Blog Post #5 | Oleanna

The play “Oleanna,” written by David Mamet, showcases the class struggles between the dominant white, male teacher and a student who first seems like a victim, but becomes much more than that. At first glance, it seems easy to dismiss the student, Carol, as a stereotypical overly spoken, extremist feminist who is bent on destroying any man in a position of power. The way she seems to entrap the teacher, John, and brings down both his mental state, and position of power seems to be completely heartless and self-serving. But, as John is not completely innocent in this whole scenario, and makes multiple bad decisions, it is hard to decide who is in the right and who is in the wrong. There is one other influence in the story, the Group, and even though this group is only sporadically mentioned, I believe it is this group that has taken advantage of Carol in her weak psychological state to advance their goals. As Carol and her group are part of the working class, and John is the part of the group in power, the negative light they are both put in serves to blur the lines between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat and who should actually be in power.

As a class struggle between teacher and student, this story shows an example of a successful overthrow of the in power character. John starts off the story completely in control, even about to gain tenure, and Carol begins as the struggling student, most likely from a shady background as evidenced by her psychological behavior, wanting to know what she can do to improve her grade. Following a Marxist criticism, this grade is the economic means of production in the story, as it is something that Carol is working for, but is completely controlled by John. Thinking he is being a good teacher, John actually seems to abuse his power and step outside of a normal student-teacher boundary. The most notable instance in the first act is when he tells her “Your grade for the whole term is an ‘A’. If you will come back and meet with me. A few more times. Your grade’s an ‘A.’ Forget about the paper. You didn’t like it, you didn’t like writing it.” Carol takes these missteps by John and uses them to turn the balance of power against him in acts 2 and 3.

Carols behavior seems to change completely after the first act, she no longer seems like a lost, helpless girl trying to understand why she isn’t good enough, and now takes control and seems bent on destroying the position of power that John holds. The reasoning behind this is easy to put off onto a stereotype by associating her with the extreme negative views usually put on feminists, but if we take a look at here psychological state, we might be able to gain a little deeper insight into her actions. As Thomas H. Goggans writes in his critical essay titled “Laying Blame: Gender and Subtext in David Mamet’s Oleanna,” “In Act One of Oleanna, Carol constantly traffics in the code words of incest and child sexual abuse, speaking and responding in ways that are recognizable to anyone familiar with the representation of sexual abuse in today’s culture. She exhibits low self esteem, depression, and guilt…,” Carols actions in act one do seem to reflect this analysis as her mental state seems to be very unstable (Goggans 3). This mental state could make her an easy target for the Group that she mentions in the later acts, as they could easily take advantage of her and use her to achieve their own goals, she even states in act two that she, “…came here as a favor. At [John’s] personal request. Perhaps I should not have done so. But I did. On my behalf, and on behalf of my group.” Then later on when asked about how she feels, she replies with , “My Group,” removing her personal emotions and completely associating herself with the group she is representing.

The Group entering the story brings in a new power dynamic. As they have taken control of Carol, they then use her to gain control of John. As John continues to break down mentally, Carol, and thus the Group, gains more and more control over him, until they reach a point where they potentially hold his job in their hands. They use this gained power to blackmail him into helping them achieve their broader goals. It is at this point that John gets a chance to gain back control of the power he has lost, but he instead continues his downward spiral until he ultimately completely breaks down mentally and ends up erupting in physical violence against Carol.

The way that the working class gain control in this story is shady and underhanded, highlighting the fact that they do not deserve to be in control. But from the beginning, John is constantly abusing the power he holds in little ways, not even aware of what he is doing, acting every bit entitled and haughty. Between the working class and the group in power, there is no right, nobody that deserves to be in power, only victims.

Wesley Marin