An Important Change

Rita begins to change through her lessons with Dr Frank, but it seems he changes himself. During Rita's period of change, while she is trying to experience all there is to change her image, and inside, she is confused of where she really belongs, either the working or educated class. This is given in the scene where Frank asks her to come to his house, and she stands outside and looks inside, she is an outsider.
"Daybreak: the household slept. I rose, blessed by the sun. A horny fiend, I crept out with my fathers gun" Harwood starts the poem off with a quick, sharp, fast paced illusion to show she's out to do something. The child sneaks out to kill a barn owl with the removed shotgun and when she shoots the owl, she awakens to the fact that death is pain. The act was bloody and hideous. This act shows that she is a " horny fiend" quite opposite to her father's dream of an "obedient, angel mild". When the father comes and tells the child "end what you have begun", after she put the owl to peace she starts weeping on her father. This act demonstrates to the child it is evil, and this changes her view of death, for her whole life.

Many of the techniques that are used in "Barn Owl" are imagery for example during the horrible death " bundle of stuff that dropped, and dribbled through loose straw tangling in bowels, and hopped blindly closer", give the reader an extreme picture of the execution of the owl. Another technique that symbolises the change is the way she alters through the poem. From being "obedient", to "horny fiend" and lastly "afraid". Her actions also demonstrate this similarly, she 'rose' then 'stood', 'watched', 'fired' and then 'leaned' and 'wept'. Changing self is shown thoroughly through this poem, death is shown to change the character of someone and also influencing him or her. By learning from out mistakes we can she that it impacts the rest of our life and the way we approach certain things.

The power roles have reversed and she is now