Eva Smith example essay topic

Speaking & listening assignment Eva Smith Daisy Renton? Eva was a young girl in her early twenties, she was apparently very pretty and also very poor, her lifestyle is completely contrasting to the rich, upper-class and somewhat pompous Birling. This although is the only information that is obvious about Eva Smith, she is a bit of an enigmatic character like the Inspector. A lot of information about Eva and the Inspector are unknown and a lot of the details are left for you to think about yourself. At the end of the play Priestly leaves a lot of Important questions unanswered and leaves a lot to the imagination, you can't even be sure that Eva Daisy ever existed and if they did they were probably not the same people. I think this is a good technique as it makes you really think about the play and acknowledge the characters and story line of the play.?

Despite the vague details we do know that all the main characters in the play came in contact with a woman, in all instances this woman was quite attractive, enough to make Eric & Gerald intimately involved with her and enough to make Sheila jealous of her good looks.? The first thing we find out about Eva Smith is that she is dead, "Two hours ago a young woman died in the infirmary she'd been taken there this afternoon because she'd swallowed a lot of strong disinfectant. Burnt her inside out, of course. .. She was in great agony". (inspector) This indicates that events that had previously occurred (later discussed in the play) had driven her to take her own life.

She must have been very desperate and felt so insignificant, she must have felt like no-one cared about her, she may as well not exist. She must have been through a lot of bad experiences to have such lack of respect for her own life, which appeared to be going nowhere. an overall feeling of Worthlessness leaving her feeling she'd nothing left to live for. The way she ended her life was very painful, to kill herself in such a way shows haw much she didn't care about her own life and she would end it in any possible way.? Although being poor she wasn't a lazy person, she wanted to achieve all she possibly could and had great ambition, according to Mr. Birling she was a diligent worker. Also she isn't the kind of girl who will be pushed around or unfairly treated. While working for Birling she felt she was being exploited, Eva felt she wasn? t getting what she deserved and was being unfairly paid.

So Eva and some other people she worked with confronted Birling in order to get a pay rise. This shows courage and determination as in them days it was very rare for somebody like Eva to stand up to the upper classes, These factory workers were often treated like slaves and just tools to do the work, not real people. When denied fairer wages the workers went on strike, again showing she wouldn? t give up in a cause she believed in, the strike didn? t last though and she was sacked. This also shows she was strong willed and wouldn? t stop something she believed in even though she had no money and the consequence could leave her out of a job.? She was then at her most vulnerable, living hand to mouth with nothing to call her own, still she didn? t give up and with persistence and perseverance got herself another job. A better one too, working at a fashion shop as an assistant.

She was now doing OK for herself when along came Miss Sheila Birling, Apparently Sheila was trying a dress on that looked very good on Eva but didn? t suit Sheila at all.? This girl (Eva) . had held the dress up as if she were wearing it. And it just suited her. She was the right type for it. Just as I was the wrong type.

She was a very pretty girl too.? Sheila then filed a complaint about Eva.? I was very rude to both of them, and then I went to the manager and told him this girl had been very impertinent. I couldn? t be sorry for her?

So once again by no fault of her own Eva was sacked, the innocent girl who was a very good person was once again mistreated.? After being so unlucky Eva decided it was about time she made a fresh start and decided to change her name to Daisy Renton. At this point she was extremely poor and hadn? t a penny to her name, still she had dignity and appeared not one to degrade herself, she appeared a better person than the thieves and prostitutes she was forced to be around. Then one day by stroke of chance after being rudely intimidated at a local dingy bar she met Gerald, he rescued her from almost certain poverty and got her a place to stay and gave her a bit of money. She apparently latched on to this man for he seemed kind and caring to her. He was her salvation as Sheila says out of sarcasm, ? you were the wonderful Fairy prince?

All Gerald really did was exploit and abuse Eva and as he says she was his mistress, he never really loved her he was very fond but not true love, whereas Eva was overwhelmed with how he saved her. Gerald treated her as a mere mistress to have sex with. When Gerald became bored and the relationship became inconvenient she was kicked back onto the streets, Eva took this with dignity and was? very gallant? she knew it wouldn? t last. She said she had been her happiest in the time she spent with Gerald although I believe she must really have been angry, just to proud to admit it.? She went away for a while to remember her good times but soon returned, just as poor as ever with no friends, money and an overall sense of worthlessness still no-one would help and even when she requested aid it was turned down, Then once again she met one of the characters from the play, Eric once again at the palace bar, she was involved in prostitution and Eric made love to her a few times with no love involved. Then she found she may be pregnant with his child.

She didn? t want to marry him as she knew they weren? t in love, this again I think shows dignity. Eric proposed to give her some money, sort of to get rid of her, about 50 pounds which was a lot of money in them days. Eric then stole this money from his fathers office. But Eva wouldn? t accept the money she felt she didn? t need his charity and still had some dignity, pride and respect for herself. Although that was the last of Eva the next thing we here is how she was dead.?

Overall Eva seems an, as the inspector says, ? A pretty, lively sort of girl, who never did any one any harm.? Every one she came into contact with mistreated her and unfairly treated her taking a girls whole life and neglecting it. I think whether or not the girls were all the same people is insignificant, the main point is how every small event can change a persons life, no matter if your the poor street scum or societies finest. The book makes a statement about the people of the world and how inconsiderate they can be. And as the inspector states consider all the Eva and John Smiths of this world.? ?