Erika - Blog 1

4. In the play "Oleanna" Carol first plays a hopeless student. She acts as if she doesn't understand the language that John uses, even though her level of knowledge isn't as far as we all thought at the beginning. At the end we all realize that she was using her class as a excuse to not being knowledgeable. Someone who is a proletariat would be oppressed by the language that the professor used, personally it took me a while to sink everything he said and to fully understand some of the words he was saying. I don't think he did it purposely, as a matter of fact he didn't know the power that his words had in this case. He thought every single word he said was understandable ( which it was for carol but probably wouldn't be for the majority of the proletariat community). This shows just how conscious the Bourgeoise are about other problems in the world that don't include them. John, like other bourgeoisie, liked his job because he was in control, and his students had to follow his rules which made him feel in total power just like any other bourgeoisie in the marxist social society.

8. I definitely agree with Showalter about the extremes of the characters. At the beginning of the play i was annoyed and wasn't in anyones team. I wasn't sure which social class the writer of Oleanna was for. I knew John was the Bourgeoisie and Carol the proletariat from the very beginning but i sided with neither of them. The perspectives were presented in a balanced manner but in this case i feel like the movie was made to make a point which i couldn't find since both these characters were so flawed. The movie was entertaining i can give it that, at the end i was happy John lost his mind and Carol got a beating, but i didn't find any strong points that helped me side with either the Bourgeoisie or the Proletariat.