Willy Russells Educating Rita Essay -- English Literature

From your study of Willy Russell's Educating Rita, describe which character in the play changes the most Explain:  · How the characters change  · The characters role in the play  · How the playwright uses dramatic devices  · How the use of language shows these changes  · How these changes reflect the social, historical and cultural background. The play 'Educating Rita' was written by Willy Russell in 1985, for all the 'Rita's' and all the 'Frank's' in the audience. The play is based on Willy Russell's life so it could be interpreted as an autobiographical play. Like Rita, Russell did not study at school so he did not have any O levels, so he wanted an education to get away from Hairdressing like Rita wanted an education to see what she could become. At this point in the play Frank can tell Rita anything and she will listen and believe all of it. As time goes on she looses this hunger for knowledge because of summer school and her flatmate Trish that dramatically changes Rita. At the end of the play the two characters seem to have changed roles, Rita comes back from summer school and knows more then she ever thought she could and discovers that the 'proper students' are not as good and intelligent as she thought. Franks relationship with Julia is breaking down and the banishment to Australia seems more and more imminent. The two seem to swap roles because Frank used to tell Rita things and she would try and understand it, but the return from summer school shows that she has memorised Blake poetry and has significantly changed. Rita is driven by the need for education, having realised that life has more to offer then her ordinary existence in the hairdressing salon. Rita says to Frank that b... ...that there is only one thing for her to do to thank him so he sits down and the audience gets the impression of something sexual about to happen but Rita gets a pair of scissors and begins to cut Franks hair. In this scene the dramatic device used is one for humour. Educating Rita is mainly about a character trying to find the right words to express herself, and as she becomes more educated Rita learns to adapt her language to different audiences. Rita's increasing mastery of the language helps her to grow more confident. In the character of Rita, Willy Russell was reaching out to an audience whose daily language was not of the theatre or the university but to all the Franks and Rita's in the audience. Rita attempts to change her language to the proper use of words, because of what Trish said: 'you can't discuss beautiful literature with an ugly voice.'

Essay on Passion Essay

Well, the saying goes â€Å"Do what you love and love what you do†, but how many of us truly practice this in our everyday life, as much as we preach it? In every nook and corner, we have a student cursing his school and probably the examinations that come along with it or a teacher complaining about her incorrigible class or a software engineer taking out the frustration over his boss on his computer – many more such sights! We are the Homo sapien sapiens, the most dominant species on Earth (apparently). Why then do we not have dominance over our own happiness, over what we do and what we want to? (And by dominance, I mean controlling and not bossing over something.) What is it that holds us back from following our heart? Financial background. Preconceptions†¦ and the list is endless. But is that passion of yours not worth giving a shot? If no is your answer, then forget about it; it was not your true passion in the first place. Some say they are not really passionate about one particular field or thing. These ‘some’ can be categorized into two categories, namely the ‘doers’ and the ‘despisers’. The doers are the ones are who enjoy almost everything they do that they cannot put their finger on one as their passion. So, it is highly unlikely that you find a doer, disliking what they do, while the despisers are quite the opposite. They are those who have a complaint against most things around them that they do not see the point in being passionate about anything. The reasons behind such an attitude of theirs could be rooted to their family upbringing, huge disappointments despite a lot of hard work or merely the fact that they are sensitive-perfectionists who possess an utopian vision of the world and hence, hate it when even when the tiniest of things is out of place (by probably a few millimeters, if we were to measure it). At this point, I certainly agree with what the great Lincoln once quoted, â€Å"Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be†. The despisers seem to have a problem at every step, at every sight. They, sadly, fail to look at the brighter side of things. They should be able to come to terms with the fact that nobody and nothing is perfect. Since we are the cause of our own happiness, the onus is upon us as to whether we view the glass half empty or half full or (like the Gujarat Chief Minister) as half filled with water and the rest with air. Now, on re-analyzing the opening quote, I have come to realize what it could also mean†¦ In case, you are unable to do what you really love, then start loving what you are doing at present. In the process, you end up doing what you love. If you’re the engineer, then remind yourself that it is the job that you are more interested in than your boss’ scornful words and hope and pray against all odds that your boss is in a good mood today or that someday you can grow deaf to only his words (the mean ones, not the ones with instructions). If you’re the teacher, then you should jolly well know that not all students are alike and have an interest in the subject, and hence, must be cut some slack. And if you’re the student then, take yourself down a few years, back to when you were a little, kindergarten kid, and the starry-eyed expression that you bore whenever the teacher narrated a story. That story was completely new to you yet, you loved to know what happened next. Bring this child back into you the next time you are preparing for an exam. And for this reason, there is still a ray of hope, rather, many rays of hope for those despisers- hope that soon, they will start loving what they do and prove to the world at large, that we truly are the ‘dominant’ ones. And once you have found your passion (or if you are the passionate-one who’s reading this article) then there’s one piece of advice I could give you, something that I stumbled upon on the internet- When there is something you really want, fight for it; don’t give up no matter how hopeless it seems. And when you’ve lost hope, ask yourself in ten years from now†¦ you’re going to wish you had given it just one more shot because the best things in life, they don’t come free! So spread your wings, and fly to your heart!

Modern Technology: For Better or Worse Essay

When it comes to the topic of the impact of digital devices or modern technology on society, most of us will readily agree that technology has positive and negative effects on our social and personal life. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of does technology control us? Whereas some are convinced that we need to embrace the technology, others maintain that we are living too much in the virtual. While still others are concerned about how we lose sight of the reality because of technology’s capability to make it happen. Andrew Lam, a Vietnamese journalist and a short story writer makes a point in his article â€Å"I Tweet, Therefore I am† about how technology is drastically changing the way we look and react in our society. One of the examples he uses to clarify his point is about the professor who collapsed while preparing to give a lecture. Lam said, â€Å"Instead of helping him, many students in the audience took out their cell phones, sna pped photos, texted and tweeted† (Lam 1). The students wanted to be the first one to spread the news so that they could gain popularity or feel proud of themselves for having the power of recording the extraordinary event that just happened. As we try to be the first one to tell the news, we don’t realize that we are losing our empathy. The students sure did feel badly for their professor, but their first reaction was that they have to record it instead of giving a hand or calling an ambulance. I understand why the students reacted by taking pictures or videos of their professors, because I also had those times where I witnessed some unusual happenings and the first reaction I felt is that I have to take pictures of it and share it with my friends by posting the pictures/videos in social networks I am using. I also understand why Lam is concerned about this, but this is a reality that automatically happens as we immerse in the generation of technology. This is not good because we are letting the influence of technology forget one of the most important aspects of socializing, showing respect and care to someone. We are changing in order to fit in to the digital media and social world. Lam mentions, â€Å"Generations  have been raised on video games, spent the bulk of their lives in chat rooms and on YouTube, on cellphones and iPods. They have been conditioned to invest the bulk of their emotional life in the virtual space† (Lam 5). I agree that most of us, in this generation, isolate ourselves in our own place inside the technology. It makes us busy in not such a productive way because we can sit in a chair or lie in bed just focusing on our phones, computers or tablets and not realize that we’ve just wasted hours or worse, our whole day. I could stay in my bedroom facing my laptop, chatting my friends for three hours. When I am done with chatting, I close my laptop and start texting. When I don’t text I watch funny and interesting videos on my iPod. Therefore, I would say that my daily routine is occupied with technology and mobile devices, whether it is good or not, technology is a part of every single day of my life. As we get benefits in the use of technology, we also need to accept the consequence that comes with it. Lam also makes a strong point when he said his view about the social media and its effects in on our personal lives, â€Å"We do not fully exist without some sort of electronic imprint in the virtual world, a digital projection of ourselves† (Lam 25). I agree with that because as I see it, we are now in a generation where people use technology, our life revolves around it, and we introduce ourselves to others using technology. We are then starting to care less and less about our personal lives. We are now posting what we feel on a Facebook status, we tweet our thoughts in Twitter, we even write what we are doing and where we are in our personal blogs. Instead of just writing it in our journal or diary, we are now sharing it to the world which makes us feel part of the society but making us care less about what we share and lets us forget the real meaning of privacy. What I don’t agree with in Lam’s article is when he said that, â€Å"†¦they (we) may just be leaving something important and irretrievable behind† (Lam), because although there are certain negative impacts of technology. I would not say that we are losing empathy as we immerse ourselves into the digital devices because the technology and its advancement aids the society as a whole and the important things we want to share. Whether it is good or bad news, we get the freedom of sharing it, reaching more people faster. Most importantly is when we find some people who can relate to us makin g us feel more important and better, and that is because of the widespread influence of the technology. Another  essay that makes a point and shows concern about the impact of technology is entitled â€Å"How Computer Change the Way We Think† by Sherry Turkle, and Abby Rockefeller Mauze Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Turkle’s concern is how digital devices change the ways we think, how we are all relying on the benefits of technology and as we rely on it. We are losing our true identity and ability to do deep thinking. Technology blinds us with what is most important, which is enjoying and making friendships and relationships through physical interaction. Tukle said, â€Å"For those who are lonely yet afraid of intimacy, information technology has made it possible to have the illusion of companionship without the demand of friendship† (Turkle 603). Instead of meeting real friends in the park or mall, we add â€Å"friends† on Facebook. Instead of talking to a person face to face, we can text or tweet them and they will text/tweet back to us. Technology helps our social life easier in a way that we are losing the ability to interact to a person physically. As a personal example, when my family and I are having a dinner in a restaurant and while waiting for our order to come, we hold our iPods and smartphones, texting or playing games and I notice the silence because we are so busy with our gadgets and mobile devices. After reading Turkle’s concerns, I realize how rude that is. We are in the restaurant to bond and talk, yet we are in our gadgets talking to other people who are not in the table by means of texting. We are playing games instead of chuckling with our sisters and brothers. We are slowly forgetting the importance of having a face to face interaction. We depend so much in the computer that we are now letting the computers do the work for us and it is making us do less deep thinking. Moreover on Turkle’s concerns, he said â€Å"It does not teach students to begin a discussion or construct a narrative. It encourages presentation, not conversation† (Turkle 603). Though the PowerPoint gives us better look of what we want to share, it also have negative effects especially to students. Because of the PowerPoint, the class has now lack of discussion, making the PowerPoint do all the talk. The â€Å"swooshing sounds, animated icons, and flashing test, a slide show† (Turkle 603), distracts the students from the real purpose of the presentation. Some focus too much to the functions of PowerPoint and end up thinking of how can we make it looks attractive to the eyes of the audience instead of how they can understand  the ideas behind main poi nts. When it comes to privacy, we are not fully aware of the negative and dangerous impacts of sharing our personal information to the public and to the government. We thought that as long as it’s the way to get access on particular websites, it is fine to share anything they ask for. Turkle says, â€Å"Unlike past generations of Americans, who grew up with the notion that the privacy of their mail was sacrosanct, our children are accustomed to electronic surveillance as part of their daily lives† (Turkle 602). When it comes to accessing web services, I also don’t hesitate giving my personal information such as my name, address, contact number and I am willing to type it down as it is the only way to get in to the web services that I need, especially for school and work. Also for social networks, it is required to put my name, a profile picture and some basic information such as birth date and relationship status. Technology is taking away our privacy. We are giving the world to access our life. The dangers of sharing information have been in the news nowadays. There are now people who hack accounts and try to change or mess with our profile. Although we are aware of the danger of sharing personal information on the computer, we are still doing it because we enjoy its benefits. Whatever negative impacts we get in technology and mobile devices, we have to face the reality that we are now in a generation where technology will grow and grow and the next generations to come will depend on it more than we depend on it now. The only thing we can do is not to let technology fully control our daily life by appreciating the outside world and the real people. Works Cited Lam, Andrew. â€Å"I Tweet, Therefore I Am†. Reading Culture: Contexts for Critical Reading and Writing. Ed. Diana George and John Trimbur. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc., 2012 Print. Turkle, Sherry. â€Å"How Computers Change The Way We Think†. The Writer’s Presence. Ed. Donald McQuade and Robert Atwan. 7th ed. Boston: Bedford/St.Martin’s, 2012. Print.