PLAY Educating Rita by Willie Russell (1980)

Educating Rita by Willie Russell (1980)

Educating Rita is a play written by Willie Russell about a young, woman from Liverpool who wants to achieve something before it's too late, therefore she decides to take classes to take her exams to go to university with a professor, Frank. The play is based on the growing relationship between Rita and Frank and Rita's struggle with class and marriage. She is being forced to have a baby with her husband Lennie and desires to be of a higher social class, she is bored with her current life. 

Frank teachers her literature who is a middle aged man and an alcoholic who becomes fascinated by Rita and her enthusiasm. In act one Rita is very loud and confident. She uses inappropriate language and always speaks her mind, the contrast between Rita and Frank is phenomenal.Rita is smart but in a unique way. She wants to learn but is being kept down by her roots. She feels and knows she is missing out on an education and this is a way of escaping her past lifestyle where she was taught to obey her husband Denny and spend hour after hour cutting people’s hair.

As the play progresses, Rita continues to see Frank in order to pass her exams, however she is slightly changing her accent to sound more posh and heighten her social class, she makes new friends and changes her personality which Frank hates. Rita even goes back to her real name which is Susan, she used to change it to Rita in order to be eccentric and different. Frank is jealous that she got the life she wanted and he didn't. Rita goes home after her argument with Frank to find her roommate has tried to commit suicide which is a big wake up call for her, she sits her exams and passes.In the final scene Frank gives Rita a dress and she thanks him with a haircut.

Context

The character of Rita was based on the writer’s own life and experiences. They both grew up outside Liverpool with a poor education and a lack of qualifications. They both set off to change their lives.
Rita became a student while Willy Russell lived his dream of being a writer.

There is a set image of a working class woman and she doesn’t want that ‘mother at twenty with no schooling’ attitude to run in her family. She believes she has to change before it is too late. Denny pushes her into having children when she doesn't want to, when he finds out she is secretly on the pill he lashes out and burns all of her books. 

Quotes

"I told him I'd only have a baby when I have a choice"

"I've been realising for ages that I've been slightly out of step. I'm twenty-six. I should have a baby by now, everyone expects it."

"I can do things on me own now"

"I'm a half-caste, a freak"

POEM Funeral Blues W.H Auden (1936)

Funeral Blues W.H. AUDEN (1936)

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,

Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone.

Silence the pianos and with muffled drum

Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead

Scribbling on the sky the message He is Dead,

Put crépe bows round the white necks of the public doves,

Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,

My working week and my Sunday rest,

My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song,

I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong

The stars are not wanted now, put out every one;

Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;

Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.

For nothing now can ever come to any good.

This eulogy was written and spoken by A.H Auden. Auden was homosexual and in a time that was unacceptable he has a normality to his sexuality, there is a gravitas of using the classical and ordered style. This eulogy remains timeless and is still appreciated now.

Language

There is some very emotive language, as if his whole world is crumbling around him "The stars are not wanted now", nothing will compare to his love.  

The eulogy is literally timeless, he wants everything to be quiet and respectful so that he can say goodbye "stop all the clocks" "silence the pianos". 

There is a peace and innocence to this poem "public doves" represents letting go, he can't trap the bird he has to let it go, which Auden is doing here. 

There is also a very short sentence which reveals the reality that can't be hidden behind beautiful poetry "He is dead". He doesn't mention the lovers name, he is restrained in what he says in relation to the context and privacy.

Context and dates

This eulogy was written and performed 30 years before it was even legal in Britain to be gay. Gay sexual relationships were punishable by imprisonment until 1967, making it a crime to express consenting sexual love between adults of the same sex, possibly being the reason why Auden is restrained in the poem. You can admire Auden's stance that whatever cost to his reputation, privacy and security he will celebrate the grief of his love. It is a triumph of liberated self-identity.

PEOM The fat black woman goes shopping by Grace Nichols (1984)

The fat black woman goes shopping by Grace Nichols

Poetry

Shopping in London winter

is a real drag for the fat black woman

going from store to store

in search for accommodating clothes

and de weather so cold

Look at the frozen thin mannequins

fixing her with grin

and de pretty sales gals

exchanging slimming glances

thinking she don't notice

Lord is aggravating

nothing soft and bright and billowing 

to flow life breezy sunlight

when she walking

The fat black woman curses in Swahili/Yoruba

and nation language under her breath

all this journeying and journeying 

The fat black woman could only conclude

that when it came to fashion

the choice is lean

Nothing much beyond a size 14

Form


This poem uses a sarcastic sense of humour to complain about difficulties of finding clothes her size in London. She feels judged by the 'sales gals' representing the idealistic version of women, she feels like she doesn't fit in with her size, weight or ethnicity. The poem has no regular rhyme and tells a narrative of a women searching for belonging. The poem is slightly humorous and comical as she is mocking the mannequins, however it does look at serious themes. She is also didactic as she is preaching a message of equality in society for over weight people and people of different cultures.

Language

Repetition, "store to store" and "journeying and journeying" which is reinforcing the extent of her travel and search to fit in with society, she faces the harsh reality at the end with "nothing much beyond a size 14" that she can't fit in. Journeying may have a double meaning of the racial prejudice and discrimination that remained in London for a long time. You can assume that the character is an immigrant with the deliberate use of "de" and "curses in Swahili/yoruba". She also speaks of "breezy sunlight" as she longs for the warm climate in her home town in contrast to the cold weather in England.

Structure


The poem begins and ends on a harsh note where she feels unaccepted. However in the middle she talks of her former life and what she thinks of society, the beginning and the end sentence tie in with each other as they are both about not being accepted socially.


Context


The poem is written in 1984, but Nichols was born in 1950 and lived through the civil rights movement and black people over coming the racial barrier in 1964. This poem is written about the social stigma she still feels remains in London. In the 1980's London had riots to caused by racism and discrimination.

PROSE The 1984 by George Orwell (1949)

The 1984 by George Orwell

Prose

This novel is a near future fiction, the story follows Winston who lives in a totalitarian society, repressed by the government. The citizens of Oceana live with little to no freedom,in fear of the thought police, they're thoughts are repressed as an internal rebellion may lead to your disappearance. They are constantly watched by the televisions in each of their rooms, otherwise known as 'Big Brother', you can't even escape in your own home. Winston works in the the ministry of truth who writes the paper, they burn old history and rewrite new history so that they can remain in power. 

Although the actions Winston commits are small and would seem like nothing, in the society he lives in his rebellion is extreme. He begins to write down his thoughts in a diary and his hatred in the government for taking away his wife and children, although his wives thoughts were poisoned by the government. Winston has an at affair with another women in rebellion, Julia, they have to meet in different places occasionally and eventually find themselves as part of the internal rebellion. Winston is tricked and taken to room 101 (the torture room) by who he thought ran the rebellion, and is forced to reveal Julia, when Winston comes out of room 101 he can no longer remember his rebellion and is completely in love with Big Brother.

Context

The book was written in 1949, which is post ww2, Orwell is influenced by the ideas of the dictators such as Hitler and Stalin, who influenced the character Emmanuel Goldstein and presumes that this is how the government will be in 1984. Figures such as Hitler and Stalin repressed and brainwashed the civilians which is what is presented in the 1984.

Quotes
"BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU."
"'who ran the past' ran the party slogan 'controls the future'".
"thought crime does not entail death: thought crime is death."

PROSE Oranges are not the only fruit Janette Winterson (1960s)

Oranges aren't the only fruit by Jeanette Winterson
Prose

Jeanette has an inevitable struggle for identity as she is raised by her mother, a Christian fundamentalist who adopted Jeanette, she forces an identity on her with her God driven beliefs. Jeanette feels isolated at school as she is misunderstood due to the beliefs forced on her by the church. This prose looks at the struggle for identity in religion and sexuality as the novel follows Jeanette from the age of 7 to adolescence and looks at her struggles and battles with the church.

Jeanette has affairs with two girls in the congregation, possibly due to her bad experiences with males in the church. When the first is found out she repents it, the second she rebels and the church abandons her to face the world alone, her mother refuses to communicate with her as she believes her sins are of the devil. 

Context

There is no set date where this is set however there are hints of the 60s era with the book published and written in the 1980s. This prose looks at contemporary themes of sexuality and acceptance which are still relevant today. Jeanette is also homosexual so some of the themes will be relevant to the writer as she is writing from personal experience. 

Dates

• Civil partnership act wasn't around until 2004, although it is still against the law to have a homosexual marriage in the UK we now have the civil partner ship act. This wasn't around when the book was set or written, being another reason for sexual struggle.
• The discrimination against same sex activity was in 1967, the book was set in the 60s so there is a possibility this law may not have been enforced yet.
• The buggery act was enforced in 1533, where if you were gay you were sentenced to death, this didn't end until 1861

Quotes

"to change something that you do not understand is the true nature of evil"

"I love you almost as much as I love The Lord"

“I miss God. I miss the company of someone utterly loyal. I still don't think of God as my betrayer. The servants of God, yes, but servants by their very nature betray. I miss God who was my friend. I don't even know if God exists, but I do know that if God is your emotional role model, very few human relationships will match up to it.”