Here’s how to get ahead of this brand new VCE English Unit. 

What Is ‘Creating Texts’?

If you’re in Year 12 this year, chances are you will begin studying the Creating Texts Area of Study very soon (if you haven’t started already). This new AoS in the 2024 study design has essentially expanded and replaced the previous study design’s approach to creative writing, now placing a greater focus on the process of creating texts and embracing multiple forms of writing.

Here’s what the study design states the outcome of this unit is:

‘On completion of this unit the student should be able to demonstrate effective writing skills by producing their own texts, designed to respond to a specific context and audience to achieve a stated purpose; and to explain their decisions made through writing processes.’ (VCAA English Study Design, 2024-2027)

So, while before VCAA did not place a heavy focus on this unit, now it is heavily emphasised, being one of the three sections of the English exam. Now, more so than before, you are required to write – even if just a little bit – creatively.

Given that Creating Texts is now reflected in the end-of-year exam, it is very important to nail it. And to do that, you first need to know what this Area of Study is all about.

Framework of Ideas

A big part of this AoS is the Framework of Ideas, which provides students and, perhaps most importantly, schools, with thematic guides to encourage discussion and unique writing. The study design states:

‘The Framework of Ideas presents four broad ideas through which students can engage with writing’. 

Here’s what they are, as directly taken from the study design:

• Writing about country: 'Exploration of place and belonging'

You can also explore ideas of one’s sense of national belonging, the climate crisis, colonisation and decolonisation, and different forms of cultural identities in relation to the land. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives can also be addressed.

• Writing about protest: 'Explorations of conflict and contest, what it means to protest, the value of protest, the outcomes of protest, personal stories of protest, struggle and war'

For this framework, you can dive deep into prominent figures who spearheaded social movements through protests, or you can look at protest more broadly and investigate its role and effectiveness within society, the history of protest and its many facets.

•  Writing about personal journeys: 'Explorations of ‘life’ or biographical explorations'

Ideas surrounding the importance of storytelling and personal change, and invitations for students to create autobiographical written pieces are also outlined in the study design.

•  Writing about play: 'Explorations of experiences and traditions of play and playing in many cultures and through history'

This framework also invites thought into how play intersects with technology, the role of play and make-believe in our daily lives, and even how performance and social media may influence how we view the world today.

NOTE: The study design also offers many other possible ways to explore these ideas, so make sure to check it out and read it carefully. It can be found HERE.

As you can see, the ideas within the frameworks are very broad. This was intentionally done, so that you have ample opportunity to find something within those ideas that engage you. Your school will choose only one of these frameworks, so you are in no way expected to dissect all four – that would be a huge undertaking!

Mentor Texts

There are also four mentor texts for each framework, which range from TED Talks, blog posts, short stories, speeches and argumentative articles, to name a few. Their purpose in the curriculum is to serve as examples of effective writing, as the selected texts show a competent understanding of context, purpose and audience, as well as confident use of textual features such as tone, vocabulary and authorial voice. This is similar to what you might have encountered in Year 11, where you were asked to read and analyse a range of creative texts to then inform your own writing.

When studying your mentor texts, make sure to keep all of this in mind and carefully analyse each text and what is successful about them in relation to your framework. This will make your life much easier when it comes to writing your own.

If you don’t feel very confident in creating texts or think these frameworks are very broad and hard to come up with good ideas for, just remember that you’re not going into this unit completely blind, neither are you expected to write completely from scratch.

Besides your experience last year, your given framework and mentor texts are there to provide a guide to effective writing and introduce you to many different ideas, so make sure to use them to your advantage! Besides, having more freedom in a creative writing task should definitely be viewed as a benefit rather than a hindrance. 

Oh No! Does This Mean I Have To Write a Narrative? 

No, it doesn’t! If the aforementioned formats of the mentor texts were any indication, this AoS encourages you to embrace the variety of different writing styles.

When before you might have been required to write within a narrative format or asked to ‘fill a gap’ in an already existing short story, now you have the freedom to write in whatever way you want, and it does not need to be a narrative, let alone fictional storytelling.

In the context of the Creating Texts AoS, ‘creative writing’ does not only equate to creating fictional characters, worlds and narratives. Instead, it gives way to the many other forms of writing that show off a writer’s creativity, which is not solely dependent on what is written, but also how and why the text has been written. This links back to the context, purpose and audience idea I talked about before.

The study design also heavily focuses on the process of writing and experimentation and not just the final draft. This AoS is your chance to fully immerse yourself in writing, so you should make sure to brainstorm and try new modes of writing you might not have thought of before. You might end up surprising yourself and coming up with great texts!

So, here’s a non-exhaustive list of writing styles you can choose to tackle:

• Your classic narrative or short story
• Memoir
• Argumentative article
• Transcript of a Podcast episode
• Speech
• Poetry/Song (just remember you are not allowed to write in these formats for the Exam!)
• Reflective essay
• Biographical texts

You may find that, as you work through the unit, some formats may be more effective than others depending on your framework, chosen audience, chosen tone or even just your personal preference. For example, writing in a blog post format post would be more effective in engaging the particular audience of teens and young adults. 

Or, you may choose to convey your ideas with a specific tone in mind. For example, if you want to address your framework in an emotive way you might choose to write a first-person narrative short story. Conversely, if you want to address it in a rational and factual way, you might choose to write an article. 

That’s another reason why experimenting and trying new things is so important -  so that you can find out what, in your opinion, suits you and the framework best.

Check out our blog post on the Skeleton Approach for a suggestion of how you could potentially structure your Creative piece.

What Your SAC Will Look Like

This AoS is worth 60 of the 100 marks allocated for Unit 3, so it is a big deal. However, if you have a look at the study design, those 60 marks are split into three equal parts worth 20 marks each, which means your SAC will consist of three things:

‍1) ‘A written text constructed in consideration of audience, purpose and context.’ And, of course, your text will also need to be constructed in relation to your chosen framework.

2) ‘A written text constructed in consideration of audience, purpose and context.’ Yep, that’s right. For this SAC you have to create two distinct writing pieces. The assessment task as it is outlined in the study design does not mention whether they need to have completely different formats or audience/purpose/context from one another, so the specifics might be up to your school to decide.

3)  ‘A commentary reflecting on writing processes.’ This is the same as a Written Explanation, which you likely have come across before. This is where you write a couple of paragraphs outlining and justifying your choices for each written text you produced, especially in relation to your framework and your audience, purpose and context. Having a successful commentary means you clearly describe the authorial intent in your work, so make sure to be specific and self-analytical in your writing!

What the Exam Will Look Like

The 2024 English exam will be the first exam that follows the new 2024-2027 study design, and the biggest change between now and the previous years is that Section B, which used to ask students to write a Comparative Response to a set of texts they would have studied at school during the year, is now all about Creating Texts. So much so that now Section B is called – you guessed it – ‘Creating texts’.

VCAA has been kind enough to release a sample of this new requirement, which outlines very faithfully what this section will look like in the actual exam. The exam paper consists of a page of general instructions which apply to all students, and then four pages with three pieces of stimulus material each, which relate to each of the four frameworks.

The stimuli consist of one statement, an image, and a section of a poem/story, and the exam paper says you must use ‘at least one’ of them in your writing. (Here’s a quick tip: if the examiners are asking for at least one, use two or more.)

There is also a compulsory title given for each framework, which must be the title of your text.

The instructions in the VCAA sample exam also outline that in Section B ‘you must create one written text (not including song, poetry or verse)’, and that ’you must include meaningful connections with ideas drawn from one of the Frameworks of Ideas’ as well as the provided title and the stimulus material. You should choose the framework you have studied in depth at school to write about, and you are also able to refer to your mentor texts, although that is not compulsory in the exam.

Another point is that ‘you must develop your text with a clear purpose, incorporating at least one of the following: to explain, to express, to reflect, to argue.’

You may remember these purposes from the Unit 1 Crafting Texts Area of Study in Year 11. They are pretty much self-explanatory, and chances are that any writing you do will already serve one of these purposes without it being your conscious decision. Also, similar to the stimulus material, try to incorporate two purposes within your piece instead of just one, if possible.

And, as previously was the case as well, Section B is worth one-third of your full exam marks.

You can find the 2024 English sample exam and other very helpful resources such as past exams and exam reports by clicking HERE. 

Three Tips to Help You Ace Creating Texts

So, now that we know what Creating Texts is all about, here are three helpful tips to keep in mind as you make your way through this Area of Study:

1) Play to Your Strengths

As you experiment and become familiar with a range of writing styles and formats, you may find that you’ve become really good at writing argumentative essays, or you became more interested in writing short stories, or maybe you remember that in Year 11 you got a high mark for writing a strong reflective essay. Make sure to self-assess and keep in mind what your strengths are in writing, even if they might not be apparent at first glance.

Also remember that, in the exam, you have a very limited amount of time to come up with a unique piece of writing from scratch, so having a text format in mind that you feel really confident and comfortable writing with can provide at least a little bit of guidance and reassurance when you’re writing something new.

2) Choose Formats That Will Help You Show a Deep Understanding of Your Framework

For instance, if you have the ‘writing about play’ framework and you are deeply inspired by an example of how play can help people heal from trauma from one of your mentor texts which happens to be a memoir, you might deem it best to write a short story or a personal fictionalised diary entry which shows you have taken inspiration from that memoir’s central idea, but you are also engaging with the framework’s implications in society.

Of course, this should be judged on a case-by-case basis, but it can be a helpful guide if you feel stuck and unsure of where to start your writing process.

3) Be Flexible

This is especially important for the exam. You don’t want to walk in with a memorised text! Examiners can definitely tell when a student has just route-learned their way into essay writing, and this will undoubtedly be extra noticeable for creative texts, especially when the exam gives you no choice but to integrate their given stimulus material.

This is why becoming used to as many writing formats as possible, alongside consistent planning and brainstorming, are incredibly important skills to develop throughout the year, so that when it comes time to the end-of-year exam you are ready to go regardless of what the examiners throw at you!

The best way to succeed in this Unit, like pretty much all other tasks in English, is to consistently practice your writing and experiment with as many writing styles as you possibly can. Be open to new ways of thinking, not only about the framework you are given, but about the concept of writing itself! Although certainly challenging, the Creating Texts AoS can prove itself to be great fun. So, best of luck in creating texts, and happy writing!

‍

For more on Creative Responses check out:

• How to Write an Emotional Creative Response for VCE English
• VCE Creative Writing: How To Structure Your Story

‍

Have a go at analysing it yourself first, then see how I've interpreted the article below! For a detailed guide on Language Analysis including how to prepare for your SAC and exam, check out our Ultimate Guide to VCE Language Analysis.

Information

Author: Professor Chris Lee

Type of article: Speech

Publisher: None

Date of publication: 25 – 27th October, 2010

Contention: We, as humans must consider our impact on biodiversity and take action to change our lifestyles before we damage the world beyond repair.

Number of article(s): 1

Number of image(s): 2

Source: VCAA website

Note: Persuasive techniques can be interpreted in many ways. The examples given below are not the single correct answer. Only a selected number of persuasive techniques have been identified in this guide.

Taking Stock Analysis

#1

Persuasive technique: Reputable Source

Example: ‘United Nations stated: “It is a celebration of life on earth and of the value of biodiversity in our lives. The world is invited to take action in 2010 to safeguard the variety of life on earth: biodiversity”.’

Analysis:  The use of a reputable source indicates that 1) the author has done his research and is therefore credible, 2) his opinion is supported by an expert group, thus strengthening his reasoning and opinion in regards to biodiversity.

#2

Persuasive technique: Rhetorical questions

Example: ‘Has this been a year of celebration of life on earth? Has this, in fact, been a year of action?’

Analysis: The use of rhetorical questions aims to portray to listeners that the answer is obvious, that humans have not done enough to help biodiversity. As a result, listeners are manipulated into agreeing with the author since if they were to refute the answer; it will appear as though they are nonsensical.

#3

Persuasive technique: Personal approach

Example: ‘It is with great pleasure – though not without a tinge of sadness’

Analysis: By introducing himself with ‘it is with great pleasure’, listeners are invited to reciprocate the feeling of welcome for Lee and hence be open to his opinion. His subsequent, ‘though not without a tinge of sadness’ suggests to listeners that he is disappointed with the current state of biodiversity, which may persuade listeners to feel as though they should help fix the situation.

#4

Persuasive technique: Statistics

Example: ‘35% of mangroves, 40% of forests and 50% of wetlands.’

Analysis: The incorporation of the apparently reliable and credible statistics testifies for Lee’s opinion and thus may persuade listeners to believe that it is indeed, ‘too late for [species]’.

#5

Persuasive technique: Appeal to sense of guilt

Example: ‘Due to our own thoughtless human actions, species are being lost at a rate that is estimated to be up to 100 times the natural rate of extinction.’

Analysis: Since the destruction of biodiversity is ‘due to our own thoughtless human actions’, Lee aims to incite a sense of guilt as listeners appear to be selfish, which may urge them to agree that they need to cease being inconsiderate and do more to improve biodiversity.

#6

Persuasive technique: Appeal to humanity

Example: ‘Reversing this negative trend is not only possible, but essential to human wellbeing.’

Analysis: The appeal to humanity, ‘essential to human wellbeing’ encourages listeners to support Lee since it is our instinctive for humans to nurture ourselves and others.

#7

Persuasive technique: Appeal to sense of pride

Example: ‘We are, in truth, the most educated generation of any to date. We have no excuse for inaction.’

Analysis: Through the appeal to a sense of pride, Lee aims to coax listeners into believing that they have ‘no excuse for inaction’ since only those who are ‘intelligent’ would understand and agree with his stance.

#8

Persuasive technique: Attack on the listener

Example: ‘YOUR country – actually done since 2002 to contribute to the achievement of our goals?’

Analysis: The attack aims to leave listeners in a state of vulnerability since it is clear that many have failed to ‘achieve…[the] goals’. Once in this state, listeners may be more inclined to accept Lee’s stance.

#9

Persuasive technique: Appeal for sympathy

Example: ‘Biodiversity loss undermines the food security, nutrition and health of the rural poor and even increases their vulnerability. ‘

Analysis:  Though the reference to ‘the rural poor,’ Lee aims to appeal to listeners’ sympathy and may invite support since it is instinctive to wish for the best for humanity, rather than to see the poor experience a lack of ‘food security, nutrition and health.’

#10

Persuasive technique: Appeal to pride

Example: ‘As leaders in the area of biodiversity’

Analysis:  The appeal to pride through positioning listeners as ‘leaders’ invites support since it is innate for humans to wish to be thought of as a person who is respected and powerful.

#11

Persuasive technique: Inclusive Language

Example: ‘we know what damage our lifestyle is doing to our world’

Analysis: The use of inclusive language aims to involve listeners with the issue, thus encouraging support since listeners may feel responsible for the future outcome of biodiversity.

#12

Persuasive technique: Appeal to sense of urgency

Example: ‘The time for talk is over: now, truly, is the time for serious action.

Analysis: By appealing to a sense of urgency, Lee aims to urge listeners to take responsibility since it appears as though the damage to biodiversity will be too late if we fail to take ‘serious action…now.’

Image 1

Persuasive technique: A sense of responsibility

Example: 2010 with outlines of nature

Analysis: The incorporation of a background of ‘2010’ with outlines of animals, plants and humans aims to demonstrate to listeners that earth is shared by all species, with none dominating another in an attempt to gain listeners’ sense of responsibility since they are part of the biodiversity issue, yet can also be the solution to the problem.

Persuasive technique: Pun

Example: ‘Taking Stock’

Analysis: The first meaning used for the pun suggests to listeners that they need to ‘take stock’ or in other words, scrutinise the dire situation of biodiversity in call for much needed attention to the issue. Through referring to the second meaning of ‘stock’ as animals, Lee intends to appeal to a sense of guilt since he projects the idea that humans are cruelly annihilating the environment by ‘taking’ whatever ‘stock’ for their own self-centered purposes.

Image 2

Persuasive technique: Appeal to responsibility

Example: ‘earth is in our hands’

Analysis: By placing the ‘earth…in our hands,’ Lee aims to urge a sense of responsibility on behalf of the listeners which in turn, may cause them to agree with the notion to take ‘serious action’ in the name of biodiversity.

Persuasive technique: Use of reputable source

Example: ‘Biodiversity is the greatest treasure we have . . . Its diminishment is to be prevented at all costs. Thomas Eisner’

Analysis: The reference to ecologist, Thomas Eisner attempts to persuade listeners to support Lee since experts in the field of biodiversity recommend that the earth needs to be cherished.

This blog post has been revamped and updated for the latest 2023-2027 English study design.

Contents

1. What Is Language Analysis?

2. What Are You Expected To Cover? (Language Analysis Criteria)

3. School Assessed Coursework (SAC), Exams, and Allocated Marks

4. How To Prepare for Your Language Analysis SAC and Exam

5. How To Write a Language Analysis

1. What Is Language Analysis?

Language Analysis is officially known as ‘Exploring Argument’ in Year 11, and ‘Analysing Argument’ in Year 12 (your teachers might also refer to it as ‘Argument Analysis’). We’ll use the term Language Analysis throughout this blog to keep things simple. 

Like its name suggests, in Language Analysis, you will read, view and/or listen to a range of short, persuasive texts, and then you’ll analyse the way the author has used persuasive language devices to construct their argument. You’ll be analysing written texts, like opinion pieces or newspaper articles, and audio or audio-visual texts, like podcasts or speeches. Your job is to unpack the contention the author has put forward to their audience, understand their purpose, and break down the methods they’ve used to persuade their audience of their perspective - then, you’ll express all of these ideas in an essay. 

In your Language Analysis SAC(s), you will be expected to analyse at least one written text and at least one audio or audio-visual text. Your teacher might give you the texts to study in advance, or you might be asked to read and analyse cold material on the day (meaning you won’t have seen the text before your SAC).

Language Analysis is also one of the three components of the VCE English exam. You’ll only have one written text to analyse in the exam, but it will contain embedded images! You will be asked to analyse cold material, so that all students go into the final exams on equal footing. 

NOTE: The ‘Exploring Argument’ and ‘Analysing Argument’ Areas of Study (aka Language Analysis) also include the Oral Presentation, but we cover that separately in our Ultimate Guide to Oral Presentation.

Let's get into it!

2. School Assessed Coursework (SAC), Exams and Allocated Marks

In Years 11 and 12, you’ll most likely tackle Language Analysis in Term 4 - your school may do it at a different time though, so double check with your teacher.

Since your Year 11 results don’t count towards your final Study Score, below is a breakdown of the marks allocated to your Language Analysis SAC in Year 12:

• Unit 4 English: 40 marks 
• Unit 4 EAL: 40 marks

This means that 40% of your School Assessed Score for Unit 4 comes from your Language Analysis SAC.

The time allocated to your SAC is school-dependent. Often, schools use one or two class periods to conduct your SAC, depending on how long each of your periods lasts. VCAA suggests you write between 700 to 900 words for your Language Analysis. Keep in mind that it’s about quality, not quantity, and for anything internally marked, it’s important to keep your teacher’s preferences in mind!

In your exam, you get a whopping total of 3 hours to write 3 responses (Text Response, Creative and Language Analysis). The general suggestion is to spend 60 minutes on Language Analysis, but it is up to you exactly how much time you decide to dedicate to this section of the exam. Each section of the exam is worth a total of 20 marks. 

3. What Are You Expected To Cover? (Language Analysis Criteria)

What are teachers and examiners expecting to see in your essays? Below are the VCE criteria for Language Analysis essays.

NOTE: Some schools may express the following points differently; however, they should all boil down to the same points - what is necessary in a Language Analysis essay.

a) Understanding of the argument(s) presented and point(s) of view expressed

The first and most important step is to understand the contention and arguments the author is presenting in their text. It’s important to be specific here because your entire analysis revolves around understanding how the author has attempted to persuade their audience of this contention. Many students find this tricky, because the author may not explicitly tell you exactly what their contention is - sometimes you’ll have to read through all of the information the author has given you, and boil it down to the core perspective they’re trying to persuade you to share. But never fear! There are many tactics you can use to find the right contention - we’ll go into detail on this later.

b) Analysis of ways in which language and visual features are used to present an argument and to persuade

This is where your analysis of the author’s use of 'language techniques' comes into play. You're expected to identify the language used by the author and unpack how it’s intended to persuade the audience to share the author’s point of view. While there are too many language techniques to count, you're probably already familiar with at least a few, like inclusive language, rhetorical questions and statistics. But, it’s not enough to simply identify a language technique - your job is to break down why the author has used it in their text, and what its effect on the audience could be. For most students, this is the trickiest part of Language Analysis. To read more on how to overcome this part of the criteria, get educated with Why Your Language Analysis Doesn’t Score As Well As It Should. Our golden SIMPLICITY and SPECIFICITY strategy (discussed in the ebook section later in this guide) shows you how to analyse ANY language technique with confidence and accuracy.

c) Control and effectiveness of language use, as appropriate to the task

When examiners are marking essays, they are expected to churn through about 12-15 essays in an hour! This gives them approximately 5 minutes to read, get their head around, and grade your essay - not much time at all! You must use proper grammar and express your ideas clearly. If you use improper grammar or expression, you’re giving your marker an opportunity to take away marks because they’ll have to reread parts of your essay just to make sense of what you’re trying to say. 

4. How To Prepare for Your Language Analysis SAC and Exam

Preparation is the primary factor that determines how well you’ll perform in your SACs and on your final exam. It doesn’t matter if you’re naturally gifted at English - if you don’t prepare well enough for your exams, you won’t be able to reach your potential! That being said, different brains work differently, and it’s important that you put a bit of time into figuring out what study strategies work best for you. Here are our top strategies for Language Analysis preparation that can be done any time of year (including holidays - see How To Recharge Your Motivation Over the School Holidays for more tips):

a) Get your hands on some sample texts

If your teacher hasn't given you any to practise with, try the VCAA English exam page. Since the current study design is relatively new, it’s only the exams from 2024 onwards that are up to date. However, the page also includes an archive of past VCE exams dating all the way back to 2001 - the older Language Analysis sections of the exam are absolutely still good to practice with! 

b) Know your terminology (persuasive techniques and tones)

Make sure you brush up on the definitions of persuasive techniques. You might get marked down if you call a metaphor a simile, or if you refer to alliteration instead of assonance. These mistakes do happen! Try as much as you can not to fall into this trap.

Here are 12 easy Language Analysis techniques you should definitely know:

• Alliteration
• Anecdotes
• Appeals
• Connotations
• Credentials and expert opinion
• Hyperbole (Exaggeration)
• Inclusive language
• Metaphor
• Repetition
• Rhetorical questions
• Simile
• Statistics

However, not all language techniques are made equal. Most students can spot rhetorical questions or statistics - if you want to improve in Language Analysis, you should be aiming to identify and analyse more sophisticated techniques, like connotations and appeals. How To Write A Killer Language Analysis teaches our minimalist approach to language techniques, which shows you how to keep things SIMPLE and SPECIFIC.

Plus, as you hopefully know by now, it’s not enough to simply name a technique if you can’t explain why the author has used it. While you might notice some incidental alliteration, the chances that the author has intentionally used this technique to make their argument more persuasive are pretty slim! That’s why you want to take your analysis that step further by looking beyond the most obvious language technique to find the most important techniques used by the author.

Also, ensure you're familiar with descriptions of tone. It may be easy to identify that the writer is angry, but is there a better way of expressing that? Perhaps irritated is a better term, or vexed, passionate, furious, disgruntled, outraged, irate, and the list goes on… 

Stuck? Have a look at our 195 Tones for Language Analysis.

c) Know how to analyse images, audio and audio-visual content

Images (including cartoons, illustrations and graphs) are something you also need to get your head around. Understanding how an image persuades its audience can be challenging, so test yourself and see if you know to look for these 10 things in cartoons.

In your Language Analysis, you’ll also have to engage with audio or audio-visual texts, and analyse the unique structures and features that enhance someone’s argument in these contexts.

Here’s a quick breakdown of things you should listen for when analysing audio:

• Intonation
• Music and sound effects
• Pause for effect
• Stress and emphasis
• Tempo (speed)
• Tone and tonal shift

With audio-visual or video media, there’s even more to consider:

• Background imagery/Location background
• Camera usage - angles, effects, cutting, etc.
• Colour
• Costumes
• Facial expression and body language
• Gesture
• Post-production elements such as banners, logos, projected data, infographics or other images
• Posture and stance
• Props
• Use of visual aids

We go into more detail on how to analyse these elements in How To Write A Killer Language Analysis study if you need more help. 

d) Read and watch our resources

Doing this study all by yourself can be rather daunting, so we've got your back. We specialise in supporting VCE English by creating helpful videos, study guides and ebooks. Here are some just to get you started:

YouTube Videos

We create general Language Analysis advice videos where we answer your questions in a QnA format:

We also create article-specific videos where we select a past VCAA exam and analyse it in real-time:

Check out our entire YouTube channel (and don't forget to subscribe for regular new videos!).

Study Guides

Our awesome team of English high-achievers have analysed popular Language Analysis articles (most based on past VCAA exams). Here's a compilation of all the ones we've covered so far:

2001 VCAA Exam: Medi-Info Card (we're going wayyy back!)

2002 VCAA Exam: Truancy (hey, weren't you born around this time?)

2009 VCAA Exam: Keyed In Sample Analysis

2010 VCAA Exam: Taking Stock Sample Analysis

2016 VCAA Exam: Lawton, The Home of the Giant Watermelon

2019 VCAA Exam: A Better, Faster Shopping Experience

‍2020 VCAA Sample Exam: Biodiversity Speech Analysis

2020 VCAA Exam: Drones

eBooks

And if that isn't enough, we’d highly recommend our How To Write A Killer Language Analysis ebook.

In this ebook, we teach you our unique SIMPLICITY and SPECIFICITY strategy.

Many people overcomplicate Language Analysis, and as a result, they think it's much harder than it is.

Whether you’re struggling with Language Analysis and you don’t know where to begin, or you’re getting straight As, but you want to break that A+ barrier, the key to a successful Language Analysis essay is achieving the balance between SIMPLICITY and SPECIFICITY. Find out more by accessing a sample of our ebook.

e) Practise Your Analysis

Analysing can get messy when you have dozens of annotations sprawled across the text. Start testing out annotation strategies that work for you. 

For example, try using idea-based-colouring. This means that if the article discusses injustice, as you identify quotes and techniques dealing with injustice, highlight them in yellow. For freedom, highlight them green. This will have you annotating and grouping ideas in one go, saving time and confusion.

Another approach is to use technique-based-colouring, where you highlight the same or similar techniques in one colour.

The image above shows an example of idea-based-colouring from our Lawton, The Home of the Giant Watermelon - VCAA Exam 2016 video. If you haven't watched this video series, don't worry if it doesn't make sense to you right now. The point here is how the colours can help you quickly locate ideas when you’re writing your essay.

f) Write Plans

Once you've done some analysis and revision, it's time to write some essay plans! Plans will help ensure you stick to your essay topic, and have a clear outline of what your essay will cover. This clarity is crucial to success in a Language Analysis essay.

Essay planning is also an extremely time-efficient way to approach SACs. Rather than slaving away hours upon hours writing full essays, writing essay plans will save you the burnout and get you feeling confident faster.

g) Write Essays

Yes, sad, but it’s a fact. Writers only get better by actually writing. Writing practice essays helps you develop the thinking process that allows you to set out your arguments logically, utilise important quotes and improve your analytical skills. Timing yourself and writing against the clock will also help you write faster - something that is a major problem for many students. With that said, let's get into how to write a Language Analysis essay next.

5. How To Write a Language Analysis

Language Analysis is quite different from Text Response and Creative Writing - it's not surprising that the essay has its own set of best practices and rules.

Essay Structure

If you’re analysing more than one text in a SAC, you should aim to plan your essay accordingly - but keep in mind that there’s no expectation that you compare or contrast the texts. On your final exam, you’ll only be tackling one text, but remember to factor the embedded images into your essay plan. 

Introduction

In an introduction, you're expected to have the following:

• Context
• Date
• Form
• Author
• Source
• Title
• Contention
• Audience
• Tone

Kristin (who got an English study score of 50) writes about this CDFASTCAT acronym in her post, How To Write An A+ Language Analysis Introduction.

Here’s an example that responds to the VCAA 2021 English Exam (excerpt from our How To Write A Killer Language Analysis eBook). 

The regional town of Toppdale’s local cinema is at risk of closing down due to declining patron numbers. In response to this issue, the cinema’s marketing manager, Ava, has written a social media post on the ‘Toppdale Community Voice’ page. Posted to the page on 12 September 2021, Ava’s piece employs an inspiring and at times urgent tone. Appealing to engaged local community members, Ava contends that the community should band together to galvanise support for the local cinema and ensure its survival.

NOTE: the only thing this introduction doesn’t include is a title for the piece - because it doesn’t have one! It just refers to the source, the ‘Toppdale Community Voice’ page.

Try to keep your introduction to the point. There's no need to prolong an introduction just to make a set number of sentences. It's always better to be concise and succinct, and move into your main body paragraphs where the juicy content of your essay resides.

Body Paragraph

Most of you will be familiar with TEEL. TEEL can stand for:

• Topic sentence
• Example
• Evidence
• Linking sentence

In Language Analysis, it seems that schools teach their students different acronyms, whether it be TEE:

• Technique
• Example
• Evidence

…or WWHW as Joanna (English study score 47) explores in Analysing Argument - What, When, How, Why Method:

• What
• When
• How
• Why

And, if your teacher or school teaches you something slightly different to the aforementioned acronyms - that's okay too. At the end of the day, the foundations of what's expected are the same.

Here’s an example from our How To Write A Killer Language Analysis eBook, based on the VCAA 2021 English Exam:

At the beginning of her post, Ava argues that despite its rich history, the cinema’s survival is now under threat due to competition from streaming services and low patron numbers. This risk is contextualised by Ava as she outlines the cinema’s history at the outset of her piece. Drawing on inclusive language to emphasise that 'Toppdale’s unique cinema has been part of our town since the 1910s' and using emotive phrasing to highlight the cinema’s history of having 'survived the Great Depression' and 'standing strong during two world wars', Ava emphasises the importance of the cinema’s ongoing preservation and attempts to create a shared sense of responsibility among her readership of local community members. The writer then goes on to launch an appeal to community by pledging that 'we hope to galvanise community support for Toppdale’s cinema'. By doing so, Ava encourages her readership to appreciate the need for a united response against the threat to the local cinema. This appeal is sustained as Ava warns that 'without your support', the cinema will become 'the next victim of the streaming revolution'. The writer then heightens this ultimatum by incorporating statistics which illustrate that cinema numbers have fallen by 'a drop of well over 50%'. Ultimately, at the outset of her social media post, Ava forewarns against the threat of losing the local cinema and argues that the community must come together to prevent its closure.

As you're writing essays, you'll probably find that you're using the word 'persuades' very often. To mix it up, have a ‘Persuade’ Synonym Word Bank with you whenever you're studying so that you can build up your vocabulary bank and avoid the dreaded, 'I just keep repeating the same word over and over again!'

Conclusion

Conclusions should be short and sweet. 

Here’s an example from our How To Write A Killer Language Analysis eBook, based on the VCAA 2021 English Exam:

In her social media post on the ‘Toppdale Community Voice’ page, Ava employs an inspiring and occasionally urgent tone to appeal to members of the local community, contending that residents of Toppdale should attend the local cinema in order to boost patron numbers and secure its survival.

If you’d like to see a list of sentence starters to help you broaden your vocabulary for your Language Analysis essay, check out this blog. 

That's it for The Ultimate Guide to Language Analysis. Good luck!

Contents

1. Summary
2. Themes
3. Symbols and Analysis
4. Quotes
5. Discussion Questions
6. Sample Essay Topics
7. Essay Topic Breakdown

1. Summary

Go Went Gone revolves around an unlikely connection between a retired university professor, Richard, and a group of asylum seekers who come from all over the African continent. While he’s enjoyed a life of stability and privilege as a white male citizen, the lives of these asylum seekers could not be more different: no matter where they are in the world, uncertainty seems to follow. Richard initially sets out to learn their stories, but he is very quickly drawn into their histories of tragedy, as well as their dreams for the future. 

However, the more he tries to help them, the more he realises what he’s up against: a potent mix of stringent legal bureaucracy and the ignorance of his peers. These obstacles are richly interwoven with the novel’s context in post-reunification Germany (more on this under Symbols: Borders), but bureaucracy and ignorance are everywhere - Australia included. This novel, therefore, bears reflection on our own relationship with the refugees who seek protection and opportunity on our shores - refugees who are virtually imprisoned and cut off from the world.

Richard ultimately realises that these men are simply people, people who have the same complexities and inconsistencies as anyone else. They sometimes betray his trust; at other times, they help him in return despite their socio-economic standing. The end of the novel is thus neither perfect nor whole - while the asylum seekers develop a relationship with Richard and vice versa, neither is able to entirely solve the other’s problems, though both learn how to be there for each other in their own ways. We don’t get many solutions to everything the refugees are facing, but what we end up with is a lesson or two in human empathy. 

The title of Jenny Erpenbeck’s novel Go Went Gone is a line she weaves into a couple of scenes. In one example, a group of asylum seekers in a repurposed nursing home learn to conjugate the verb in German. In another, a retired university professor reflects on this group, about to be relocated to another facility.

2. Themes

Privilege

The various privileges Richard holds shape his identity in this text. It shapes how he approaches his retirement for example: now that “he has time”, he plans to spend it on highbrow pursuits like reading Proust and Dostoyevsky or listening to classical music. On the other hand, the asylum seekers sleep most of the time: “if you don’t sleep through half the morning, [a day] can be very long indeed.” Richard has the freedom to choose to spend his time on hobbies, but the asylum seekers face a daunting and seemingly-impossible array of tasks. After getting to know them more, he realises that while his to-do list includes menial things like “schedule repairman for dishwasher”, the refugees face daunting socio-political problems like needing to “eradicate corruption”. 

Freedom in general is a useful way to think about privilege in this text, and besides freedom to choose how you spend your time, this can also look like the freedom to tell your story. While Richard helps the men with this to some degree, even he has a limited amount of power here (and power can be another useful way of thinking about privilege). Richard realises that “people with the freedom to choose…get to decide which stories to hold on to” - and those are the people who get to decide the future of the refugees, at least from a legal perspective. 

Empathy

Though Richard can’t necessarily help with these legal issues, he finds himself doing what he can for the refugees over time. He demonstrates a willingness to help them in quite substantial ways sometimes, for example buying a piece of land in Ghana for Karon and his family. In the end, we see him empathising with the refugees enough to offer them housing: though he is not a lawyer, he still finds ways to use his privilege for good and share what he can. He taps into his networks and finds housing for 147 refugees. 

The tricky thing with empathy though is that it’s never one-sided, not in this book and not in real life either. It’s not simply a case of Richard taking pity on the refugees - we might think of this as sympathy rather than empathy - but he develops complex, reciprocal and ‘real’ friendships with all of them. This can challenge him, and us, and our assumptions about what is right. When Richard loses his wallet at the store, Rufu offers to pay for him. He initially insists he “can’t accept”, but when he does Rufu doesn’t let him pay him back in full. Erpenbeck challenges us to empathise without dehumanising, condescending or assuming anything in the process. 

It’s an interesting way to think about social justice in general, particularly if you consider yourself an ‘ally’ of a marginalised group - how can we walk with people rather than speak for them and what they want?

Movement 

Freedom of movement is sort of a form of privilege, but movement as a theme of its own is substantial enough to need a separate section. There are lots of different forms of movement in the novel, in particular movement between countries. In particular, it’s what brought the refugees to Germany at all, even though they didn’t necessarily have any control over that movement.

Contrast that with Richard’s friends, Jörg and Monika, who holiday in Italy and benefit from “freedom of movement [as] the right to travel”. Through this lens, we can see that this is really more of a luxury that the refugees simply do not have. Refugees experience something closer to forced displacement, rather than free travel, moving from one “temporary place” to the next often outside of their control. In this process, their lack of control often means they lose themselves in the rough-and-tumble of it all: “Becoming foreign. To yourself and others. So that’s what a transition looks like.”

3. Symbols & Analysis

Language and the Law

Many of the barriers faced by the refugees are reflected in their relationships with language; that is, their experiences learning German mirrors and sheds light on their relationship with other elements of German society. For example, there are times when they struggle to concentrate on learning: “It’s difficult to learn a language if you don’t know what it’s for”. This struggle reflects and symbolises the broader problems of uncertainty, unemployment and powerlessness in the men’s lives.

The symbol of language often intersects with the symbol of the “iron law”, so these are discussed together here. It’s hard on the one hand for these men to tell their stories in German, but it’s also hard for the German law to truly grapple with their stories. Indeed, Richard finds that the law doesn’t care if there are wars going on abroad or not: it only cares about “jurisdiction”, and about which country is technically responsible for the refugees. In this sense, the law mirrors and enables the callousness which runs through the halls of power - not to deter you from learning law if you want though! This might just be something to be aware of, and maybe something you’d want to change someday. 

There’s one law mentioned in the novel stating that asylum seekers can simply be accepted “if a country, a government or a mayor so wishes”, but that one word in particular - “if” - puts all the power in lawyers and politicians who know the language and the law and how to navigate it all. These symbols thus reflect power and privilege. 

Borders (+ Historical Context)

Throughout the novel, there’s a sense that borders between countries are somewhat arbitrary things. They can “suddenly become visible” and just as easily disappear; sometimes they’re easy to cross, sometimes they’re impossible to cross. Sometimes it’s easy physically, but harder in other ways - once you cross a border, you need housing, food, employment and so forth.

This complex understanding of borders draws on the history of Germany, and in particular of its capital Berlin, after World War II. After the war, Western powers (USA, UK, France) made a deal with the Soviet Union to each run half of Germany and half of Berlin. The Eastern half of Germany, and the Eastern half of Berlin, fell under Soviet control, and as East Germans started flocking to the West in search of better opportunities (sound familiar?), the Soviets built a wall around East Berlin. The Berlin Wall, built in 1961, became a border of its own, dividing a nation and a city and changing the citizenship of half of Germany overnight. Attempts to escape from the East continued for many years until the wall came down in 1989, changing all those citizenships right back, once again virtually overnight.

This history adds dimension to Erpenbeck’s novel. Refugees pass through many countries, but Erpenbeck draws on Germany’s history specifically as a once-divided nation itself. This helps to illustrate that national borders are just another arbitrary technicality that divides people, at the expense of these refugees. 

Bodies of Water

One motif that comes back a few times in the novel is the drowned man in the lake by Richard’s house. This has a few layers of meaning.

Firstly, the man drowns despite the lake being a perfectly “placid” body of water, and for whatever reason, this bothers Richard immensely: “he can’t avoid seeing the lake”. There’s an interesting contrast here to be drawn between this one death in a still body of water and the hundreds of deaths at sea that are recounted in the novel. Rashid’s stories are particularly confronting: “Under the water I saw all the corpses”. Erpenbeck questions the limits of human empathy - whose deaths are we more affected by, and why - through contrasting these different bodies of water, and those who die within them. Richard is more affected than most, who visit the lake all summer leaving “just as happy as they came” - but even he has his limits with how much he can see and understand. 

The next layer of meaning with this symbol then is more around the surface of the water itself: it is significant that in Rashid’s story, the casualties are below the surface. This reflects the common saying, “the tip of the iceberg” - the survivors who make it to Europe are really just the tip of the iceberg, only representing a fraction of the refugee experience. Often, that experience ends in death. Erpenbeck asks us to keep looking beneath the surface in order to empathise in full. 

Music and the Piano

This symbol is specific to Richard’s relationship with Osarobo, to whom he teaches the piano. There’s one scene where this symbolism is particularly powerful, where they watch videos of pianists “us[ing] the black and white keys to tell stories that have nothing at all to do with the keys’ colours.”

It speaks to the power of music to bring people together, and also to the importance of storytelling in any form: Rosa Canales argues the keys’ colours, and the colour of the fingers playing them, “become irrelevant to the stories emanating from beneath them”.

4. Quotes

Language

• “What languages can you speak?”
• “The German language is my bridge into this country” 
• “Empty phrases signify politeness in a language which neither of them is at home” 

Privilege

• “The things you’ve experienced become baggage you can’t get rid of, while others - people with the freedom to choose - get to decide which stories to hold on to”
• “He hears Apollo’s voice saying: They give us money, but what I really want is work. He hears Tristan’s voice saying: Poco lavoro. He hears the voice of Osaboro, the piano player, saying: Yes, I want to work but it is not allowed. The refugees’ protest has created half-time jobs for at least twelve Germans thus far” 

Borders

• “Not so long ago, Richard thinks, this story of going abroad to find one's fortune was a German one”
• “Is it a rift between Black and White? Or Poor and Rich?” 
• “Where can a person go when he doesn't know where to go?” 

5. Discussion Questions

Here are some questions to think about before diving into essay-writing. There’s no right or wrong answer to any of these, and most will draw on your own experiences or reflections anyway. You may want to write some answers down, and brainstorm links between your responses and the novel. These reflections could be particularly useful if you’re writing a creative response to the text, but they’re also a really good way to get some personal perspective and apply the themes and lessons of this novel into your own life.

• Where do you ‘sit’ in the world? What privileges do you have or lack? What can you do that others cannot, and what can others do that you cannot?
• Think about the times you’ve travelled around the world - how many of those times were by choice? What might be the impact of moving across the world against your will?
• How do you show empathy to others? How do you receive empathy from others? What is that relationship ‘supposed’ to look like?
• What are some different names for where you live? How can you describe the same place in different languages or words? If you’re in Australia, what was your area called before 1788?
• Have you ever learned or spoken a language other than English? What language do you find easier to write, speak and think with? How might this impact someone’s ability to participate in different parts of life (school, work, friendships etc.)?

6. Sample Essay Topics

• Go Went Gone teaches us that anyone can be empathetic. Discuss. 
• In Go Went Gone, Erpenbeck argues that storytelling can be powerful but only to an extent. Do you agree?
• How does Erpenbeck explore the different ways people see time? 
• It’s possible to sympathise with Richard despite his relative privilege. Do you agree?
• Discuss the symbolic use of borders in Go Went Gone.
• Go Went Gone argues that the law is impartial. To what extent do you agree?
• “The German language is my bridge into this country.” How is language a privilege in Go Went Gone?
• Who are the protagonists and antagonists of Go Went Gone?
• Go Went Gone shows that it is impossible to truly understand another person’s experiences. To what extent do you agree?
• In what ways do the people Richard meets challenge his assumptions about the world?
• Go Went Gone is less about borders between countries than it is about borders between people. Do you agree?

7. Essay Topic Breakdown

Whenever you get a new essay topic, you can use LSG’s THINK and EXECUTE strategy, a technique to help you write better VCE essays. This essay topic breakdown will focus on the THINK part of the strategy. If you’re unfamiliar with this strategy, then check it out in How To Write A Killer Text Response.

Within the THINK strategy, we have 3 steps, or ABC. These ABC components are:

Step 1: Analyse

Step 2: Brainstorm

Step 3: Create a Plan

In what ways do the people Richard meets challenge his assumptions about the world?

Step 1: Analyse

This prompt alludes to certain assumptions that Richard might make about the world. If it’s hard to think of these off the top of your head, consider where our assumptions about the world come from: maybe from our jobs, our families and friends or our past experiences. Maybe there are some assumptions you’ve had in the past that you’ve since noticed or challenged. 

Then it asks us how the people Richard meets challenges those assumptions. There’s no way to get out of this question without discussing the refugees, so this will inform our brainstorm.

Step 2: Brainstorm

I think some of Richard’s assumptions at the beginning come from his status: being a professor emeritus makes you pretty elite, and he can’t really empathise with the refugees because his experiences of life are so different. Part of the challenge with this prompt might be to break down what life experiences entail, and where those differences lie: particularly because it’s asking us ‘in what ways’. These experiences could be with language, employment, or personal relationships just to name a few ideas. 

Step 3: Create a Plan

Because Richard’s life experiences are so vastly different, I’d contend that his assumptions are challenged in basically every way. However, I also think that his interest in the refugees exists because he knows they can challenge his assumptions. I want to use the motif of water surfaces to tie this argument together, particularly in the topic sentences, and this could look as follows:

Paragraph 1: Richard realises that he only has a ‘surface-level’ appreciation of the refugees’ life experiences.

• He realises that he knows little about the African continent (“Nigeria has a coast?”) 
• He suffers from a “poverty of experience” which means he hasn’t had to interact with this knowledge before
• His renaming of the refugees (Apollo, Tristan etc.) suggests that he still needs his own frame of reference to understand their experiences
• He learns about the hardships of migration through the tragic stories of those like Rashid

Paragraph 2: He also realises that he has a ‘surface-level’ understanding of migration in general.

• This comes from the fact that he has never actually moved countries; he’s only been reclassified as an East German, and then again as a German. Neither happened because he wanted them to.
• On the other hand, the refugees want to settle in Europe: they want the right to work and make a living - it’s just that the “iron law” acts as a major barrier. Their powerlessness is different from Richard’s.
• Part of migration is also learning the language, and Richard is initially quite ignorant about this: he observes that the Ethiopian German teacher “for whatever reason speaks excellent German”, not realising this is necessary for any migrant to survive in the new country.
• We can think of this as the difference between migration and diaspora, the specific term for the dispersion of a people.

Paragraph 3: Richard is more open than most people to looking beneath the surface though, meaning that his assumptions are challenged partly because he is willing for them to be.

• The symbol of the lake works well here to explain this: he is bothered by its still surface, and what lies underneath, while others aren’t
• We can also contrast this to characters like Monika and Jörg who remain quite ignorant the whole time: Richard’s views have departed from this throughout the course of the novel
• Ultimately, the novel is about visibility: Richard’s incorrect assumptions mean that he isn’t seeing reality, and his “research project” is all about making that reality visible. 

‍Go Went Gone is usually studied in the Australian curriculum under Area of Study 1 - Text Response. For a detailed guide on Text Response, check out our Ultimate Guide to VCE Text Response.

Updated 24/12/2020

Ransom is usually studied in the Australian curriculum under Area of Study 1 - Text Response. For a detailed guide on Text Response, check out our Ultimate Guide to VCE Text Response.

Contents

1. Characters
2. Themes
3. Symbols
4. Plot, Analysis, Important Passages and Quotes

1. Characters

Priam

Priam is an elderly king of Troy. As a child, his sister Hesione saved him from slavery, and had his named changed from Podarces to Priam, the name meaning ‘the ransomed one’ or ‘the price paid'. After the death of his son Hector, Priam envisions himself in plain clothing, riding a plain cart to Achilles who is effectively holding Hector ransom. His vision is the catalyst for the novel’s events, for his journey is one of learning and self-development. Though the royal family is doubtful of his plan to save Hector, Priam is resolute and insists that he needs to try his best to confront Achilles as a father, rather than as king. After many decades as king of Troy, Priam is determined to reinvent how he will be remembered; as a king who performed an extraordinary act of heroism in order to save his beloved son.

Achilles

Achilles is known as the greatest warrior of the Greeks. The death of Patroclus, his closest companion and hinted lover, drives Achilles to insanity. Hector murdered Patroclus and, as a result, Achilles takes revenge by killing Hector. He then drags Hector’s dead body along the walls of Troy for the next 11 days. Achilles loses his sense of humanity as he is possessed by his rage, hatred and grief.

Somax

Somax is representative of the ‘common man’ in Ransom. He is chosen to escort Priam to Achilles. His simple and plain presence is contrasted with Priam’s royal status. He often engages in useless chatter and performs daily activities in a way that is foreign to the king. Although Somax is far from royalty, his great deal of affection for his daughter-in-law and granddaughter teaches Priam about love, family and life.

Beauty

Beauty is Somax’s favourite mule. She accompanies Priam and Somax on their journey to the Greek camp where Achilles resides.

Shock

Somax’s other mule who carries the cart to Achilles’ camp.

Hecuba

Hecuba is Priam’s beloved wife and mother of Hector. She is initially uncertain of Priam’s vision to save Hector. However, after hearing Priam’s sentimental reasons, she shows support and urges him to first share his plan with their family and the kingdom’s council before he departs.

Hector

Hector is Priam’s son and also the leader of the Trojan army. He is kind, brave and noble without any cruel intentions, unlike his rival Achilles. During a battle between the Trojans and the Greeks, Hector kills Patroclus. This results in Achilles challenging Hector to a battle, resulting in Hector’s death and Achilles’ triumph.

Neoptolemus

Neoptolemus is Achilles’ son. Although he is mentioned throughout Ransom, he makes his first appearance at the end of the novel where he savagely slaughters an old and defenseless Priam in an effort to avenge his father’s death.‍

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By the way, to download a PDF version of this blog for printing or offline use, click here!

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‍2. Themes

Identity

Ransom explores who we are and what it means to have an identity. As the leader of Troy for many decades, Priam has always viewed himself as a king. It appears as though Priam has been unhappy with his identity for quite some time, is physically weak, and feels as though he cannot protect his kingdom as efficiently as he used to. However, the death of Hector is a catalyst for Priam as he realises that he needs to become a ‘father’ rather than the ‘king’ he had become so accustomed to. His search for Hector is also a search for himself, to reinvent who he is and how he wishes others to remember him.

Meanwhile, Somax is designated as the king’s herald, with the name Idaeus. He secretly notes his unhappiness with this name appointment, since he is ‘Somax, not Idaeus'. The name ‘Somax’ is associated with many significant events in his life including his marriage and family, yet the new unfamiliar name strips him of this identity. Somax’s confidence and pride in his identity is starkly contrasted with Priam’s pursuit for an identity transformation.

Change

Malouf demonstrates that it is never too late to change one’s ways. Priam’s determination to change how he is remembered – from just another king leading a regal life to a hero who went to extraordinary lengths to regain his child – demonstrates that change is within our grasp. Even though his beautiful wife Hecuba and the rest of his family have reservations about his desire to confront Achilles, Priam is resolved in taking a ‘chance', rather than achieving nothing by remaining within the walls of his home. Unexpectedly, this one idea propels Priam into a multitude of other changes. His journey with Somax teaches Priam a far greater deal than he had anticipated, for he learns to appreciate the value of the human connection and other daily simplicities in life.

Although Achilles is driven by hatred and anger after Patroclus’ death, as with Priam, he manages to change his ways. He is touched by Priam’s pleas and consequently accepts the ransom and returns Hector’s body. He is able to reach this state of peace by releasing his immoral intentions and even offers to hold a ritual for Hector’s body in the Greek walls that very night. This transformation, from a human who responds to grief with vengeance to someone who releases and forgives, demonstrates the benefits we can gain from amending our ways.

Revenge, Guilt and Peace

Revenge is portrayed as a never-ending vicious cycle until both parties reach a negotiation or peace. After Patroclus’ death, Achilles hunts down Hector in order to avenge his best friend’s early death. Although he is successful in murdering Hector, Achilles does not follow the custom of leaving the body for the grieving family to bury. Instead, Achilles feels the need to mutilate the body day after day without any sense of remorse or regret. His additional need to inflict harm on Hector’s body indicates that revenge will not bring closure. His sense of loss is shown as he reflects feeling empty inside, to the point where he no longer feels like himself, but someone else altogether.

Although Achilles and Priam ultimately find peace within themselves, many years later Achilles’ son Neoptolemus murders Priam, bounded by the same hatred and pain depicted by Achilles. Neoptolemus’ subsequent guilt and regret is carried with him throughout the rest of his life, demonstrating that again, revenge is not the answer to any problem.

Chance and Fate

The role of the gods is heavily woven into the events that unfold in Ransom. Priam only begins his transition and journey after envisioning the goddess Iris, who suggests that he take a ‘chance’ and try to save Hector from Achilles’ camp. During his journey, a jovial young man who joins the travellers is revealed as Hermes, a god who has come to safely guide the elderly men to Achilles. The power of the gods in controlling human fate is illustrated during the scene where Hermes saves the travellers from being swept away by a stream.

Nevertheless, it can also be argued that it is the characters’ decisions that lead them to their fate. Although the gods may have instilled in Priam the idea that he should rescue Hector, it is the king’s determination which is a main driving force for the journey. Even when confronted with doubt and hesitancy from his family, it is Priam who pushes onwards to fulfil his vision. Whether his actions were already predestined or of his own agency is up to you to decide.

Nature Versus Man

Man’s presence on earth is shown to have little significance in comparison to the power of nature. While the events in Ransom teach the characters many valuable lessons, ultimately these meaningful moments in the humans’ lives disappear as one reaches their fate – death. Time moves on beyond our lives as we are forgotten over decades and centuries while nature prevails. Priam’s desire to be remembered by others highlights how little significance a life possesses unless one behaves extraordinarily. Malouf demonstrates that in the end, life just is – we are granted by nature to have a brief existence, yet in the end, nature and time will move forward without us.

Commoners Versus Royalty

Although royalty is portrayed to be blessed with power and authority, it is ironically the commoners in Ransom who appear to have the ‘richest’ (and more fulfilling) lives. For the first time, Priam is exposed to the different interests and values of the common man and is intrigued by the simplicities of life. It is Somax, a mere old man from the marketplace, who teaches Priam more about life than he had imagined possible.

3. Symbols

Jove’s Eagle

Jove’s eagle is a representation of a bird renowned for its keen sight. The presence of Jove’s eagle during Priam and Somax’s departure hints that the gods will safely guide their journey as the bird behaves as a lookout. Furthermore, the symbol of the eagle’s powerful vision is contrasted with Priam’s ‘blindness’ at the beginning of the journey since he is yet to experience the outside world. It is during the journey that he learns about himself and others, and thus, improves his ‘sight.’ Coincidently, Jove’s eagle is no longer mentioned when Priam is endowed with his new insight.

Cart

The royal cart is ‘a fine new one, the marks of the adze still visible on its timbers. The twelve-spoked wheels are elaborately carved and painted, a wickerwork canopy covers the tray'. On all occasions, the king had used this elegant cart to alert others that royalty was present. The use of this cart demonstrates how Priam has been encapsulated in his own royal sphere since everything is meticulously chosen and designed specifically for the king. Nevertheless, his demand for a ‘common work cart’ depicts his determination for a simple approach to Achilles, as a father to another father. This simplicity highlights Priam’s desire to become just another man and father, anonymous in the plain cart with the hopes of retrieving Hector.

Priam as a Child

At the beginning of the journey, Priam is characterised with childish traits. When Somax urges Priam to dabble his feet in the stream, words such as ‘obedient toddler', ‘three uncertain steps', and ‘happy smile’ reflect the actions of a young child trying new experiences. This childish nature is contrasted with Priam’s old and frail age, which demonstrates that although he has lived a life in royalty, his lack of exposure to ‘real life’ has left him crippled of the simplest experiences such as the cooling effect of feet in water and eating delicious homemade cookies.

Cakes

The cakes Somax brings along during the journey highlight Priam’s lack of knowledge of even the simplest things. For Somax, the little griddlecakes are a regular and delectable snack, yet Priam 'ha[s] never seen them before'. Priam’s unfamiliarity with the cakes represents his isolation from the ‘real world’ since he has been deprived from things that even commoners view as ordinary.

Futhermore, Somax’s lengthy chatter about his daughter-in-law cooking the cakes with the ‘batter bubbling and setting and turning a golden brown’ prompts Priam to think about the activities in his kingdom that occur behind closed doors. He had previously never noticed that there was so much preparation and work that went into the food that appeared at his table, let alone the ingredients and thickness of a batter. These matters had been of little concern to Priam, yet he realises that even the ‘common and low…activities and facts of life, had an appeal'.

Hector’s Body

Although Achilles drags Hector’s body across the walls of Troy for eleven days, each morning he would return to find Hector’s body healed of any wounds, and absent of any physical damage to his body. This is a cruel reminder of the god’s ability to ‘toy around’ with the Ancient Greeks’ lives. Hector’s body also symbolises how revenge is not the answer to any conflict, since dealing with a tragic loss through revenge does not gain anything but more pain and suffering.

Sniffing

Although Priam initially believes he understands the distress of losing a son, Somax’s experience of losing his son is driven with emotions that Priam had never previously experienced. When sharing the story of his son’s death, Somax sniffles, an ‘odd habit’ according to Priam. The use of ‘odd habit’ to describe Somax’s sadness demonstrates how Priam has never truly felt the loss of his son, but only the loss of a royal relationship between king and prince.

Later on, Somax once again ‘snuffles’ and ‘rubs his nose’ at the thought of the ending to their journey. Similarly, Priam makes ‘small sounds', presumably crying as well. The transformation of Priam from someone who failed to empathise with Somax’s tears at the beginning of the journey to a man filled with emotions demonstrates that Priam undergoes both a physical and metaphysical journey where he undergoes self-development and appreciation of the world around him.

4. Plot, Analysis, Important Passages and Quotes

Chapter I

Plot

Achilles, the greatest warrior of the Greeks, stands next to the sea while reminiscing about the past. After his mother’s death he had ‘entered the rough world of men’ (p. 6) where wars and battles prevail. Every morning, he feels the need to ‘tramp to shore’ (p. 10) since he is haunted by the death of his ‘soulmate and companion’ Patroclus, and his raging hatred towards Hector, killer of Patroclus and thus, the ‘implacable enemy'.

When Achilles was a child, his cousin Patroclus came to live with the young Achilles since the former had killed the son of a high official of the royal court due to a ‘quarrel over a game of knucklebones’ (p. 11). In need of asylum, Patroclus came to live with Achilles’ family. As the years passed, the pair grew closer to the extent where Achilles believes that ‘he had mated with Patroclus’ (p. 15).

When the tide of the battle was against the Greeks, Patroclus disguises himself in Achilles’ armour in order to instill fear in the Trojans and cause them to return to the safety of their walls, thus providing temporary relief for the Greeks. In his last act for his closest friend, Patroclus is killed in battle*. The death of Patroclus left Achilles with an overwhelming sense of loss and also burning animosity. Achilles whispers that he will join Patroclus soon, but firstly, he has to avenge Patroclus’ killer, Hector.

Hector, the son of Trojan king Priam and leader of the Trojan army, wore Achilles' armour as a sign of triumph and disrespect for the Greeks. In a dramatic battle between Hector and himself, Achilles was successful in killing his enemy. Achilles’ Myrmidons then stripped Hector of his armour and ‘without pity…plunged their swords into Hector’s unprotected flesh’ (p. 24). For Achilles however, this was not enough. Still fuelled by his pain, Achilles ties Hector’s body to a chariot and drags it ‘up and down under the walls of Troy’ (p. 26) as the dead warrior’s royal family devastatingly watches on. Achilles feels like a ‘dead man…feeling nothing’ (p. 26), unable to seal the void left by his beloved friend.

The next day, Achilles is furious to find Hector’s body ‘smoothly sealed and the torn flesh made whole again'. His men cannot bear to look at him as he drives the chariot with Hector’s body along the walls of the Trojans once again. Afterwards he quickly falls asleep, into ‘oblivion’ (p. 35) as he struggles with the shame and guilt of his actions. He is ‘waiting for a break…something new and unimaginable’ in his life.

Analysis

The Human Side

Along with the conflict between Greece and Troy, Ransom also delves into the consequences of those affected by the war. As the greatest warrior of all Greeks, Achilles has lived his life as a fighter. Nevertheless, his pathway in life has led him to believe that ‘such a life is death to the warrior spirit’ (p. 7). While warriors are known for sacrificing their lives in the battlefield, Achilles does not literally refer to warriors confronting death each time they fight for their team. In fact, ‘death to the warrior spirit’ means to metaphorically lose what it means to ‘live’ when one experiences bloodshed in each war. Growing up surrounded by ‘the rough world of men’ (p. 6), Achilles develops traits of aggression, cruelty and vengefulness in order to become an implacable man of war. As a consequence, Achilles only knows how to deal with Patroclus’ death with a fighter’s mindset. Instead of grieving openly, ‘he never permit[s] himself to betray to others what he [feels]’ (p. 5), thus detaching himself from the natural human process of grieving. In order to deal with his friend’s tragic ending, Achilles' ‘soul chang[es] colour’ as drags Hector’s body for eleven days without any sense of regret or remorse, and thus, is referred to as ‘death to his human spirit’ since he was no longer ‘a living man’ (p. 27). He faces Patroclus’ death with the same warrior traits of aggression, cruelty and vengefulness, depriving himself of any ability to humanely mourn his close friend’s death.

Furthermore, Achilles grieves for his mother in the opening passages of Ransom. During this time of loss, his mother symbolises Achilles’ need to be nurtured. The imagery of the sea surface as a ‘belly’ and ‘a membrane stretched to a fine transparency’ (p. 3) represents his mother’s pregnancy where he ‘had hung curled in a dream of pre-existence’ for ‘nine changes of the moon’ – or in other words, nine months of pregnancy. Achilles is characterised as a foetus, for his position is ‘chin down, shoulders hunched’ as though he is inside a womb. Although Achilles is a fighter, he hides the fact that he wishes to be ‘rocked and comforted’ by his mother, thus demonstrating that even beneath the surface of a cold-hearted warrior, the current of human emotions can cripple a man’s confident veneer.

If you'd like to read more of my analysis, feel free to access a sample of our ebook A Killer Text Guide: Ransom. In this ebook, I cover Plot, Analysis, Important Passages and Quotes so you can prepare for your SAC and exam. I've also included 5 Sample A+ English essays on Ransom, complete with annotations so you know exactly what you need to do in your next essay to achieve an A+.

All the best for your studies in Ransom!

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Resources

Download a PDF version of this blog for printing or offline use

Contents

1. List of Listening Resources That You Can Access For Free
2. How To Use These Free Resources (a Step-by-Step Guide)
3. Let Me Walk You Through How I approach These Listening Exercises
4. Time to Test Your Listening Skills

For an overview of the EAL study design plus tips and tricks for reading comprehension, time management and more, check out The Ultimate Guide to EAL.

The listening tasks of the EAL exam are worth 20% of the total exam marks.  Since this section was introduced to the exam fairly recently, limited past exam questions are available for students to practice. In this blog, you will find a comprehensive list of external resources that are accessible for free. Although they are not designed specifically for the purpose of VCAA exams, they can still boost your marks if used wisely. I will offer some advice that helped me receive a perfect study score in EAL and give you a step-by-step guide on how to use these listening resources to better prepare for EAL listening.

1. List of Listening Resources That You Can Access For Free:

ABC Radio National

• ‍The art of 'adulting' - Mornings - ABC Radio
• ‍Our future shaped and changed by Covid 19 - Big Ideas - ABC Radio National
• ‍The New Laws of Robotics and what they might mean for AI - Future Tense - ABC Radio National
• ‍Urban pandemic – isolation and inequality - Future Tense - ABC Radio National

ABC 7:30

• ‍Will this new vaccine be a game changer? - 7.30 (abc.net.au)
• ‍Borders starting to open up across the country - 7.30 (abc.net.au)‍

Randall’s Listening Lab

• ‍General Listening Quizzes
• ‍Summer Camp | Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab (esl-lab.com)

TED Talks 

• ‍Check out this inspiration speech from Lisa Tran, our founder of Lisa’s Study Guide
• ‍Inside the mind of a master procrastinator | Tim Urban - YouTube

ESOL 

• ‍Intermediate English Listening - Nelson Mandela (esolcourses.com)
• ‍Online English - Martin Luther King Jr Video Listening Quiz (esolcourses.com)

ABC 5 minutes more (this is super fun and easy one to listen to, perfect for times when we feel a bit lazy)

• ‍Umbrellas Up! Umbrellas Down! : ABC iview
• ‍The Friendly Caterpillar : ABC iview

BBC The Newsroom

• ‍How to Vaccinate the World - Episode 3 - BBC Sounds

Speeches

• ‍Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address - YouTube
• ‍Bill Gates Harvard Commencement Address 2007 - YouTube
• ‍In case you missed my Tulane speech, watch it here! - YouTube
• ‍Natalie Portman Harvard Commencement Speech | Harvard Commencement 2015 - YouTube

And for my fellow Chinese friends, I recommend 可可英语. It pretty much includes all major news sources worldwide including the Voice of America, CNN, ABC, National Public Radio, NBC News, BBC, The Economist and National Geography. I particularly love the fact that both the website and its free app offer English transcription and Chinese translation side by side.

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2. How To Use These Free Resources (a Step-by-Step Guide)

I recommend you listen to the audio three times. Below, I have broken down what you should pay attention to during each listening exercise.

1st Time Listening

Step 1: Read and Annotate Background Information 

• Read the background information if available. This mimics the ‘Background Information’ given at the very start of each question in the VCAA exam. In most cases, it provides a general introduction to the speakers and gives you a brief idea of what to expect in the upcoming audio. 
• Highlight the name of the speakers.
• Underline important information.

Step 2:  Read and Annotate the Questions

• Familiarise yourself with the questions during reading time and annotate them. 
• Develop an annotation system that works well for you personally.

1. I usually underline key information that gives me information on  ‘what’, ‘why’, ‘how’, ‘where’ and ‘when’ (refer to the table in Step 4 below for definitions for these ‘W’ words).

2. Highlight the main person/subject that the question is referring to. This will help you during note taking and formulating your answer. Under the stress of exams, we might lose track of which speaker is talking, especially when the two speakers sound similar. By highlighting the name of the speaker in the question, it reminds us which speaker to pay attention to when answering the question.

• If you are playing the audio clips by yourself for practice, make sure you give yourself time to analyse the questions before hitting play! If you have a friend or family member who can act as your ‘exam facilitator’, as soon as reading time ends, highlight or underline the keywords before your exam facilitator plays the audio clips! 

Step 3:  Listen to the Audio Only (Without the Visual)

This is pretty self-explanatory!

Step 4: Write Down Side Notes

• Write down as much information as you can to practice speed writing
• Some ‘W’ words (see table below) may not apply to all audio clips so free feel to only use the ‘W’ words that are relevant

2nd Time Listening 

Step 1: Fill in the blanks and try to be aware of words you don’t quite ‘get’.

Step 2: Note down how the speakers convey their attitude, feeling, ideas, etc.

Step 3: Interaction between speakers. 

There will typically be a question that asks you to describe the interaction between the speakers, such as, ‘Suggest 2 words to describe the interaction between A and B’. The answer you need to provide will typically be a two-word answer. I would encourage you to learn the adjectives used to describe a range of interactions, for example: 

Words to describe positive interactions include:

1. Friendly, respectful
2. Professional, formal, polite
3. Relaxed, warm
4. Amicable, sanguine

Words to describe negative interactions include:

1. Embarrassed
2. Teasing, childish
3. Tense, unpleasant, disappointed
4. Confrontational

3rd Time Listening  

Listen to the audio while you read the transcript if available.

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3. Let Me Walk You Through How I approach These Listening Exercises

Now that you know the steps, let’s see them in action. Below, I will demonstrate the step-by-step process of how you can make full use of the listening resources above.  

We’ll use this video clip from ABC Life Matters as an example: Is the internet becoming more 'ethical'?

Download this worksheet so that you can work through this listening task on your own too!

1st Time Listening

Step 1: Read and Annotate Background Information

Step 2:  Read and Annotate the Questions

Step 3: Listen to the Audio (Without the Visual)

Step 4 : Write Down Side Notes

For practice, I recommend taking notes in a table format, using the ‘W’ words I mentioned above. We are going to designate a separate table for each speaker in the audio.

2nd Time Listening  

Step 1: Fill in the blanks and try to be aware of words you don’t quite ‘get’.

This is where you have the opportunity to fill in the blanks for the challenging words that you did not pick up in the first round. For example: Ubiquitous, monopolists, admirable, immersed, sophisticated and algorithm 

Step 2: Note down how the speakers convey their attitude, feeling, ideas, etc.

Step 3: Interaction between speakers. 

I will use ‘friendly’ and ‘polite’ to describe the interaction between the interviewer and Jocelyn Brewer. As you listen, see if you can identify why I have chosen these two words to describe the interaction. Keep in mind that there is no right or wrong answer here as long as your choice of descriptive words suit the audio clip.

3rd Time Listening  

Usually I would read the transcript in this third and final step, however, since there is no transcript available for this piece, I will skip this step.

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4. Time to Test Your Listening Skills

Using the same audio clip and worksheet, have a go at these VCAA-style questions that I wrote up, and then check out my sample answers to see how your own answers compare. You will probably notice that a lot of the information you gather from the  ‘W’ words actually provides you with the answers to the majority of the questions here.

Sample Questions:

1. What are the problems with internet use today? (2 marks)
2. What is it that can draw people in and what example does Brewer use in relation to this? (2 marks)
3. What is Beverley Wang’s opinion on some apps showing many ‘likes’? Support your answer with an example of word choice and language. (3 marks)
4. What are the costs people have to pay, as Brewer suggests, for the use of Internet? (2 marks)
5. What does Ecosia try to recognise? (2 marks)
6. Give the word that the company officer of Ecosia uses to describe Google’s dominant power over the search engine. (1 mark)
7. What are the two adjectives Beverely Wang uses to praise Ecosia? (2 marks)
8. What are the challenges faced by companies like Ecosia, according to Brewer? (2 marks)

Sample Answers: 

1. The problems of internet use lie in its prevalence in society and how powerful the technology is. The apps are designed to mimic the best psychological behaviours and maintain our interest. 
2. Users are drawn in by a range of psychological hacks employed by the app designers. For example, Facebook has adjusted the size of the font to keep us engaged and immersed. 
3. Beverley Wang expresses her opinions that some apps can foster addictive behaviours and can be scary by using a frustrated and alarmed tone. Additionally, by repeating the term ‘consuming’ four times in a row, delivered in a fast pace, Wang affirms the unethical and addictive nature of the apps.
4. Brewer suggests people have to pay with time and attention.
5. Firstly, Ecosia aims to be an ethically-orientated company by planting one tree for every 45 web searches. Secondly, it promises to be a ‘privacy-friendly’ platform and endeavours to expose the shameful motives of some search engines such as Google. 
6. ‘monopolists’
7. ‘noble’ and ‘admirable’
8. Since using Ecosia requires ‘people-poser’, the public need to be more aware of the benefits of switching from an ‘automatically-preferred’ search engine to Ecosia. Ecosia receives ‘56 enquiries every minute’ compared to ‘40 thousand’ enquiries on their competitor’s web engine. 

For further tips and tricks on tackling the EAL Listening Exam, check out How To ACE the EAL Listening Exam. For more advice and samples about listening practice, see EAL Listening Practice, Tips on EAL Listening and How To Take Speedy Notes During Listening Component of VCE EAL Exam.