Our Day Out by Willy Russell :: English Literature

OUR DAY OUTTHE EFFECTS OF CHARACTER IN ACTION THE USE OF DRAMATIC DEVICES andTHE LAYERS OF MEANING IN LANGUAGE, IDEAS AND THEMESWriters are influenced by the historical times in which they live.Everyday of their lives, what they say and the way they put to lop isinfluenced by the time in which they live.The 70s influenced Willy Russell in his writing. There are someexamples of this in Our Day Out such as the style of the mean(a) and theshop, the way the characters speak and the things that are going on,for example the description of the frugal slump at the time.One of the reasons for Britains industry being in downfall was, thatit was unable to be competitive on price against other countries whohad innovative technology. The technology increased productivity and reducedcosts through the utilise of less labour. As a result, some of the mainindustries in Britain had broad financial difficulty and had to closedown or reduce the work force causing a loss in jobs and highunemploy ment. This caused scantness and meant that people could notafford decent property and had to move into council homes. yr differences occurred, dividing people who had money and decenthomes from people with little money and distressing homes or no home at all.Willy Russells writing was inspired by experiences when he was a instructor at a comprehensive school. Whilst he was a teacher at theschool, he accompanied a teacher of a remedial department on a trip toConwy fastness and a zoo. At the last minute a deputy heading ofdisciplinarian behaviour also joined the party creating a likelyrecipe for disaster. During the course of the day the deputy headrelaxed and enjoyed himself, only to reverse to his usual self at theend of the day. In doing so, he destroyed all the positiveachievements of the day.This play is about a progress class, which go on a trip for the firsttime. Mrs Kay cares for the children a great agglomerate and just wants themto have fun as long as they dont endu re anyone or themselves. Thedeputy head who joins the trip unexpectedly changes this and believesthey should be fluid and not have as much fun in locate to learn.As the day goes on the children get up to all sorts of detrimentincluding stealing. Eventually the deputy head finds out about thisand his attitude towards the kids deteriorated thus far further. Mr Briggsjust wants to get them back to school as soon as possible.When put in a situation however, with one of the children threatening