You can tell Rita comes from a different background to Frank by the way she uses a lot of slang words such as “takin the piss” and “just what the frig am I trying to do?” She is very poorly spoken where as Frank is well spoken. She shows a negative reaction towards an invitation to a party at Frank’s house, because she is not used to that kind of lifestyle, such as good food, wine and entertaining. She feels she is comparing herself to Frank’s friends. She lacks confidence and feels she is not able to converse with these people because she is not like them. She feels threatened by them because she says “would have seized up” in their company.
In one respect, Frank made a mistake by inviting Rita to dinner because it caused a row between Rita and her husband, Denny, also Frank felt that his wife Julia was disappointed because she was the type of person who likes order and expects things to go as planned instead of seeing ”empty seats at the dinner table.”
There is evidence that becoming educated is cutting Rita off from her background. For instance when she leaves Franks house and sees her family singing together in the pub, she feels left out. This makes her think to herself “why don’t I just pack it all in and stay with them, and join in the singing?” Rita’s mother joins in with the singing but then starts crying which shows she is unhappy and says “we could sing better songs than those.” This reflects that she could have done better in her life. Her behaviour has had an effect on Rita in the way that Rita has no self-confidence. This makes Rita think that she wants to be different from her mother, by being successful in her life by continuing her education because she realises there is more to life than spending your time in the pub, she will have everything to gain and nothing to lose.
Rita has been to summer school and her appearance has changed, she is dressed in new second hand clothes which she has bought while she has been with the other students. They are more stylish than she used to wear and the influence of the other students has made her feel more accepted and more confident, she twirls round on the spot to show off her new clothes to Frank.
Rita’s personality has also changed in the way she talks to the tutor in the library. She answers his question very carefully “actually im not too familiar with the American poets”, instead of just blurting out the first thing she thinks of.
Also the way she stands up in the lecture to ask questions shows how her confidence has grown immensely. “I was asking questions all week, y’ couldn’t keep me down”. It also shows how intelligent she is now.
She can now mix with people easily and found that difficult when she was when she was invited to Frank’s house. She is now educated, has a better job, does not speak slang no anymore, reads books and visits theatres instead of pubs.
She tells Frank she has had a fantastic time. She has spent all week with a crowd of friends whom she went round London with visiting theatres, getting drunk, staying up “dead late” and buying “second hand gear in the markets” she did lots of work had lots of lectures and produced many essays.
The teaching in the room is on a one to one basis rather than Rita being one student amongst many. This is why Frank gets to know Rita well and gets to see the dramatic changes in her.
The author is trying to tell the audience that ordinary people can do well for themselves. If they aim high they will be successful. His message is still important today because people of all ages need education to gain employment and prosper.
Plays should entertain to keep the audience interested but they should also have a serious message because people will learn from the actor’s experiences.