Eric Flashcards
Eric suddenly guffaws. His parents look at him. “I don’t know – really. Suddenly I felt I just had to laugh.”
A sense of immaturity
• Priestly is bringing more focus on his drinking addiction
• The use of the phrase “suddenly guffaws” after Gerald comfort Sheila because of her suspicions on
his faithfulness hints at the idea Eric is aware of Gerald’s affairs.
• The fact that Eric is doing nothing to stop his sister getting married to someone he knows is not loyal
demonstrates a sense of arrogance
rather noisily) All the best! She’s got a nasty temper sometimes – but she’s not bad really. Good old Sheila.”
The stage direction “(rather noisily)” shows Eric being quite childish as talking ‘noisily’ is usually an action associated with excitable children. It further shows that he has been infantilised by his parents.
• Signs of typical sibling tension, however it is not usual for their age. This is a sign that they have been infantilised by their parents as they both act immaturely.
• Eric is an instigator however he does it unknowingly when he is under the influence of alcohol
(Involuntary) My God!
Eric’s genuine response to the news, as seen in the stage directions.
• The use of the adverb “involuntarily” demonstrates how Eric could not suppress his emotional
reaction. This is unusual for him as a man to give such a reaction as within the patriarchal society in
which this play is set, such reactions are condemned and seen as a feminine trait.
• The use of the exclamation mark exemplifies his initial shock
• Priestly hints at Eric’s somewhat good morality, which we see unfold more towards the end of the
play.
“Why shouldn’t they try for higher wages? We try for the highest possible prices”
A mature insight as he believes the capitalist system out to be fair to both employers and employees.
• He is aware that his family are trying to benefit from exploitation
• Eric seems to sympathise with Eva, trying to justify why she deserved a good pay which goes against
his father —> emphasises generational difference and socialism vs capitalism
Inspector: (coolly) “We often do on the young ones. They’re more impressionable.”
Eric is part of the “young ones” – a representative of the younger generation
• Younger generation appear to be more open minded hence why they are increasingly more understanding to socialist views and aligning with the ig
Mrs Birling: “He’s just talking to my son, Eric, who seems to be in an excitable silly mood.”
Silly” is quite a childish term to describe a grown adult.
• This shows that Mrs Birling is infantilising Eric by calling his mood silly
• Mrs Birling is euphemising Erics drunken state because Eric is a part of Mrs Birling’s family, and the fact he is known for being an alcoholic means that he is harming Mrs Birlings reputation and preserve her imagine and reputation
“She didn’t even know I lived here”
Eric and Eva didn’t share many personal details as she didn’t even know where Eric lived. This shows
how the relationship was fleeting and superficial
• While Eva didn’t know where Eric lived, Eric knew where Eva lived as shown through the inspectors’
words ‘You went with her to her lodgings’. This further emphasises how the relationship was centred around Erics wants as opposed to it being equal between the two of them and consensual. This could also be making a point about the treatment of women at the time as they were seen as disposable with no human value
“[nearly at breaking point]: Then – you killed her.”
Eric is now hysterical and overwhelmed by all the information he was given.
• He is still deflecting blame onto others as he still uses the pronoun ‘you’ as he refers to his mother
when talking about Eva’s death. He is also being very blunt with his language which shows how overwhelmed he is as he is no longer thinking about how he speaks to his mother while before he was more polite.
• After this he also ‘laughs rather hysterically’ which mirrors Sheila in act one when she realised the inspectors omnipresence showing how the younger generation aligns with each other and most perceptive
- ‘(Nearly at breaking point) the - you killed her. She came to you to protect me – and you turned her away – yes, and you killed her – and the child she’d have had too – my child – your own grandchild’.
This portrays Eric’s emotional fragility when saying ‘at breaking point’ where the phrase shows his distress over facing the truth. Also, through the frequent dashes (anacoluthon) it shows his hesitations and reinforces his struggle to face the truth.
• Through his repetition of ‘you killed her’ Eric acts in a volatile manner through the verb ‘killed’ which has strong connotations of violence and pain whilst ‘you’ is a personal pronoun used to accuse his mother and place the blame on to her. This showed Eric’s emotional trauma as he is in denial of Eva’s death and hence employs the pronoun ‘you’ to seek as a means of ejecting responsibility to comfort himself.
‘And it doesn’t alter the fact that we all helped to kill her’.p65
He adds on to what Sheila says and hold the same values as they are both aligned and see, to be the only members of the family who acknowledge their role in the suicide of Eva Smith.
Eric knows that nothing they can do will change what has happened and urges his family to take
responsibility by telling them that they cannot “alter” the facts.
In this, Eric makes explicit reference to the idea of social responsibility with the collective pronoun “we” showing that he has taken in everything that the Inspector has said and understands the idea of it.
“You don’t understand anything. You never did. You never even tried – you—” (p.55)
The repeated use of the personal pronoun “you” indicates Eric direct and accusatory tone towards his
• mother.
• Eric’s use of “you” mirrors his father’s however, Mr Birling uses it to reject responsibility whereas Eric
does It to encourage accepting responsibility.
• Eric acknowledges the wilful ignorance from his mother as he is more observant due to being part of the younger generation.
