Primrose and Lucy are two of the main characters of the play ‘Smoke Screen’. Lucy is the mother of Primrose. She had divorced her husband earlier after marriage and now running her own business. Primrose is her daughter. Being a child of broken family, she is rude and rough.
While going through the play we observe a sharp conflict between Lucy and Primrose.
There are two main factors which can be considered as a cause of the conflict between them.
Lucy remains busy with her business and she spares no time for her daughter. She intends to let Primrose enjoy her life with her free will. But this liberty makes Primrose think that she has been ignored by her mother and that business is more important for her mother than she. So the relations between mother and daughter are restrained.
The difference in opinion about marriage also shows the conflict between Primrose and Lucy. Lucy has a bitter experience of marriage as her physically beautiful husband had not proved a good person for her and she had divorced him. So she seems to be against the tradition of marriage. While on the other hand Primrose seems to have romantic ideas. She wants to get married. Another difference between them is the difference of choice. Lucy believes in outward beauty while Primrose prefers the beauty of one’s inner self.
