sheila Flashcards
1 “Look- Mummy- isn’t it a beauty?”
-abundance of hyphens make her speech fragmented - emulates her lack of voice + assertiveness in speech
-question mark - seeking validation + reassurance on the work of something based on its exterior
-infantile language - “Mummy”
1 “But these girls aren’t cheap labour - they’re people”
-begins to realise mistreatment of E + acknowledges her humanity
-S‘s guilt contrasts sharply with MB‘s defensiveness
-her initial acknowledgement of guilt hints at her later development + acceptance of responsibility
2 “Mother, she’s just died a horrible death- don’t forget”
-plosives litter her speech (“died” / “death” / “don’t”) - harsh sounds emulate harsh reality she’s trying to make her irresponsible family face
-fragmented speech resembles she’s placing emphasis on directly addressing her mother’s responsibility
3 “But that won’t bring Eva Smith back to life, will it?”
-rhetorical question - questioning MB’s infatuation with money + materialistic items
-by critiquing him, she is critiquing + questioning capitalism as a whole
-conjunction on “but” shows she is interjecting in MB’s distorted priorities
-he cares more for money stolen than life stolen
3 “But you’re forgetting one thing I still can’t forget. Everything we said had happened really had happened”
-personal pronoun “I” shows she personally feels guilt that is plaguing her conscience
-repetition of past tense “happened” shows their actions are irreversible as they happened in the past
-as they cannot change these actions, they must feel guilt + repent
3 “fire and blood and anguish”
-S acts as the inspector’s proxy when he leaves reciting his exact moral teachings
-demonstrates inspector’s profound impact on younger generation as S now resents her families supercilious airs + graces + tries to catalyse a change
