John Agard: Mr Oxford Don

Here you can post the main points and conclusion of your analysis.
Post as a group or as an individual but don't forget NAMES.
Feel free to express agreement or disagreement with the analyses of the other groups/members.
The demand for your product is 300-400 words

Educating Rita

1. Rita: How does she change? How does she not change? How does she perceive education? What does literature signify for her? Why is it so important for Rita to be educated?

2. Frank: How does Frank change? How does he not change? Why does it become so important for him to educate Rita? Describe the development in his feelings towards this “project”.

3. Learning and education: At one point, Frank realizes that he has failed as a poet because he has tried too hard to write literature - what does he mean by that? What does Frank’s classroom represent for him? What does it represent for Rita? Does that change?

4. England: What impression do you get of British society and the different social classes?

5. What is this film doing in a theme on Language and Power?

6. Compare the film to either "Pygmalion" or Zadie Smith's essay

Zadie Smith: Speaking in Tongues

If you want, you can see Zadie Smith and hear her read from her latest novel "NW"

1. Find at least one good quote in the essay and explain why you find it important.

2. Discuss how Zadie Smith has experienced her development of “voice”.

3. Look at the passage about Eliza (p. 135). Characterize her change of voice (note that you have an excerpt of Pygmalion in the compendium)

4. Put the text into a Danish perspective - could the text have been written by a Dane? If so, under which conditions? If not, why not?

5. Explain how Zadie Smith sees the liminal/middling space of having multiple “voices” as strength. Provide textual examples (you may use the passage on Obama on p. 136ff as a reference point)