Act 2, Scenes 6 and 7

Tuesday, 16 December 2008

It's erm- well, it's er- it's a dress really.
I bought it some timr ago- for erm- for
an educted woman friend-of mine...

During the play Rita has learnt, apart from all the academic knowledge that she has acquired, that she can make choices and change her life. She doesn't have to accept things as they come, she can choose what to be. She knows now that she has the power to change her life, and perhaps she will make mistakes but she knows that she will do what she feels. She realizes how much Frank has helped her become autonomous and not depend on others. That's why she returns to her office to thank him. At the same time Frank has also learnt from Rita and from her young and fresh spirit. I think this is why he didn't wanted her to change so much, he wanted her to keep that joyful spirit that he had lost a long time ago. Frank will probably recover from his adiction, and following Rita's steps, he will change his life too. I think that this is why "Educating Frank" might have been an alternative tittle for this play. Teachers also learn from their students, and Frank has learnt from Rita an important lesson too.

" I never thought there was anythin' I could
give you. But there is. Come here, Frank..."

Act 2, Scenes 4 and 5

On these two chapters Franks learns that Rita has quitted her job at the hairdresser's and that now people call her Susan again. Apparently, the only person who was not aware of this was Frank, when there was a time when Rita used to tell him everything. This situation makes him feel that she doesn't want to attend his tutorials anymore, which is true. They have become different people from what they were at the beginning of the play, and also different from each other. Frank's drinking problem is evident, his students have reported him, and his wife left him. On the other hand, Rita is turning into the kind of person that she had always wanted to be. "I've got a room full of book. I know what clothes to wear, what wine to buy, what plays to see, what papers and books to read. I can do wihout you." However, Franks doesn't want her to be like him and his other students, he wants her to be the Rita he met for the first time.
I have more sympathy for Rita because she has to do what makes her happy. Sha has made difficult desicions such as leaving her husband and her house to continue studing. She may make mistakes in the future, but that can't stop her from trying to achieve her dreams.

Sunday, 14 December 2008

These two new chapters show us Rita's development. She has become more confident and she is now able to discuss a book with the rest of the literature students at the university. She has finally become able to understand what she reads, and to write essays without depending on Frank's opinion and assistance. She has learnt to consult different sources and opinions, and to be objective. All this makes her a better student and a wiser person on the literature field. However, this does not mean that you need to receive formal education to be wise. Experience makes you wiser, and even an iliterate person can be as wise as a teacher or a professor, and in this case, I think that Rita is wiser at what she does. This is because she has put a lot of effort and dedicated time to her studies, and this has led her to improve her essays and her knowledge on literature.

Act 2, Scene 1

Tuesday, 18 November 2008

"D' y' know somethin', Frank? I'm havin' the time of my life"

Rita has experienced significant changes since she last visited Frank's office. She's been to summer school in London and had a great time there. She wrote lots of essays, visited theatres, read poetry, attended lectures and discussed literature topics with other students and tutors. Now she feels renewed and as joung as the rest of Frank's students. She's made excellent progress, but Frank doesn't seem enthusiastic about Rita's changing so much from how she used to be when she first stepped into his office. Perhaps this is because he doesn't want her to lose the freshness that she had, and to turn into somebody similar to him, immersed in the world of literature and high education, but a depressed man and frustrated poet too. She wants her to be herself.

Act 1 Scene 2

Sunday, 31 August 2008

One week after meeting her teacher, Rita comes back to Frank's office for her tutorial. She has prepared a paper on the book Rubyfruit Jungle, but it is not what Frank expected. I think that the fact that Frank explaines to her why it isn't correct and what she should do in order to improve it, and then he listens to Rita's point of view about other book he mentions shows us that he wants to understand her and help her graduate, eventhough he doesn't want to be her teacher. Eventhough Rita has a different background as a working-class woman, and knows nothing about the world of literature, Frank listens to her and doesn't understimates her. That's part of being a good teacher, to enable the student to be critical and to express his or her opinion. Rita is very perseptive and also talkative. She wants to test her teacher and observes the room meticuluosly, trying to learn more about him. But Frank brings her back to the topic of discussion and reminds her that learning means a lot of work.