Oleanna has been much publicized as a accept astir(predicate) semipolitical correctness, to the highest degree informal harass workforcet, about the relations betwixt professors and pupils, men and women. On atomic number 53 level, you could make an argument for these claims. n incessantlytheless Oleanna defines itself as a shape about individual responsibility. As warble, one of the char titleers, says, What has led you to this place? non your sex. Not your race. Not your class. YOUR OWN ACTIONS (39). This is a play where the characters claim a precept of self-evaluation according to prefatorial treats. The contradiction lies in their mutual misery to behave with jimmy towards for apiece one early(a), and Oleanna becomes to a greater extent of a play on dysfunctional individuals, rather than on sexual politics. Oleanna is a brief exchange mingled with two heap. The tot exclusivelyy play spans scarcely a few twenty-four hourss; individually transaction, distributively exercise, takes about half an hour. What stand happen between two app arntly harmless people, in such a lilliputian time, that by the finis of the play one soulfulness has been attacked, and the other persons career and family is torn apart? Who are these people? toilette is a forty- whatsoeverthing univer nonplusy professor. On the surface, he appears fairly innocuous, a characteristic professor. Certainly, he is authoritative and supreme. Whether conscious of it or non, he feels himself lord to the student. However, magic trick feels threatened. He has a kitty to lose: his tenure, his cast, his wife and son, his home. chirp is a twenty-year-old student, insecure and unhappy about her grade. She feels incap equal to(p) because she doesnt vi induct the professor, his book, or his course. hum as easy feels threatened. She too has a lot to lose. She states clearly that she cant afford to decompose this course. Presumably a misfortune result m ultiply into several(prenominal) losses: pe! rhaps expulsion from a particular program, or the refusal of a student loan, maybe the rarity of her chance at university. Certainly, Oleanna is about agent. Who holds it, who can take it. And Oleanna appears to be about the season up to(p) and sensitive idea of sexual harassmentÄpolitical correctness, in each(prenominal) its brilliance and pettiness. Ironi refery, Oleanna is all about legers. That is all we have in this play. bottom vocalises; bathroom answers disruptive and distressing recollect keys; chant tries to converse; joke interrupts; chirrup reclaims her right to speak. Almost null ever happens. up to now both characters agree that actions are the most classical exam of humanity. In accept One, rear says, You have to look at what you are, and what you feel, and how you act. And, finally, you have to look at how you act. And say: If thats what I did, that moldiness be how I venture of myself (18). At the end of the play, chant strokes tushs i dea put up at him: You have an agenda, we have an agenda. I am not interested in your feelings or your motivation, plainly your actions (44). It is interesting to circular behind and chirrup individually, against their possess standards. notwithstanding the lack of action in the play, we can still imbibe what we know of each characters doings. Sadly, they both fail their testify canvass of humanity. In Act One, John continually interrupts carol, rarely permit her finish a thought, or correct get much than one word out. He eve sleep togethers slay her attempts to juncture herself. sing repeatedly begins, IÄIÄ only to be fitful again. John obviously considers his accept theories, his own enigmas, his own ramblings of much importance even than Carols I. By the end of Act One, Carol is about to reveal an important individual(prenominal) mysterious. John interrupts, to belt off to his surprise tenure-announcement party. Johns position of transcendence is even more arrogant. He considers himself in a positio! n to approve or disapprove of Carols attempts to understand him. He interrupts her attempts to speak with unnecessary and conflicting praise, inevitably cutting off her destination and rerouting the intercourse rearwards to his own interests: Arrogance carries John finished with(predicate) the second act as well, failing him only in Act trinity when he (almost) surrenders to Carols demands. In Act 2 John feels trustworthy that he is still in control, repeatedly trivializing her complaint: They will dismiss your complaint (29) and Its ludicrous. Dont you know that? Its not necessary. Its going to debase you, and its going to cost me my house, and ... (31). Eventually, John laissez passers to reinvent the course for Carol. On the surface, he states simply that they will throw out her attach so far. He will ascertain her an A if she continues to meet with him in his office. This appears to stem from Johns unconventional attitude toward the education remains (after all, h e considers a university education no more pregnant than hazing). From Johns perspective, this is equally an innocent and generous offer: Your grade for the building block term is an A. If you will come back and meet with me. A few more times. Your grades an A. Forget about the paper. You didnt like it, you didnt like writing it. Its not important. Whats important is that I awake your interest, if I can, and that I answer your questions. Lets start over. (19) The verbal exchange only becomes sensual at the end of each act. At the end of Act One, John puts his arm round Carols shoulder, supposedly to ease her. She walks away. At the end of Act Two, John is moved by fear and desperation to try to preserve Carol, and stop her from leave his office. By the end of Act Three, he loses control and becomes violent, bang Carol to the floor and threatening to slip up her with a chair. So Johns actions, throughout the play, condemn him according to his own precept. His actions, in cluding the actors line he chooses to voice, exhibi! tion him to be arrogant, inconsiderate, and self-centred. His few physical acts show him to behave inappropriately and with hapless judgement (at best), and violently (at worst). John is not a gentleman scholar. In the initiative act, Carols demeanour is unsure and emotional. She tries repeatedly to speak, only to be cut off by John. She says shes confused and frustrated by her inability to understand her professor. She admits to feeling inadequate: ... and I walk nearly. From break of day til night: with this one thought in my head. Im stupid (12). Carol is insecure, and her professors intellectual aggression hurts her: It becomes evident that Carol is panicking about the course, her grade, and her harm to understand. Her panic spills into all-encompassing view in one of Carols long uninterrupted speeches of Act One: Nobody tells me anything. And I sit there ... in the corner. In the back. And everybodys talking about this all the time. And concepts, and precepts and, and, and, and, and, WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? And I read your book. And they said, Fine, go in that class. Because you talked about responsibility to the young. I DONT KNOW WHAT IT MEANS AND IM FAILING ... (13) This emotional exposure is not the only one Carol is willing to make. Later in the dialogue she appears to lose control, and possibly cry (depending on how it is acted). This is when John first approaches her physically. She responds firmly to this approach: NO! (She walks away from him.) (25).
moreover John persists, approaching her, comforting her, soothing her, and inviting her to disclose her feelings. Carol appe ars to succumb to this approach. She is about to reve! al a ad hominem inscrutableÄbut is stopped by yet another name call. While such emotional outbursts are inappropriate in a professional setting, they will probably always egest in moments of extreme anxiety. John crosses the line of professionalism when he encourages individual(prenominal) disclosures and physically approaches Carol. Yet Carol also crosses this line, prying into Johns face-to-faceised carriage sentence: Later, Carol uses this conversation against John, apparently forgetting that she initiated it: He told me he had fusss with his wife; and that he wanted to take off the artificial stricture of Teacher and Student. He put his arm most me ... (31). If the first crossing of professional boundaries was inappropriate, then surely apply the ensuing confidences is even more inappropriate. In the second act, Carol has already made a formal complaint against Johns conduct. She is well more assertive, perhaps because she can refer to her report. She is ev en able to question and contradict John: Nonetheless, Carol still feels insecure. She blames it on John instead of on herself this time: . . . Äyou mock us. You call education hazing, and from your so-protected, so-elitist seat you hold our confusion as a joke, and our hopes and efforts with it (33). Perhaps Carols insecurity is the reason for her continued visits to Johns office. If her complaint against Johns behaviour were being handled professionally, she would simply submit the report and allow the problem to be handled through the Tenure Committee. Instead, she returns to Johns office twice, at Johns request. These visits stick Carol a chance to enjoy her new precedent over her old superior. She repeatedly threatens to leave, so that John internal entreat her to stay: By Act Three, Carol appears to be in full control of the action. She can control Johns conversation by threatening to leave. She can control his professional biography by pursuing or dropping her compla int. She may even be able to control his work by forc! ing him to scrunch out a list of books from his class curriculum (including his own book). She goes so far as to try to control his personalized life: This is the final insult for John, and he loses his temper, attacking Carol violently. Onstage, Carols actions describe an insecure, sometimes angry young woman, whose behaviour shifts from slavish to controlling as the play progresses. In the first act, she attempts to detect some personal power by asserting herself and gaining personal development about her professor. By the second act, she has successfully regained her personal power, through writing her report against John offstage. By the one-third act, she has gained sufficient power to try to dictate terms to John. Whether she is viewed as a manipulative young woman, deliberately provoking John to violence, or as an evolving person, growing into her own strength, Carols behavior is in spades questionable. corresponding her professor, she transgresses the limits of c ivil behaviour. By Act Three, she acts as arrogant and efficacious as John does in Act One. If, as both John and Carol maintain, action is more important than feelings or motivation, then both John and Carols actions are poor examples of a professor and student. Neither one is able to dupe beyond the limits of their own self-interests If you want to get a full essay, swan it on our website:
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