739178
Eva Smith
- Represents the working class
- As she was a woman and from the working class - and society
was very sexist and socially concsious at this time - she was
seen as the lowest point in society's hierarchy. Priestley did this
to show that even a lower class girl like her, who would be cast
aside and judged, was a normal, honest and kind girl. In fact,
she is the centre of the play rather than one of the upper class
Birlings; Priestley is showing that it doesn't matter where she is
placed in a hierarchy, we should accept that she is a good
person who was badly treated and we should sympathise with
her, not distance ourselves from her, as the Birlings seem to do
- Judged on this by Mrs Birling, who is prejudiced against her
and so refuses help without even hearing her story;
generalises her, expects her to be worthless or dishonest
Annotations:
- "As if a girl of that class would ever refuse money!" (Mrs Birling)
- Generalised by Birlings, Inspector mocks this
by saying there are thousands of Eva Smiths
and John Smiths out there
- Judged on her social class by Birlings even though she is similar to Sheila and is more
honest than any one of the Birlings or the upper class. We have already seen that the
upper classes are corrupt; they lay out rules but don't follow them themselves, they are
all hypocritical and should be judged on the way they judge others e.g Eric talks about
seeing some of Mr Birling's "respectable friends" with prostitutes even though Birling has
already condemned Eva as a prostitute, but ignores his friends doing the same
- In this way, she should be seen as superior to the upper
classes because she is a nicer person and should be judged
on her personality and good moral values, not class. If the
classes were rearranged in order of the best personality and
morals, Eva would be in the upper class and the Birlings would
be in the lower class
- In this way, she should be seen as superior to the upper
classes because she is a nicer person and should be judged
on her personality and good moral values, not class. If the
classes were rearranged in order of the best personality and
morals, Eva would be in the upper class and the Birlings would
be in the lower class
- As she was a woman and from the working class - and society
was very sexist and socially concsious at this time - she was
seen as the lowest point in society's hierarchy. Priestley did this
to show that even a lower class girl like her, who would be cast
aside and judged, was a normal, honest and kind girl. In fact,
she is the centre of the play rather than one of the upper class
Birlings; Priestley is showing that it doesn't matter where she is
placed in a hierarchy, we should accept that she is a good
person who was badly treated and we should sympathise with
her, not distance ourselves from her, as the Birlings seem to do
- Represents a normal, everyday person
- Although she had to earn money by picking up men
from the Palace Theatre Bar, she was very honest
and didn't want Eric to marry her
- Birling admits she was a nice, hard-working girl
Annotations:
- "A lively good-looking girl, country bred... a good worker too."
- Shows audience we have to take responsibility so other
everyday, innocent people aren't mistreated or exploited by the
upper class like she was
Annotations:
- "One Eva Smith has gone - but there are millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with us." (Inspector)
- Although she had to earn money by picking up men
from the Palace Theatre Bar, she was very honest
and didn't want Eric to marry her
- Judged on appearance
- The Birlings comment that she was pretty, which got
Gerald and Eric to notice her
- Sheila got her fired because she was jealous of her beauty
- The Birlings comment that she was pretty, which got
Gerald and Eric to notice her
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