What does Rita gain from her education and what does she lose? based on educating rita by Willy russel

What does Rita gain from her education and what does she lose?

In the play written by William Russell in 1979, you meet a 26 year old hairdresser that decides to improve her life trough an education. The hairdresser, Rita, comes from a working class background from Liverpool, something which is an obstacle in her pursuit of knowledge. Nevertheless, she understands that a possible education would function as an entry into a superior lifestyle. As the time passes, Rita’s thirst of education increases and she feels that she gains an identity. Her tutor, Frank, plays a vital part in her development.
The process of gaining this identity decreases her ability to understand the possible drawbacks of her education. Throughout her development, her personality is changing inevitably and according to her, the development is mainly positive. This essay will analyze what Rita gains from her education and what she loses.

Rita is gaining a lot from her education but simultaneously refuses to cope with the fact that her personality and mentality alter too. Because of these changes, Rita distances from her family and the environment she was part of. This huge loss of separation from her family is, anyhow, not comprehended completely by Rita. Nevertheless, the connections with her old environment disappear and not having arrived yet in the new desired, upper-class world, Rita feels desolated and claims that she is ‘I’m a half-caste’. This somber separation from her family, friends, acquaintances and boyfriend can be noticed during several occasions in the play; when Rita joins her family at the pub and while the whole family is singing joyfully along the jukebox, Rita realizes how futile her family’s present is. Rita remarks that she must revive and obtain a genuine identity. This process becomes her intention and because of the education, it occurs. But everything has a prize in life; the more she is distancing from her family and earlier environment, the more she gains the desired upper-class identity.
This fact is grasped by her teacher, Frank. The tutor is, to a certain extent, aware of his decline within the private and working life and notices that Rita yearns for the same things that he does not value anymore. Throughout the play, Frank realizes that because of this education, much of Rita’s personal charisma, as for example her vivaciousness and brightness vanishes. Rita refuses to understand these drawbacks of her education and instead of taking in consideration Frank’s observation, she negates replies: ‘What's up, Frank, don't y' like me now that the little girl's grown up, now that y' can no longer bounce me on daddy's knee an' watch me stare back in wide-eyed wonder at everything he has to say?’
As I mentioned before, with the help of the education Rita gains, more or less, the kind of identity that she yearned for. This occurs tragically because it distances Rita from her family and friends.
In terms of education, because of her thirst of knowledge, Rita gains a lot. She learns how to articulate a speech, to discuss properly, she gains knowledge about classic literature and music, learns how to write essays and learns famous quotations. However, one of the most vital accomplishments of Rita is self judgment. Throughout the play, you can notice how Rita’s ability of questioning knowledge increases. In the beginning of the play, this quotation is found: “Rita, how the hell can you write an essay on E.M Forster with almost total reference to Harold Robbins?” Rita must learn about source criticism “Crap? And who are you citing in support of your thesis, F.R Leavis?” “No. Me!”).
In this case, Rita is making an attempt to write an essay in a germane way, but eventually fails because she cannot question her own work and the sources she is dealing with. Throughout the book, she is progressing to a large extent. In the end she says, I will try to quote from the memory, that “I wanted it all so much, I did not want it (the knowledge) to be questioned”. Frank’s and Trish’s influence helped the protagonist to understand that in order to be a genuine educated person, she has to question all possible knowledge.

Nevertheless, throughout the play, Rita is distancing from her family as a consequence of her new upper-class identity. Her new identity helps her to make tremendous progresses within the scholar life. Despite the obstacles that she faces in the pursuit of knowledge, she succeeds, more or less, to accomplish the demands of her education. Beside that Rita is on her way to become well-read, she even gains knowledge of source criticism and thus understands that questioning all kind of knowledge is vital.