Compare and Contrast the ways in which Sheila and Mr Birling react to the inspector and explore how they are responsible for the death of Eva Smith
At the beginning before the inspector arrives the scene is where the entire Birling family is sitting at the dining room table, celebrating the engagement of Gerald Croft and Sheila Birling. The atmosphere in the room is calm, relaxed and happy. All of the characters are unguarded both emotionally and mentally. Mr Birling in particular is exceedingly happy because of his daughter getting married to a man from a titled family, in charge of an expanding company. Having an inspector arrive to question them about the death of a girl is therefore unexpected. The Inspector questions the Birling’s and Gerald in a different manner to what they might expect of an ordinary inspector. The inspector knows about all what they have done and yet he persists in hearing their confessions and what their side of the story is.
Mr Birling’s initial reaction to the arrival of the Inspector is that he must have called in for a warrant to arrest someone because he is a J.P. Mr Birling goes on and on about being a powerful man in Brumley. He tries to show the Inspector who is in charge, like telling him that he used to be Lord Mayor for two years and a magistrate after that. Birling gets annoyed with the inspector because he doesn’t treat him as a high class member of society just like a person he also reacts as though he has been charged Mr Birling is then questioned by the Inspector who asks him how he knew Eva Smith. Mr Birling tells him that she used to work for him in the factory but she was given the sack because she tried to get more money for the workers and because according to Mr Birling that she was a trouble maker. The Inspector asked Mr Birling why he sacked her. Mr Birling said that any other employer would have been the same as him and would have sacked her as well. At this point Mr Birling is getting very annoyed with the Inspector and asked why he was being questioned in such a manner. The Inspector then asks him some more questions, Mr Birling responses by defending himself and saying that Eva Smith was a wretched girl and that it was her own fault if she killed herself and getting into all that trouble. At the end of Mr Birling’s questioning he said that he had sacked her over 2 years ago and that could not have had anything to do with her death
