Phone calls also interrupt their discussion. All of these calls relate to John’s future purchase of a new house for his family. These calls intensify the tension between the characters, because they come at important moments in their conversation. One of the first phone calls interrupts Carol when she is about to tell John a secret. John never learns of this secret because he has to answer the phone. John’s increasing aggravation over the house situation corresponds to his increasing frustration in the conversation with Carol.
From the start, Carol and John fail to understand each other. This misunderstanding continues throughout the remainder of the play. Carol first comes to John’s office because she is having problems in his class. She seeks his help in order to understand his course on higher education. When John asks, “What don’t you understand?,” Carol replies, “Any of it” (1.1799). John goes on to explain the course, but Carol repeatedly interrupts him with questions such as “What?” and “Why?”. She reveals to him that one of her main problems with his course involves “The language, the things that you say” (1.1797). Even though she starts to ask insightful questions, Carol continues to admit a lack of understanding for everything John says.
In the second and third scenes of the play, the misunderstanding develops from differing views that constitute harassment. Carol believes that some of John’s words and actions are sexually motivated. She claims that John “Told a rambling, sexually explicit story…moved to embrace said student…said he ‘liked’ me. That he ‘liked being with me.’ He’d let me write my examination paper over, if I could come back oftener to see him in his office” (2.1811). The “sexually explicit” story she refers to is a comment that John made about the different copulation tendencies of the rich and the poor. The “embrace” occurred when John says that he “liked” Carol. She misinterprets his affection for her as a student. She also misinterprets his offer of an”A” in the class as a bribe to come see him more often. When John and Carol meet for the second time to discuss her charges, Carol attempts to leave, and John restrains her. He states, “I have no desire to hold you, I just want to talk to you” (2.1815). Carol later brings up a charge of rape against John, claiming, “You tried to rape me. I was leaving this office; you ‘pressed’ yourself into me. You ‘pressed’ your body into me….It was battery….And attempted rape” (3.1822). Her misinterpretation of his physical actions compels her to pursue criminal charges against John.
At the conclusion of the play, John tells Carol to go when the phone rings again. It's John's wife Grace. John tells Grace “I can’t talk to you now Baby. (To Carol) Get Out” (3.1822); Carol asks if it's his wife, to which he responds that it is not her business. John again tells her to go. On her way out, Carol says”…and don’t call you wife "baby"” (3.1822). He asks, "What?" and Carol repeats her command. Carol’s comments have finally pushed John past the breaking point. As Carol begins to leave the room, John grabs Carol and begins to beat her. He calls her a "vicious little bitch,"(3.1822) which is destroying his life; he knocks her to the floor, and can't believe she thought he was trying to rape her. John picks up a chair as if to hit her with it, calling her a "little cunt"(3.1822) that he would never touch. As she cowers beneath him, he lowers the chair, arranges things on his desk, and tries to regain control and composure. It is distressing that John and Carol are so incapable of communication that John must resort to physical violence in order to express himself. This failure in communication is the cause of John’s downfall and the ruin of the relationship between teacher and student.
Work Cited
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Mamet, David. Oleanna. New York/Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002.
