John is to blame for his actions because everything that Carol has said he has done, has actually taken place, it is just Carol’s interpretations of John’s actions which are apparently false which leads John into a difficult situation, his carelessness leads him to forget his ethics and slips out of his role of lecturer and begins to tell stories about sexual acts and using terms such as “John: I like you”. This can be seen as an intimate comment or as John trying to level with the student. Linda Lopez McAllister (1995) perhaps unfairly makes the point “At one point he decides to launch into a more personal mode, switching from the stern taskmaster into the patronizing I-know-all-about-what's-wrong-with-you-and-I'll-help-you role”
There are many personal phone calls made to John by John’s wife throughout the play, these are used to remind us of the world outside his office giving the play a more 3-d feel and shows Johns personal life to the audience and more importantly Carol as he is making a personal and private phone call to his wife whilst Carol is listening. “John: I hope so (pause) I love you, too. (pause) I love you too.” This is inappropriate as Carol is a student and he is airing his personal life in front of her. Cynthia Fuchs(1995) “telephone interruptions from secretary, wife, friends, confirm our already negative opinion of John's character: not a nice guy”.
David Mamet uses pauses and repetitions of words, to create the sound of reality in everyday conversation with conversation interruptions being the basis for the power struggle throughout the play such as in act 1 when John and Carol are first introduced
“Carol:. …don’t I think…….?
John: mmmm
Carol: ……did I…?
John: …….what?
Carol: Did …….did I…did I say something wr…
John: (pause) no im sorry.”
This shows John in power in act 1 to be higher than Carols in the staccato method used, this helps the audience understand the characters a lot more and really get into the play. This can show Johns downfall of being to ignorant to other people maybe if he had let Carol speak a bit more he wouldn’t have made a situation that was risky for himself. McAllister writes “He almost talks non stop at Carol”
John is also seen to have the power when we are introduced to him; it is his office, his phone, his desk and his chairs. This is his environment for him to be ignorant in believing that teachers can never do any wrong but this can be his downfall as it is in his own office then it is shown to be his own fault as it is his responsibility to have either had another member of the faculty or at least the door open. His unprofessional behaviour is only open to one interpretation as the door is shut and that is Carol’s such as when he tells a story involving sexual content with explicit details “John: the rich copulate less often than the poor. But when they do, they take more clothes off” Carol’s interpretation of this was the tone of suggested sexual tones and as no one else was around it was only her interpretation that matters.
All in all in the first act John is seen as an ignorant lecturer oblivious to Carols problems as she is seen as a meek and naïve student having problems with her class.
This is all changes in the 2nd and 3rd act where Carol comes back having new confidence with her new found group as her back up David Litton (1996) writes “With the second act, he reverses the characterization of Carol, turning her into a well-educated tyrant with a penchant for big words and in-your-face histrionics (not exactly the meek little girl we saw only moments earlier)”. The group may possibly not be new found, as thought as the whole of the first act seems to be revealed to the audience that it could’ve been a big ploy to bring down John, in act 2 John’s enemy is not so much Carol but what she represents and her group is the enemy. When John asks her to come back she is the one who interrupts him and Johns power decreases and he then becomes the one asking for help and mercy from Carol, when Carol tells him a list of books that she wants banned he becomes enraged that his free speech should be taken away for someone else to have their own free speech.
Carol’s change from act 1 is almost unbelievable from being meek student to a super literate part of a feminist group C.W. Harris (2000) writes “ This is a young clueless student, who turns into a vindictive accuser cleverly manipulating language to destroy her sophisticate professor” This over the top change can be seen to be a big turning point in peoples ideas of who is too blame, as the sheer slyness and cunning of Carol using John’s “make notes and learn” teaching philosophy against him, might turn people to think it was not John’s fault at all, as Chuck Dowling (1996) says “throughout the film the teacher does noting wrong” although this may be true to the extent of the accusations put against him, his actions were still wrong when he did not listen to Carol, Cynthia Fuchs said on this subject “ he is self absorbed and insensitive, even as he thinks he is being innovative” this shows John being a victim of his own inadequacy.
There is one last phone call from John’s wife which ends in John saying I love you baby, Carol once again has invaded his privacy and makes personal remarks about Johns family by saying “Carol: Don’t call you wife baby” this sends John over the edge as the tables had turn against him just as he mentioned a father figure to her earlier in the play. This caused him to lash out against Carol, giving her evidence to prove how John’s inadequacy and un-professionalism in class has got him into this situation.
When asked to answer the question is John a victim of his own inadequacy or Carols malice the audience reaction is mixed due to audience gender, men can relate to John’s frustration of his help being shot down and turned into a sexual harassment law suit and women can relate to Carol’s anger at being pompous and ignorant to her needs an example of a feminist view of the play is Linda Lopez McAllister when she writes “John is an pompous, arrogant overbearing jerk in love with the sound of his own voice” whereas males who have attended the show have been known to cheer in the final act when Carol is about to get hit by John.
In conclusion John is not only a victim of his own mistakes but of Carol’s malice too, when Carol realises she may have a case to put against John her confidence escalates and is seen to be a big ruse, this shows John as the victim for the rest of the play helping the audience sympathise with him in some cases causing audiences to cheer when Carol is attacked, John is not free from blame by far, only in the first act is Carol sympathised with whereas the rest of the play John is to be sympathised with because he lost all of his livelihood and dreams because of one feminist and her group. It can be seen that Carol is vindictive and that the complaints she had made against John are neither legitimate nor justified.
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