Eric Birling Flashcards
Opening description
“In his early twenties, not quite at ease, half shy, half assertive”
Quote about wages
“Why shouldn’t they try for higher wages? We try for the highest
possible prices”
Reality of a working class person
“it isn’t as if you can go and work somewhere else.”
His opinion on Birling sacking Eva
“He could have kept her on instead of throwing her out. I call it tough
luck.”
Saying what he would have done
“I’d have let her stay”
Attack on his mother
“Well I was in that state when a chap easily turns nasty- and I
threatened to make a row”
When he contributed to the death
“And that’s when it happened. And I don’t even remember- that’s the
hellish thing.”
About her relationship with Daisy Renton
“I wasn’t in love with her or anything- but I liked her- she was pretty
and a good sport-”
How he was treated in the relationship
“she didn’t want me to marry her. Said I didn’t love her- and all that. In
a way, she treated me- as if I were a kid. Though I was nearly as old as
she was.”
Negative thought about his Father
“You’re not the kind of father a chap could go to when he’s in trouble-
that’s why.”
Shows his anger at his parents
“Then- 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- you killed them both- damn you, damn
you-”
What he says about the inspector once he leaves
“He was our police inspector all right”
Taking responsibility
“(shouting) And I say the girl’s dead and we all helped to kill her- and
that’s what matters-”
