Educating Rita (Act 2 Scene 4 & 5)

As the book says “these two scenes represent the crisis in the relationship between Frank and Rita.”
This crisis begins when Rita tells Frank that he “can’t bear is that she is educated now” Another thing that she says is that he consider himself as a father who can not see how his little girl has grown up…
Rita has made lots of changes as regards her attitude, her personality (she is more confident now); but also as regards her job and her name!!
She might have given up her hairdressing job since she might feel that that place is not comfortable anymore for her. That is, now that “she is a educated woman” she might think that she needs to talk about more relevant things and to be in touch with people who shares the same thoughts, interests such as literature. All this she may find in another place but the hairdresser’s shop. Now in the bistro she says that she “finds a lot of people (she) mixes with fascinating; they’re young and they’re passionate about things that matter (…)”she likes to be with them. I consider that this may happen since she may feel that she needs to share her “new” interests and points of view of life and other things with new people who care about those things.
I partly agree with Rita with this change of “environment” since when you want to achieve something or you have some interest in something, you should be with those who think similar to you, who can join you to achieve that objective, this would make your “journey” easier than doing alone with persons who may not understand your thoughts or beliefs. On the contrary, this doesn’t mean that you have to stop seeing completely those persons who also may care about you but who might not have your same thoughts.

As regards Rita changing name, I think that she might have done it because she might want have “nothing of her past”, nothing that may remind her background. Maybe that now she feels a “new person”, she may want to change all of herself and to forget the girl she was before this course she is taking now.
I think that this is impossible because you can’t forget all your past in order to start a new life because now you’re “sophisticated or literate”. You always take your background with you, this is part of you if not you weren’t you!! It’s part of your nature…
I agree with Frank when he says: “you’ve found a different song, that’s all- and your lips it’s shrill and hollow and tuneless” I think that this is what happens to her. Although she may reject her background and wants to change completely, she might won’t succed.

Educating Rita (Act 2 Scene 2 & 3 )

In the scene 2, Rita shows a further development in her character, now she is able to discuss literature confidently with the students she meets.
At this time, we can see that the new and more educated Rita is wiser in some aspects:
§ When she meets the “proper students”, she feels completely confident so that she decides to take part in the discussion about a poem. Remember that before the Summer School, she “used to be quite wary of them.” I think that Rita is wiser in this situation since she feels able to discuss about literature. I mean, she doesn’t feel anymore that she is not in the “level of these students” and through this way her self-esteem goes up, something really important in order to get what one wants.
§ Another situation in which she is wiser is when she defends her “own point of view” and she stands up for it. This whole situation shows that she is wiser since she believes in herself as well as in her ideas.

As regard the last aspect, what Frank says about Rita’s essay is that “there’s nothing of (her) in there” He considers that she is influenced by her new friends (those whom she knew at the Summer School) and what he wants is her to write her “simple” view in the essay. In order to defend herself against Frank’s criticism, she says that now she is more acquainted of the things she should write so as to make an essay. Her opinions are now more enriched since she knows where and who to consult.

Here we can see that Frank “is somewhat taken aback by these changes in Rita and what appears to be her independence of mind” I think that Frank might feel quite afraid of Rita’s changes because this progress may make him think that she would not need him anymore. That is, he might feel that now Rita shows a great development in her character, she might not need Frank’s approval. Frank can perceive her self-confidence and he may take it as a menace because now she is able to think different than Frank and stand up for her position.