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  • Essay / The theme of self-searching and morality in Martin Ritt's film Norma Rae

    Norma Rae has been viewed in different ways by people. In the beginning, Norma's qualities were different from those at the end. Norma Rae is changing and it's for the better. One of Norma's faults is that she depends on men. As seen with George. He treats him like a whore and gives him no respect. He is very violent towards her, like when they were in the hotel room and he slapped her in the face. Her father treats her like a little girl. He's always about her business, he always wants to know where she's going, when she's coming home and who she's seeing. Norma has some good qualities; she is a very hard worker. She works in a textile factory for many hours, then she comes home and cleans and takes care of the house. She is also a very frank woman. If she doesn't like someone or something they say, she lets them know what she thinks. His boss is a big jerk. He doesn't care about their health or their feelings. To give an example, when she and her mother went to see him because his mother couldn't hear, he wasn't interested and he just brushed them off. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Norma is a strong woman, but people take advantage of her. Changes. Norma Rae has definitely gone through a lot of changes. Ruben, I think, was his first change. Ruben was the young man in the union. I think she made her first change when he told her "you're too smart for what's happening to you." I think that's when she gave herself more respect. Ruben convinced her to join the union as well. She then begins to get involved in the relay and during all of this she meets a man named Sonny. She and Sonny become very close, fall in love and eventually marry. She persuades her other colleagues to join the union as well. One day, his father dies. This was a major change in Norma's life. She loved her father very much. If things can't improve, she is fired from her job. Norma was outraged by this and caused a scene. She was standing on a machine and holding up a sign that said “union.” Then, where his colleagues were, they all turned off their machines and started working. She was later put in prison for this. It was a total embarrassment for her and her family. She was very angry with herself. She called Ruben to come bail her out. The first thing she did when she got home was wake up her children. She knew there would be negative discussions about her around town. She sat down with her children and told them who their real fathers were. She didn't want them to find out through gossip. One last change has occurred. The union won. They did it, they won. Everyone was so happy to finally have good, decent working conditions. Norma's qualities have undergone such a change. She is so much stronger. She is a very faithful woman; like she had plenty of opportunities to cheat on Sonny with Ruben, but she never did. She was very confident, because she believed in Ruben and the union. She was so determined to get the union in the factory. She had enormous courage to risk her entire life and support the union. I think all of this made her such an independent woman; and made her a better person. My opinion on the film was that it was a great film. This made me grateful that there is a union, which allows me to have good and fair working conditions..