Reading Reflection

Siena Caldera

English 240

Reading Reflection

“Eliza did the trick, and something to spare, eh—Thank god it’s over!”[A.IV.S,14] are the words spoken from Professor Henry Higgins, a professor of Phonetics. He has placed a bet on a poor flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, that he can turn her into a duchess with his expertise. At the final straw, he ends up winning the bet because she was able to accomplish what he taught her. While sitting at the fireplace, Pierce, the friend who placed the bet on him, congratulates him and those words really took Eliza by shock. Higgins was a rich bachelor who really didn't care for woman at all, but going through those last six months of training the stubborn Eliza, he saw potential and something special in her. She was a young woman who would not stand down for anyone, and when she found out that she was just an experiment, her feelings became hurt. For six months she did what he wanted and listened to his rules in order to become what he saw potential in. He was paying for her to be educated, but that wasn't who she was deep down. You can’t change someone’s way of life and how they think just after six months. She confronts him after finding out his idea the whole time, and for Higgins, he isn't used to being backfired on. After those six months Higgins started to see a light towards women, especially towards Eliza. She was able to stand up for herself and be able to argue back what she thought was right, which I think started to make Higgins act soft towards her. After she runs away he realizes that he is a harsh man and that women are way more than what he gives them credit for. He tries to say his apologies but in the end she doesn't change who she is and goes back to her old life. Eliza is stubborn but she was able to break even the most horrible man in town to really look at how he was treating someone;  a real person, not something that you can just throw away when you’re done. It was a big life lesson to him that you have to treat people the way you want to be treated because you never know what a good thing is till it’s gone.