Katharina, Leistungskurs Englisch 2000-20002, Gymnasium Steglitz, Willy Russell, Educating Rita,

	Hi, it´s nice that you have a look at my website. I would appreciate comments to my articles. I promise to reply as soon as possible.

Table of Contents

Some autobiographical notes

"Lord of the Flies" by William Golding and its connection to modern society

Educating Rita - A Love Story ?

Arna Bontemps: The Dream of African Americans

Eliza´s public rehearsal shows encouraging results

E.A.Robinson: The Dream is not only about Money

It is the potential victim we have to care for

Some autobiographical notes

I was born in Augsburg in 1983. When I started at Gymnasium Steglitz this repeatedly turned out to be the first touchstone of people´s tolerance- a Bavarian girl! One teacher even thought to recognise a slight Bavarian accent in my French pronunciation. In fact I´m very proud of living here in Berlin and am always impressed by the variety of things you can do in this rapidly developing capital.
Last year I spent eight months in Bath/England. It´s a lovely town, quite small and still very Roman (!) (famous for the Roman Baths). Bath is placed in a valley with seven hills around. I fell in love with it at first sight. England itself is a fascinating country and I hope to be able to go back to live there for some more time in the future. I attended King Edward`s School which is an excellent school, but somehow quite hard. The most important thing were my friends over there who were of great support in difficult times and fantastic to have fun with in happy times.
One of the most important things for me is music. I had my first singing lessons at the age of nine and since then it´s become more and more important. Also I love listening to almost any kind of music (classic, jazz, Spanish music, "Red Hot Chili Peppers",..).
Whenever I´ve got time I enjoy reading any books or poems (esp. by H. Hesse) that seem interesting to me or that friends told me to have a look at ( my favourite is "Anna Karenina" by Tolstoy). I love the atmosphere on stage and that´s why I enjoy going to the theatre sometimes. It´s such a different world.
What has also started to fascinate me (though I´m not at all talented myself) is art. My favourite artists are Van Gogh and Klee. But that changes from time to time as I´m impressed by so many different painters.
Apart from all that, I really love going to places like "Hackesche Höfe", together with friends of course,and sitting somewhere there. Nothing is better than having "profound"or silly conversations with a good friend while having a few glasses of wine. I started to discover the Berlin night life this year and am (so far) quite fascinated by it and its different ways.
My aims in life are to be happy with the people I like, to be able to love and trust, to get somewhere with my music and to improve my surfing and Haecki-Sack abilities (most important of course*) .

My personal slogan for this period of my life: Live every day as if it were the last and learn every day as if you lived forever. (Sep 2000)

Return to the top of the page

Send me an e-mail !

Educating Rita - A Love Story ?

To answer the question whether or not Willy Russell actually wrote a love story as he intended to do, we have to consider certain aspects. We will find two totally different main characters in Frank and Rita and therefore will be dealing with completely different ways of behaviour and reaction. By interpreting their statements and actions it might be possible to find some kind of conclusion.

To begin with it is possible to say that Educating Rita does not seem to be a love story in a common sense. Nevertheless there are signs that Frank becomes more and more interested in Rita and her fate. She has got a refreshing effect on him, which is caused by her naivety, enthusiasm and very own way of talking about and experiencing literature. In act 1, scene 2 he tells her how much he wished she had walked in twenty years before. Especially at the beginning of their acquaintance Rita is used to telling him almost everything about her life, very much so about private matters. But as she becomes more "educated" and changes her feelings towards literature, which becomes less important for her, Frank almost starts insisting on knowing everything about her situation.

In scene 8 she is late for the lesson, because she has just been thrown out by her husband, and Frank is very much concerned about her and her situation. But Rita is much more concerned about her Macbeth essay and is rather interested in Frank´s opinion on it than in anything else. What she expects from Frank is criticism and support, whereas he wants to be allowed in taking part in her life. This scene already shows how different their intentions are.

Other signs of Frank´s feelings towards Rita are given in scene 2 of act . She has been late for the lesson and Frank realizes that she changed her way of talking, is trying to talk and act in a more sophisticated manner. He is shocked by this development. There is also a touch of jealousy in this scene. Rita has been telling him about her conversation with other students particularly with one of them named Tyson/Tiger.

Frank: "Is there any point in working towards an examination if you´re going to fall in love. (...) All right, but please stop burbling on about Mr Tyson."

Another time he is deeply hurt when he finds out that Rita had changed her job without having told him anything about it (Act 2, Scene 4).

How much he really feels for her becomes clear when he asks her to accompany him on his way to Australia. But Rita has already got her own ideas and plans and is ready to start her new life.

Is "Educating Rita" a love story?

For a start there are elements of love, undoubtedly. Certainly on Frank´s side, but there don´t seem to be any on Rita´s side. Two different people with different lives and expectations. Two people that are about to start their life new. They have exchanged things between one another and now they are ready to go separate ways.

Probably it is not so much of a love story, but a story about hope, a new beginning including emotional aspects and the meeting two different worlds. It is left to every single reader to make up their own opinion - a question of individual interpretation.

Email in response: I would like to comment on your analysis of the play "Educating Rita". I have read it at school in my English LK class. We discussed this question you were dealing with as well.
I would like to start in the assertion of Frank not being in love with Rita. Certainly you're right in saying that he cares a lot about her and is enormously interested in her life. Nevertheless I claim that this interest of Frank's emerges from his disappointment of his life and job as a teacher. He needs someone like Rita to make his life more interesting and fulfilled. He does ask Rita to accompany her on his trip to Australia, but certainly more as a close friend. I do not believe that his desire towards Rita is of any sexual nature. I am strongly convinced that his concern towards Rita is only because of her refreshing, hilarious and character traits. These things specify a deep true friendship and that´s all it is between Frank and Rita. (Margarita F., Essen. March 2006)

Return to the top of the page

What´s your view ? Tell me !

Eliza´s public rehearsal shows encouraging results

Some time has passed since Eliza, one of the main characters in Shaw´s Pygmalion, moved in with Mr. Higgins and Colonel Pickering to get taught by Higgins. He has been working hard on changing her from an ordinary flower girl to a respectable young lady that is well able to take part in the social life of the upper Victorian society. He mainly concentrated on removing her accent and on teaching her how to speak proper English, but she has also been told certain rules of behaviour. Mrs Higgins´s at-home afternoon is the first public event in which Eliza takes part - her first proper rehearsal.

Eliza´s appearance seems quite remarkable and the people gathered are impressed by her beauty. As far as behaviour and language are concerned, she is doing well at the beginning. She has been given strict instructions by Higgins to talk about the weather and people´s health but nothing else.

Although she`s communicating within those two topics, she isn´t really able to understand the rules of a proper small talk, yet. In all her answers she seems to exaggerate as she goes very much into detail when she´s asked about the weather, for example. It is not just the words or expressions she uses, but also her tendency to tell Mrs Higgins and her guests lots of personal almost intimate details about her family and their way of life. Though she is talking within a "right" topic ( her aunt´s health), she does not spare any details- all in all a not very common talk at an at-home day.

Nevertheless, the result of her first debut in society is not too bad as Higgins was well able to rescue her at certain points. He even managed to concern another young lady, Ms Eynesford-Hill that Eliza`s unusual expressions was the new way of small talk. It is remarkable that at this event Eliza meets up again with Freddy and his family who last saw her as a poor flower girl in front of the theatre. But even though she seems familiar to them, they do not recognize her, which shows that she really has changed quite a lot already.

All in all it was a successful first step towards their aim.

Return to the top of the page

What´s your view ? Tell me !

"Lord of the Flies" by William Golding and its connection to modern society

The plot

"Lord of the Flies" is a novel that, though first published in 1954, refers to important issues of modern society. A group of schoolboys lost on a tropical island tries to cope with the situation by forming some kind of democratic society which later on degenerates into violence and terror. How could that happen and why is there so much of a modern aspect in this piece of literature? Is our society similar to theirs?

Symbolic values

The symbolic value of "Lord of the Flies" or one of the values is the beginning and the end of a democratic society that is described in his novel. A meeting of totally different characters takes place on the island. As long as they are trying to organize their life, to make a certain system work, they seem to be able to cope with almost everything.

Problems between the two leading characters

But then problems arise. They stop acctepting that they need to follow certain rules to keep a form of civilized society going. Here we find an important political issue. As long as the two leading characters of Ralph and Jack are working together and sharing their responsibility, the system works. As the plot moves on Jack doesn´t want to accept Ralph´s authority anymore. The group is split into two parts. From the view of the boys Ralph fails as a leader. He fails to protect them. But why did he become their leader in the first place? What made them choose him?

Symbols

Here is another symbol that is important. They chose him, because when they first met, he was the one who had the conch. From then on it was always necessary to be in possession of the conch if one of them wanted to make a speech in their assemblies. Golding refers to our society by this by making the conch a symbol. How do we choose our leaders? Are we as much dependend on symbols? We need things to believe in. For example there´s the Bible to strengthen our belief in god. Generally religion seems to be based on several rituals - all kinds of different religions. The symbols of royalship, the symbol of a queen or a king for example, are crowns. It´s those "small" things that show us their authority.

Change from democracy to anarchy

Jack becomes the tyrant in their society. He doesn´t accept their rituals, such as blowing the conch before speaking in their assemblies. He gives them the feeling of being able to protect them. Those who obey him and respect him don´t need to be afraid of him. Maybe that´s how he wins their loyality. His main aim is not in the future - the aim of being rescued, it´s to hunt, to have festivals, it´s very much in the present and show that he´s not aware of any kind of responsibility for the others.

Isn´t there a hint to our society as well?

We have seen in the past that people who are scared of somebody, a leader perhaps, tend to follow him almost blindly. That´s because they respect him. Nobody will ever dare breaking any rules that have been made by the dictator. There is no questioning of his actions, so there are no arguments and no discussions whether he´s right or wrong. Once he´s established as a leader, most people tend to obey. There also seems to be a tendency of people of doing and supporting the more comfortable thing more likely than the more sensible but less pleasing thing. For example Ralph wants them to keep the fire going as this is their chance of getting rescued. This is just a hard and boring piece of work for them that requires that they understand the sense and need of it. Jack on the other hand, wants them to hunt, so that they can have meat whenever they want to.

First of all the action of hunting is much more fun to them than keeping the fire going. Secondly, having meat to eat is something that affects their present life while the fire doesn´t even mean that they´ll be rescued at once.

The boys´ situation compared to our society (politics)

Isn´t there a similarity to politics in general? If there´s an election, the candidates promise all sorts of improvements. Normally there´s no talk about things that will have to be done later on in the future. It´s more the present situation that matters.

The dictator

I was talking about rituals earlier on. Jack has also got rituals or rather rites that they celebrate.But in contrast to Ralph´s rituals they carried out his leading position. By all this Golding shows us how difficult it is to keep a proper democracy going. Nobody will ever be totally satisfied with everything in a democracy. Whilst in this sort of anarchy that is formed by Jack, people will just stop thinking, stop accepting their own responsibility and will just follow. Those very few others who have still got their own opinion and therefore don´t fit in the community will be hunted, maybe even killed.

Moral aspects

There also is a very important moral aspect, Golding is talking about. When the boys arrived, they found some sort of paradise. They didn´t have to fight for their survival. Nevertheless the end is a big disaster. Why? There are no factors from outside that destroy them. All the problems are made by them. They themselves are to blame for the destruction of the democratic society. And that is, from Golding`s point of view, because they are humans.

Conclusion

All in all, though it´s somehow pessimistic what Golding tells us by his novel, his message seems to be true. Humans will always be driven by something deep inside of them that can even destroy a paradise. I understand Golding´s view. There will never be a time when we can just lean back and be happy with what we have achieved. Because even if there isn´t a war right now - that could always change. Maybe the evil inside a human is not as strong as Golding thinks it is, but it´s definitely there. So we will always have to be careful and to watch out for things or people that could destroy an existing democratic society. |

Return to the top of the page

What´s your view ? Tell me !

The Dream of African Americans in the poetry of Arna Bontemps

A Black Man Talks of Reaping

I have sown beside all waters in my day.

I planted deep, within my heart the fear

that wind or fowl would take the grain away.

I planted safe against this stark, lean year.

I scattered seed enough to plant the land

in rows from Canada to Mexico

but for my reaping only what the hand

can hold at once is all that I can show.

Yet what I sowed and what the orchard yields

my brother's sons are gathering stalk and root;

small wonder then my children glean in fields

they have not sown, and feed on bitter fruit.

Arna Bontemps

The poem "A Black Man Talks of Reaping" by Arna Bontemps deals with the problem of black people being oppressed by Whites. Arna Bontemps was born in Alexandria, Lousiana, in1902 and as a youth moved with his family to California as part of the great migration of that period. Knowing that the poet himself was part of a core of young Black writers who led the "New Negro Movement" we will find it easier to interpret his work.

Basically he gives us a description of the fear involved in the African American life. The lines "I planted deep, within my heart the fear that wind or fowl would take the grain away..." supports this assumption. "Wind" and "Fowl" have to be seen as symbols for the continued oppression of the Blacks. This shows the awarness of the fact that what was planted will easily be taken away by the Whites. Therefore we can see that all the effort that is made by the Blacks, all their hard work never guarantees them any success or even progress.

The following passage makes even clearer how difficult their situation really is, "I scattered seed enough to plant the land in rows from Canada to Mexico but for my reaping only what the hand can hold at once is all that I can show". These lines point out that there is no real balance between the effort they make and the gain they finally get out of it. So on one hand we are shown the word the African Americans have done to advance themselves and the work that is needed for them to reach "the hill", on the other hand there is the feeling of helplessness they are dealing with.
Somehow there doesn´t seem to be any justice at all. The last line "...they (his children) have not sown, and feed on bitter fruit" undermines the severity of their life and also shows that there is no progress visible not even for the next generation. So did black people at all have the chance to fulfill their American Dream at that time, did they have the opportunity to dream at all? It doesn´t seem so. Somehow there doesn´t seem to be equality of chances for everybody. How did an African American´s "American Dream " look like?

Return to the top of the page

What´s your view ? Tell me !

E.A.Robinson: The Dream is not only about money

The

The poem "Richard Cory" by Edwin Arlington Robinson seems to question the whole matter about the American Dream. "Money can´t buy happiness!" could be its main statement.
The character, Richard Cory, is rich, smart, admirable (..."And he was rich-yes, richer than a king- And admirably schooled in every grace"), friendly (..."And he was always human when he talked...") and apparently unbearably lonely (..."And Richard Cory, one calm summer night, went home and put a bullet through his head."). He is envied by those who encounter him. They feel his power, know his intelligence, don´t doubt his happiness, see all his money and obviously even think that living like him would bring total happiness. Therefore they end up keeping their distance.
But his money neither bought him happiness nor brought him friends, Richard Cory was all by himself. But isn´t that what the American Dream mostly is about: money ?
Didn´t Richard Cory therefore fulfill his American Dream? Is that what all the people who are longing to fulfill their American Dream are aiming for? Maybe most of them assume that once they have become rich happiness will follow. Do people at all remember what they are searching for?

Richard Cory

by Edwin Arlington Robinson

(1869 - 1935)

Whenever Richard Cory went down town,

We people on the pavement looked at him:

He was a gentleman from sole to crown,

Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed,

And he was always human when he talked;

But still he fluttered pulses when he said,

"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.

And he was rich - yes, richer than a king -

And admirably schooled in every grace;

In fine we thought that he was everything

To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked, and waited for the light,

And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;

And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,

Went home and put a bullet through his head.

Return to the top of the page

What´s your view ? Tell me !

It is the potential victim we have to care for

It seems an illusion to think everybody could be stopped from committing a crime

It is often discussed how the policy for proper management of crime could be improved, how people´s safety could be ensured even more. Nevertheless, it is remarkable that these discussions always come up when a severe crime has happened, but then gradually ease off after a while. Politicians are usually busy with the problem as long as the press is concerned about particular cases and the public is in turmoil, but then seem to lose interest rapidly once people´s emotions have calmed down again.

Especially in Germany people are more and more dissatisfied with the government´s policy concerning the punishment of crimes. One could think that in our system there´s more protection for the culprit than for the victim. People who are sentenced for life usually come out of prison after 15 years, sometimes possibly still being a threat to society. Convicted rapists are allowed to
leave prison for a walk which they then could practically use (and unfortunately sometimes do!) to rape another young girl and then maybe even to kill her afterwards. If we hear things like that in the news, we must ask ourselves whether there´s something wrong in our judicial system, in our method of managing crimes. But are we, on the other hand, allowed to keep somebody in prison forever just to keep the risk down that something could happen again? This is another questions politicians have to consider when they are searching for a solution of the problem. Would the fact of knowing that there could be even harder punishment stop somebody from committing a crime? In this case the statistics of crimes committed should be very low in the USA seeing the Death Penalty as the most severe punishment possible. But does it really work like that? Is not the fact of knowing that one could be sentenced to spending one´s whole life in prison be enough?

I think that in severe cases the convicts should be forced to spend their whole life in prison, because otherwise the risk would be too high that they could commit another crime after their time in prison. I agree with those who say that it is the potential victim we have to care for the most. In my opinion the death penalty is certainly not the key to real management of crime. Nevertheless, safety should be guaranteed to everybody as much as possible. Therefore politicians should work out a method how this can be guaranteed to people. It would be an illusion to think that it could be possible to stop absolutely everybody from committing a crime, but it should be possible to find an adequate punishment for every crime, which then ensures that a convict will not be able to commit a crime ever again and maybe even stops at least some people from doing it at all.

Politicians could certainly find the key for real management of crime if they managed to keep busy with the problem for a longer period of time and not just dealt with it because they are forced to do so by the public and not just because there is an election coming up.

Return to the top of the page

What´s your view ? Tell me !