Thursday, January 30, 2020

Educating Rita Essay Example for Free

Educating Rita Essay Willy Russel’s 1985 play Educating Rita is a story of a women’s struggle escape her repetitive boring working class life and move into a wider, educated world. Russel uses characters, settings and many techniques to effectively explore this potentially difficult topic in an interesting and entertaining way. ‘Into the world’ is a potentially difficult topic in that it involves person, life-changing events that may become hard for the audience to relate to or understand. Russel avoids these problems by challenging stereotypes and melodrama by using characters in an interesting way. The play is a two-hander which means that only two characters are speaking in the play. By having only these two characters, it keeps the audience engaged and they become more familiar with the characters and can relate to them easier, engaging the audience. Other characters are mentioned, but are never seen in the actual play. The outside world is only seen through Franks and Rita’s eyes, which interests the audience into learning the characters struggles and experiences. Russel uses very good stage settings to make the play more interesting. The whole play being set in one room, Frank’s office, is not very common in theatres or plays. Having this shocks the audience and instantly becomes more interesting because of its difference. On a symbolic level, the furniture is very interesting. The squeaky door represents a Frank’s barrier, and isolation from the outside world. The window, although transparent, represents a weaker barrier he has with his students. However, Rita finds her way in; showing her determination from Frank’s lost spirit. This struggle of becoming a more educated person becomes interesting for the audience as they can compare it their own struggles Since the play has only two characters involved, the audience becomes very close to these characters, which makes it more interesting and entertaining. Rita is a working class person who has a strong desire to learn â€Å"everything†. Her character is very entertaining because of how real and believable her character is. Her passion and very ‘out there’ personality drives her into pushing frank to teach her. This is seen when she oils the door, making it easier for her to enter into Franks office, or in a symbolic sense, remove and barriers. Humour is seen very much throughout the play. Rita, being very outspoken, says what is on her mind and speaks the truth about what she thinks. Coming from a lower class then Frank, her understanding of certain things adds humour to the play, making it entertaining for the audience. This type of humour is displayed in the opening scene â€Å"Is it supposed to be erotic This was the pornography of its day, wasn’t it? when Rita is referring to a religious nude painting. Although being very outspoken, Frank realises her truthfulness and laughs. It is entertaining for the audience for someone from the working class to say their opinions on a religious artwork without taking into any consideration of what it might represent or what value it might be worth. Humour is also seen through Frank to make this play more entertaining. Frank, being a grumpy old teacher, is sick of his boring life. He constantly hides his whisky behind books , â€Å"Dickens† which can symbolise his shame. Frank uses a lot of sarcasm which makes this play more entertaining for the audience: â€Å"Yes, that’s it, just pop off and put your head in the oven†. Another aspect of this play which makes it interesting is that fact that the characters challenge stereotypes. Russel has portrayed Frank as a smart, sophisticated teacher who would not do much wrong. However, he hides alcohol behind high-level education books. By challenging a stereotype like this, it keeps the audience on their toes in wondering what he will do next. Characters of his knowledge are stereotypically portrayed as happily married, however he is not. This is seen by him constantly going to the pub and drinking throughout the play. The plot of Educating Rita is a potentially difficult topic to make interesting and entertaining to the reader. The overall plot is Rita learning as much as she can from a grumpy old teacher who isn’t happy with his life, but thinks that Rita is a fresh breath into his office. This story is very interesting because it makes a potentially difficult topic into a comedy, which makes it entertaining. Rita’s accent fits very well with the plot of a lower class person trying to achieve a better education, but is very unusual to see in a theatre play. However, because of the accent, the audience becomes interested in the difference. Another aspect that Russel focuses on is avoiding melodrama. In many plays and shows seen today, the drama in the story is blown up and over exaggerated. However, in educating Rita it is completely opposite. This is seen when Rita and Denny fight. Frank says â€Å"Let’s leave it for tonight. Let’s go to the pub and drink pots of Guinness and talk. † Rita then replies with â€Å"I’ve got to do this Frank. I’ve got to. †Her strong passion motivates and interests the audience because they may have faced similar struggles. Although Into the World is a very difficult topic to achieve, Russel has managed to make it both interesting and entertaining. Two-hander plays are difficult to capture personal changes however through plot, characters, symbolism and the idea of challenging stereotypes, Russel is able to turn it into an engaging story.

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

The Stock Market Essay examples -- Economy, Malaysia, Capital Market

The economic conditions were not that favourable during the financial crisis in 1997. Instability in the international financial markets in turn spilled over into the domestic financial markets. Continued waves of adjustment in both the currency and stock markets, coupled with the decline in domestic and export demand subsequently prompted a shift to more growth promoting policies. One of the institutions that affected was Malaysian stock market. In general, Malaysia stock market contributes to the best allocation of capital resources among numerous users. The roles of the stock market are mainly to facilitate and encourage the mobilization of funds, direct them towards efficient economic activities, provide adequate liquidity for investors and encourage the creation of large-scale enterprises, The Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange Index (CI) is the most popular indicator of the Kuala Lumpur stock market performance. The CI represents share prices of 100 Corporations. These companies are chosen because their operations cover a broad spectrum of economic performance in Malaysia and more significantly reflect stock market activities with fair accuracy, Stock prices depend on the supply and demand for the stock, it causes by the factors that stock prices to be more volatile is limited supply of new issues despite of strong demand for the stocks. This restriction of supply leads to more price fluctuations, which are common to all stock markets. However, two things prevent an infinite price increase in the stock market. Firs tly, the amount of money available in any country is finite. As the bull market proceeds, more and more of the country’s savings are invested in the stock market and eventually the people involved might face liquidity... ...economic variables for emerging economies. At all, the studies have shown the existence of a weak form of market efficiency among the EMFs for respective periods of study and countries. Recently the studies done examine the cointegration between macroeconomic variables and stock prices in order to test for the informational efficient market hypothesis. All the studies are covering on the period before the financial crises in July 1997. However, there is no attempt to study the cointegration between the variables and the stock market after the financial crisis. Hence, this study investigate the relationship between stock market returns and underlying macroeconomic variables, for the Malaysia as country known as a member of ASEAN for the period after the Asian financial crises, to determine whether or not the weak form of market efficiency to exist in Malaysia.

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

American Right

The movement of the American people that effected change during the American civil rights years is the African American civil rights movement of 1955 to 1968. This normally refers to reform movement in United States that had the aim of abolishing the ongoing racial discrimination of the African Americans. This is the period particularly in between 1954-1968 that covers the phases of movements in the south.By the year 1966 the black power movement had emerged that lasted approximately in between 1966 to 1975, this movements had grown in large sizes and had realized the need for civil right movement to include political and economic self sufficiency, racial dignity and freedom from the on going white authority. There are many scholars who term the movements as the second reconstruction, meaning that the period of reconstruction after civil war. In 19th century, the democratically controlled states that were mainly located at the south passed laws that were racially discriminating.It wa s not particularly I the south, but also in other regions of the United States, the racial discrimination and violence that aimed at the African Americans. The period is also called the nadir of American race relations sometimes; this is because the hired, appointed and the elected government officials began to permit or allow discrimination the united states of Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, florid, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee, Kansas and Oklahoma. The permitted or required acts and levels of discriminations against the African Americans mostly fell in the following four categories:1. Racial segregation that was upheld by United States supreme courts decisions in Plessey versus Fergusson in the year 1896. That was legally allowed by the southern states and many other local governments that were outside the south. 2. Voter suppression in most of the southern states. 3. Discrimination against the economic and social opportunities or the resou rces in the whole of the United States. 4. Mass racial acts of violence and private work of violence that was aimed to the African Americans, all these acts were seldom hindered and often encouraged the government official of the United States.Jim Crow was the name given to the combination of the southern states that were actively committed to the racial discrimination. The regime of Jim Crow in the southern states remained nearly intact up to the near the beginning of 1950s and greatly contributed to the great migration. The great migration was a solid northward flow of the African Americans forwards. The situation, in terms of racial discrimination, for the African Americans was some how better for those who did not live in the south. The civil rights movements that came before 1955 normally confronted African Americans discrimination using various strategies.Some of the strategies were lobbying and litigation efforts by organization that were traditional such as the National Asso ciation for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The greatest achievement of this traditional association was the lawful victory in brown versus board of education (1954) that overruled the separate and installed equal legal doctrine and was derived from Plessey, this made separation and segregation lawfully unallowable but there was rare or no practical example from the equal legal doctrine.The browns victory made the private citizen very invigorated but there was a lot of frustration because there were no immediate practical effects. This further led to rejection of the legal approaches as a mean of ending the racial discrimination, but still there was great resistance by the proponents of voter suppression and those of racial segregation. In defiance, there was adoption of a combination of strategies of direct actions that was called civil disobedience that was a non violent, these actions brought about a lot of crisis between the practitioners and the government authoritie s.The state, federal authorities and the local authorities had often to respond instantly to the crisis and the results were favoring of the practitioners in many situations. Civil disobedience forms included: 1. Boycotts, the most successful boycott were the 1955-1956 Montgomery bus boycott in Alabama. 2. sit –ins, the most influential sit-in was the North Carolina Greensboro sit – in of 1965 3. Marches, the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches of Alabama are one of the notable marches.The noted achievements of the civil right movements includes the 1957 civil right act, though it was minor, it was the earliest anti discriminatory law established since reconstruction, the 1964 civil rights act that banned the discrimination in public accommodation and employment practices, the 1965 voting right act that changes the united states immigration policy and the 1968 civil rights act that made it illegal in discrimination in rental or sale of housing REFERENCES Juan Williams, (1 988) Eyes on the Prize: America's civil rights years 1954-1965, Penguin books publishers, US

Monday, January 6, 2020

The importance of violence in A Good Man is Hard to Find...

The Importance of Violence in A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O Connor. In the story A Good Man is Hard to Find, Flannery O Connor uses violence as a force of both good and evil to demonstrate how people s attitudes and perspectives of life change when they are faced with a situation of violent danger. The story is about a family of six who, on their way to Florida are murdered by an escaped convict who calls himself the Misfit. The characters include the grandmother, her son Bailey, his wife and their children John Wesley, June Star and the baby. In society violence is generally looked upon as evil because it is believed that no good can result from violence. When looking at the occurrence of violence in A Good Man†¦show more content†¦We see how the violent situation is beginning to effect her attitude when she reaches to adjust the brim of her hat and it comes off in her hand. She lets the hat fall to the ground, something she would or never have allowed to happen before. Later in the story the grandmother has an epiphany, a sort of moment of grace(344), in which she becomes confused and realizes that she is no better than anyone else. She sees that everyone is equal, tied together through kinship. ThisShow MoreRelatedFlannery OConnors A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Revelation1436 Words   |  6 Pagesconflicts of violence and racism, which is observed in the perspective of black and white individuals. Some of the most familiar southern authors are William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, and Cormac McCarthy. One author in particular, Flannery O’Connor, is a remarkable author, who directly reflects upon southern grotesque within her two short stories, â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† and â€Å"Revelation.† These two short stories are very similar to each other, which is why I believe that O’Connor often writesRead MorePsychoanalytical Criticism of â€Å"a Good Man Is Hard to Find†1403 Words   |  6 PagesPsychoanalytical Criticism of â€Å"A Good Man Is Hard To Find† A seemingly innocent family vacation can turn into a disaster if the members of the family only care about themselves. In the story â€Å"A Good Man Is Hard To Find† by Flannery O’Connor, a self-absorbed Grandmother, too consumed with her own opinions, fails to address the views, feelings and overall well being of others. Her family is not much different in their self-interested ways. 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Without this premise most of her work would be impossible to interpret and understand. With her Christian background at the forefront, the reader can interpret and synthesis her story out rightly. In life’s spiritual journey it often takes a personal crisis to awaken the spiritual sensesRead MoreThe Cask Of Amontillado, By Edgar Allan Poe Essay1144 Words   |  5 PagesThe Antagonists in â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† and â€Å"A Good Man Is Hard to Find† In â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† by Edgar Allan Poe and in â€Å"A Good Man Is Hard to Find,† by Flannery O’Connor, the two central figures that drive the plot, and add the most cohesion to their respective stories are Montresor and The Misfit. Poe and O’Connor knew the importance of catching and maintaining the reader’s attention, so they did so through crafting the perfect flawed villains. Without these similar yet inherentlyRead MoreA Good Man Is Hard And Find By Flannery O Connor Essay1478 Words   |  6 PagesThroughout the short story, â€Å"A Good Man Is Hard To Find,† O’Connor uses a Grandmother to convey to the readers the actually value of goodness an individual tends to gain when confronted with death. Just as revealed in the short story, violence frequently triggers an individual’s actions when presented with death. In â€Å"A Good Man Is Hard To Find,† Flannery O’Connor uses theme, conflict, and rel igion in order to portray the false acts of goodness projected by the grandmother. Violence and the indefinable definition