The Samaritan Summary of the Acts and Scenes
The Summary of The Samaritan Act 1 Scene 1
It is the end of the year school closing day at Sagrada Secondary School. On this occasion graced by the Mayor, of Maracas Municipality, His Worship Hon. Mossi and a few distinguished Municipal leaders together with the members of the Local School Board, the winning innovation in the year's Secondary Schools' National Innovation Competition - The Samaritan - is to be officially launched by the Mayor.
Before its launch, Montano and Alvita, the students behind the innovation, led by Nicole, their Ethics and Innovation teacher, stage a skit. During the performance of the skit, Montano tells Alvita that he travelled into the future, in thoughts, and saw a bleak future fifty years from then: a future riddled with unemployment, poverty and hunger; pollution, occasioning climate change and eventual drought; declined life expectancy arising from diseases and malnutrition; blown up insecurity and corruption. Alvita, however, informs him that he, too, had travelled into the future and saw an entirely promising future: a world where people had become so creative that they designed intelligent robots that rendered justice and law enforcement, instead of judges and police officers; a world with increased life expectancy; a world full of jobs for people; a world devoid of pollution and a solved problem of climate change. Montano expresses his scepticism on Alvita's hope but the latter remains upbeat, asserting that there were enough resources as long as they were used for the right purposes, and if innovative ways were sought to help meet this end.
Alvita informs the gathering- and specifically the Mayor- that they have come up with a simple mobile Application, The Samaritan, on which people share information, videos, texts and photos, and that they had gone further and developed pigeonholes each for every municipal department where the officials get letters, notifications and other communications in soft copy from the members of the public. He adds that a trial run to protect their environment had been deployed with great success and says people were then sharing information. He says it is an App that one downloaded onto the phone from the internet, opened an account and then proceeded to use the service.
The Mayor, His Worship Hon. Mossi, casts doubts on the source of the information that would be shared and he is informed that the App relied on volunteers since information is always with the people. Alvita dispels Mossi's fear that the platform could be used for misinformation, lies and witchhunts, for she informs him that all users would take legal responsibility for what they post, but the Mayor is not convinced. He orders Narine, the school principal, to halt any further activities regarding the innovation until his office gives further guidance.
Narine, however, expresses her doubt if the process can be stopped since the App is to be officially launched by the president early the following year when the schools open. The Mayor, again, tums to Nicole, the Ethics and Innovation teacher, and demands she finds a way to halt the process. She, however, informs the Mayor that the issue is beyond her since the App has been taken over by the National Information and Communications Technology Corporation. The Mayor closes the meeting acrimoniously after demanding a swift intervention by Narine and Nicole on the matter of The Samaritan. Hon. Basdeo hopes it will be a new dawn for Maracas Municipality
The Samaritan Act 1 Scene 1 Revision Questions
← 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. What two things do we learn about Nicole in the writer's description of her on Pg. 37
b. Why does Nicole choose to introduce the innovation, The Samaritan, with a skit?
c. Identify three character traits of Mayor Mossi in this scene.
d. Why does the Mayor refuse to either launch The Samaritan or present the prize to Alvita and Montano on the school closing day?
e. Discuss two themes brought out in the scene.
f. Pick out two stylistic devices used in the scene.