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What does she think about Frank's room and about the proper students?
I think Rita is a very good observer. From the very beginning she is walking around and meticulously exploring Frank's room. She considers the room to be tasteful, with everything in the right place, and at the same time a mess. A perfect mess. I think everybody has its own mess. I have my own mess. The thing is be able to deal with that mess. As Rita says everything fits in its place. I think it has to do with lifestyles, we cannot experience something without using it. We cannot live without doing and experiencing everything we want to do, and sometimes that way of living results in a mess. A mess we can understand, our own mess. Another thing to highlight is that 'There's nothing phoney about it' (the room). The room represents all Frank's knowledge his life experiences, his likes, and everything is true, because its part of his life.
As for proper students, I think Rita missed the first chance to be a proper student herself. Being a proper student was harder than being just a 'normal' girl. You have to study, you have to work hard, it is boring, your mates don't forgive you if you became a proper student. So Rita chose the easy way. 'Possessing a hungry mind is not, in itself, a guarantee of success.'
The answer is easy: She wants to know.
And now the question would be... Know what for?
When we are young we don't want to study, and many times we don't know why we "have" to study. We are sent to school by our parents (in the best case). But as we are so young (sometimes) we cannot see the utility of what we are learning (long term usage).
But in the case of Rita, she is already a grown up and she wants to study at the university. Study at the university... what for?
What for are we studying at universities (or terteary levels)?
We may have different answers, different goals, different interests, but in the end we're all learning. Some of us may want their degree, some others polish their English, some of us may study just for fun. Study for fun?
I think this is the beginning of all. When we start discovering that learning can be fun, that we can use our knowledge, and that we are open to new things that we didn't appreciate before (just because of ignorance, or not understanding).
Knowledge let us understand new things, or discover new things that we weren't able to see before. Knowledge opens our mind to new worlds, and that in my opinion, is what Rita wants. "Because I wanna know Everything" = ) * (= "I'll have to learn about it all..."
"... y' sit (...) watchin' the ballet or the opera on the telly an' - an' y' call it rubbish cos that's what it looks like? Cos y' don't understand. So y' switch it off an' saym that's fuckin' rubbish."
"(...) But I don't want to. I wanna see."
