A final reflection

Now that I’ve ended the book, I would like to reflect upon two things: the clash of class and culture you see throughout the play, and the changed we can find in the new Rita as a result of her choosing education.
From the very beginning, it’s quite obvious that Frank and Rita belong to two different worlds. However, I think both Rita and Frank feel curious, and attracted somehow, to the opposite world of their own. Rita is sure that if she can manage to get educated, she will be able to get rid of her boring life and start a new one full of choices she will make on her own. Similarly, Frank feels there is something unique in Rita’s ways of behaving and expressing herself. He thinks that is something she should not miss in the changing process.
Although there are many times misunderstandings because of culture and class differences, Rita and Frank manage to learn how to overcome them in order to get effective communication. For example, in the first scenes, Rita mentions a TV show or books Frank is not familiar with, or sometimes Rita uses expressions such as “off the cake”, and Frank has to ask for clarification. All the same, when Frank faces Rita for not having attended Julia’s dinner party, he has to explain to her that the wine or a dress won’t make a difference; confidence is something you cannot buy.
Now, as a result of Rita choosing education throughout the play, even under difficult circumstances, we find a Rita who is full of energy and life. She no longer looks down on her background and culture, but has learned to work hard in order to change what she was not satisfied with: she is no longer married to a man who does not take into account her needs and independence. Rita is now a new person because she is not afraid of making mistakes any more, she feels much more confident and is willing to face what is ahead.

Educating Rita and Frank

After finishing reading the book, I came to the conclusion that it’s not only Rita who learns during the course of the play but also Frank. There is plenty of evidence that suggests my interpretation.
Admittedly, Rita has become a different person. She is now a confident woman, who has passed a university exam and feels she can take decisions about her own life. This is something that at the beginning of the play Rita cannot do for she feels trapped in the life of hers. She has many things to consider for her future, such as going to her mum’s for Christmas, travel to France with Tiger, having a baby or even accept Frank’s invitation to Australia.
All the same, Frank is a different man too. Although he hasn’t given up drinking, I have the feeling that he will profit from the chance he is given by the University authorities in Australia. The change will do him good. Also, I believe Frank has learned a lesson: he has learned to accept other people’s opinion and being objective when evaluating essays.
The final scene in which Rita cuts Frank’s air shows really graphically that a student-teacher relationship is always reciprocal: you give and learn something, no matter how much experience you have on that field.

Rita’s changed her job

At the beginning of the play, we come to know a Rita who is willing to change and become a more educated person. In the process, she also decides to give up her old job in the hairdresser’s and be a waitress in a bistro. I believe there are several reasons why she’s done so.
To begin with, Rita used to hate her customers who could not differentiate important things from trivial ones. She said they would go to the shop and talk about clothes, shoes, massive soap operas on television. Also, they were only interested in outer beauty. They wanted to look like an actress or model they had seen on TV or read about on a women’s magazine, and they asked Rita to transform their looks.
In addition, her new job is giving her the possibility of meeting more fascinating people, like Tiger. She believes the bistro customers are young, and passionate about things that really matter. She has the feeling they are not trapped like she used to be and like the hairdresser’s women she used to attend to, and she enjoys spending time with them.
I think it is a very good decision to change your job if you feel you are not satisfied with it. For instance, if I ever felt I don’t want to work as a teacher any more, I think I would choose any other means to earn a living. If there’s no passion in teaching, children notice it and it could be one of the reasons why you would not be able to exploit their potential at maximum capacity.

The new Rita

At this stage Rita is completely sure she is changing in the direction she has always longed for. However, I believe when Frank tells her she has to be careful, she is not referring to her essay but to the fact that she is losing her true self in the transition.
The new Rita is now trying to change her way of speaking just because her flat mate says she’s got an ugly voice. She has also been talking to some university students downstairs and seems to be more interested in speaking about one of them rather than in discussing literature with Frank. .
In spite of all this, Rita is now capable of discussing literature and expressing her ideas properly. I mean, when Frank says he doesn’t like her essay, she manages to show disagreement with him, and, in a way, she is very convincing. I think she is right this time and Frank is not being subjective, because, as I said before, he is using the essay to express his opinion on the new Rita.
All things considered, I don’t think Rita has become wiser than before. I just have the feeling that now she can put her ideas into words and make herself understood. Frank, her knowledge on literature and her new acquaintances have given her the self-confidence that she needed to continue moving on.

Moving on

I was one told by my psychologist that when we want something to change, it’s us who should start changing because that will inevitably produce changes, not only on ourselves but also on the people around us.
If we think of Rita and Frank, I believe they have both changed, but at a different pace and scale. In this scene, Rita is not the woman she used to be: she dresses differently; she speaks differently and is enjoying her life as never before. However, even though Frank is writing poetry again, he is, somehow, almost the same man we came across at the beginning of the story: he is witty, ironic, lonely, an alcoholic. Only that now he sees Rita is succeeding in her purpose and he feels proud of her, not just because they have got to know each other better and they both like each other, but also because he feels he has given Rita the push she needed to fly away.
All in all, what I mean is that the fact that Rita has changed doesn’t mean that Frank has changed, but their relationship has changed because now Rita is a different person and Frank feels he doesn’t need a tutor any longer, she is ready to attend any kind of university and graduate.

We could sing better songs than those

At the end of scene 7, we see a Rita who is desperate to be given a sign which shows her that what she’s done so far is the right thing to do. Nonetheless, everything seems to indicate that she is in the wrong path.
To begin with, despite deciding to go to Frank’s dinner party on her own, she can’t manage to find the suitable dress and bottle of wine. In fact what happens is that Rita realizes she’s not the sort of person she used to be: a woman who conformed herself with material things. Later, she comes to the decision she’s not joining the party because she’s afraid of facing the chance to interact with people she doesn’t know. Although Rita is very sociable, she refuses to make jokes of funny comments to be accepted by a group. This shows she is insecure.
On the other hand, when Rita joins in the singing at the pub, she has given in. She thinks she has reached the bottom end and cannot go on with her ideals any longer. It’s at that moment that her mum confesses she’s being crying because they could be singing better songs that those they are singing at the pub, and Rita sees the light: it’s now the time to move forward or she’ll always regret not having tried to follow her ambition. If she doesn’t, she’ll look back when she’s a middle-aged woman and she’ll feel she has betrayed herself.

The importance of language style

When I first became interested in learning English, I wanted to use the language to communicate my ideas and to be able to interact with people all over the world if I ever had the chance. As time passed by, I realised that I had already learnt that skill and that I wanted to go for more. But what was it that I was after?
Reading this chapter made me think about the importance of language style depending on the circumstances. For instance, when Rita turns up at Frank’s office, she is so overwhelmed by her emotions that she can’t even think about the words to express how she feels after having seen Macbeth at the theatre. She says: “It wasn’t boring, it was bleeding great, honest, it done me in, and it was fantastic. I’m gonna write an essay on it.” As I read her words, I wondered what she was going to say in her essay. I feel curious about how she will speak her mind to refer to the play, as I’m sure she will have to select the words, style, and grammar carefully if she really wants to write academically.
Sometimes, communication is not just enough. Using an appropriate register gives us something that goes beyond communication and causes a different impact if we use the appropriate language style. I think Rita is in the process of finding that out.

Choosing: the course or your husband?

In scene 5, we learn Danny, Rita’s husband, finds out she is lying to him about taking the pill. As a consequence, Danny over reacts and burns her books and essays. However, Rita is more determined than ever not to abandon the course she’s taking with Frank.
If we try to understand why the course means so much for Rita, we are to pay attention to what she says to her tutor about it. She definitely believes the course is “proving her with life, more life than she’s had in years.” She feels alive as she is discovering herself and is not willing to give in just because her husband can’t understand why she is doing it.
On the other hand, Danny sees the whole thing in a different light, so I wonder if any of them both can be blamed for the hard time the couple is going through.
Life is about making decisions all the time, and, unfortunately, we can’t satisfy everyone with our choices. The hard question is: Shall we sacrifice ourselves to please others?

Education makes me stronger

After reading Rita’s words: “It makes me stronger coming here”, I immediately began wondering why it is that education makes people stronger. At first, I thought about the professional you become after graduation and the sense of independence you experience not having to get temporary jobs but one where you can really apply your professional knowledge. But just then, I kept on thinking and I realised we become stronger AS we are being educated.
When we decide to joining any course of studies, we are choosing the people we want to interact with as well as the teachers we want to learn from. The whole learning process can not be isolated from the social and interactional context. In my opinion, that’s how you become a stronger person: you learn and interact with the course, but also, bit by bit, you use that experience in your personal life.
Education makes me stronger because it enables me to build social bridges which, if used wisely, will help me be a happier person as I think it will happen to Rita by the end of the book.

What is being a “good” teacher?

We all know what a teacher is, her roles in school and in the classroom. After all, we’ve all had at least one in our educational life. Yet, what is being a “good” teacher?
I’ve asked my own students, and they all agree a good teacher is someone who knows about the subject she is teaching, but also a human being who should care about them. A person who gets the trouble to get to know her students and is willing to help them become better persons. I must admit I agree with them.
If we consider Rita’s tutor, Frank, so far I believe he is a good teacher because not only does he show to have knowledge of literature, but he also seems to have a great capacity to adapt himself to Rita’s ways. For instance, he answers Rita’s personal questions with great enthusiasm and patience, but never does he lose track of the main objective which is Rita’s final exam to get her degree.
So, next time I’m asked what being a good teacher means, I’ll say it’s a human being who has been trained to be a teacher, but also someone who cares about her students, who is patient and capable of adapting herself to her students´ different ways of learning.
By Miriam Rodriguez

There’s more to Rita than meets the eye?

I have just finished reading scene one of a theatre play called “Educating Rita” by Willy Russell. I would like to share with you my first impressions of Susan, or Rita as she prefers to be called, one of the major characters in the story.
When the play opens, Rita meets her tutor, Dr Frank Bryant, at the Open University. Through their dialogue we can infer that Rita is a very intelligent woman in spite of the fact that she has been poorly educated and belongs to the working class.
To begin with, Rita makes some impressive comments about the painting hung on Frank’s office wall, which reveals she can talk about arts and religious sensibly. She then realizes Frank has an alcohol addiction as well as why he has agreed to teach at the Open University: he needs the money. Rita also comments on the differences between the ordinary university and the Open University, which proves she knows what she is doing at enrolling this course. In addition, the moment Frank and Rita talk about books and poetry, we come to think she has good understanding of what certain technical terminology means, although she is still not capable of expressing herself properly.
I think that having changed her name from Susan to Rita is her first step to become a different person. She is unwilling to remain as a hairdresser and a housewife for life, and she wants to change from the inside. While she discovers herself, we will find out if Rita succeeds and becomes the well educated higher class woman she really longs for.
By Miriam Rodriguez