The Summary of The Samaritan Acts and Scenes
Act II Scene II Summary
Narine calls Nicole, her school's Ethics and Innovation Teacher, to her office. She informs her that Mayor Mossi wanted to have a word with her and was on his way to the school. She tells Nicole that she believes the Mayor wants to follow up on his directive, that they find a way of stopping the national launch of The Samaritan App. Nicole asks the principal if she had sent the Mayor the communication from the Minister for Education on the launch of The Samaritan and she affirms she did, expressing her doubt that possibly he had not seen it.
Narine informs Nicole that the App had sent shock waves across the Municipality. and that leaders and many other people were in terrible panic. She adds that the matter concerning the App had to be brought to a close with the urgency and seriousness it deserved, for it was dangerous. She informs Nicole that their Municipal leaders were convinced she was running the show behind the scenes as regards the App, and that she was in a position to get them out of the predicament they then found themselves in. Nicole, however, refutes the leader's assumption saying she only midwifed the idea of the two students - Alvita and Montano- and then guided them.
Appearing to threaten/intimidate Nicole into dropping the idea of The Samaritan launch, Narine tells her that she would not stand or allow anything that would distract her (Nicole), any other member of staff, the students, or even herself from pursuing the single purpose of preparing students to be responsible and productive citizens. Nicole wonders whether it was better they abandoned an ingenious innovation, with a great potential of improving governance in their municipality, just to appease a self-seeking political class. Narine then cautions her not to pick a war with the Mayor, threatening her that if she dared an elephant into a wrestling match, it would trample on her. In her response, Nicole tells her, sarcastically, that an elephant that kills a rat is not a hero.
When the Mayor enters the principal's office, he asks Nicole if she has executed his demand issued during their last meeting, and she informs him that she did a letter to the Ministry detailing his concerns, with Narine, adding she had sent a copy of the letter to him a month before. Narine tells the Mayor that the school, according to the letter from the Ministry, had no more role to play with respect to The Samaritan App and that any issues he might have with the App should, therefore, be referred to the Minister's office directly. Narine excuses herself to leave the Mayor and Nicole in the office, making it clear that the talk between the two was a private affair and had nothing to do with the school.
During their talk, Mossi apologizes to Nicole for having appeared a bit hard on her. He, however, expresses his reservations about The Samaritan, telling Nicole that malicious people or political opponents could deliberately post false information about him on the App. Nicole, however, tells the Mayor that anyone posting false information or defaming him is liable to prosecution in a court of law. She tells the Mayor that the mobile App had been taken over by the National Information and Communication Corporation and neither she nor her two students-Alvita and Montano- had any influence over The Samaritan.
Mayor Mossi confesses that he had made some mistakes here and there and that he had come to her to own up to his mistakes and to seek her understanding and help.
Although he is the overall! Municipal Council leader, he exonerates himself from the massive corruption and rot in the Council but, instead, blames his Deputy, Ramdaye, and other Council leaders, Hon. Ted King and Hon. Seymour. He blames Ramdaye for nepotism and land grabbing: Hon. Ted King for nepotism and the rot in the health sector; Hon. Seymour for corruption, abuse of office and terrorisım - he runs a murderous Black Swan gang: Justice Jaden for open bribery -hawking justice like cabbages. The Mayor blames the people of the Municipality the more for overwhelmingly voting in corrupt, incompetent people who would never help them but swindle them. Nicole admits he then understood the Mayor's situation, and he asks her how she could help him survive the onslaught in The Samaritan.
In a twist of events, Mayor Mossi accuses The Samaritan of being a political weapon against him and that Nicole was possibly using it to destroy his political career. And despite Nicole defending the school system as simply teaching young ones to uphold the moral and civic virtues without which their society could never prosper, be fair, just, and peaceful, Mossi claims that the real culprit behind all the problems in their society was the teaching profession. Raging with madness, he orders Nicole to delete every post that casts him in a negative light in The Samaritan, for the App, was damaging his reputation and undermining the entire administration of the Municipality. He hurls his business card (with his number on it) at her and demands she call him to let him know she has started monitoring and deleting all negative posts, reminding her that he is the smoke that thunders, and leaves smoke and thunder in his wake.
Study Questions on The Samaritan Act 2 Scene 2
← Act1 Scene 1 ← Act1 Scene 2 ← Act1 Scene 3 ← Act2 Scene 1 ← Act2 Scene 2 ← Act2 Scene 3 ← Act3 Scene 1 ← Act3 Scene 2 ← Act3 Scene 3 ← Act4 Scene 1 ← Act4 Scene 2 ← Act4 Scene 3a. Why has Principal Narine called Nicole to her office?
b. What do we learn about Narine's personality on pg. 55?
c. Discuss three character traits of Nicole brought out in this scene.
d. Pick out and illustrate two features of style employed in this scene.
e. "Mayor Mossi is corrupt." How true is this assertion from the information given in Pg. 61, 68?
f. The scene portrays Mayor Mossi as a bad/poor leader. Explain.