An Innocent Man Wronged in Oleanna Essay -- David Mamet

Sometimes there are events in our lives that we cannot control. These events occur, more or less, due to our own actions. Sometimes, however, we must come to terms with our inability to handle certain situations and also to reach our goals. These events are facts of life everyone: some people can't run as fast, or lift as much, or write as well. It is during these times that we must focus on what we can do well, and try to direct our goals around those features that make us good at something. In David Mamet's Oleanna, John loses his job and his house due to Carol's ignorance, lack of self-confidence, and overall inability to come to terms with her own short-comings as a student. This play epitomizes an act of complete degradation based solely on one individual's failure to accept that she just might not be good at school--or at least John's class.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In an attempt to help a young student named Carol, a professor named John loses his house and his job. All of the blame rests on Carol's shoulders, for it was she that allowed her delusions of grandeur and success (being without the necessary skills to attain them) to ruin the life of man who has dedicated his life to helping students do just that. Carol's ignorance plays a big role in this tragedy. From the very beginning of this play, it is apparent that Carol does not understand the information given in class, but it is her unwillingness to even try that makes her at fault. "People who came here. To know something they didn't know†¦To be helped†¦So someone would help them (12)." Carol is begging John to understand that she is stupid. She doesn't want help in the sense that someone might want help writing a paper. She wants it hand fed to her, and education is a process that involves the teacher pointing the way, not carrying someone to the end. Carol' s misconceptions of how college is supposed to work can only be result of not having been exposed to the realities of higher education, but I believe that she just doesn't have the skills she needs to succeed. "Nobody tells me anything. And I sit there†¦in the corner. In the back (14)." This is an example of the total lack of motivation that Carol has to learn. Her ignorance leads her to believe that a college education is supposed to hand fed. She just sits there, in the back, without an attempt to even try to learn on her own. We all need help form time to tim... ...hool. They have lived their lives fearing that the system of education has decided that they are failures. This group has only one goal, and that is to succeed. Their success, however, has a price. Those people who stand in the way re their enemies. John's fate was a result of Carol finding this group, and allowing them to use her as a pawn in their own sick, twisted agenda. All the members of this group suffer from the same illness that ails Carol: ignorance, lack of self-confidence, and an ability to cope with their own shortcomings as students.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Carol represents a group of people that are the destruction of the higher education system. Their complete disregard for societal structure cost a good teacher his job and his home. It seems that today, when we are unable to get what we want by earning it, we have to destroy and tear down the barriers in our way. This is exactly what Carol does, and the manner in which she executes her plan would leave most students to wonder: why even try? Works Cited Mamet, David. Oleanna: A Play in Two Acts. The Best Plays of 1992-1993. Eds. Otis L. Guernsey, Jr. and Jeffrey Sweet. New York: Limelight, 1993. 150-164