Our Day Out by Willy Russel - Scene 31 Conway Castle Analysis

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Matt Speak - 11.6 - Codsall Community High School - English Literature Coursework - 28th Sept 2001

Our Day Out by Willy Russel - Scene 31 Conway Castle

I N T R O D U C T I O N

Analysis      

Original Text:

Mrs Kay: I was talking to those children.

Briggs: Yes, and I'm talking to you, Mrs Kay. It's got to stop, this has.

Mrs Kay: What has?

Briggs: What has? Can't y' see what's goin' on? It's a shambles, the whole ill organised affair. look at what they did at the zoo. Just look at them here.

[All around the castle they can see, from where they sit, kids running, pulling, laughing and shouting]

They're left to race and chase and play havoc. Go knows what the castle authorities must think. look, when you bring children like ours into this sort of environment you can't afford to just let them go free. They're just like town dogs let off the lead in the country. My god, for some of them it's the first time they have been further than Birkenhead.

Mrs Kay: [Quietly] I know. And I was just thinking; it's a shame really, isn't it, eh? You know, we bring them into a crumbling pile of bricks and mortar and they think they are in the fields of heaven.

[Pause. He glares at her]

Briggs: [Accusing] You are on their side aren't you?

Mrs Kay: [Looking at him] Absolutely, Mr Briggs. Absolutely!

Briggs: Look! All I want from you is what you're going to do about this chaos.

Mrs Kay: Well, I'd suggest that if you want the chaos to stop, then you should stop seeing it as chaos. All right, the headmaster asked you to come along - but can't you relax? There's no point in pretending that a day out to Wales is going to furnish them with the education they should have had long ago. It's too late for them. Most of them were rejects on the day they were born, Mr Briggs. We're not going to solve anything today. Can't we just try and give them a good day out? At least we can try and do that.

Briggs: [The castle looming behind him] Well, that's a fine attitude isn't it? That's a fine attitude for a member of the teaching profession to have.

 

[End of original text]

Use this episode to explain what you have learnt about the two characters attitudes towards their pupils and how this is presented. Refer to the wilder play, if possible, to illustrate your points.

Viewpoint

Write two separate reports to the head teacher from Mrs Kay and Mr Briggs, outlining the events of the day. decide which details each teacher would choose to include or omit. Write the entries using the style and language which represents each teachers attitude.

S T A R T   O F   C O U R S E W O R K   T E X T

ANALYSIS

From start to finish the attitude of Mrs Kay is that she is child centered, as Mr Briggs puts it "You are on their side.."

 At the start of the extract she insists the children have priority, saying "I was talking to those children", she feels angry that Mr Briggs has interrupted her conversation with the people who she is more closer to than Mr Briggs.

 When Mr Briggs told her that the trip was 'a shambles, the whole ill organised affair' she was probably offended by this comment, as it made her sound very incapable and useless, but she keeps her calm. When he finally finishes patronising Mrs Kay she replies calmly with a rhetorical question: "I know. And I was just thinking; and it's shame really isn't it eh?" She hits back with a rhetorical question because she knows she is right, the children are in the fields of heaven, they are smiling and having fun, because they are away from the poverty stricken place they call home.

 This translates her as an intelligent, thoughtful, compassionate and what I think is the best quality about her - sense of justice.

 Then Mr Briggs asks her if she is on their side, she obviously answers with "Absolutely, Mr Briggs, Absolutely!", this is because again she is child centered.

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 Mrs Kay is also honest, "There's no point in pretending.........Most of them were rejects from the day they were born."

 This was due to the family (mostly single parent situations), upbringing they had and the economical and social background they had. Mrs Kay understood and realised this, earlier in the play Carol asked Mrs Kay if she would ever have the chance of following her ambitions, she answered honestly, without lying.

 What Mrs Kay want's to do is show them places that some will not even see again, giving them a break from the deprivation they lead at home in ...

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