Monday 17 September 2007

Educating Rita (Act 1 Scene 3 & 4)

Rita’s essays (on Howards End and the two she writes on Peer Gynt) tend to be quite short since she does not give any reasons supporting what she writes: a sentence that is just the basis of an argument. What she needs is to think over more ideas so as to justify what she states in her essays.
She considers that coming there (to attend classes) makes her stronger because she feels that she is learning instead of wasting her time going to the pub with her husband and mates as she says.
Rita knows that education is very important to change her life in some way; she feels that she is learning something different everyday so that she feels more confident so that she says that coming there makes her stronger
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4 comments:

Gladys Baya said...

But Laura, Rita does argue for her position: she'd do Peer Gynt on the radio because the writer meant it as a "play for voices"... Aren't those her very words? Your statements that what "she needs is to think over more ideas" suggests this is just a matter of quantity... Is that so? And who decides how many ideas are enough to support an argument?

Now, changing the topic, what makes studying Literature with Frank profitable in Rita's eyes? Is going to the pub a "waste of time" for Rita's husband and their friends too? If not, why should it be so for Rita?

What exactly is it that makes Rita "stronger"? And what do you exactly have in mind when you talk about "education" in this post? Are you talking about "attending college"? Or is it something else?

Warmly,
Gladys

L@ur@ said...

In this entry what I wanted to say is that Rita should give a logical justification for her answer. I don’t think that it is just a matter of quantity but a matter of logical reasoning. That is why Frank asks her to give more details, a solid answer to his questions since through that she would be able to think deeper.

Going to the pub may be a waste of time for her because she may want to make profitable her time; perhaps she prefers spending time reading or talking with Frank about things that may help her to enrich her course rather than going to the pub and staying there.

To me what makes Rita stronger is the fact that she would be able to think and to see things different from his husband and friends´ points of view. This takes place through the education she is receiving when she attends college and also outside the classroom, when she has deal with the same situations but with a different perpective.

Gladys Baya said...

A matter of logical thinking, you say, Laura...So what Rita actually needs to learn seems to be quite different from Literature? I like that!;-)

Something I'd like to highlight is that whether going to the pub is "a waste of time" or "profitable" might be considered a question of personal preferences by some (your comment suggests you do), but to others it might seem unquestionably negative... As a teacher, your answer to this problem is bound to make a difference in the way you approach learners...

One last thing: we do not necessarily have to "think differently" to be ourselves, do we? As we get through the play, we can share Rita's different answers to this question, and then see what you finally choose as your answer!

LOL,
Gladys

L@ur@ said...

Sometimes we tend to think that if we have the same opinion as others, we are not original or even worse we are not ourselves; that is why I may have said that in order to be ourselves we may need to think differently, but actually it is not necessary at all.
The only thing that we may need to do is to be loyal to ourselves, to our thoughts and feelings...