EDUCATING RITA: What themes are developed by Willy Russell in his play 'Educating' Rita, and how does he develop his characters to reflect those themes?

Julia is a 26-year-old Party member who works in the Fiction Department of the Ministry of Truth. She has dark eyes and hair, and she is very athletic. Julia doesn 't worry about problems, she makes the best of the past and cheat the party with small crimes. She secretly despises the party and makes love for Winston. By having these affairs, lead them closer to imprisonment. Both Julia and Winston are arrested and tortured in the Minister of Love. Winston and Julia leave the Minister of Love.

It was very sad to read about his experiences at this school because he had a love for reading. Although he was encouraged by a few teachers (Mr. and Mrs. Hannon and Mr. Timoney), after his time at this school in Limerick, he was deeply discouraged from receiving any further education. The headmasters of Leamy’s National School believed in using physical discipline to encourage their desired behaviors. “They hit you with the sticks on the shoulders, the back, the legs, and, especially, the hands” (80). It seemed as if there was nothing Frank could do to avoid being hit. Everything a student did required discipline. “They hit you if you’re late, if you have a leaky nib on your pen, if you laugh, if you talk, and if you don’t know things” (80). Leamy’s aimed to build strong and tough men and women. They would beat you and expect no excuses or tears. “You deserve it. Don’t be a baby.” (81). This school serves as an influential antagonist in Angela’s Ashes because the amount of discouragement he obtained from staff members at this school was an overwhelming and immense obstacle Frank had to overcome. He didn’t let this atrocious school experience stop him from accomplishing his goal of coming to

The character Julia is an example of the brainwashing children went through in the book. Since she is younger than Winston, she has been more exposed to the Party’s system and their propaganda. Because of this, Julia is much more accepting of what the Party informs her of and does not care about the past in the slightest; not even when Winston informs her of the Party’s lies. It was also stated in the book of a youth league called the Junior Spies, which young children join and learn to become loyal members of the Party, but it had a hidden meaning behind it. Who better than the children to spy on their parents to see of they are plotting against the Party? “Some adults were especially concerned that they might utter something in their sleep, a betrayal of their sub-conscious, and have it be overheard by the telescreen or a child” (“What are The Spies?”). The children are such valuable members of the country that the parents fear their own children. This very action is a reflection of life in Stalin’s Russia. As soon as your child turned 8 years old, children were expected to join a youth organization that taught pride in the USSR and communist ideas, while learning how to work for the government and be useful. They were encouraged to report their parent’s behaviors. Education played a big role in their lives as well. “Education was strictly controlled by the state. Exams, banned under Lenin, were reintroduced. The way subjects were taught was laid down by the government – especially History where Stalin’s part in the 1917 revolution and his relationship with Lenin was overplayed” (Trueman). Stalin instilled a new book in the school called A Short History of the USSR, which told a very censored version of Russia’s history from a very biased perspective (Trueman). The children only knew what they were taught.The children are

Melinda is a first year recruit in secondary school, who is experiencing a great deal of changes managing pre-adulthood and troublesome circumstances. She experiences difficulty fitting in with different associates, she is appalled by her own particular appearance; for instance "I search for shapes in my face, certainly not a dried face", Melinda conveys what needs to be in a frightful route as a result of the way Andy assaulted her and caused a colossal effect on her life . Luckily, she has an instructor who gives exhortation as lessons to enable them to have the capacity to stand up to each other. Mr. Freeman," the coolest craftsmanship educator", is a skilled craftsman, carefully affected. That makes discretionary school less asking for

Her job and dialect optimize the way she grew up, and how the expectations of her upbringing limit her future, as being a working class woman she is expected to get married, have children and then become a housewife, ‘I should've had a baby by now. Everyone expects it.’ There were no further expectations for women and certainly no need for them to have an education, ‘Denny gets dead narked if I work at home’. Rita doesn’t like the housewife stereotype and decides to rebel against it by taking the pill and starting a formal education, ‘But I mean, I don't want a baby yet. No. I wanna discover meself first.’ Rita’s family refuse to see the benefits that this could give her and this leads her father to feel sorry for Denny and to feel annoyed at Rita’s lack of commitment to her family, ‘Denny, I'm sorry for you, lad. If she was a wife of mine I'd drown her.’ When Rita thinks about quitting the course to please her family, it’s her mother’s unintentional comment at the pub, ‘There must be better songs than this,’ which drives her forward in the course, ‘And I thought, ‘All I'm doing is getting an education. Just trying to learn. And I love it. It's not easy, I get it wrong half the time, I'm laughed at half the time but I love it because it makes me feel as

Ruth’s character reminds us that the process of producing the play within the play is about finding a deeper, more real reality. For characters such as Ruth and Roy, the play is about creating an escape from their reality within the institution, such as characters like Zac whom “can’t stand real things”. For other characters such as Julie, the mental institution surrounds them, but performing the play allows them to break free from reality. Through producing the play, Lewis explores what is ‘real’ and what is ‘normal’, Nowra introduces the concept that the two concepts contrast with each other. Nowra concluded the play with Lewis’ narration. Turning off the lights sets the realisation of the brief tails of their lives given by Lewis, which are powered by reality and not a pristine ending, as life continues to happen.

indeed a person who has a lot to say and Frank listens and responds to

Described as “young”, “free-spirited”, and “practical”, Julia differs from Winston in many ways. She is open about her sexuality, and sleeps with several party members before she meets Winston. Although these acts are frowned upon in the eyes of The Party, Julia doesn’t intend them that way, and tells Winston that it is only to satisfy her own desires. Julia only “..questioned the teachings of the party when they in some way touched upon her life”(153). She was too young to remember a life that contradicted The Party’s teachings, and because she believed all Party propaganda to be lies, Julia had no interest in what those teachings were anyway.

The overall dramatic meaning of this play has been successfully shown by the elements of drama. The

Julia is the epitome of everything that Winston loathes; pretty young women, for it makes him think of his own wife and emphasizes his jealousy. However we eventually find out that she shares Winston’s ideals about the hatred of Big Brother, and she is described as a “sexual rebel”, and had sex with various Party members, but saves herself from being caught by the Thought Police by wearing the red sash of the Anti-Sex League. Julia deceives almost everyone in this dystopian society, by posing as an innocent young woman, but secretly rebelling and hating the Party. Julia’s deceiving nature is indicated through her “ripping off the scarlet sash of the Junior Anti-Sex League, and flinging it onto a nearby bough.” The choice of diction used by Orwell emphasizes both Julia’s reckless nature and her dislike for the party; “flinging” the sash indicates to the audience that she does not actually believe in the Junior Anti-Sex League; that is was indeed a cover to protect herself from being caught, and the word “scarlet” to describe the color of the sash is perhaps even a warning or a foreshadowing that something bad will happen in the future with Winston and Julia regarding the validity of Julia’s membership in this chastity pledge. Through her actions, Julia has been deceiving the Party for a long time, as well as deceiving Big Brother for she has not been caught for 12 years, until her and Winston’s affair becomes known to the Thought Police.

is not quite good enough. Rita wants to be of a higher status than her

In the context of the play, rather then ignoring the problematic elements, Anne Barton (1997)

she similar to him? How does Julia’s age make her attitude toward the Party very different

Rita is a woman who is longing for change. Change is an inevitable concept during adult development that is influenced by different factors, such as age, culture, and certain life events. Rita comes from a working class society and has been

have taken place in Rita’s life since we last saw her, in the play we