Oleanna (SparkNotes Literature Guide) by SparkNotes

Author:SparkNotes [Sparknotes Editors]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Study Guides
ISBN: 9781411476875
Publisher: Spark
Published: 2014-08-11T16:00:00+00:00

Act Two, Part A

Summary

John's two-page monologue that opens the second act is the longest uninterrupted speech in Oleanna. He confesses to Carol, across the desk, that he esteems himself as a skilled teacher and values the performance aspect of his role as a professor. He wished so desperately not to become the robotic type of teacher he himself had as a student that he instead went so far as to be unorthodox in his teaching style—perhaps too far, he wonders, for the good of his students. When confronted with the possibility of tenure, he admits to having coveted it, and, wondering if that was wrong, he admits to wanting tenure in and of itself, for the security and comfort of himself and his family. This security came at the price of tenure, which he was in the process of getting, and he also initiated the purchase of a new house as a result, something important to him and his concept of security.

The Tenure Committee, John goes on to say, will meet, hear Carol's complaint, and dismiss it—but not without the delay causing John to lose his house and his deposit. He says he has angered Carol; he, too, was angered by teachers, but he turned his hurt and humiliation into positive motivation to reform the system. Carol's first line, "What do you want of me?", is answered with John's admission that he is, in fact, pedantic and vulnerable to criticism for his teaching. She attempts to speak, but he again overrides her, asserting that he feels he is "unassailable" in his "unflinching concern for my students' dignity." He asks how the matter can be settled, calling it "pointless"; Carol paraphrases this as, "What you can do to force me to retract?" In fact, she asserts that this is what he has said, and when he claims the contrary, she merely responds, "I have my notes." John asks again what he has done to her, and Carol replies that whatever he has done, "to the extent that you've done it to me, do you know, rather than to me as a student, and, so, to the student body," is found in her report to the tenure committee.

John reads aloud charges from the committee report: he is sexist and elitist (a word of whose definition he professes to be uncertain), has engaged in "theatrical diversions from the prescribed text", was alone with a student, told a sexually explicit story (the story which contrasted the frequency of fornication with class), tried to embrace the student, used the phrase, "The White Man's Burden," invited Carol to his office because he liked her, and offered to let her rewrite her examination paper if she would come back to his office—all charges based on incidents contained in the first act. John tells Carol that her report is ludicrous, bound to humiliate her and cost him his house; she counters that he cannot deny that the incidents occurred or, if they did, that they meant what he said they did rather than what she said.

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