Language is a powerful tool that influences the misunderstanding between Carol and John about the roles and rules of student and teacher. MacLeod comments that, "clearly, there is no casual conversation in Oleanna: every exchange between the two characters leads directly or indirectly to the use or acquisition of linguistic power" (209). Mamet's language is a source of ambiguity for roles in the education system. Carol and John have different understandings of these roles, demonstrated by the way language is incorporated into the play. The ambiguity of the language used in the different scenarios in “Oleanna” is the cause of the confusion of the roles of teacher and student between John and Carol. The ambiguous language that Mamet chooses to use in the first act creates a misunderstanding between John and Carol regarding the help Carol is asking for. Carol constantly pleads with John for understanding and tells him to “Teach me. Teach me” (Mamet 12). She begs John to help her understand the material in the book for her class. John tries to explain to Carol his interpretation of the problem and its solution, but fails (Mamet 10). She believes Carol's problem involves the idea of ​​failure which can be seen in her response: “If I don't want to think of myself as a failure, maybe I should start by succeeding every now and then. I wait. You see, the tests you encounter in school, in college, in life, were designed, for the most part, for idiots… They are nonsense” (Mamet 18). However, Carol's problem is not the idea of ​​failure, but rather the inability to understand the meaning of the language John uses to describe her role as a student within the school system. Exclaim t...... middle of paper ......between John and Carol. As MacLeod states in his article, “As Robin Lakoff has observed, any educational institution is “a community of unequals, as manifested through its structures of communication,” and it is precisely these structures of verbal inequality that Mamet's drama reveals with such infallible and unnerving precision” (203). Oleanna uses these verbal cues and symbols to create tension that escalates to the final conflict. Works Cited Garner, Stanton B. “Framing the Classroom: Pedagogy, Power, Oleanna.” Theatrical themes. (2000): 39-51. Print.MacLeod, Christine. “The Politics of Gender, Language, and Hierarchy in Mamet's “Oleanna.” vol. 29 no. 2. (1995). 202-09. Network. November 20, 2013.Whatley, Rodney Boyce, "Mametspeak: David Mamet's theory of the power and potential of dramatic language" Diss. Florida State University, 2011. Web. November 20. 2013.