Oleanna Essay Questions

All three acts of Oleanna take place in John's office. What are the implications of setting a play in such a constrained environment? How does the setting evoke the central themes of the play?

John's office is, quite literally, the seat of his power. Mamet's decision to situate all three scenes of the play in the office entraps the audience in the room. Oleanna is largely concerned with power, specifically, how we hold power over others. Trapped in the room, both Carol and John hold power over the audience by controlling what they hear and what they are able to see. At the same time, the audience is able to witness certain key events, such as John putting his arm around Carol, and can decide for themselves which narrative they believe.

The title, Oleanna, comes from the name of a failed 19th-century utopian community in Pennsylvania. Why might Mamet have chosen this as the title for his play? It may be helpful to think of the ways in which the play depicts a failed utopia.

One of the play's central themes is the use and abuse of power within a small community. While the play was named after a 19th-century community, the failed utopia in the play is the academic world. Academia is meant to be a haven for freedom of thought and a safe space to explore one's beliefs, two characteristics discussed frequently by Carol and John. In Oleanna, however, academia does not succeed at either. For John, the safety of tenure that originally drew him to the field was taken away, along with his freedom of expression. Likewise, Carol saw higher education as a means to better herself and a comfortable space to learn and grow, both of which were taken away by John's class and his behavior toward her.

Over 20 years after its release, Oleanna's treatment of sexual harassment is still controversial because it doesn't present a clear perpetrator or victim. The audience is left to choose which character fits into which role. In what ways does Mamet provoke the audience to side with either Carol or John?

Carol and John represent two different and common narratives of sexual harassment. Carol sees John as a perpetrator, whose “unorthodox” teaching methods and familiar demeanor are actually malicious abuses of power. While the audience does not see all of the instances of sexual harassment that Carol describes, John is portrayed as a manipulative man who seems to be oblivious to his power. Likewise, the incidents we are privy to, such as the climax of the play where John beats Carol, suggest that he is indeed capable of violence. John, however, believes himself to be the victim of political correctness and an overly-sensitive student body. Mamet begins the play by painting Carol as a trustworthy character who takes notes on events and is careful not to exaggerate. However, her claims grow more metaphorical as she accuses John of assaulting her with his ideas. By undermining Carol’s claims, Mamet encourages the audience to wonder if John is actually the victim and Carol the perpetrator.

Discuss the recurring motif of the ringing phone, the primary aural device in the play. In your answer, consider the role of the ringing phone in the narrative and the effect of this device on the audience.

The play opens with John discussing buying his new home on the phone, a conversation that will recur throughout the play. Often, Carol and John’s dialogue will be interrupted by the phone ringing, which John will pick up, reminding the audience that a world exists outside of the office. The play’s soundscape is otherwise dominated by conversation, making the ringing noise as jarring to the audience as it is to the characters. Likewise, as John’s career slowly declines because of Carol’s accusations, the phone conversations indicate that the home-buying deal is also falling apart. Carol’s power, which grows throughout the play, seems to come, in part, from hearing John’s struggles on these calls.

In the third act, Carol accuses John of rape, both in the literal sense and metaphorically. Discuss the implications of Carol's claim of metaphorical rape in the context of the play.

Carol claims that John has used his “paternal prerogative” to influence students, which she refers to as “rape.” It is unclear in the context of the play whether she believes this to be considered rape or if she is using hyperbole to convey how distraught she is with John’s abuse of power. However, it is this accusation that begins Carol’s path toward less concrete claims against John. Until this point, it was easy for the audience to sympathize with Carol. However, this claim, as well as her request shortly thereafter that John remove certain books from the curriculum, undermine traditional notions of truth and academic liberty. Indeed, in some ways, Carol has begun to use John’s tactic of theory-as-reality: John began the play by using lofty academic speech as a way of asserting power, something Carol now uses to her own advantage.