Willy Russell 's Educating Rita

From the very beginning, the reader notices the psychological and verbal abuse that Sykes puts on Delia. It was a Sunday and Delia decided to get ahead on her work for the week by separating piles of clothes by color. Fear then came

In remembering her seventh-grade class in 1965, Charlotte recalls how much she and her friends loved Miss Hancock. They were "backward" because they "had not yet embraced sophistication, boredom, cruelty, drugs, alcohol, or sex." Because of their innocence and their sheltered environments, Miss Hancock "was able to survive, even flourish" as their teacher. Charlotte recalls when Miss Hancock read poetry aloud, the class "sat bewitched, transformed," and they were "drugged by some words as some children are by electronic games." This description juxtaposes the end of the short story. Miss Hancock's teaching career no longer inspired the children because they were no longer the broad-minded, influenceable children they once were. Nostalgia eats away at Miss Hancock, especially in the case of Charlotte. Once so inspired by the composure of a metaphor, “grown up” Charlotte, when asked if she still wrote metaphors responded, “oh, I dunno.” Miss Hancock once knew the mesmerizing and transformative power of words; however, as she and her students aged the words lost their power, in turn she too lost power.

Initially the professor is dignified and elevated – described as an “honored guest” and “humble”. Through this technique the responder is able to recognize his importance and is also able to see his egotistical nature, as he compares himself to great artworks such as “Rodan’s Thinker”. As he surrenders to his temptation for the young school girl, though, a subtle shift in power is evident. Like the boy in The Glass Jar the professor is seduced by temptation and falls from grace.

While Frank was at a hospital for typhoid fever, he was introduced to the writings of Shakespeare: “I don't know what it means and I don't care because it's Shakespeare and it's like having jewels in my mouth when I say the words.” When Frank recites the lines of Shakespeare's writing, this denotes Frank’s interest in reading. Because of Frank’s enthusiasm in literature, this demonstrates that he is greatly knowledgeable. Frank’s fondness over reading made him realize later on that his mind is a palace and no one can interfere with it. Another example when Frank shows interest in literature is when he reads books about intercourse: “My father lied to me for years about the Angel on the Seventh step” (McCourt page 304). Although this does not demonstrate his advancement in education, this shows growth in Frank because he is now able to understand adult things, thus making him more mature. His initial notion of the angel of the seventh step and now understanding where babies come from serves as Frank’s development as he picks up more wisdom throughout the novel. The reader can also see because Frank lost trust in his father, this forced him to become independent and learn new things from

The setting and time period of this story supports the adventurous innocence of its youthful characters, as well as enriching the story’s momentous and climactic confrontation between the forward-looking Mona, and her more traditional mother, Helen.

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

While becoming a valedictorian can be an honor to those who receive the title, others are debating whether or not valedictorians should continue to exist, or if it should switch from being exclusive to one person in a high school senior class to multiple high-achieving students with similar scores, GPAs, and effort shown throughout their high school tenure. In “Best in Class” by Margaret Talbot, the author emphasizes the idea that having only one valedictorian motivates students due to the prestige associated with the title, as shown through her use of logos and ethos throughout her essay.

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

Rita notices his sad expression and asks him what was bothering him. Phil tries to explain to her that he was stuck on the same day, but she would not believe him. To prove that it was true, he begins stating random facts about people in the café. Surprised, Rita spends the whole day with him. At the end of the day, while they were discussing the situation, Rita tells him that he should think of this “curse” as an

When his father takes him to be an altar boy, he is turned away due to the poverty of his family. This is disturbing to young Frank, and begins thoughts of discontent in his mind. Also, when he goes to look into enrolling in secondary school with his mother at his side, the Christian Brother there slams the door in his face due to his street appearance. Regardless of his high intelligence, he is denied a higher education by the Church based on his economic status. The night before his 16th birthday Frank drinks his first pint and strikes his mother; on attempting to confess to a Jesuit priest, the door is again closed to him: “He says, Go away. You’re drunk. Child like you drunk as a lord ringing for a priest at this hour. Go away or I’ll call the guards…. You’re drunk and you’re not in a proper spirit of repentance (340).” Frank is panicked about the condition of his eternal soul but is forced to remain in a state of sin because of the lack of compassion by this priest. The transformation is complete: Frank is no longer the innocent little child who runs to the Church to unburden his soul, but instead he is a cynical adolescent who has lost his faith in God.

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

Characters are made to seem sinister, having an ulterior motive due to this. For example, Lily fakes being interested in the Americana, not smoking and going to church for Mr. Gryce, while Mr. Trenor helps Lily financially in order to sleep with her. The reader is able to identify the difference between a conversation Lily has with Selden and one she has with other characters, due to the lack of need for Lily to keep her good reputation with Selden. Bart herself acknowledges that she doesn't have to ''pretend'' with him or be ''on guard against'' him. In other occasions, the young woman has to concentrate primary on gossip and pretense and strive to manipulate others, by calculating her every word. The irony in this fact is that by acting so, they showcase bad manners; lying, adultery, gossiping, and being passive aggressive, are all behaviours evident in the upper class. In the reader's eyes, this fact makes her relationship with Selden the realest one of the whole book, and comes to the logical conclusion, that he is the best partner for her, him symbolising freedom from materialism, something that she wants for herself. However, Bart is not able to detach herself from her thirst for money and therefore, continues her pursue for a wealthy husband, like Mr. Gryce, who is a symbol for freedom from financial

Alternatively, at the beginning Rita is much more casual with her words.We get the impression that on some level she is proud of who she is as a child of the working class and only seeks a more open minded view of everything not a change to her personality despite the fact that this is what will inevitably happen beforeshe 'learns everything, '. 'This is the sort of thing they would of perved over in them days, isn 't it? ' Rita feels free to say what she wants but not in a closedof manner, by ending the quote by asking for an opinion Rita is open and sociable, also in addition Rita says inappropiate things such as 'perved over ' she is yet again making a sexual reference which later on she wouldn 't dream of saying something so common to an educator. We see both in the beginning and the end of Educating Rita Rita speaking for herself and not through others. As Rita changes during the play above all the level of interaction with the people at the university alters dramatically. In the beginning despite Rita 's liking forFrank, she is still very shy about the fact he is in some sense better than her. I 've commented

Educating Rita tells a story of a 26-year-old married hairdresser, Rita, who decided to get education by taking a course in English literature from the Open University. Through the development of the relationship between Rita and her alcoholic and cynical tutor, Frank, this story brings up many concepts in adult development and education. After watching the movie, I have a further understanding of the concepts of changes, motivation to learn, freedom, and stability.

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