Our Day Out by Willy Russell :: English Literature

A major theme in ‘Our Day Out’ is the lack of education and opportunity for young people in the inner city. Using scenes from the play, show how Willy Russell makes the audience aware of this theme. Introduction. The play that I am writing about is called ‘Our Day Out’ and it was written by Willy Russell. The main theme of the play is to tell the reader what life was like for people (mainly children) in Liverpool in the 1970s and what their education was like. During the 1970s 100 000 jobs were lost in Liverpool because the docks had been closed and all of the factories were closing down. The unemployment went up, the streets got dirty, there was no money in education and the only thing that the kids could do was play on the streets and get into trouble. I think that this is like the play by Willy Russell because all the factories were closing down, the docks had been closed and there was rubbish all over the streets. It’s also the same because all the kids had given up on life and their teachers had given up on them ever getting a job. The play is about under achieving children who have been given the chance to go on a trip to Conwy Castle in Wales. Their teacher knows that there is no hope for them and they don’t want to learn anything. She is also a soft teacher so the headmaster decides to send a strict teacher along with her. As well as the castle they also went to the zoo, the beach and the funfair. Part 1: Carol at the school gates. Carol’s use of language shows how there is a lack of education and opportunity in Liverpool at this time by the way that she says words like â€Å" Agh, ey, wanna, t’, and goin’ †. She also repeats words and pauses a lot. This shows that she might live in a rough background where people use abbreviations, slag a lot and have poor communication skills. Carol is suppose to be funny because she acts like she is smart and a normal person when she knows that she’s not and this makes her sound even more pathetic. It is also because she agrees with Les when he says ‘There all backwards round here’ and she always asks stupid questions. Carol is fooling her self about living in a nice place because she has no basic skills to get a job and buy a house in. Part 2: At the zoo. When Ronson is stood at the bear pit he is trying to say that even