Thursday 20 September 2007

Educating Rita (Act 1 Scene 5)

She emphasise how important the course is to her by saying that to take that course is a way to “find herself” inside.
To me, what she may want to say is that learning will help her to discover the abilities she is unaware of. That is, no one knows what is able to do until you try to do so; then you will know if you succeed or fail.
That decision of taking the course will enable her to feel more confident since she will “find herself” as she says.
She also emphasise the importance of going to the course by saying that coming there makes her stronger because she feels that she is learning a new world instead of wasting her time going to the pub with her husband and mates. I think that because of that she refuses to go to the pub with Frank when he invites her. She doesn’t want to keep doing those things that now she considers being unworthy for her new life.

3 comments:

Gladys Baya said...

When you say "abilities", do you mean "skills", Laura? What else might be Rita discovering by attending this course?

You've got a good point when you say Frank's invitation to the pub sounds too much like Rita's routine for her to consider it... Yet, can't one "find oneself" at a pub as much as at a college room? Or is there a difference between discussing Literature at one place or the other?

Looking forward to your next post,
Gladys

L@ur@ said...

I don’t really know what Rita might be discovering apart from her “skills” (this is what I wanted to say). Maybe she is discovering other ways of appreciating her life; that is, she is making her time more profitable by learning new things than by going to the pub, where her husband and his mates just go to dink some beers, something that she might not want to do for the time being.
I think that there is no difference between discussing Literature at a college or at a college room. I think that this depends on being ready to see inside oneself and see what one wants. This is what matters in order to “find oneself”. Perhaps what may change is the fact that she might not feel comfortable in the pub anymore since she wants to change her life by choosing different things to do that would help her to reach her objective.

Gladys Baya said...

I love your suggestiong that Rita's new choices might just be "for the time being"; Laura! This reminds me that we can always keep changing most of our choices as long as we are alive, and, as Savater's taught us, we haven't "closed doors" before!

Interesting tip for Frank and Rita, then: to be truly educational, this process should "open new doors" to her, but not close any! Oh!!!

Big hug,
Gladys