Sheila Flashcards
First impressions - Sheila
Naive young girl who is “very pleased with life and rather excited”
Calls her parents “mummy” and “daddy” - shows she is immature
Sibling relationship with E - “chump” “ass”
Relationship with G - “(half serious, half playful)” - “awfully busy” - “weeping” - she somewhat believes him but loves him either way deeply
Role as a woman - Sheila
Stands up for herself - believes her father is “all wrong” and isn’t afraid to tell him.
Doesn’t let G try to manipulate her with snide comments about her wanting to see “somebody else put through” the questioning.
Emotionally - is dismissed - told to “run along” as she has had “about as much as she can stand”
Recognises she is being “hysterical” but doesn’t tie it to her femininity, despite the men around her believing that women should be “protected against unpleasant and disturbing things”
Guilty - Sheila
Most outwardly guilt-ridden. Emotive outbursts with breakdown in language such as “Don’t please - I know, I know - and i can’t stop thinking about it”
Some of this is selfish - “I’ve been so happy tonight. Oh, I wish you hadn’t told me”
Although she arguably had the least effect on Eva, she still feels extremely guilty and immediately learns her lesson “I’ll never, never do it again”
Matures - Sheila
First to realise Insp’s seemingly omniscient nature - “I hate to think how much he knows that we don’t yet”
“He’s giving us the rope - so that we’ll hang ourselves” - he doesn’t make the discoveries, simply guides them, and S realises this - pays attention to detail
“mother” and “father” used now instead
Protects MrsB - begging her “to stop”, showing she still cares for her parents, introducing complicated dynamics
Takes on role of Insp - recounting events in a similar style to Insp “Gerald kept her” “final push” “fire and blood and anguish”
Responsibility - Sheila
Wants their “crimes and idiocies” to be out, doesnt care about her or her family’s reputation
Doesn’t use the discovery about Insp to pretend that “everything’s just as it was before”
Tendencies towards a socialist idealogy, using the idea of collective responsibility to argue her point that they’re not suddenly “all nice people now” - silences by her capitalist parents when she tries to tell G the truth.
Talks “(eagerly)” to E, the only one who gets her point - showing that their relationship is still strong despite all others having deteriorated.
