Eric Flashcards
“Why shouldn’t they try for higher wages, we try for the highest possible prices.”
Eric questions the ethics behind his father’s exploitative attitude towards the social class, he deviates from the [half shy] presentation to the [assertive] one foreshadowed at the start of the play. Moreover, he creates emphasis on the unjust system put into place by the upper class and his father.
[Involuntarily]”My god!”
He couldn’t suppress his emotional side as they were deemed as feminine in a patriarchal society. However, it is clear that he is physically in shock and feels sympathy for the death of the exploited Eva Smith. Furthermore, his reaction was contrasted to his father’s “yes, yes, horrible business” who dismisses the news instantly and claims he “can’t accept any responsibility”. This shows the difference in attitudes towards the social class between the young and older generation.
“not the kind of father a chap could go to when he’s in trouble” “raised by a cold women”
His childhood was represented as “not cosy and homelike”, as he is essentially a product of poor parenting, as he was surrounded with capitalist ideologies within his upbringing. Furthermore, as a result of his parents materialism, he uses drinking alcohol as a coping mechanism. Alcohol has negative connotations, however he still indulges in drinking it to cope with his families controversial ideologies.
“She wasn’t the usual sort”
This suggests the familiarity of prostitution that Eric had indulged in as he was used to exploiting these struggling women who had no other choice but to indulge in being prostitutes as a profession.
