After reading and watching the play acted out i witnessed how language plays a huge roll in the development of the big picture. From beginning to end the language John and Carol in communicating with each other defined who their characters represented. John Being an educated professor spoke in what we can call an "elitist" held himself higher and spoke according to his social stature. On the other hand Carol a young less educated woman still getting her feet wet in life spoke what is called everyday normal speech that of which is spoken among people with little or no higher education. After looking at all of the scholarly articles that comment and analyze Oleanna i decided to use the "Language and Representation" scholarly article because i feel the one who uses the higher more educated language pretty much holds the power throughout Oleanna.

The one pretty much holding the control and power is John. He who holds the college degrees and is a stand up member of society speaks the language of the university. I liked what the article about speech making the character saying Mamet's characters practically "are their speech" and "their language allows them to exist". Carol's entrance into the play is a simple less educated younger woman seeking help in this course she doesn't seem to understand. After speaking to her professor John in Act 1 it is evident that John is the proletariat in the play and holds the power through the higher educated language he is fluent in. In Carol's case she simply doesn't understand a lot of the things John is trying to explain. I also liked a point in the article explaining that if the language of the characters was taken away the characters would just be characters with no style, traits, or personality. Towards the end of the play the language the characters have been using tells us what will come of these characters based off what speech they use. Se we develop expectations of these characters based on their status in society either an educated professor or struggling young college student.

John assumes this role of the educated professor although he seems only to have become fluent in the language of the academy for personal gain and preservation. This becomes an issue when he calls higher education "systematic hazing" in other words brainwashing. So we see he may only play this role of the high class professor to get further in the world but in his heart believes its all a waste of time. I thought of this idea of him only pretending to be high class and educated after he beats up Carol in the end, at first he speaks with knowledge and point and acts as a gentlemen then as the story goes on he gets a little louder and "uneducated" acting, then at the end he becomes the typical angry man who hits women. So i believe he is only acting as a professor but deep inside he is just as lost and of normal a person as Carol. Carol at first creates the less educated non understanding image but in the end seems to develop all her ideas and brings them forth in her plan to take John down. She seems to speak for all the people in her "group" and starts to sound educated and ready to use her new knowledge. The language of the two characters definitely creates who they are and ultimately creates expectations of the two through their language and social stature. I feel language along with the power of interpretation of that language is most important in this play.