Eva Smith/ Daisy Renton

Question 1

What does her first full name suggest? (Eva smith)

Answer 1

Link to the idea of there being lots of workers like her “millions and millions and millions…”
- smith is most common surname

Question 2

Priestley’s decision to make Eva p_____ absent from the play is significant because it draws the audience to attention to a p_____, specifically through her lack of having any v_____ of her own – symbolic of the plight faced by the working class and the women during the Edwardian period. The photograph the inspector uses, and the diary here refers to you, further enhanced this impression of these faint chases of her identity that increase our sense of her vulnerable, ephemeral nature – she is only given presents and voice through through other medium that cannot hope to capture her human reality, and other people who tried to frame her according to their own prejudices and self-interest.

Answer 2

physically, powerlessness, voice

Question 3

“S w a l, g-l g - c-b, i f” (Birling, A1)

Answer 3

“She was a lively, good-looking girl - country-bred, I fancy” (Birling, A1)
- patriarchal men just cared about looks, not who she was as a person

Question 4

“S’d h a l t s - f t m - s s h t g.” (Birling, A1)

Answer 4

“She’d had a lot to say - far too much - so she had to go” (birling, A1)
- condescending to lower class people
- criticism of patriarchy
- diminishing women voice

Question 5

“B h p w d, s t s’d n h t g b t” (Insp, A1)

Answer 5

“Both her parents were dead, so that she’d no home to go back to’ (Inspector, A1)
- emotive lang
- sympathy for lower class
- need for change

Question 6

“S w v p - s b h a b d e” (Gerald, A2)

Answer 6

“She was very pretty - soft brown hair and big dark eyes”
- link to sheila “she was very pretty”
- link to Mr Birling (a1), only notice looks
- criticism of ruling classes and lack of care for lowers

Question 7

“i i o h g i t r” (Gerald about Eva)

Answer 7

“I insisted on her going into those rooms” (Gerald)
- criticism of ruling classes
- use of capitalist wealth to manipukate and exploit lower classes

Question 8

“Y (Mrs Birling] t h a w s m n h” (Inspector, A2)

Answer 8

“You [Mrs Birling] turned her away when she most needed help.”
- criticism of ruling classes

Question 9

“T a m a m a m o E S a J S s l w u, w t l, t h a f” (inspector final speech, a3)

Answer 9

“There are millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with us, with their lives, their hopes and fears”
- need for change