Pygmalion Mrs. and Miss Eynsford Hill Quotes

MRS. EYNSFORD HILL [to Mrs. Higgins] You mustn't mind Clara. [Pickering, catching from her lowered tone that this is not meant for him to hear, discreetly joins Higgins at the window]. We're so poor! and she gets so few parties, poor child! She doesn't quite know. [Mrs. Higgins, seeing that her eyes are moist, takes her hand sympathetically and goes with her to the door]. But the boy is nice. Don't you think so? (3.200)

Class distinctions are, we see, changeable. Clara, raised, we assume, in relative wealth, is apparently unaware of her family's changing fortunes.

THE DAUGHTER. Well, haven't you got a cab?
FREDDY. There's not one to be had for love or money.
THE MOTHER. Oh, Freddy, there must be one. You can't have tried.
THE DAUGHTER. It's too tiresome. Do you expect us to go and get one ourselves? (1.12-5)

The mother and daughter, Mrs. and Miss Eynsford Hill, reinforce typical notions of femininity. It is a man's job, not a woman's, to go out and brave the elements.