Different Aspects in Educating Rita by Willy Russell Introduction Educating Rita is a play written by Willy Russell in 1985. The play is based around an Open University (an idea founded in the 1960's where adult students could go to university without having to leave home and study for a degree) in Northern England. One of the central ideas of this play is culture. Russell uses different ideas to represent these cultural differences, for example the use of different dialects, different settings i.e. the dinner party for Frank and the pub for Rita. Rita comes from working class society; she has grown to hate it and believes there is more to life than what she has seen so far. Frank comes from the middle-class, a culture that Rita would like to be part of and way of life that she would like to lead. The first time we see Rita is in Act One Scene One, our first impressions of her are that she is confident, curious and eager to learn. We see this firstly in the way she enters the room, she doesn't come in timidly as you'd expect a new student to come in. She begins by challenging frank for not having his door handle fixed. Its seems to the audience that Rita must have known Frank for a long time by the way she speaks to him but in fact we see that Rita is a new student of Franks and he is clearly shocked by the way she has come into the room (by the way he stares at her and asks her who she is). Rita seems keen to acquire middle class culture, she says that studying literature provides her with life and she looks forward to going to the tutorial each week. Franks' office in Rita's eyes represents middle class and educated people, she says "I'm gonna have a room like this one day…Everything is in its right place" the room therefore can be seen as Rita's ambition. Denny, Rita's husband doesn't want Rita to study and in her view she
In the story, Melinda has a very strong relationship with her teacher Mr. Freeman. Since the start of the school year, Mr. Freeman made Melinda feel comfortable, and encouraged her to express herself. This reminded me of the relationship I had with my GLE teacher, since the start of the school year. Similar to how Mr. Freeman was always available to listen to Melinda, Mr. Santos my GLE teacher made me feel like he was always available to listen. When Melinda stays with her art teacher during lunch to work on her assignment, it is comparable to how I stayed in Mr. Santos’s office during lunch.
Throughout her Zoe’s day at school her feeling tones remain constant. When she walks throught the hallways she is giggling and talking to her
(74) His first concern is himself and asks Rita “Is it because you think I got no soul or some crap like that, isn’t it?” (74). He feels that his race is the reason Rita has been avoiding him. He reasons that the tension existing between him and Rita is because Rita disagrees with his beliefs and upbringing.
Stella-Rondo returns to the house with a child during the middle of dinner, and Sister is feeling greatly offended by this and shows us her arrogance and dismay that she’s losing the center of attention when she says “There I was o...
The Lesson, by Toni Cade Bambara, portrays a group of children living in the slums of New York City around 1972. They seem to be content living in poverty in some very unsanitary conditions. One character, Miss Moore, the children’s self appointed mentor, takes it upon herself to further their education during the summer months. She feels this is her civic duty because she is educated. She used F.A.O. Schwarz, a very expensive toystore, to teach them a lesson and inspire them to strive for success and attempt to better themselves and their situations.
After the classes, Allison bumped into the bad boy and his crew outside of the school entrance and says to herself
In Dorothy Sayers essay “The Lost Tools of Learning” she observed that the modern education system has been successful in teaching subjects but failed at teaching students how to think and learn for themselves. She connects this failure of education to change that took place at the end of the Middle Ages in which the education system changed course from its true purpose. She proposes several questions for us to ponder this loss of education in today’s society: the modern custom of extending childhood, the lack of ability to recognize fact from opinions, unproductive debates where questions are not answered or even argued. One doesn’t need to look further than the current news media to see that her claim holds merit. Children are leaving schools
"Educating Rita" By Willy Russell and The Social, Historical And Cultural Context Of Britain In The Late 1970's
Melinda was an outcast and loner in high school who was overwhelmed, fearful, and confused with her life and her environment at school. She was always silent in class and afraid to speak in front of people. Many students today might feel the need to fit in with other people so they wouldn’t have to be looked down upon. As we take a look at Melinda’s life we’ll be able to see how she handles her daily conflicts. In the book, Speak, Melinda Sordino, an incoming freshman at Merryweather High, starts her year off with a terrible start. She’s stuck with a mean history teacher, by who she calls Mr. Neck and a whole bunch of other weird teachers like her English teacher of who she calls, Hairwomen, because of her crazy, uncombed hair. Her favorite teacher would seem to be her art teacher, Mr. Freeman, because he seems to be the nicest and most reasonable. Every student, even her ex-best friend, Rachel Bruin, gives her nasty looks and treats her rudely. All this trouble started when Melinda called the cops at an end-of-summer party. Everybody thinks she did that just to bust them and get all the people in trouble but instead, she called the cops for something more terrifying. During the night of that party, she was raped by a senior who goes to Merryweather High, Andy Evans, by who she calls IT or Andy Beast. She was too scared and didn’t know what to do so she called the cops. Because of this, now everyone in school is disgusted and hateful of her. Though most of the students didn’t like her, she did become sort of “distant” friends with Heather, Ivy, and her science lab partner, David Petrakis. With all the drama, sadness, and conflict involved in Melinda’s life, she still seems to manage and finish the school year without ...
The lessons that are taught through experience are usually the ones that stick with children for a lifetime. In Toni Cade Bambara's “The Lesson”, Miss Moore, a prominent character in the story, teaches a lesson to underprivileged children growing up in Harlem. Bambara's work is described as “stories [that] portray women who struggle with issues and learn from them.” (Vertreace, Par. 48) Bambara uses Miss Moore and her characteristics to teach Sylvia and the other children about social inequality and the idea of pursuing personal aspirations regardless of social status. Miss Moore has many admirable characteristics; she's intelligent, patient and caring.
put there minds to it and give it their all. Both of the characters in
While many people around the world look to America and see a better life waiting for them and the American Dream waiting to be lived, often times this dream never comes to fruition, even if they do reach America. Such is the case in the short story Grandma’s Tales, by Andrew Lam in which a recently deceased Vietnamese grandmother becomes reborn as a much younger and improved version of herself ready to live life to the fullest. This rebirth symbolizes the life that she wishes she lived, however due to constant conflict and famine in Vietnam, and her deteriorating health in America, was never able to do so. Instead of mourning this fact, in her final days the grandmother chooses to live her life through her granddaughters,
... She uses a conversational tone that adapts nicely to the audience. I say this because draws the reader in and he or she easily understands and accepts her experience. Naylor uses her experience to exemplify her point and to offer validity. One is drawn in by her experience as a young girl, and her evolution of understanding. Naylor makes her audience think about what it would be like to really “hear” a word for the first time, to look back and realize you had heard the word many times in a different context.
In order to become educated, the have to make sacrifices: Eliza has to give up her accent and Rita loses her spontaneity and originality. They also become alienated from their working class backgrounds, for they advance socially through acquiring education. Unlike Rita, Eliza didn't want to change her character. Rita, on the other hand, had dreamed of becoming a completely different person. Consequently, when Rita is happy after passing her exam, whereas Eliza is feels lost between two worlds, neither belonging to the working class nor the middle class.
Rita's education goes far beyond just reading and responding to books however. When she first comes to the university she is impressed and even a little intimidated by the intelligent people she sees around her. By the end of the play she is able to tell them when they are speaking nonsense and join in their conversations as an equal. Success in her literature course has thus given her greater confidence in the wider world.