Act 2 Review

1. Act 2 Review By: Eunice, Jemima, Claudia and Nathalie

2. Context Many of the interviews that are presented in Act 2 show various genre that were introduced in Act 1 such as the following: - Social responsibility/moral responsibility - Conflict of class - Conflict by gender roles - choices and consequences - Success and failure It is interesting to note that the different characters in the scene represent different aspects of these themes. Some have similarities others are complete opposites.

3. Joyce -Angie’s ‘Mother’. (Marlene's sister) -Of a lower social class as she uses taboo language “F**king rotten little c**t” - violent upbringing

4. Angie - 17 years old - hangs out with children that are younger than her eg: Kit - wants to be a lot older and looks up to her aunt, Marlene - wants to feel empowered in a patriarchal society much like her aunt - is part of the working class, hence her use of harsh and crude language - “Mind my hair/you silly c**t.” p36 - “You’ll have to do that when I get mine.” p36 - “I’m old enough to get married.” p38

5. Kit -12 year old girl who come across intelligent and is best friends with Angie, who is very immature for her age. She looks up to Angie -she has ambitions to be a nuclear physicist. -Being 12 she is still very impressionable. She thinks that NZ is the safest place if a Bomb were to drop, it is obvious that she is vulnerable to information as she has not grasped the concept of the world.

6. Nell - works at Top Girls -experienced, knows when her client is lying: “Christ what a waste of time” -“How old are you?” “twenty-nine” “nineteen?” “twenty-one.” -gossip: “you’ve heard Howard’s had a heart attack?”

7. Win -intelligent, educated: “science degree” - “men are awful bullshitters” - proud, arrogant: “any job I ever did started doing it better than the rest of the crowd” - skewed perception of marriage: “Got married in a moment of weakness” -married into a loveless marriage, feels weighed down “I’ve not been to see him too much last year” -compassionate: “she think’s your wonderful”

8. Marlene Interview with Jeanine: - underminding of Jeanine - clinical - cold - professional - curt - demanding Interaction with Angie: - Angie represents everything she does not want in her life - unsure of how to react - doesn’t want the maternal responsibility - awkward interactions Interaction with Mrs Kidd: - professional - cold - puts back on the mask of professionalism - looks down upon Mrs Kidd as she represents the domesticated women

9. Marlene- Quotes - “Speeds, not brilliant, not too bad.”- p52 - “Saves taking it off.” p54 - “There’s no need to mention it when you go for an interview.” p54 - “You haven’t got the speeds anyway.” p55 - “Your presentation’s OK, you look fine.” p55 - “The girl on the desk, didn’t she try to stop you?” p59 - “I do think Joyce might have phoned me. It’s like her.” p61 - “Don’t you have to go home?” p62 - “If he doesn’t like what’s happening here he can go and work somewhere else.” p65 - “Could you please piss off?” p66 - “He really is a shit, Howard.” p65

10. Jeanine - Relatively young (20 years old) - Currently works as a secretary but is looking for a change for a better income, since she wants to get married - Whilst being interviewed by Marlene we get a sense that she feels intimidated by Marlene, yet also looks up to her - We can see that Marlene starts asking Jeanine questions that she feels uncomfortable about - her future Significance of this scene: This scene is built on oppositions between Marlene and Jeanine. Marlene’s interview questions are actually pointed at questioning her values in life. It seems, through Marlene’s condescending voice towards Jeanine, that she doesn’t think highly of her. We can see that Marlene has made pre-consumptions with regard of Jeanine at the start, with her O’s instead of A’s (academic achievements)

11. Louise -46 year old hard working woman -The interview explores how men overrule women in an office even though her skills are more than suited for the job. -appearance is also a theme as she mentions “a new kind of attractive well-dressed (woman)” in the workplace, being for successful. -she is aware of her age and how it might hinder her chances of securing a job as she firstly states she is in her “early 40s”, but then confesses she is “Forty-six”. This emphasises the fact that image and age play a huge role in employability. - “I've seen young men who I trained go on”

12. Mrs Kidd - pushy - still under the influence of the patriarchal society - trying to stand up for her husband, Howard - wants Marlene to give up her job for Howard as for him to stop feeling so emasculated. - “It had crossed my mind if you were unavailable after all for some reason, he would be the natural second choice I think, don’t you? I’m not asking.” p65 - “You mustn’t tell him I came. He’s very proud.” p65 - “But he’s got a family to support. He’s got three children. It’s only fair.” p65

13. Shona - a 21 year old girl -very impressionable -she says what she thinks is expected of her. -she is able to recognise that she needs to talk herself up in order to be given a chance in the competitive business of sales.