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Oleanna: A Deconstruction of Power Dynamics

The underlying concept perpetuating a patriarchal society is the hunger for power and
control. Patriarchy is a system of oppression where males and masculinity are treasured; any
individual who is not a part of the superior group are automatically and immediately othered.
This concept of othering and the quest for power are put into praxis and explored in David
Mamets play, Oleanna. Through the characters John and Carol, Mamet shows the failure of a
patriarchal society, where the individual pursuit of power and control, within the constraints of
the structure already set in place, can lead to dangerous outcomes.
Oleanna is a play set in the office of college professor, John, where, in three acts, the
audience gets to experience the complicated relationship between a student and a teacher, where
both are striving for power. The two characters are subject to the existing power struggle which
places John in a position of superiority. In her essay, Night to His Day: The Social
Construction of Gender, Judith Lorber discusses the dichotomy of superior/inferior and how the
intersections of gender, race, and class play into the power binary. Lorber states, As part of a
stratification system, gender ranks men above women of the same race and class. (60) As it
pertains to Oleanna, an instance of race being an issue is in Act One, where John discusses the
idea of, The White Mans Burden. (Mamet 23) Context clues lead one to assume that John is, in
fact, a white man which immediately places him in a position of power, without taking into
consideration his actual occupation and position, that has been given to him based on the power
structure.
In turn, one can speculate that Mamet left Carols race ambiguous purposefully. Because
Johns race is assumed, based on the context and some of the words in Oleanna, Carols race
may not matter. This could only be because those who are not white, male, and of an upper

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economic status are immediately othered and placed into an inferior position simply because
they are a minority. Judith Lorber delves further into this hierarchy that exists within the
patriarchal structure, particularly in America, by referencing Nancy Jays theory of A and NotA. (Lorber 60) Jay, according to Lorber, states, That which is defined, separated out, and
isolated from all else is A and pure. Not-A is necessarily impure, a random catchall, to which
nothing is external except A and the principle of order that separates it from Not-A. (60) Using
Jays theory and applying it to Oleanna, John would be A and Carol would be Not-A.
Lorber, through adopting Jays theory in her paper, claims, In Western society, man is
A, wo-man is Not-A. (60) In this power structure, John has all of the power and he exudes that
power particularly in Act One. He asserts his position of authority through his conversation with
Carol and his place in society allows him access to that power. Presumably, Carol, who is a
student in one of Johns classes, has come to him to talk to him about her academic progress or
lack thereof in the class. Immediately, John jumps into a lot of intellectual babble and elitist
conversation which, at best, leaves Carol feeling more confused. There is a clear structure of
power being conveyed as John asserts himself not only as a white male who is superior through
societal and systemic ideals but also as an educated white male, who is assumed to be
intellectually superior. He exerts that intellectual superiority through his diction and the routine
interruptions. John makes it clear that he does not actually value Carols opinions and thoughts,
which supports the idea of Nancy Jays theory of A and Not A.
Clearly, John benefits from patriarchy and the power which it gives him. He is, as
aforementioned, an intellectual elitist and in a place of supremacy where even his privilege
allows him the capacity to critique the pursuit of higher learning. (Mamet 18) However, Carols
gender expression and performance is a result of the structure of society which prevails in

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Oleanna. Carol is a woman. That fact alone places her in a lower position structurally than John.
There are also some clues to her socioeconomic status. For example, in Act Three, Carol lectures
John about his privilege.. Carol says, But we worked to get to this school. And some of us.
Overcame prejudices. Economic, sexual, you cannot begin to imagine. And endured humiliations
I pray that you and those you love never will encounter.(Mamet 42) This implies that perhaps
Carol may be of a different race than John and also that she perhaps has a lower socioeconomic
status than he is and that, in turn, he has allowed his privilege to blind him from the statements
that he is making about the essentiality of education. In fact, for the mere fact that Carol is a
woman, she would need to pursue higher education in order to be placed in the same league as
her white male counterparts, like John.
However, Carols gender performance raises some questions regarding her stance in
the case between them. In her essay, Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An
Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory, Judith Butler asserts that [b]ecause there
is neither an essence that gender expresses or externalizes nor an objective ideal to which
gender aspires; because gender is not a fact, the various acts of gender creates the idea of
gender, and without those acts, there would be no gender at all. (273) Essentially, Butlers
statement comes down to the prevailing idea that gender is, in fact, a performance. Carols
place as a woman gives her a specific set of acts that will assert herself as a woman.
Ultimately, one of her performances of her gender comes towards the end of Act One where
the conversation begins to enter into inappropriate and dangerous territory. John and
Carol are still discussing ideas that are in the class lectures as well as Johns book and
Carol does not understand what is going on and begins to break down. John begins to
soothe her, perhaps inappropriately, because she is crying. Carols gender performance

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thus comes into play because she is acting as a weak, submissive, and emotional woman
would. She appears helpless and on some level that might stroke Johns ego and fuel his
masculinity, which he is also performing. The power struggle places Carol and John in
inferior and superior positions, respectively and further complicates the problem.
Furthermore, Butler also discusses the feminist appropriation of the phenomenological
theory of constitution which can be applied to Carol, specifically in the second and third acts.
Judith Butler claims, If the personal is a category which expands to include the wider political
and social structures, then the acts of the gendered subject would be similarly expansive. (274)
In the second act, Carol returns to Johns office, seemingly and newly liberated. One can assume
that this newfound liberation has come from an interest in feminism. Carol also speaks on her
group, implying some sort of club has led her to speak up about her oppression and about the
actions that may have transpired during her encounters with John.
Essentially, the problem beneath the violent climax may stem from Johns ignorance of
his privilege, leading him to be shortsighted of his all-too-friendly actions towards Carol.
Conversely, Carols part in the issue is her unwillingness to accept her deficiency in the
particular subject matter in the class as well as her shortsightedness in recognizing the nuances
within feminism and in her relationship with John. Ultimately, there is no justification for Johns
violence toward Carol in the end; however, there are issues of power and the social constructions
of gender expression that can be held accountable for the pairs toxic relationship.

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WORKS CITED
Butler, Judith. Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenlogy and
Feminist Theory. Performing Feminisms: Feminist Critical Theory and Theatre. Ed.
Sue-Ellen Case. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins U.P., 1990. 270-282. Print.

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Lorber, Judith. Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender. Race, Class, and
Gender in the United States. Ed. Paula S. Rothenberg. New York: Worth Publishers,
2010. 54-62. Print.
Mamet, David. Oleanna. New York: Dramatists Play Service, Inc, 1993. Print.