After the time Rita spends at Summer School, she comes back with a new attitude that is not only seen in the way she dresses but also in her attitude towards Frank.
One of the main changes that have occurred in Rita is the way she responds to Franks´ requesting as regards the books she should read in this term. That is, now that she “knows” more and as a consequence she is more familiar with different poets, she is confident but at the same time arrogant. This can be seen when she talks about a particular poet, Blake, as if she knew about him from a long time ago!! She says: “You don’t do Blake without doing innocence and experience, do y´?” and previously she looks at Blake’s poem and recites by heart. In this situation she may want to show that she is not the same illiterate girl than before.
Another attitude to point out is the way she feels now towards “the others” as she calls them. In this scene she seems not to feel different than them. In fact, now she might consider herself as “one of them” since she ask Frank to have the tutorial down there, on the grass. This whole situation is rather different than the ones before the summer school when she used to look the “proper students” through the window as if they were from “other world”.
Last but not least, her attitude towards Frank is different too!! Now she shows Frank that she cares about him by asking him for his holydays, giving him a present and also by telling him that he shouldn’t drink any more since he “gots so much goin´for him.”
As regards Frank attitude towards Rita’s changes, he may feel quite impressed; but also he seems to feel quite ashamed since she has learned lots of things without him but with others.
In this scene, after having tried unsuccessfully to have the tutorial down there (on the grass), she tries to open the window and she says some words that may have another meaning: “won’t bleedin´ budge”. To me, those words may mean that we don’t know what opportunities we have until we try; we have to struggle, as Rita does when opening the window, to achieve what we wants, and surely we will get what we wanted. But if we don’t success, at least we will know that we have tried hard.
One of the main changes that have occurred in Rita is the way she responds to Franks´ requesting as regards the books she should read in this term. That is, now that she “knows” more and as a consequence she is more familiar with different poets, she is confident but at the same time arrogant. This can be seen when she talks about a particular poet, Blake, as if she knew about him from a long time ago!! She says: “You don’t do Blake without doing innocence and experience, do y´?” and previously she looks at Blake’s poem and recites by heart. In this situation she may want to show that she is not the same illiterate girl than before.
Another attitude to point out is the way she feels now towards “the others” as she calls them. In this scene she seems not to feel different than them. In fact, now she might consider herself as “one of them” since she ask Frank to have the tutorial down there, on the grass. This whole situation is rather different than the ones before the summer school when she used to look the “proper students” through the window as if they were from “other world”.
Last but not least, her attitude towards Frank is different too!! Now she shows Frank that she cares about him by asking him for his holydays, giving him a present and also by telling him that he shouldn’t drink any more since he “gots so much goin´for him.”
As regards Frank attitude towards Rita’s changes, he may feel quite impressed; but also he seems to feel quite ashamed since she has learned lots of things without him but with others.
In this scene, after having tried unsuccessfully to have the tutorial down there (on the grass), she tries to open the window and she says some words that may have another meaning: “won’t bleedin´ budge”. To me, those words may mean that we don’t know what opportunities we have until we try; we have to struggle, as Rita does when opening the window, to achieve what we wants, and surely we will get what we wanted. But if we don’t success, at least we will know that we have tried hard.
4 comments:
Oh, Laura! I've enjoyed this post of yours so much! You can imagine me nodding excitedly as I get through its lines... 8-D!
Some ideas to "keep the ball rolling":
1. Thinking in terms of the "beautiful language" Rita announces she's decided to stick to at the beginning of the scene, do you think there's any significance in the fact that she insults as trying to open the window, which is, BTW,m the only way she might eventually have some contact with "peoper students" as long as Frank insists on staying inside?
2. Remember when Frank wanted to go to the pub with Rita? Who does he want to join then? Might you speculate on why?
3. What happens to parental and teacher's authorities when the "young"learner seems to know better than their elders? How can they cope with that? Can you somehow associate this to what happened between Rita and her husband earlier in the play?
Too many questions? Ok, OK, just ignore most of them and focus on one you find particularly interesting... You see, I can't help it! :-P
LOL,
Gladys
I think that Rita insults as trying to open the window because it seems to be a difficult thing to do so as to show her annoying, she uses those words… Maybe through this way, we can see that sometimes we people tend to get angry when we try to reach something very difficult in our first efforts. I think that this may be connected to the way we face a situation such as reaching a goal.
To me, the question goes beyond Rita's feelings, Laura, to show a relation between Rita's identity and the "beautiful language" she now says she's made up her mind to use.. How authentic is the "new Rita"?
I guess by now you've also asked yourself this, as you've kept making progress through the play!
Let's explore the next scenes together then!
Love,
Gladys
I don´t think that the new Rita is really authetic since she is just imitating some (better said almost!!) behavoiurs of her friends thinking that it sis right to do that in order to change for the better. I think that what Rita should is to listen to her heart and feelings and to do what they say without following any kind of "flow". Sometimes this is difficult to do since as humans beings we want to be accepted by others so we do what they do...
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