Literature

The thinking, attitude and behavior of humans are influenced by their desire to attain success in their lives. The pursuit of success blinds people towards the feelings and thoughts of other people. This attitude of human beings in depicted in the play The Rise and Fall of Little Voice by Jim Cartwright.

The play focuses on the life of Little Voice, a timid girl. Little voice is living with her domineering mother, Mari.  The death of her father has resulted in loneliness for Little Voice. Little Voice locks herself in her bedroom and listens to the old records which were collected by her father. As most of her time is spend in listening to these records, Little Voice develops the talent of impersonating the voices of famous singers. This talent of Little Voice is noticed by Ray Say, her mothers boyfriend who is seeking to progress in his career as a club-agent. Ray Say seeks to exploit the singing talent of Little Voice to fulfill his aim of success.

Ray Say
The character of Ray Say in the play comes across as an individual whose desire to attain his success makes him to overlook the true feelings of Little Voice. Ray Say succeeds in impressing Mari with his wisdom. Cartwright  mentions, You have wisdom. Also you know what to say in many situations, also you know how to have a laugh, dress and drive. He is a club-agent but his career is not moving in a way expected by him. He is still struggling to make name for himself in this field. So when he hears Little Voice singing, he is pleased with his discovery, for Little Voice can aid him in becoming successful. Richar states that No sooner has Ray Say.. heard Little Voice singing than he has instant dreams of the fortune hell make as her personal manager.  Ray realizes the potential of Little Voice, for she had a talent which can turn her into a famous personality. Little Voice may be a shy girl but she possessed the ability to imitate the singing of famous singers. Billington  writes, Little Voice is a shy girl who, in Cartwrights likeable if overlong Lancastrian fairy tale, reveals the power to imitate showbiz icons of song. He devotes all his attention to Little Voice and strives to convince her to sing in public. Wolf mentions, Ray Say, a local talent agent and main squeeze of the drunken Mari, who is soon transferring his attentions, in business terms at least, to promoting LV as a newfound star.

Although Little Voice is hesitant to sing in a club, Ray forces her to do so to serve his purpose of becoming famous. Simon writes, Next thing, the evil impresario has her performing-in a state of shock and totally against her will-for the profane, vulgar crowd at a local club. A shy girl like Little Voice is forced to perform on the stage in front of numerous people by Ray Say.
   
Ray is cunning enough to convince Little Voice to perform on the stage. As he is obsessed with his aim to succeed, he resorts to cruelty. He ignores the emotional distress that Little Voice is undergoing, owing to the performance and makes her to do a thing which is in contrast to her timid nature. Maxwell  points out that Ray Say . a mix of loser and viper who impresses with his guile, then appalls with his cruelty. When Little Voices first performance captivates the audience, Ray is excited with the thought that his dream of becoming a successful individual will be realized very soon, owing to Little Voices talent. Even though Little Voice has agreed to perform only once, he tries to persuade her to give a second performance. Ray is so determined to utilize the opportunity presented to him in form of Little

Voice that he fails to realize the detrimental effects of his acts on Little Voices mind. Shenton mentions, When Maris latest boyfriend, small-time working mens club impresario Ray Say, overhears LV singing, he puts in place a tragic sequence of events as he pushes her towards stardom she doesnt want and is literally terrified of.  The talent, which Mari was unable to see, was noticed by Ray and he struggles to make the most of his discovery. Hitchings explains that Mari belittles LVs gift, yet when it comes to the attention of her new squeeze, small-time impresario Ray Say, he sees an opportunity too juicy to pass up. Little Voice was providing Ray with a chance to become a successful artist manager and he wanted to grab that chance with both his hands. Coveney  writes, But Ray, an out-of-time Teddy boy chancer, is moving into artiste management, and when he hears LV singing along with her Dads vinyl collection upstairs, he plots her progress in local show business. Although Ray enters Maris life as her boyfriend, he is more interested in Little Voice after he heard her singing once. It is written in Telegraph.co.uk  that But Ray turns out to be more interested in her withdrawn daughters ability to sing like her idols than in Mari. The selfish attitude of Ray leads to conflicts between Mari and Little Voice, as Little Voice directs all her anger towards Mari. Rays intentions and behavior point towards his evil nature, for he tries to exploit Little Voice to accomplish his aim of achieving success.