Individual’s sense of belonging is dependent on the way one perceives oneself
Deep and meaningful self-connections can brighten one's road to belonging whereas negative view towards oneself can undermine their sense of belonging. Willy Russell’s humorous play: Educating Rita depicts protagonist Rita's attempt to escape her working class life and fulfil her ambition to discover herself more through education. Rita forms strong desire to change her-self through education as she perceives her life has no meaning and wishes to belong to a better self. Rita's urge to have a "better way of living" is seen through "I wanna discover meself first" by learning "everything". The use of slang "meself" and hyperbole "everything" shows Rita's lack of education her passion to "change from the inside". Rita is a capable woman seen through her humorous dialogue "it is the pornography of its day isn't it?” The rhetorical question brings entertainment while reflecting Rita analytical aspect. However, Rita's lack of confidence as a student is highlighted through Rita's attempt to appear more academic through a name change from "Susan" to "Rita" after Rita May Brown. This brings irony to the plays as "Rita" is a less known author, revealing Rita’s lack of connection to the educated world. Therefore it suggests Rita’s passionate search for better life and sense of belonging is generated her unsatisfied perception of herself. Rita's low perception of herself is resulted from her obvious lack of education which neglects her sense of belonging. In the play, Rita mispronounces "Forster" as "Foster" and thoughts poet "Yeat" was a wine lodge, the false allusion of known poet highlights Rita's minimum level of schooling and her lack of connection with educated people like Frank. Rita’s low confidence as a result imposed barriers on Rita’s path to belonging. Her admiring tone in "wherever you've put something its grown to fit there" shows her innate desire to create connection and belong to a more educated world. However, the contrast between Rita’s “off me cake” to Frank’s “off one’s cake” juxtaposed the difference in two’s education, further emphasises the barrier for Rita to connect. These highlight one will face many challenges on their way to belonging, usually emerged from negative self-view. Relationships with others also influences Rita’s perception of herself and thereby her attitude towards life and sense of belonging.
