from silent films to talkies, Wilder portrays the suffocating nature of the industry's infatuation. The film noir alludes to real film studios from the era, allowing Wilder to exemplify the obsession with youth that is present through varying calibers in Hollywood. Throughout the film, Wilder presents nuances to the generalised perception of youthful infatuation to portray it's extent across the industry.
The 1950 film noir acts as the self aware commentary on the toxic treatment of aging women in the industry. Wilder's meta-casting of a prominent actress of silent films, Gloria Swanson, represents the industry's discarding of actresses in their old age during the rise of the 'talkies'. Swanson, who plays Norma Desmond reflects the direct comparison to how Hollywood cherishes the new and youthful. This allusion paired with the overly expressive acting of Norma Desmond help Wilder frame her as an individual stuck in her past of, obsessively attached to the silent era of films, being able to "say anything [she] want[s] with [her] eyes". The fixation to her past fame is what translates to the infatuation of youth for Norma. Wilder paints Norma as forgotten by the industry someone who "used to be big", but no longer meets the demands of Hollywood. The director utilises Norma's relentlessness to "return" to films in order to further portray what the industry fixates on. Her short lived lead up to her "return" is highlighted by Norma going through a "merciless series of treatments" in the hope of achieving the youthful appearance. Norma remains attached to her past, her "25" year old self, failing to accept her reality, that she is not the young actress she used to be. Through this Wilder is able to explore the nature of Hollywood's infatuation with youth by magnifying through Norma how this obsession with youth stems from the standards set by Hollywood. The expectation of appearing flawless and young are portrayed as a necessity of the industry by Wilder.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Finding my way.
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 87.5%: The final curtains are falling on Year 12, and my compass won’t settle; the needle jitters under the…
The final curtains are falling on Year 12, and my compass won’t settle; the needle jitters under the classroom lights. Above the stage, a banner spells the title: “Finding My Way.” The words look like instructions. My compass trembles as if it’s heard its name. Teachers offer the familiar mantra—“your ATAR does not define you”—as though syllables could quiet the low-frequency hum of months of early mornings and late nights. For most, there’s nostalgia in these last moments: hushed library chatter, frantic last-minute revisions, high-strung laughter. For me, the corridors echo with a cheerfulness I can’t reach—the sound of other lives happening behind glass. “Where are you heading after this year?” hovers like a fly, a reminder that my parents’ carefully drawn map can’t solve my direction. Making them happy would be a victory, yes. But taking their route would be like walking a sensitive bomb across quiet ground.
I sit at my desk, its timber a faithful companion since Year 8. Its surface is a map of my schooling: the ghost of a coffee ring, the faint etching of a forgotten formula, the smooth depressions where my elbows have rested a thousand hours. Scattered across it lie the artefacts of effort—practice exams with pages softened by wear. I finally tried—but why? Doubt lingers like a cold shadow. Yet as I push through paper after paper, I realise it is the momentum itself—the stubborn persistence, the small, solitary wins—that is changing me. Each page is a calibration: tap the case, steady the needle, take a new bearing. Still, the question returns, quiet and insistent: what bearing will you set? My answer comes, casual and evasive—“I’ll find out later”—small talk with a ghost. This is my personal journey’s frame: Challenge, Choice, Change—learning to set my own bearing when every magnet pulls the other way.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Finding my way.
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 77.5%: The final curtains are falling on Year 12, and my compass won’t settle; the needle jitters under the…
The final curtains are falling on Year 12, and my compass won’t settle; the needle jitters under the classroom lights. Above the stage, a banner spells the theme: “Finding My Way.” The words look like instructions. My compass trembles as if it’s heard its name. Teachers offer the familiar mantra—“your ATAR does not define you”—as though syllables could quiet the low-frequency hum of months of early mornings and late nights. For most, there’s nostalgia in these last moments: hushed library chatter, frantic last-minute revisions, high-strung laughter. For me, the hallways echoed with a cheerfulness I couldn’t reach—the sound of other lives happening behind glass. “Where are you heading after this year?” hovered like a fly, a reminder that my parents’ carefully drawn map could not solve my direction. Making them happy would be a victory, yes. But taking their route would be like walking a sensitive bomb across quiet ground.
I sit at my desk, its timber a faithful companion since Year 8. Its surface is a map of my education: the ghost of a coffee ring, the faint etching of a forgotten formula, the smooth depressions where my elbows have rested a thousand hours. Scattered across it lie the artefacts of effort—practice exams with pages softened by wear. I finally tried—but why? Doubt lingered like a cold shadow. Yet as I pushed through paper after paper, I realised it was the momentum itself—the stubborn persistence, the small, solitary wins—that was changing me. Each page was a calibration: tap the case, steady the needle, take a new bearing. Still, the question returned, quiet and insistent: what bearing will you set? My answer came, casual and evasive—“I’ll find out later”—small talk with a ghost. This wasn’t only about exams; it was about authorship—learning to set my own bearing when every magnet pulled the other way.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Title: The journey Within Stimulus 1:…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 65%: To my son. I know we haven’t spoken in a while, but I felt it was necessary to write to you, given you just…
To my son.
I know we haven’t spoken in a while, but I felt it was necessary to write to you, given you just turned 18.
Happy birthday by the way.
Son when I was your age, right before he died, my father told me that a man is not bestowed the privilege of complaining about the circumstances of which he was brought up in. He said a boy’s heart will reside in the environment which made it, but a man, a man will not be a product of circumstance, he will be the creator of it. I didn’t understand what he meant back then but given the timing I’ll try my best to relay that same message to you, how you need to hear it.
At the time, I wasn’t sure what my life was, I had no idea where I was headed. Like a pilot flying without a radar in the dark I was drifting aimlessly; failing school, no goals, no sense of direction, all I knew was that I had to be at a party on Friday and still be drunk come Saturday. Then of course, things got worse, mum moved away on my 18th and the party was dreadful, drinks pouring everywhere, begging me to fall off the wagon again.
The smell of bourbon takes me right back.
Just a whiff and I’m that same boy again, scared, alone, goalless. Thinking about it now, the scent always reminds me that the same boy still lives within me. But it works both ways son. Just as that scared little boy lives in me today, the brave loving man you are meant to be lives in you right now. Only when I set out
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Finding my way.
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 77.5%: The final curtains are falling on Year 12, and my compass won’t settle; the needle jitters under the…
The final curtains are falling on Year 12, and my compass won’t settle; the needle jitters under the classroom lights. Above the stage a banner pronounces the theme: “Finding My Way.” The words look like instructions; my compass trembles like it’s heard its name. Teachers offer the familiar mantra—“your ATAR does not define you”—as if those syllables could soothe the raw nerves from months of early mornings, late nights, and the low-frequency hum of study that lives in my bones. For most, there’s nostalgia in these last moments: the hushed library chatter, the frantic last-minute revisions, the shared, high-strung laughter. For me, the hallways echoed with a cheerfulness I couldn’t access—the sound of other lives happening behind glass. “Where are you heading after this year?” hovered like a fly, a reminder that my parents’ carefully drawn map could not resolve my own direction. To make them happy would be a victory, yes. But choosing their route felt like carrying a sensitive bomb across quiet ground.
I sit at my desk, its timber a faithful companion since Year 8. Its geography is mapped with the scars of my education: the ghost of a coffee ring, the faint etchings of a forgotten formula, the smooth depressions where my elbows have rested for a thousand hours. Scattered across it lie the artefacts of effort—practice exams with pages softened by wear. I finally tried—but why? Doubt lingered like a cold shadow. Yet as I pushed through paper after paper, I realised it was the momentum itself—the stubborn persistence, the small, solitary wins—that was changing me. Each page was a tiny calibration: tap the case, steady the needle, take a new bearing. Still, the question crept back, quiet and insistent: what bearing will you set? My answer came, casual and evasive—“I’ll find out later”—small talk with a ghost. This isn’t just about exams; it’s about authorship—learning to set my own bearing when every magnet pulls the other way.
VCE · Language Analysis
Language Analysis: The argument form was an open letter…
VCE Language Analysis essay scoring 75%: In response to workplaces adopting new polices after COVID 19 adaptions, Martin and Maloney, a large…
In response to workplaces adopting new polices after COVID 19 adaptions, Martin and Maloney, a large advertising firm has decided to switch to a four day working week. CEO S. Martin alerts his employees of this change via an open letter to all staff. Martin formally, and empathetically contends that his staff consider engaging in four day face to face work or even five days for incentives. By first addressing why work from home polices were implemented, Martin poses these polices as once effective, however, now outdated as the height of COVID 19 is over. Moreover, Martin establishes the benefits of his proposal, and welcomes any feedback for his audience to entertain the idea of returning.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Finding my way.
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 65%: The final curtains are falling on Year 12, and my compass won’t settle; the needle jitters under the classroom…
The final curtains are falling on Year 12, and my compass won’t settle; the needle jitters under the classroom lights. Teachers offer the familiar mantra—“your ATAR does not define you”—as if those words could soothe the raw nerves from months of early mornings, late nights, and the low-frequency hum of study that lives in my bones. For most, there’s nostalgia in these last moments: the hushed library chatter, the frantic last-minute revisions, the shared, high-strung laughter. For me, the hallways echoed with a cheerfulness I couldn’t access—the sound of other lives happening behind glass. “Where are you heading after this year?” hovered like a fly, a reminder that my parents’ carefully drawn map could not resolve my own direction. To make them happy would be a victory, I know. But choosing their route felt like carrying a sensitive bomb across quiet ground.
I sit at my desk, its timber a faithful companion since Year 8. Its geography is mapped with the scars of my education: the ghost of a coffee ring, the faint etchings of a forgotten formula, the smooth depressions where my elbows have rested for a thousand hours. Scattered across it are the artefacts of effort—practice exams with pages softened by wear. I finally tried—but why? Doubt lingered like a cold shadow. Yet as I pushed through one paper after another, I realised it was the momentum itself—the stubborn persistence, the small, solitary wins—that was changing me. Each page was a tiny calibration: tap the case, steady the needle, take a new bearing. Still, the question crept back, quiet and insistent: what bearing will you set? My answer came, casual and evasive—“I’ll find out later”—small talk with a ghost. This isn’t just about exams; it’s about learning to be the author of my own direction.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Title: My Land Stimulus: This place my…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 90%: Dear Madar (Mum), There are moments when I find myself thinking of you, of us, and all that we have carried…
Dear Madar (Mum),
There are moments when I find myself thinking of you, of us, and all that we have carried across the ocean. The memories linger softly, like golden dust of a Yazd afternoon caught in a sunbeam, reminding me of what we left behind and what still follows me.
Nostalgia is an inevitable pain that every soul endures, carrying consequences deeper than anyone can foresee.
After reminiscing on the innocence I once had, the thought of it lingers quietly at the back of my mind, unreachable, like the warm scent of freshly baked barbari bread slipping through my fingers. The blurred visuals of pure joy are bottled up in a single picture, like a polaroid on the walls of a room where childhood has been outgrown. I can almost hear the laughter of friends echoing in the streets of Kerman, mingling with the soft whistle of the wind through cypress trees.
When I glance at those pictures, I feel reunited with the sweet memories of youth. But then the cycle repeats itself, those memories tucked away until my eyes meet the smiles imprinted on the laminated picture, igniting that familiar sensation of young freedom.
Sometimes I wonder, Madar, are they simply decorations on my wall, or reminders that I, who have lost touch with my past, may never again touch an inch of childhood freedom?
Back then, my dreams were as bright and limitless as the mosaics in a Yazd mosque, bursting with the colours of a childhood without worry. The sunlight would scatter across the tiles like tiny flames, and I would imagine a future as vivid as those patterns, perfumed with rosewater drifting from street bakeries.
But as I grew, those childish dreams felt more like a chest of gold waiting on the other side of the rainbow — close enough to see, too far to touch.
The crowded streets of Kerman hummed with poetry and history. The smell of saffron and kebab rose from chimneys like threads in the town’s tapestry, scented with cardamom and memories. The streets hummed with laughter and music, but I now know that the world beyond was changing, and our happiness would not last forever.
And still, those were merely
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “My mother took me places black people…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: Set against the regime of the apartheid, Trevor Noah’s memoir, Born a Crime, documents how Trevor and his mother…
Set against the regime of the apartheid, Trevor Noah’s memoir, Born a Crime, documents how Trevor and his mother Patricia, actively resist and challenge oppressive rules and expectations enforced by the government. Noah’s text applauds individuals who defy the discriminative nature of the rules and expectations of the Apartheid system and resist social and gender norms. During later reactionary reforms to quell global protests, Noah commends those who defied apartheid laws by rejecting racial segregation and not conforming to the proposed legislations. Additionally, the novel praises individuals who value education through challenging and criticising the law.
Noah establishes early in his memoir that his very birth was an act of resistance against apartheid law. By describing himself as “a half white, half black child who violated a number of laws” and declaring, “I was born a crime,” he positions his existence as a challenge to the system’s restrictions on intimacy across racial boundaries. This autobiographical framing emphasises not only the irrationality of apartheid legislation but also the courage of his mother, Patricia, who deliberately chose to bring him into the world despite the risks. Patricia’s determination to live on her own terms extended beyond the laws of race; she also resisted patriarchal expectations within her community. She asserted her independence by having “a child, not a man stepping in to run her life,” thereby rejecting the cultural norm that women required male authority to validate their choices. In her relationship with Abel, Noah recalls that she “didn’t refuse to do it, she overdid it” when bowing an act of exaggerated compliance that mocked rather than affirmed a tradition of female subservience. Through humour and irony, Patricia transformed acts of oppression into opportunities for rebellion, embodying a refusal to accept the rules imposed on her. Noah underscores this through his declaration: “my mom, however, was a rebel,” portraying her as a role model of resistance who valued dignity and autonomy above conformity. In highlighting his mother’s refusal to be diminished by social or gender norms, Noah communicates his admiration for individuals who possess the courage to defy injustice and values the importance of asserting one’s agency in the face of systemic control. Thus, the memoir demonstrates that even small, everyday acts of rebellion such as mocking Abel’s expectations or choosing single motherhood are powerful forms of resistance that undermine the authority of oppressive systems.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “The foreigner… is trapped between the now…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: Jenny Erpenbeck’s existential novel Go, Went, Gone highlights how a ridged system upholds both physical and…
Jenny Erpenbeck’s existential novel Go, Went, Gone highlights how a ridged system upholds both physical and non-physical barriers that dehumanise refugees while enabling people to remain detached from global issues. Through the lens of her protagonist, Richard, Erpenbeck reveals how invisible forms of exclusion, such as bureaucracy, ignorance and emotional detachment, can be just as restrictive as physical boarders. Contrastingly, Erpenbeck also explores physical barriers, demonstrating how Europe’s geographical and institutional boundaries continue to confine and exclude those seeking safety.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Identity in the memory police
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: Anchored in a fictional dystopian society where memories and objects vanish overnight, Yōko Ogawa’s novel The…
Anchored in a fictional dystopian society where memories and objects vanish overnight, Yōko Ogawa’s novel The Memory Police explores the fragility of identity under authoritarian erasure. Ogawa contends that memory is the foundation of selfhood, and without it, both individual and collective identity collapse. She demonstrates that the loss of memory erodes identity. Furthermore, she highlights the importance of language and storytelling in preserving identity. Ultimately, Ogawa suggests that while much of identity can be dismantled, emotions and resilience endure even in the harshest conditions.
Identity in The Memory Police is shown to be fragile, with memory functioning as its foundation. As disappearances increase, citizens lose not only objects but also the memories and emotions that once defined them. The narrator reflects, “people… just forget. They forget they’ve forgotten”. This chilling observation demonstrates how identity erodes silently: individuals are stripped of their histories yet lack awareness of what has been taken. The passivity of the citizens reveals how authoritarian power operates not through open violence alone, but through gradual disconnection from the past, leaving people unable to recognise the extent of their loss. The narrator also admits that “the world seems smaller each day,” signalling the contraction of both physical and psychological space. This shrinking of the world mirrors the shrinking of selfhood, as memory loss confines people to passive shells who lack personal and cultural identity. Even the narrator, who clings more tightly to memory than most, is not immune: she recalls her mother preserving vanished objects, yet she struggles to retain their meaning. This tension between resistance and vulnerability captures the fragility of identity when memory itself is dismantled. Through these reflections, Ogawa portrays the collapse of memory as synonymous with the collapse of identity.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: Finding my own way.
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 75%: The final curtains are falling on Year 12, and I'm at the tipping point, with exams stretching out in every…
The final curtains are falling on Year 12, and I'm at the tipping point, with exams stretching out in every direction. Teachers offer the familiar mantra, ‘your ATAR does not define you,’ as if those words could soothe the raw nerves from months of early mornings, late nights, and the relentless, low-frequency hum of study that lives in my bones. For most, there’s nostalgia in these last moments—the hushed chatter in the library, the frantic last-minute revisions, the shared, high-strung laughter. For me, the hallways just echoed with a cheerfulness I couldn't access, the sound of others' lives happening behind glass. School was a persistent allergic reaction, a place where the question ‘Where are you heading after this year?’ hovered like a fly, a constant reminder of an uncertainty that my parents’ carefully constructed preferences could not resolve. To make them happy would be a victory, I know. But choosing their path would be like holding a sensitive bomb, ready to detonate in the quiet landscape of my own life.
I sit at my desk, its timber surface a faithful companion since Year 8. Its geography is mapped with the scars of my education: the ghost of a coffee ring, the faint etchings of a forgotten formula, the smooth depressions where my elbows have rested for a thousand hours. Scattered across it are the artefacts of my effort—countless practice exams, their pages softened with wear. I finally began to try, but for what reason? Doubt still lingered, a cold shadow. Yet as I pushed through one paper after another, I realised it was the momentum itself—the stubborn persistence, the small, solitary victories—that was changing me. Each moment of struggle was a thread, weaving the person I was at the start of the year into the person I am now. Still, the question always crept back in, quiet and insistent: who do you wish to be?
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Writing about protest: write a text that…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Resist and Persist Dismissed, diminished, disregarded: How the suffragettes successfully resisted against systemic…
Resist and Persist
Dismissed, diminished, disregarded: How the suffragettes successfully resisted against systemic silencing
The roar of fire, the shattering of windows, the chaos amidst burning buildings. Exhausted by the deaf ear to their grievances, the suffragettes brandished their weapons and showed men the only language they listened to: war. Women rallied relentlessly, they threw stones at windows, raised their voices, and set buildings ablaze. They did so, because all peaceful means had proved futile.
Today, on International Women's Day, it is vital we remember the brave, courageous women worldwide who persisted against the patriarchy until they achieved enfranchisement. From Australia to Britain overseas, these women inspired generations of feminism and women's rights movements.
The Resistance
War was the last resort. After centuries of silencing, powerless in overturning pre-existing gender issues without the vote, British women declared war against their government. They had been rendered voiceless by their system of governance for a millennia, unable to stop the gender inequality that was so rampantly ingrained into the nation. Decades of lobbying, petitions, and speeches saw painstakingly slow progress: it was time for a militant approach.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: prompt:"'You are old, Father William,"…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 70%: Time to play: If time travel were possible most adults would likely use it to correct their mistakes, to fix…
Time to play:
If time travel were possible most adults would likely use it to correct their mistakes, to fix restore or redo. But children, if handed the same machine would simply amuse themselves with time: leap from past to future, experiment with paradoxes or visit a day twice to see what changes. That difference says something profound. As adults we treat time as a resource to be managed; as children we treat it as a landscape to explore. Perhaps this is why when responsibilities of adulthood harden around us, we begin to forget how to play. The question then is not whether adults can play, but whether we can afford not to.
On one hand, play is far more than a childhood past time, it is a vital human instinct that continues to shape creativity empathy and wellbeing Think of play as a rehearsal room for the mind: a place where you can try unlikely answers, rehearse different roles and return to reality with fresh options. In adulthood, it emerges through imaginative risk taking: a scientist testing wild ideas, a designer sketching without a plan, a parent inventing a bedtime story. Play become a kind of mental time travel, a space where we can step outside the strict present and imagine alternative futures. Many workplaces now embrace “creative play” because unstructured thought often produces structured breakthroughs.
However, critics argue that adulthood demands focus and discipline rather than playfulness. Life’s obligations, careers, bills, families, compress time into schedules and deadlines. Within these constraints play can appear frivolous, even irresponsible. To them, maturity means control: replacing whimsy with reliability. Adults, they argue cannot afford to “lose track of time” when there are responsibilities to meet. Play may refresh the spirit, but it doesn’t pay the rent.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: To what extent do the characters find…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 82.5%: In her novella “We Have Always Lived in a Castle,” Shirley Jackson explores how characters seize power through…
In her novella “We Have Always Lived in a Castle,” Shirley Jackson explores how characters seize power through violence and isolation in a world designed to render them powerless. Jackson first elucidates the societal influence of the patriarchy, which enforces female servitude, and then portrays violence as a means to subvert such control. Following this act of rebellion, Jackson illustrates how isolation from the patriarchy becomes essential to maintaining this newfound power, framing any invasion of that seclusion as a direct threat. Ultimately, Jackson suggests that while this combination of isolation and violence creates fear—a potent source of power for women whose agency is denied—this power is inherently fragile and comes at the cost of their humanity.
Jackson portrays the patriarchal society as an oppressive force that strips women of their agency, forcing them to acquiesce to roles of servitude. As such, she illustrates the subversion of domestic culinary duties through violence, using food as a means to extend power and agency. From the outset of the novel, the family’s patriarchal structure is codified by the father’s dominance, as he “always sat in the big chair at the head of the table.” Through this simple, stark image of spatial hierarchy, Jackson establishes the Blackwood family's rigid ideology, where power is visually and physically codified along gender lines. Further, Merricat reminisces that “all the blackwood women had taken food from the ground and preserved it,” illustrating the subservient nature of women within the Blackwood household. By grounding the women's roles in the domestic lexicon of 'food' and 'preservation,' Jackson establishes the traditional servitude Merricat violently rejects. By using the very food she is meant to prepare and preserve as a weapon, Merricat transforms an instrument of her servitude into a tool for liberation and power. Merricat’s stark admission that she “put death in all of their food” transforms this domestic staple into a tool of profound violence. The cold, simple language of this confession contrasts sharply with the expected warmth of a ‘nurturer,’ highlighting a deliberate and calculated agency. This act of patricide directly inverts her expected role and undermines the foundations of patriarchal ideology, thus granting her power. Furthermore, Merricat's fantasy of the villagers 'crying with the pain and dying' before she can 'help [her]self to groceries' demonstrates that for Merricat, the act of finding power requires a mental annihilation of her oppressors, linking her agency directly to imagined violence. This violent fantasy reveals the extreme measures Merricat believes are necessary to resist the oppressive patriarchal forces that confine her. This connection reveals that controlling food—a symbol of their domestic confinement—becomes a desperate, non-negotiable form of agency. Ultimately, Jackson demonstrates that in a world determined to silence women, the subversion of domesticity through violence becomes a necessary, if brutal, tool for reclaiming agency.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: : “Memories are a lot tougher than you…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 60%: Yoko Ogawa’s Memory police, immerse readers into an unnamed Japanese Island in which objects and their meaning are…
Yoko Ogawa’s Memory police, immerse readers into an unnamed Japanese Island in which objects and their meaning are systematically erased. Using the genre of magical realism to metaphorically question passivity to disappearances of memories. Ogawa explores the importance of memories to individual and collective identity. Ogawa expresses how through storytelling, memories can live on, allowing for humanity to remain.
Ogawa posits memories as a means of maintaining individual identity in the face of authoritarian control. Emphasizing on how a loss of memories result in the fragmentation of identity, the novel’s cover depicts a girl’s face with fragments of red outline chipping over her face The fragments represent the loss of memories, which has resulted in the erasure of individual identity (represented by the girl’s face). Similarly, Ogawa communicates a loss of connection to one’s past when memories are erased as the protagonist expresses how she can no longer remember anything about “birds” even through they have been “intertwined with memories of [her father]”. This loss in memory signifies how the protagonist has lost her individual identity as a daughter of an “ornithologist”, demonstrating how without core memories one is unable to be grounded as an individual with a distinct identity. Moreover, the memory police’s acknowledgement f how memories comes “from inside the hearts”, suggests the emotional depth of memories and its significance to each individual. The metaphor of memories and hearts, accentuates the intangible, interconnected relationship between an individuals’ “heart” and soul (key elements of their identity, and the purpose of memories, which is to give one an identity
While memories are crucial to preserving individual identity, Ogawa also acknowledges the power of memories in allowing of the essence of humanity to remain. The genre of magical realism, in which element of magic is accepted as normal, becomes a metaphor for the residents of the island’s passivity to the disappearances erasing their memories, hence their collective history, as “no one every complains or makes a fuss.” Ogawa uses the resident’s passivity to question her
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Wilder's film sunset boulevard is a…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Billy wilders 1950's film noir, Sunset Boulevard, offers a cynical exposé of Hollywood presenting it as a morally…
Billy wilders 1950's film noir, Sunset Boulevard, offers a cynical exposé of Hollywood presenting it as a morally corroded dream factory sustained by illusion and exploitation, yet suggests that the illusion, however corrupt is vital to art and human survival. Against the backdrop of a recent transition from silent to sound films, and implementation of studio systems which commodifies youth, beauty and fame, preserving its alluring and idealistic facade appealing to post-war American audiences, who value cinema as an escape. Wilder accentuates the industries exploitation of ambition, beauty and erosion of authenticity, to ultimately lead emotional and psychological demise. While promoting the industries necessity in preservation of cinema portraying it as both cynical and endearing.
Initially Wilder constructs Hollywood as a cynical industry that commodifies creativity and human worth. Wilder establishes Hollywood's dominance through large paramount studio gates from a low angle camera shot, which Joe and norma attempt to enter through - symbolising Hollywood's exclusive nature. An element that makes accessing and entering the facade of perfection the industry presents, alluring and enticing to American dreamer, who wish to enter it. Wilder simultaneously proposes that Hollywood's excess and grandeur are able to mask the dehumanising and corrupt cycle that lies beneath its manufactured facade, helping to maintain its desirability. Having established its alluring nature that precipitates ones ambition to enter, Wilder then conveys that creativity and authenticity are used as currency in Hollywood postulating that they become sacrificed upon entering the facade. The director depicts this through Max's servitude to Norma, tragically embodying the artistic sacrifice of Hollywood, as a once famed director is now reduced to a servant of the illusion he once helped construct. Wilder reinforces this through the metatextual element of casting, Von Stronhein, a real life director, to communicate the industries tendency to consume and humiliate it's own, as it can reduce ones worth to nothing. Continuing this Wilder alludes to the sacrifice of individual creativity, presenting the world of Hollywood to be maintained through industrialised ambition, as everything is the "same old story" - articulating that success in Hollywood is the result of a formula which limits innovation and creativity. To strengthen his assertion Wilder suggests that writers are just "trying to make a living", highlighting that the cost of commercial gain is in fact artistic integrity, accentuating the prevalence of commodifying ambition and creativity. The director presents this idea as a self aware critique upon Hollywood, as Wilder himself, is a witness to the morally compromising nature and illusion of the American dream which it presents, thus depicting the pursuit of these dreams, while admirable to be naive and ultimately at the centre of ones own exploitation and commodification. In essence, Wilder demonstrates the cynical cycle of commodification and sacrifice in Hollywood in an attempt to achieve the illusive dreams the it promises.