Rita: Trish says that no matter how hard I find it I must persevere.
Frank: Well will you kindly tell Trish that I am not going to give a tutorial to a dalek?
This is just another indication to how fed up and stressed Frank is despite his holiday in France he has just been on. Frank has quite a short temper as is shown over and over again in the novel.
Rita finds it a lot easier to discuss literature more confidently since she went to summer school. While at summer school, Rita had the time of her life leaning a lot of new things such as poems by Blake. Rita was now able to recite one of Blake’s poems. This hurts Frank in many ways just showing how much Rita’s education has come on and how jealous he is not being like a father figure and looking after her.
At the start of the play Rita and Frank get on like a house on fire, going so far as to invite each other to dinner parties and going to the theatre together. Part way through act 2 there is a sudden change in the relationship, something goes cold.
Frank: And so you finished him off, did you, Rita?
Rita: Frank, he was askin’ for it. He was an idiot.
After this initial argument everything goes down hill. Rita announces that there is a possibility that she will be going on holiday with her newfound friend, Tyson.
Frank: Is there much point in working towards an examination if you’re going to fall in love and set off for the south of …
Frank is very clearly jealous that he thinks she likes somebody else. However, in reality that is the last thing on her mind at the moment as she has he mind very firmly fixed on her target of passing her exams. Later on in the passage Frank hands Rita back an essay that she completed.
Rita: What’s it like?
Frank: Oh – it – erm - wouldn’t look out of place with these.
At long last Rita has reached her goal, her work is at the standard of the real students and Frank is extremely disappointed. He doesn’t want to move on. He was happy with the way things were going and he could see, in his head the day in the not so far away future where Rita would leave for the final time. Frank cared for Rita in a very many ways.
Frank: Because – because I care for you – I want you to care for yourself.
Frank has reached a stage that he is totally against what Rita is turning into, and Rita can’t stand the way Frank behaves and his attitude to life. At the next tutorial Frank is extremely drunk. Alcohol plays a huge part in the play as all Frank’s troubles are related to it. Rita had been brought up around drunken louts and the last thing she finds is Frank funny, she thinks he is actually highly boring. Their views about each other had completely changed
Despite this Rita still has some feelings for Frank. She cares for Frank despite the fact that she is annoyed. However you could look at it from another perspective and see that she is trying to get away from him as she doesn’t want to spend time with him anymore.
Rita: Frank, you’re not in any fit state for a tutorial. I’ll leave it with y’ an’ we can talk about it next week, eh?
I get the impression that Rita doesn’t want to spend time with Frank, almost as if she is embarrased to be seen in public with him. This is completely the opposite to what she was like at the start of the play when she would do anything for Frank to spend time with her.
Once again Rita shows herself to be an exceptional student as she talks about ‘The Blossom’. Frank believes that Rita was an A* grade student.
Rita: It becomes a more rewarding poem when you see that it works on different levels.
Rita: Yeh, that’s what you say, Frank; but Trish and me and some others were talkin’ the other night, about Blake, an’ what came out of our discussion was that apart from the simple surface value of blake’s poetry there’s always like erm – erm.
Frank critisises Rita’s essay because there is nothing of her own work in there. Rita hits strait back at Frank telling him he doesn’t like it because there are none of his views in the essay. Rita is very correct as previously frank had critised her for only putting her views in the essay. This is the first of many quarrels that were to follow.
