In the first 50 pages of Pygmalion, we already see the incredible importance placed on language, pronunciation, and grammar to evaluate a person's class and potential prosperity. Liza's poverty and lack of education is reflected in the way she communicates with a person. Higgins, and expert in all things language, can almost immediately detect a persons origin just by the way they talk. Because Higgins is a prosperous character, there is an added importance to what this character does. His rank in society proves the significance of understanding a language in this particular setting.
I find Liza to be quite an interesting character. She has obviously been pushed around all her life and become a slave to her utter poverty, but when faced with unfairness she often becomes an emotional mess of crying and whimpering, like she had never encountered such a thing. For example, when Higgins and Pickering are discussing how successful Liza might be in a program Higgins is providing for her, she hollers and whimpers like some sort of animal. My assumption would be she acts this way because of her ignorance towards actual manners, and disliking being talked down to, she reacts in a way that will portray her disapproving instead of actually talking about it.
Another thing I find particular about Liza is her unwillingness to except an opportunity such as the one Higgins gives her. I guess in this case she's too overwhelmed with pride to see how much Higgins could improve her life. If I were in a situation similar to Liza's I would snatch up any opportunity given to me, especially knowing I couldn't go anywhere but up.
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