The generation of audience sympathy and identification in Willy Russell’s Our Day Out Essay Example

having fun is more important than education. Mr. Briggs doesn't understand the difficulties the pupils have and thinks that by being strict they will be better behaved and learn more.

Willy Russell has deliberately chosen two very different characters to help the audience to identify easily with them. Mr. Briggs doesn't think that the children can be trusted. We find out about this in scene sixteen where Mr. Biggs tells Mrs. Kay that he thinks he needs to stay with the children. "To be quite honest, Mrs. Kay I think we should all be inside, looking after them. Do you think it was wise just to let them all pour in there at once?" Mrs. Kay has sympathy for the kids saying "Ooh. ... Leave them."

They've been cooped up for over an hour. They'll want to stretch their legs and let off a bit of steam. We find out later that when Mrs. Kay and Mr. Briggs stayed outside and let the pupils in the shop, that most of the goods have been stolen from there. This shows that Mr. Briggs was right not to trust the pupils in the shop on their own. We also see another point in the play where the kids have been trusted to be on their own. This time Mrs. Kay insists on letting the pupils be on their own while Mr. Briggs and her go and get a coffee.

Mr. Briggs feels that he can trust them this time because of their good behavior throughout the day at the zoo. It ends up in the pupils getting into even more trouble. Mrs. Kay admires the crocodile line. She makes the

children do it, but the children feel that she needs to treat them more like adults rather than children.

This might make the audience think that even though Mrs. Kay treats the children well, she may need to start treating them like adults. When the children go to the cafes, they think it is an opportunity for them to do what they like because the teachers are not around them. The children take advantage of this. It shows the audience that the children can't be trusted unless they are under adult supervision. The children's attitudes to Mr. Kay and Mr. Briggs vary.

Their attitudes to Mrs. Kay are friendly and polite because she is to them but their attitudes to Mr. Briggs are different. Towards the start of the play, we realize that the children and the teachers do not really want him to come along on the trip because he will most likely ruin it as he has done before. They are frightened of him. We see towards the end a different Mr. Briggs, in the fair towards the end of the play, the children's attitude to him change when he is like this and they are not frightened of him and can have a conversation with him. This shows the audience that Mr. Briggs does have a different side to him and that he is not just a lonely man.

In the stage directions, it tells us that Mr. Briggs is photographed while he is with Carol. It tells us that she has got a 'happy' face. This is showing the audience that the children do get on with him but very rarely. Mr. Briggs changes

his character throughout the play. At the start of the play, he is in his car, where Les (the lollipop man) stops him on purpose to let Carol across the road.

Les says 'I got him that time. Arrogant get that one is'. It tells the audience straight from the start that he is not liked by many people. At the Cliff in scene thirty-five, we see Mr. Briggs's different side. Carol has run off and Mr. Briggs has found her on top of the cliff.

Mr. Briggs tries to use his authority to get Carol from the edge of the cliff. "Now just you listen to me - I've had just about enough today... not putting up with a pile of silliness from the likes of you" Mr. Briggs doesn't know what to do because usually, a child would run if he shouted at them. He starts to have a conversation with her. Carol says to him "What do you worry for, eh? ... because if I jumped over, you'll get into trouble when you get back to school".

The audience might think that Carol hates him "Don't lie, you! I know you hate me". Then Mr. Briggs starts to talk in a caring way to her which makes Carol happy and she starts smiling which makes Mr. Briggs smile back at her "Sir, you should smile more often, y' look great when y' smile'. This is showing the audience that the children do get along with Mr. Briggs but only when he is being cared for and friendly. They get back to the beach when Mrs. Kay is just about to shout at Carol for running

off when Mr. Briggs stands up for her and says everything is alright.

When they return to the city, everyone gets off the couch, Mrs. Kay asks Mr. Briggs to go and get a coffee with them from a nearby cafe. He refuses to go and uses any excuse to get out of it; he tells them that he will develop the photos of the day in school rather than paying in a shop. While Mrs. Kay and the other teachers walk away we see Mr. Briggs destroying the photos of him having fun. I think Mr. Briggs did this to keep his reputation as the strict teacher and because he did not want any evidence of him having fun, which is quite sad.

At the start of the play, Mrs. Kay may be sympathized with by the audience more than Mr. Briggs because she has to teach the progress class whereas Mr. Briggs is more strict and believes that this is the right way to teach. Further, into the play, the audience may change the view to sympathize with Mr. Briggs because we find out that he is a lonely man and not many people like him but he does have a caring side. I think Mr. Briggs is afraid of his caring side, which is shown when he tears the photos up after the day out.