educating rita

The preconceived ideas that Rita has about the working class, as well as the educated class, greatly limit the way that she sees people and their roles within the world. Throughout Willy Russell’s Educating Rita, we see that Rita uses education in an attempt to become a self-supporting individual and, in turn, shed the stereotypes that plague the working class. She attends the university in an attempt to free herself from the bonds that are holding her back from being the person that she believes she has the potential to be. But at the end of her transformation, the reader can see that all she has done is allow herself to be bound by a different set of expectations than she was before. Rita has not truly changed, she has only made superficial changes and conformed to another set of expectations.

Nella Larsen’s “Quicksand” depicts a young woman who lives her life around her dyer need to find her place in society. In the setting of Quicksand, discrimination is a key factor in the text because Helga Crane, who is a biracial woman, is expected to settle in a race in which she does not necessarily call her own. With this said, Crane maintains her status as an outsider in both the white and black community, and is never content with her surroundings. She also disregards her peer’s philosophies on life as annoying or absurd. She is constantly looking for a “better” life that will bring her self-fulfillment, but to her misfortune she never finds it.

And is it really a positive thing in all circumstance? Walker creates Dee as a selfish, unfeeling individual, who has an incredible zest for knowledge. She emphasizes her character as distinct from that of Maggie Johnson her younger sister. ”She used to read to us without pity, forcing words, lies, other folk's habits, whole lives upon us two; sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her words" (7), because of this her mother, Mrs. Johnson sends her to school in Augusta after she and the church raises the money. Dee thinks she is better than the rest, she wants to leave her family and heritage behind because she feels like they aren’t as sophisticated as she is.

Although these individuals are strongly encouraged to attend a university and better their lives, this is not the most appropriate choice for everyone. One of the major themes in Maggie: A Girl of the Streets is that it is dangerous for people to rely on escaping their social classes as a means of improving their lives. In the beginning of the novel, the reader is introduced to the harsh and unfavorable lifestyle of Maggie’s family. In an effort to escape her cruel reality, she obtains a job working in a sweatshop (956???). However, when exploring the leisure activities of the working-class with Pete, she discovers that this might not be the right choice for her.

Changes in Rita's Character throughout Educating Rita With reference to the social context of the play, discuss the ways in which Willy Russell shows the changes in Rita’s character throughout Educating Rita. In the play Educating Rita by Willy Russell there are two main characters, Rita and Frank. Rita is a twenty six year old uneducated hairdresser. She wants a better life for herself; she wants to have an education. She didn’t get a full education at school as she says, ‘See, if I’d started takin’ school seriously, I would have had to become different from me mates, an’ that’s not allowed.” This shows Rita felt she could never take education seriously because it was for the ‘wimps’ and she didn’t want to be different to her friends, and her family didn’t regard education as being important.

The Playwright Russell wants to show how class affects education. When we first meet Rita we see that she is not the normal student Frank was expecting. She swears and uses informal colloquial language. This makes us think that Rita is not at all nervous about starting Open University and also makes her working class background obvious.

The play “Educating Rita” is based on an out going character, who has decided her working class lifestyle, does not fit who she is anymore. She believes she can change her life by achieving a higher education, to “fit in” with everyone else around her. Changing her name from Susan to Rita is her first step, she had now begun the great leap from the 26year old hairdresser, to a well spoken and well educated higher classed human being. This 1970’s play displays the struggle and frustration of a woman, caught in the working class. Willy Russell uses wit, humour and his knowledge of that time period to create and develop his two characters as they travel through substantial changes in their lives.

Wollstonecraft focuses on the claim made by Rousseau t... ... middle of paper ... ...n’s beauty and charm and more specifically her lack of a proper education makes her outwardly subordinate and dependent to man, whereas education allows her to be independent—education allows women to have and everlasting virtue to fall back on once their charm and beauty fade throughout their marriage. Thus, women should not just be content with their role of subordination and securing the affection of men. Wollstonecraft discusses that a women who cultivates her by “managing her family” and “practicing various virtues” will in term become the “friend and not the humble dependent of her husband” (27). Wollstonecraft’s ideal of marriage breaks away from this idea that women are supposed to be servile to their husband and confined to the home, and instead, emphasizes that marriage should be a friendship between spouses based on the independence, respect, and virtue.

In Kate Chopin's The Awakening, the main character, Edna leaves her husband to find place in the world. Edna believes her new sexually independent power will make her master of her own life. But, as Martin points out, she has overestimated her strength and is still hampered by her "limited ability to direct her energy and to master her emotions" (22). Unfortunately, Edna has been educated too much in the traditions of society and not enough in reason and independent survival, admitting to Robert that "we women learn so little of life on the whole" (990). She has internalized society's conception of woman as guided by her emotions and not her mind and, therefore, in the search for another man to fill the void of love in her life, lets her goal become clouded instead of learning to depend on herself alone.

Basically she has to make a choice between her education or her family, because as she changes to become a more sophisticated and educated woman, she widens the gap between her and the people in her old life, them being ignorant and uncultured. First of all, it is noticeable that because of Rita's working class background, one particular quality of hers is her lack of self-consciousness, which prevents her from being prudish. This is revealed in Act 1 Scene 1 when Rita comments on Frank's picture on the wall; "Look at those tits," she says bluntly, within minutes of meeting her new tutor. Frank, having had a middle class upbringing is embarrassed by her frank observation. He has the good judgment to realise that on first being acquainted with someone this kind of comment is not really appropriate, whereas Rita is almost like a child, not having the expected amount of subtlety and the sense to be discreet.