"Educating Rita" By Willy Russell and The Social, Historical And Cultural Context Of Britain In The Late 1970's 'Educating Rita' by 'Willy Russell relates to the social, historical and cultural context of Britain in the late 1970's throughout the play and this extremely strong and believable reference to these three subjects contribute to a good piece of drama. 'Willy Russell' makes these references in everything, from the smallest detail, Rita's hair colour to the extreme stereotyping of each of the two classes. These experiences are based on 'Russell's' own life and the character of 'Rita' is a mirror of him, because of this it is a strong and realistic account of the 1970's. 'Rita' has shared the same experiences as 'Russell' in both school and work, they were both under pier pressure not to do well and school and would be singled out if they studied. Rita: "But studyin' was just for wimps, wasn't it? See, if I'd started takin' school seriously I would have become different from me mates, an' that's not allowed." Because of this attitude to school, or the attitude school gave them, both 'Rita' and 'Russell' ended up in a dead end hairdressing job, but both of them decided they would change there life and both began to break away. I think that because so much reference is realistic due to the above, an audience of 1979 or 1980 when they play was shown would have been able to relate so well to the characters, especially people in there twenties or forties now because they would be able to remember what it was like for them when they went to school or university and they would be filled with past memories and emotions, a sign of good drama, something that can evoke emotions. During the play the characters of 'Rita' and 'Frank are the biggest demonstration of cultural difference. Rita represents the working class culture and stands for what they were, a class who strived to escape their dead end jobs and make a better life for themselves, Frank, on the other hand is the representation of the working class. Although some might say he is a disgrace to his culture he is a perfect example of the middle classes, someone who has it handed to them on a plate and they take it for granted. These differences are first noticed at the beginning of the play, in 'Rita's' opening scenes. She misses the ends off of her sentences that are usually grammatically in correct; she speaks in restricted code. Frank, the middle class man speaks in grammatically correct sentences and also uses, elaborate code.
The primary setting in Laurie King’s The Beekeeper’s Apprentice is a Britain being agglomerated in the chaos of World War I, and King portrays the transformation of Britain’s culture and society over the course of the war synonymously in many aspects of the plot of the book. Mary Russell’s status as a detective in the novel and her attendance at Oxford University reflects Britain’s indifference towards workers being female and its proliferation of educated women due to the increase in the need of women workers with men being directed to war.
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To say that the government micromanaged the financial facets of the lower class society would be an understatement. They had certainly put their fingers into every pie of every aspect of the lower class’ life, at least the reformers certainly expressed their feelings of such a micromanaged oppression. Thompson’s Whigs and Hunters discusses the Black Act in heavy detail. The Black act was initially a means of controlling hunting so that game was readily available for the Royals. The book illustrates the harsh punishment of death the bill entailed far for the small townsfolk surviving on agriculture around forests. Some of the additional crimes were public disorder, mismanaging criminal justice, and crimes or injury against property or people.
Davidson, J. W. & Lytle, M. H. (2009b). From Rosie to Lucy. In, After the Fact. The Art of
The essay will commence by focusing on the1944 Education Act, as it was "the most important piece of educational legislation since 1902" (Gosden, 1983:3). There was a great need for this Act, because the Second World War caused considerable disruption to the educational system. As Dunford and Sharp point out, "evacuation, staff shortages and suspension of building programmes all created their own problems. War also brought important changes in social attitudes, and [...] there was a determination for a better future" (Dunford and Sharp, 1990:17). Therefore there was a need to remodel the current education system "in order to ensure that every child would go to a secondary school" (Gosden, 1983:1). Planning for reconstruction of education culminated in the Education Act of 1944, which is also known as the Butler Act.
an important role, the Victorian housewife set up fun activity’s for her children and her family.
This is juxtaposed with the various aspects of British culture imposed on Lucy’s home island. As a child, Lucy attended “Queen Victoria Girls’ School” (Page 18), a school...
Education plays a big role in our daily lives. Education is commonly defined as a process of learning and obtaining knowledge. The story takes place beginning in the late 1950s to the early 2000s. Jeannette Walls is the main character of the story and the narrator. She tells the events of her life living with careless and yet loving parents. This family of six lived in many cities and towns and went through tough states to stay alive. Her mother and father never kept a good steady job, but they had great intelligence. Jeannette and her siblings barely went to school to get the proper education they needed. In the book The Glass Castle, author Jeanette Walls discovers the idea that a conservative education may possibly not always be the best education due to the fact that the Walls children were taught more from the experiences their parents gave them than any regular school or textbook could give them. In this novel readers are able to get an indication of how the parents Rex and Rosemary Walls, choose to educate and give life lessons to their children to see the better side of their daily struggles.
Deveny, Kathleen. "Who You Callin' a Lady?" The Blair Reader: Exploring Issues and Ideas. Ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. 8th ed. New York: Prentice Hall,
Jackson, B and Marsden, D (1966) Education and the working classes. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul plc.
England in the nineteen-thirties was a very bleak and dark time for the working class and unemployed citizens. In The Road to Wigan Pier, George Orwell, describes the overlooked injustices that happened in in Northern British industrial towns. Orwell depicts his experiences and views on social class and English society. The book is an eye-opener to the challenging hardships that many of the working class gentry faced during the years of the depression; Things such as, horrible housing, social injustices, and a lack of consideration from the government. The primary focus of part one, was to inform the middle class people that the unemployed were victims or a corrupt society, government, and economy.
Born on June 25, 1903 to parents Richard Walmesley Blair and Ida Mabel, “George Orwell” was born Eric Arthur Blair in Motihari, Bengal, India (Merriman, “George Orwell”). Orwell referred to his own family as a member of the “lower – upper – middle class” in his 1933 book The Road to Wigan Pier; this definition means that though his family was a literal member of the middle class, their atmosphere was that of “impoverished snobbery”(Merriman; “George Orwell”, Biography.com). The class Blair had been born into was called by the Indians “sahibs” (“George Orwell”, Biography.com). The year after his birth, Blair moved with his mother back to England, where he grew up with sisters Marjorie and later Avril until his father’s return in 1912 (Merriman, “George Orwell”). He began his education at age five at an Anglican parish school in Henley – on – Thomas; he started at the St. Cyprian school in Sussex two years later, at the age of 7 years (Merriman, “George Orwell”). The common use of corporal punishment throughout schools in England in the time period leads to the belief that Blair, subjected to this abuse of power, may have come to despise and resent the exercising of authority (Merriman, “George Orwell”). His first work, published while Blair was studying at the St. Cyprian sc...
Arthur Morrison’s A Child of the Jago (1896) is intrinsically linked to the social class system and poverty. The novel is set and published during the late Victorian age, a period in which the working class experienced a relentless struggle against the harsh realities of social and working conditions. Moreover, in his paper The Working Class in Britain 1850-1939, John Benson highlights the disparities between the poor and the economy during the era, s a result of the Industrial revolution and urbanisation(Benson, 2003,p.30). Although, Benson's argument is valid when focusing on a social novel such as A Child of the Jago; because through his childhood the protagonist Dickie Perrot commits heinous crimes and becomes incredibly defiant in the old Jago; On the other hand, Benson's argument does not explain how and why an individual would succumb to these acts. Morrison makes it clear in his preface to his readers and critics that he wrote the novel to expose the trails and tribulations of the poor and the grim realities of slum living through the characterization of Dicky Perrot ' It was my fate to encounter a place in Shoreditch, where children were born and reared in circumstances which gave them no reasonable chance of living decent lives: where children were born foredamned to a criminal or semi criminal career' (Morrison, 1897). Despite, the novel being set in the fictional genre, elements of Morrison's personal life is prevalent throughout the text. Morrison originates from a working class background and collaborated with Reverend Osborne to campaigned for a variety of social reforms and slum clearance in the Old Nichol (Matlz, 2003). Thus, the novel is based on the conception of reality rather than fiction ...
When Jane is at at Lowood, Miss Temple is constantly showing her genuine kindness for the students. A big moment of her kindness is when the girls did not want to eat the burnt porridge that was given to them one morning and so she ordered a lunch with cheese and bread to be served to them for lunch. Mr. Brocklehurst did not like this act done by Miss Temple, and she probably knew that it would be frowned upon but knew it was the right thin...
The literary movement during the 1980's in Britain was heavily influenced by the state of Britain's economy at the time. The people of Britain had become infatuated with politics due to the election of Margaret Thatcher, the first and only woman Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to have held office. She was known as the “Iron lady” and the leader of the Conservative Party. Her influence on the British government with her use of Thatcherism did not leave behind a good legacy in the literature department. In a New York Times newspaper article, it is stated that, “The Thatcher years were a time of remarkable cultural ferment, in which the energies of an extraordinarily diverse roster of musicians, novelists, playwrights, critics and filmmakers — to say nothing of television comedians and puppeteers — were unleashed in opposition, glum and passionate, explicit and overt, to the prime minister herself,”(nytimes.com). Many literary figures have written novels in response to the events