Act 1 Scene 7 and 8 "Decisions"

"Having been briefly tempted back to her old way of life, Rita resists and makes the momentous decision to leave her husband.... She must continue her education"
The characters in this play, Rita and Frank, have changed from student-teacher relationship to another one, in which their personal lifes seem to be involved. For instance, Rita's husband and her mother are being taking part in some way. Apart from that, Julia, Frank's wife also appears in this scene in Frank's words.
Rita did not go to Frank's dinner party because she thought that she could not behave and talked as those people in the party (Frank's guests). Also she supposed that she would have been the only person to be laughed at.
When her mother said that they could sing better songs than those in the pub, I think that Rita related those words to that moment in her life, in which she was trying to improve as a person.
The act ended "an" we start again because Rita wants to continue with her literature course, in spite of the fact that, it has been really difficult for her. I would say that she is taking all that process as an important challenge in her life.