Eric Birling Flashcards
Description
“In his early twenties, not quite at ease, half shy, half assertive”
Socialism quote
“Why shouldn’t they try for higher wages? We try for the highest
possible prices”
Free country?
“it isn’t as if you can go and work somewhere else.”
What he thinks his father should have done with Eva Smith
“He could have kept her on instead of throwing her out. I call it tough
luck.”
What he would have done
“I’d have let her stay”
What he was like when he met Eva Smith
“Well I was in that state when a chap easily turns nasty- and I
threatened to make a row”
The rape
“And that’s when it happened. And I don’t even remember- that’s the
hellish thing.”
Why the rape
“I wasn’t in love with her or anything- but I liked her- she was pretty
and a good sport-”
How eva treated him
“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.”
About Mr Birling
“You’re not the kind of father a chap could go to when he’s in trouble-
that’s why.
Talking to his mother
“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-”
Comment on inspector
“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-”
