Question 5: As I read in Oleanna, in Act One the character Carol acts as a student who is troubled in not understanding the book and the entirety of the course. John, however, is the professor and although he is trying to help her understand by talking about his personal experiences before later on the act when he makes a proposal to change her grade to an A, restarting the course. In this act, Carol keeps expressing on how she doesn't understand John or the terms or "jargon" that is being used. Carol also stated to John "I come from a different social... a different economic..." (Mamet, 8) and in that she identifies herself with the lower class. In relation to the class system, it is known that the lower class has a hard time with the upper class in relation to language. John represents that as he speaks to Carol throughout the entirety of the play, but in his way to have her understand him, he would say a word he would use in his vernacular and then say a synonym that is simpler for her to understand. So, from this standpoint, John as seen as the upper class, elitist with power not only due to his status, but his use of language. With it, his personal identity is wrapped up in his personal power that is blinding him from Carol. In this, it is evident that Carol clearly does not have her own power and John has it and maintains it...however, Carol writes down everything that John says and basically uses it against him in Act 3.
By Act 3, Carol's personality has changed due to her possible influence by her Group, and with it: her personality. She evidently melded herself into what her Group is about and she adopts the very language that John uses and decides to use it against him. In the consulted report, she claimed everything that John has done and documented it as "fact". Now, in my honest opinion when it came to the accusation of rape that Carol said that John tried to do, I believe that in that moment she had gained herself personal power over the situation and, ultimately, over John. At this point, John has lost his chance at the tenure; the new house he was to buy; his job and is going to jail as the end result. His use of language as I noticed in Oleanna was still similar, but detached and started to degrade into anger and rage towards her.
The process in which this occurred in Oleanna was (in my opinion) compelling. In how her identity changed from a student to a formalized member of her Group, aimed to bring down John, and John from being a professor living a upper middle class lifestyle personally and in the university whose use of language alone proved that he had a power and lost himself in his identity, eventually lead him to having losing everything that he had gained, thus realizing that his identity is gone along with it...resulting into utter rage and loathing towards Carol.
In regards to Marxist theory, in how your social being can create one's consciousness, that concept is shown quite well in Oleanna and this also shows to me that language alone has its strength, but when coupled with social status and a collective group, it weighs heavy like a strong, abusive weapon.
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