It isn’t just me that thinks of Mr. Briggs as arrogant because on page 18 of the book Les the lollypop man says, ‘“Arrogant get!” As Mr. Briggs speeds past in his car.’ This shows his reputation precedes him and that he doesn’t care what others think about him. Mr. Briggs is immediately annoyed at the sight of the unruly kids. He has a strict, tough exterior so the headmaster sends him on the trip to keep an eye on things.
As the play progresses Mrs. Kay and Mr. Briggs change.
In scenes 14-21 Mr. Briggs wants to be orderly. He always wants to be in control of the situation, he doesn’t appear to know how to relax. Mrs. Kay on the other hand is the complete opposite; she believes that they (the children) should be left to do what they want as long as its fun.
Both teachers know that they will steal from the café, but Mr, Briggs isn’t being as naïve about it, he’s saying that they need to be with the kids to make sure they are good Mrs. Kay on the other hand doesn’t care as much she thinks they should let the kids steal. This tells the reader that although she is a motherly figure the children can do what they want even break the law!
Throughout the next few scenes Mr. Briggs is more tolerant and relaxed with the kids; instead of shouting at them he talks to them, he’s also giving them trust and responsibility on page 48 he proves this by saying, “Ah, can I though? If I go for a coffee with Mrs. Kay can you be trusted to act responsibly?”
[Chorus of “YES SIR!”]
“Alright Mrs. Kay we’ll trust them to act responsibly.”
All this proves that he is starting to relax and trust the kids to walk around the zoo without supervision.
Then Mr. Briggs completely changes when he gets told that the kids have stolen animals from the zoo, the authors directions build up the dramatic effect, because it helps describe the general mood of the scene and it helps describe the look upon someone’s face. Like on page 52 when Mr. Briggs is told that the children have stolen the animals, “[They walk away and Mr. Briggs climbs onto the coach. His face like thunder].”
This imparticular direction is very powerful, Mr. Briggs has gone from being nice and trusting the children too the complete opposite; he almost seems evil.
When Mr. Briggs gets on the bus there was complete silence then he says, “I trusted you lot. {Pause} I trusted you.” This makes the reader realise that he isn’t just angry he is upset.
During each pause none of the children or teachers knew what he was going to do next and that scared all of them and it also made the reader uncomfortable.
In a part of Scene 31 Mrs. Kay looses her temper with Mr. Briggs for the first time. She wants Mr. Briggs to relax and let the kids have a nice day out, but Mr. Briggs wants control and order, he also wants to try and teach them how to behave properly.
Mrs. Kay says, “...I’d suggest that if you want the chaos to stop then you should stop seeing it as chaos… 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 the day they were born, Mr Briggs. We’re not going to solve anything today…”
This speech suggests that she’s giving up on the kids and although she’s like a mother figure to them she doesn’t really care about what happens to them just like she didn’t care when the children were stealing.
Mr. Briggs didn’t like Mrs. Kay’s attitude and after telling her this Mrs. Kay ‘(starts to lose her temper ever so slightly)’ “Well what’s the alternative? Eh? Do you really think there’s any point in pretending? Even if you cared do you think you could educate these kids, my remedial kids? Because you’re a fool if you do. You won’t educate them because nobody wants them educating…”
This tells us that Mrs. Kay isn’t happy with the way things are run, and there isn’t any point to have the children in school.
After this argument they take the children to the beach and Carol goes missing just before they are ready to go.
The Cliff scene is the most dramatic scene out of the whole play, as the writer puts a girl on the edge of a cliff having an argument with the one teacher she hates, threatening to jump over the edge if he comes any closer. This immediately creates tension, the reader is always thinking will she or won’t she jump and what will Mr. Briggs the strict, horrid teacher do next?
When Mr. Briggs first approaches Carol he is aggressive, angry and intolerant he shouts at her to tell her to get back down to the beach.
After Carol tells Mr. Briggs that she wants to stay in Wales and if he comes one-step closer that she will jump over the edge he becomes more caring it shows on page 38 when he says “Stay here? How could you stay here? What would you do? Where would you live?…”
“You hate me!”
“Don’t be ridiculous – just because I’m a school teacher doesn’t mean to say that….”
“Don’t lie you I know you hate me!… You hate all the kids”
(Carol turns again to the sea dismissing him)
After this Mr. Briggs starts to be more tolerant, less angry and aggressive he seems to be more caring.
“Look… Carol… you’re talking as though you’ve given up on life already. You sound as though life for you is just ending instead of just beginning.” This short sentence shows the reader that he wants her to stop considering her life as over and try to realise it is just beginning.
“Now why can’t, I mean, if its what you want, what’s to stop you from working hard from now on, getting a good job and moving out here when you’re old enough? Eh?”
This shows that although he knows she won’t be able to do this he’s trying to get her to believe in herself and he is also trying to prove that he does care in his own unique way; this helps Carol think she can do anything in her life it’s her choice to make it happen.
Throughout this play I have learnt that although Mrs. Kay is a motherly teacher she is less caring than she first appears to be, and she is also very manipulative, but Mr. Briggs on the other hand is different in that he is aggressive, strict, controlling and intolerant, but during the play to certain people he becomes nicer and more caring.
At the beginning of the play I preferred Mrs. Kay because she appeared to be nice, kind etc. Half way through the play I liked Mr. Briggs ever so slightly more because Mrs. Kay’s ulterior motive came through, she didn’t care about the kids welfare at all. At the end of the play I liked neither Mrs. Kay nor Mr. Briggs because in their own way they aren’t complete opposites they are the same they just direct different emotions to opposite things.
