An Inspecor Calls - Eva Smith Flashcards
“She was a lively good-looking girl - country-bred”
“A very pretty girl too-with soft brown hair and big dark eyes”
“She had been pretty-very pretty”
Eva’s appearance is repeatedly what the characters comment on first.
Highlights the way in which women were objectified and regarded as property of men, rather than as equals.
Mr Birling describes her as “country-bred” which connotes an animal.
Mr Birling sees Eva as purely an animal used for cheap labour, not needing satisfactory working conditions and healthy working hours.
“You were the wonderful fairy prince. You must have adored it, Gerald”
“She looked young and fresh and charming…wedged her into a corner”
“I’d hate you to know all about port - like one of those purple-faced old men”
Gerald’s upper-class power enabled him to control her; Gerald was only able to provide Eva with a place to stay due to his upper-class connections and the result of this is that Eva becomes completely reliant on him - he is her “fairy prince.”
There is a contrast between the relationship between Gerald and Sheila and Gerald and Eva. Sheila teases Gerald by wanting him not to become a “purple-faced old” man. Sheila has the power to do this, but Gerald seems to relish a partner who is subservient - “you must have adored it.” Eva Smith’s naivety and compliance, along with his comment on her drink as “some such concoction” reveals his sneering attitude towards the working class, and his pleasure over the power he had over her.
Perhaps Priestley suggests that upper-class men prefer subservient women, as they will always have power over them so Priestley asks the 1945 audience to break this and use their “say” - their vote.
“Well, I’m old enough to be married, aren’t I?”
“Broke out and had a bit of fun sometimes”
The character of Eva is also used to draw attention to the double standard for men and women at the time. Eva was pregnant outside of marriage and had no way of supporting herself financially.
She lied to the committee, saying she was married, as if she told the truth she would have most likely not received help from the charity. However, the same moral standards were not expected of men. It is revealed that Eric impregnated her and stole money from his father’s business but it is only the stolen money that really features in the parental reprimand from Mr Birling. Eric dismisses the affair as “Well, I’m old enough to be married aren’t I?” and even Birling admits that when he was young he “broke out and had a bit of fun sometimes.”
Eva, on the other hand, is a hard worker, and has strong moral values which see her refuse to accept stolen money.
Yet Eva is the one who feels the need to commit suicide while the men feel no ill consequences for their actions.
These double standards can relate to both gender and class, and the message is clear: women/working class cannot get away with the poor behaviour and actions that men/the middle and upper class can.
“One Eva Smith has gone-but there are millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with us”
Priestley uses the character of Eva to convey his message of social responsibility during the Inspector’s exit speech. Priestley’s use of repetition and a triplet develops rhythm and momentum, building up to his point about the quantity of poor still living.
It is not just women who are vulnerable, but also men.
However, women are more open to exploitation by men like Eric and Gerald.
Priestley now positions The Inspector to be the champion of all the poor, regardless of gender.
Birling’s speech also disregards her character and generalises her as one of his employees.
“And that’s when it happened” “I couldn’t remember her name or where she lived” “the hellish thing” “my God!”
“And this time we talked a bit… Told her my name and what I did”
Eric’s use of physical power and then economic power allows him to first abuse Eva and then force Eva to return to him.
Use of the euphemism “it” and the biblical language strongly suggests that Eric may have even impregnated Eva on their first meeting, but because she is so “desperately hard up” she decides to meet with him again - hoping for financial recompense as she now knows that he has some wealth.
We can link this to the other function of Eva and this could be an allegory for how women are abused through poor working conditions in factories but ultimately are forced to remain there because there are no other options and are “desperately hard up”.
“Been some miserable plain creature, I don’t suppose I’d have done it.” “Looked as if she could take care of herself” “So you used the power you had as a daughter of a good customer and also of a man well known in town to punish the girl.
The “power” Sheila has is clearly economic, financial, capitalist power of her parents.
However he also places the most important aspect first “as a daughter” suggesting her power only comes “as a daughter.” Priestley is suggesting she is totally subservient to her parents in the patriarchal society.
Therefore, it is no surprise she mirrors this power dynamic with Eva by making Eva subservient to her. From a feminist perspective, we may argue that both Sheila and Eva are victims of a patriarchal society where the value of women is placed on their looks. Perhaps Sheila even sees Eva as an economic threat due to this fact, and this part of the reason why Sheila gets Eva sacked. Therefore, Priestley suggests that a patriarchal society has the power to take away sources of income and leave women destitute - often as a result of the abuse of power of upper class women.
“As if she was an animal, a thing, not a person”
- The Inspector summarises how women were objectified by men as sources of pleasure, not equals
Priestley’s intentions through Eva Smith/Daisy Renton
- Eva Smith is constructed by Priestley as an exploited worker and a woman exploited for her body at the hands of a patriarchal society. In both roles, she functions as a character who has suffered from an imbalance of power and this works to show that Priestley’s audience now has the ability to rectify this imbalance for the other “millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths.” The women do now have a voice through the gaining of the vote
- Eva Smith never appears on stage and has no dialogue, this is immediately symbolic of the working classes lack of voice in society. Priestley signals to the audience through the symbolism of her name that she represents all working class people that suffer the effects of inequality in society. “Eva” referencing “Eve” - the mother of all women and Smith being the most common surname in Britain. It is the lack of voice that first signals the imbalance of power
- Her name Daisy Renton perhaps is the best indicator of the effects of a capitalist society and being exploited for cheap labour. Once the “Daisy” has been uprooted, which capitalism does through moving people from the “country” into city, workers die in poor conditions etc. The highest age usually in 1912 was around 50, and therefore Eva’s name is emblematic of a real problem in both 1945 and 1912
“She’d had a lot to say-far too much-so she had to go”
- Mr Birling fires Eva Smith after a strike. Many strikes had occurred during the time period, particularly the General Strike of 1926, and so a 1945 audience would have seen this as an injustice now that workers rights had improved. Perhaps Priestley reminds them of the people who were exploited prior to these improvements to force the audience to think of the people being exploited still through health care bills, a lack of welfare state
- This quote emphasises Eva’s problems. She has a lack of power in society, a lack of “say” being both a member of the working classes and a woman. However, we do see that Mr Birling does not value her for her “say” instead much preferring a woman who is “pretty.” Without the vote in 1912, women could have their voice suppressed and instead forced into destitution and prostitution, however they now have the vote in 1945 and can make change
