Rita feels very insecure due to not having any education and really hopes and wants to change herself, such as her personality. Because of Rita wants to changes she asks Frank if he thinks that “she can do it”.
Rita feels like she does not fit in with her class and family. One page 24 a conversation takes place between Rita and Frank; here is part of the conversation:
Rita: “See if I’d started takin’ school seriously, I would never have had to become different from me mates, an’ that’s not allowed.”
Frank: “By whom?”
Rita: “By your mates, by your family, by everyone so y’never admit that school could be anythin’ other than useless.”
Seeing that the play goes on, Rita says to Frank “comin’ here, doin’ this has given me more life than I’ve ever had.” This part of the play explains how important coming to university was for Rita and how much she needed this education as she said attending the university has given her more life than anything has ever.
Although Rita and Frank get on well with each other fairly well, including the fact that her work has had a great improvement, Rita yet, still feels insecure. Rita is invited to Frank’s House for dinner, but does not have the right nerves to go in, thus is because when she is about to go in she see’s Frank and his family and friends who seem to be very posh, which makes Rita feel that she cannot fit in. Rita didn’t feel like she had the correct wine as she had cheap wine whereas they would have probably been drinking champagne plus a posh dress-code. Frank is disappointed with the fact that Rita did not attend the dinner invite, for this reason Rita tells Frank the reason why she did not come along to his house for the dinner. Rita says to frank “I’m alright with you, here in this room, but when I saw those people who you were with I couldn’t come in. I would have seized up because I’m a freak.” Here at this point of the play Rita really feels like as if she is a freak and cannot fit in with Frank and the way he lives his life and the way the people live there life that Frank was with.
The real interesting part of the play is when the play has a twist to the play when Rita goes away to OU Summer School. When Rita returns from the OU Summer School Rita doesn’t find it difficult to talk to the other University student with hesitation and without feeling like she does not fit in with them, thinking she is different to them. Frank say’s to Rita that their next lesson will be on “Blake” but unfortunately finds out that she has already studied that in OU Summer School which makes frank feel highly jealous as it makes him feel like Rita does not need him anymore, and that he is actually in need of Rita himself. When Frank started drinking a lot, the full time students had complained about Franks Drinking which meant that it was only Rita who needed him, but at situation like this when Rita had studied a lot during OU Summer School I think that it makes Frank feel left out.
One day during the play Rita comes into Franks office acting really weird and is imitating Trish, Rita’s flatmate, which makes Frank wonder why Rita is behaving like the way she is. Rita calls Trish dead classy and assumes that Trish has got it all. Rita also believes that Trish is well educated but does not realise that Trish is putting on an act, the only reason why Rita does this is to fit in with Trish and another reason is because Rita really feels insecure. Frank doesn’t feel truly happy with this only because he is aware of the fact that Rita is putting on an act just like Trish is.
Here is a quotation for when Rita is talking about what Trish had said: “As Trish says there is not a lot of point in discussing beautiful literature in an ugly voice.” Frank replies “”You haven’t got an ugly voice, at least you didn’t have. Talk proper.” What Frank meant by this is before she started imitating Trish her voice did not sound ugly but now by imitating Trish, it is making her voice sound ugly.
Later on in the play, Rita changes name back to her original name “Susan” as it was her actual name and before it was all an act. Rita begins to work with Trish at a bistro, whereas Frank is failing as a lecturer due to getting to many complaints. Rita doesn’t regularly turn up to Frank’s tutorials because she does not need as much as help with her education as she did when she had first started and is equal with the rest of the students and doesn’t need Franks help anymore, and is happy with the students and works well with them a as a whole. Frank feels extremely jealous and says to Rita “You used to be quiet wary of them didn’t you?” Here at this point of the play Frank means that she use to feel cautious of the other students and didn’t trust them as much and never use to fit in with them.
Frank and Rita’s role’s change near to the end of the play as he starts to drink, Rita begins to make all the decisions and is able to write university standard essays as she feels a lot more confident in discussing books and literature with the “real students” as Rita starts passing her exams which sets her free and begins to tell Frank what needs doing. Here is a quotation taken from the book; Rita: “Frank you’re not in a fit state for a tutorial; I’ll sit with y’an we can talk about it next week, eh?” Here we can feel that Frank needs Rita and begins to like her. This is what you call role Reversing as he now needs her and she doesn’t and before it was the other way round whereas Rita was in desperate need of Frank and he wasn’t.
Rita says to frank “Don’t keep treatin’ me as though I’m the same as when I first walked in here”. This quotation proves that Rita has really changed and is not the same as she was before and she also knows this. I think that Rita seems to be a lot more mature than she was before.
In Act 1 Rita told Frank she felt really different and told him that she didn’t really fit in with her family and that her husband didn’t really like her going to university. Rita is provoked to lie about the fact that she is off the pill. When Rita’s husband “Danny” finds out about this facts he is really hurt and furious and burns Rita’s books and gives Rita and ultimatum of either leaving her education and the pills or either leaving the house altogether, Danny had even packed Rita’s suitcase for encase she was to choose her education, in which case she did choose her education. The only reason for why Rita did not want a child was because of Rita’s mother. Rita’s mother did not have proper education due to having a child at a really young age. So because of this Rita wanted to go ahead and finish her education and then think about her life.
Rita’s pursuit of education results in many dramatic changes. At the beginning she was very insecure and not confident with herself constantly thinking she doesn’t fit in with the other students classing them as “real student” whereas classing herself as a “freak”. By the end of the play Rita became a lot more confident with herself and got along with the other student extremely well and could write university standard essays, and no longer needs Frank. Rita’s marriage was not a success due to wanting to carry on with her education Rita had to leave her husband whereas he got married again and had a child, which he really desired.
