Rita's been a new woman for some time now. She is separated from Denny, she shares a flat with another girl, she speaks her mind with other students, teachers and tutors.
Following this new trend, Rita follows her flat mate's advice and decides she needs to "speak properly" to go with this new "her". She claims she's been herself by using this peculiar voice and avoiding her normal jargon. She pronunces every single syllable and doesn't cut up words. According to her, speaking this way she is being her true self. She means that she doesn't want to use her normal, ugly voice now that she is a different person.
I think she doesn't need to disguise her voice to show she has changed. Being able to speak her mind making sense of what she says, something she was always able to do, is more than enough to show she is different. She is a new person, altough she remains being herself.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Hi Lau,
I imagine Rita as "The Nanny" trying to speak and sound smart. Lol.
But she cannot be herself even if she keeps speaking this way forever.
One can change his/her way of thinking and many things, but I think Rita's change is just superficial, I think she cannot avoid the old Rita which is somewhere in her head and heart.
See you,
Pame
Hi Pame,
I totally agree with you. It's unavoidable to be what one is. Rita has experienced a superficial change, which will probably not last long. If she really wanted to change, she would have gone even deeper than changing her way of speaking.
XOXOXO
Lau
What do you mean when you say "it's unavoidable to be what one is, Laura? Can people change, or can they not? And what's the point of education?
Puzzled,
Gladys
Gladys, I mean that if one is, for example, short, one can't change it. If one has a big nose, it is it.
Some things cannot be changed, as Rita having the voice she has. Other things, like wanting to know new things or having novel experiences, can be done.
People can change... But the key is WHAT they want to change...Education is there to help us change our inside, to become more aware of what surrounds us, to be better... But it definitely cannot change the size of our feet... or can it???
Lau
Well, that's a tough question, Lau, believe it or not... You know, Chinese women can have their feet in hard, tight shoes during their childhood so that their feet do not grow larger than "good manners". And my mum (who's over 70) frequently remembers the efforts she and her friends would make (wearing tight shoes, again) to keep their feet small, or they were bound not to find a good partner... :-P! So I'd say education can even change things such as the size of your feet!
I guess your point is that education is related to changes that "start from the inside", as Rita herself had wisely put it at the beginning of the play. In that sense, a voice that matched Rita's inside would be a sign of education, but one that she is imitating just to sound like "proper students" is nothing but a ridiculous, empty pretence!
Have I now got your point? Hope so!
Warmly,
Gladys
Post a Comment