Summary and Analysis of David Mamets Play Oleanna

Oleanna, a powerful two-character drama by David Mamet, explores the destructiveness of miscommunication and excessive political correctness. It is a play about academic politics, student/teacher relationships, and sexual harassment. Plot Overview Carol, a female college student, privately meets with her male professor. She is concerned about failing the class. She is frustrated because she doesn’t understand the professor’s overly verbose lectures. At first, the professor (John) is callous with her, but when she explains that she feels incompetent, he expresses empathy for her. He â€Å"likes her† so he bends the rules and decides to give her an â€Å"A† if she agrees to meet with him to discuss the material, one-on-one. Act One During most of Act One, the teacher is abrupt, interruptive, and distracted by continual phone calls about real estate problems. When the student does get a chance to speak, it is difficult for her to express herself clearly. Their conversation becomes personal and sometimes upsetting. He touches her shoulder on several occasions, urging her to sit down or to remain in the office. Finally, she is about to confess something deeply personal, but the phone rings yet again and she never discloses her secret. Act Two An unknown amount of time passes (probably a few days)  and John meets with Carol again. However, it is not to discuss education or philosophy. The student has written a formal complaint about the professor’s behavior. She feels that the instructor was lewd and sexist. Also, she claims that his physical contact was a form of sexual harassment. Interestingly, Carol is now very well spoken. She criticizes him with great clarity and mounting hostility. The teacher is astounded that his previous conversation was interpreted in such an offensive way. Despite John’s protests and explanations, Carol is unwilling to believe that his intentions were good. When she decides to leave, he holds her back. She becomes scared and rushes out the door, calling for help. Act Three During their final confrontation, the professor is packing up his office. He has been fired. Perhaps because he is a glutton for punishment, he invites the student back to make sense out of why she destroyed his career. Carol has now become even more powerful. She spends much of the scene pointing out her instructor’s many flaws. She declares she is not out for revenge; instead she has been prompted by â€Å"her group† to take these measures. When it is revealed that she has filed criminal charges of battery and attempted rape, things get really ugly! (But this article won’t spoil the ending for the reader.) Who Is Right? Who Is Wrong? The genius of this play is that it stimulates discussion, even arguments. Is the professor attracted to her in Act One?Does he behave inappropriately?Does he deserve to be denied tenure?What are her motives?Is she doing this simply out of spite?Is she right to claim her professor is sexist? Or is she merely over-reacting? That’s the fun of this drama; it all about the perspective of each audience member. Ultimately, both characters are deeply flawed. Throughout the play, they rarely agree or understand each other. Carol, the Student Mamet designed her character so that most of the audience will ultimately loath Carol by Act Two. The fact that she interprets his touch on the shoulder as sexual assault shows that Carol may have some issues that she does not reveal. In the final scene, she tells the professor not to call his wife â€Å"Baby.† This is Mamet’s way of showing that Carol has truly crossed a line, prompting the enraged professor to cross a line of his own. John, the Teacher John may have good intentions in Act One. However, he doesn’t seem to be a very good or wise instructor. He spends most of his time waxing eloquently about himself and very little time actually listening. He does flaunt his academic power, and he does unintentionally demean Carol by shouting, â€Å"Sit down!† and by physically trying to urge her to stay and finish their conversation. He doesn’t realize his own capacity for aggression until it is too late. Still, many audience members believe that he is completely innocent of the charges of sexual harassment and attempted rape. Ultimately, the student possesses an underlying deviousness. The teacher, on the other hand, is overtly pompous and foolish. Together they make a very dangerous combination.

Gullivers Travels by Jonathan Swift - 1367 Words

When Jonathan Swift published his novel Gulliver’s Travels in 1726, it immediately became a success and continues to be popular even today. The range of different topics addressed in his sardonic novel allows readers to easily relate, as many of the issues of Swift’s time during the Enlightenment remain relevant issues. As Swift wrote in another satirical piece The Battle of the Books, â€Å"Satyr is a sort of Glass, wherein Beholders do generall discover every body’s Faces but their Own.† The Enlightenment placed an emphasis on the search for knowledge and facts; naturally, opposing ideas and beliefs created controversy in every realm of enlightenment thinking from science to politics, math to religion, and philosophy to literature. While the enlightenment encouraged intellectualism and interest in fields such as mathematics, science, and philosophy, Swift found that much of the â€Å"progress† made during this era was a waste of time and lacked pr actical application. Furthermore, Swift lampooned not only the intellectualism of the time but also the often petty quarrels within the realms, especially nuances in religion and politics. In Gullivers Travels, Swift reflects in his fictional societies the fervor for intellectual thought and research during the Enlightenment by using satire to present the new movement in a way that was critical towards the attitudes and figures of his time. In Gulliver’s stop at the island nation of Lilliput, Swift reflects the selfish and power-hungryShow MoreRelatedGulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift1526 Words   |  7 PagesIn the fourth book of Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift uses satire to draw reader’s attention towards his concerns about humanity and uses irony to reveal his cynical views towards human kind. 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Swifts juxtaposition of two different worlds, made extremely clear by both physical, physiologicalRead More Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift1756 Words   |  8 Pages In the cleverly written and witty story of Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift, the reader is taken on a journey that targets the strengths of weakness of different societies. Swift ingeniously incorporates the use of the main character, Lemuel Gulliver, and his experiences through the discovery of several islands in order to relay messages about his own country’s system of politics, society, and use of scientists. The first voyage Lemuel Gulliver sets foot on is to the distant and strangeRead MoreGullivers Travels by Jonathan Swift521 Words   |  2 PagesSociety vs. Individuality In the novel Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift, the influence that society has on Gulliver is very detectable in this book. Throughout the novel, Gulliver repeatedly, finds himself in predicaments because societal norms and the role of government in our society. Swift shows how the idea of who people are due to their position in society. Gulliver is an outsider to the society of Lilliput, he tries to fit into their world but fails, not only because of his size butRead MoreReview of Gullivers Travels by Jonathan Swift Essay1296 Words   |  6 PagesReview of Gullivers Travels by Jonathan Swift Gullivers Travels is a satirical novel. It was written for two different target groups; the first target group is a very young age range and it is a simple but still very exciting fairy tale, the second target group is for a lot older and more sophisticated group as it is a comment that is satirising the life, times and background of Jonathan Swift. An example of Swift making a comment on mankind is in the third part ofRead MoreSatire in Gullivers Travels Jonathan Swift Essay1032 Words   |  5 PagesSatire in Gullivers Travels Jonathan Swift In Gullivers Travels, Jonathan Swift makes a satirical attack on humanity. In the final book, Swift takes a stab at humanity by simultaneously criticizing physiological, mental, and spiritual aspects of humans. Literary critics Ronald Knowles and Irvin Ehrenpreis both agree that the last book focused entirely on satirizing humanity. The Yahoo brutes that inhabit Houyhnhnm Land are a despicable species that have the physical appearance of humansRead MoreSwifts Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift Essay1267 Words   |  6 Pages Swifts Gulliver’s Travels enables us to critically and harshly analyse our world and encourages us to evaluate the customs of early 18th century English society in relation to an ideal humanity. In order to address the injustices prevalent in human constructs and behavior, Swift uses literary techniques to induce a state of extreme self-doubt. The satires assessment of humanitys positive and negative traits is developed through Gullivers a wkward process of identifying with the loathsome YahoosRead MoreSatire in Jonathan Swift ´s Gullivers Travels1944 Words   |  8 Pagesearly eighteenth-century, Irish writer Jonathan Swift produced one of the most printed novels known to date. The novel, Gulliver’s Travels, not only received recognition for being reprinted an immense amount of time, but also for the satire found within the novel. Swift intended his novel to be used as a scapegoat in which he would reveal his opinion on the English society. Swift was able to demonstrate this satire through the four part plot of Gulliver’s Travels. Each part of the novel told the journeyRead MoreMany Contemporary Issues Tackled in Gullivers Travels by Jonathan Swift894 Words   |  4 Pagestell us that nothing is great or small than by comparison. In the novel Jonathan Swift tackles many of the contemporary issues of his day. His portrayal of English society alludes to the fact that he perceived many evils in the str ucture of society. In the novel Swift puts focus on the issues of economy, government, war, mankind and plictic. As a result of his insightful perspective into the fabric of society, Gulliver’s Travels, is regarded by many as being one of the greatest satires in modern historyRead More Comapring Naivete and Satire in Jonathan Swifts Gullivers Travels and Voltaires Candide2292 Words   |  10 PagesNaivete and Satire in Jonathan Swifts Gullivers Travels and Voltaires Candide       A child has the ability to make the most critical and objective observation on society and the behavior of man. How is this possible? A child has yet to mature and lacks proper education and experience. However, it is for this very reason that a child would make the perfect social scientist; his or her naivete may provide an excellent means of objective criticism and most often satire. A childs curious

Approaches and Theories Regarding Industrial Relations

There are many different approaches and theories regarding industrial relations today and each one of them have different perspective and approach in resolving the conflict at work place. In order to understand and be able to analyze what are the good industrial relations, there is a need first to understand how the industrial relations are actually defined and what do they refer to. As explained by Barnetson, Lesson note 1, Introduction, â€Å"it is the relations between the labour and management†. This relations in Canadian capitalist economy includes labor market offer and demands where theâ€Å" workers agrees to provide their time and skills (labour) to the employers in exchange of wages and benefits† (Barnetson, Lesson 1, Employment in Capitalist Economy) in order to support themselves. Rules, procedures and practices are defined which oblige the employer and employee to act accordingly. Another very important point in industrial relation and probably the most frequent source of conflict between the two parties is the wage effort bargaining. â€Å"The wage-effort bargain relates to how hard and productively the employees are going to work, given the terms and conditions of their employment contract† (Lesson 1, The Labour Process and the Wage-Effort Bargain). In other words, the employer wants their employees to be productive and efficient for the least possible wages while employees want the good conditions and maximum wages in order to compensate their efforts. The industrialShow MoreRelatedEssay Employee Relations1425 Words   |  6 Pageshighly respected authors and academic professionals. 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The prejudices and fears date back to prehistory and the developments in evolution that have occurred throughout in humanity. The prehistory gives an account of the concerns that people have in today s world. The author uses the term monster to describe myths and physical deformities. Stephen Asma uses the term to describe that there

Opinions and Social Pressure free essay sample

Although conformity is inevitable, is there a possibility of indifference because of personality, education and social pressures? â€Å"Social influences shape every person’s practices, judgments and beliefs are a truism to which anyone will readily assent. † (Asch, 20) Solomon Asch’s experiments in the 1950’s set a line up for how people in the real life make decisions based on facts. In the journal article, Solomon Asch presented many facts, which create truth to his thesis â€Å"How, and to what extent, do social forces constrain people’s opinions and attitudes? † Experiments were conducted to prove Asch’s theory of the way each person makes a decision and why. The experiments are as follows â€Å"A group of seven to nine young men, all college students, are assembled in a classroom for a psychological experiment in visual judgment. The experimenter informs them that they will be comparing the lengths of lines. † (Asch, 19) The experiments conclude that the test subjects are usually convinced due to the unanimous group of decision makers. We will write a custom essay sample on Opinions and Social Pressure or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page As the experiments begin everyone agrees unanimously. In the middle of the experiments, the answers from the test subjects start to change. This begins with the experiments and the test subjects all agreeing and as the experiment goes into the second phase of asking the question they are being asked to answer the test subjects have a second look and at least one test subject disagrees. Towards the end of the experiments, while reading Solomon Asch’s â€Å"Opinions and Social Pressures†, â€Å"†¦this study provides clear answers to a few relatively simple questions†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Asch, 25) Each person has degrees to which they will conform. In conclusion, Solomon Asch’s found there were vast differences between each person’s reactions to the experiments. â€Å"Of course individuals differed in response. At one extreme, about one quarter of the subjects were completely independent and never agreed with the erroneous judgments of the majority. At the other extreme, some individuals went with the majority nearly all the time. The performances of individuals in this experiment tend to be highly consistent. † (Asch, 20-21) Solomon Asch also found â€Å"†¦those who participated in this challenging experiment agreed nearly without exception that independence was preferable to conformity.