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Discuss the ways in which an individual’s knowledge, values and beliefs develop as they transition into a new world.
The process of transitioning into a new world may expose an individual to new experiences that allow them to grow in maturity and develop a broader understanding of themselves and the world. However, this process involves adapting or overcoming obstacles as their values and beliefs are viewed badly or rejected by the world they are transitioning into. In order to successfully adapt to the new environment they transitioning to, individuals are often forced to disconnect with their past values and beliefs and adopt norms conventions which they may find foreign or confronting. In Willy Russell’s two-hander play ‘Educating Rita’ Rita is a curious hairdresser who is dissatisfied with the routine of her work and social life; she seeks inner growth, so she signs up for an open university. This leads her into having close relationships with Frank and he helps Rita with her academic quest for knowledge and ultimately soul discovery. In Kath Walker Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s poem ‘Son of Mine’, the composer speaks of contrasting worlds, the cold brutal environment that exists between the black people and white people and she also illustrates her hope for reconciliation in the future. Respectively, both composers utilise various techniques to highlight the lanes individuals travel and the different approaches individuals take to illustrate the visions they see for others to visualise.
Firstly, in Willy Russell’s two-hander stage play ‘Educating Rita’ Susan, known as Rita is presented as an individual seeking education, this leads her into off-loading the values and beliefs of the working-class society. Rita’s is shown as a female that does what her social group expects her to do, this is in act 1: scene 2 where she explained what school was like for her. Rita describes the school environment as being, ‘borin’ ‘broken glass everywhere’ she also thinks her teachers

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