Oleanna

4 Pages 908 Words

Oleanna

In Oleanna, written by David Mamet, the problems that arise between John and Carol are the result of lack of communication. John’s phone calls, as well as the conversation with Carol are a great example of the John and Carol’s inability to carry on discussions. By failing to effectively communicate, the relationship between student and teacher collapses.
Constant interruption, either by the characters or by the phone, contributes to communication problems. Carol’s questions are often interrupted by John’s response.
These breaks and omissions occur through the repeated disruption of one character’s lines by the other character. For example:
Carol: …I come from a different social…
John: …ev…
Carol: A different economic…
John: …Look:
Carol: No. I: when I came to this school:
John: Yes Quite… (1.1798).

The words “different”, “social”, and “economic” suggest that Carol feels she is disadvantaged due to her past circumstances. When Carol asserts that she is the one speaking, John continues to interrupt her with apologies for interrupting. Ironically, he repeatedly says he wishes to level with her. Carol’s lack of understanding also causes interruptions in the flow of conversation. When she does not know what a word means she interrupts John to ask for simpler terminology. When he gives her a synonym for the word in question Carol replies, “Then why can’t you use that word?” (2.1811). Carol certainly seems to think that he overuses big words in an attempt to belittle her. The anger and aggravation created by this also contributes to failure in communication; they both feel they are not given the opportunity to say what they need to.
Phone calls also interrupt their discussion. All of these calls relate to John’s future purchase of a new house for his family. These calls intensify the tension between the characters, because they come at important moments in th...