In what ways does the story of Eva Smith's life, as revealed by the inspector, make you aware of the attitudes of the people at the time the play is set?

In what ways does the story of Eva Smith’s life, as revealed by the inspector, make you aware of the attitudes of the people at the time the play is set?

The play, An Inspector Calls was written by J.B.Priestley in 1945 and performed a year later. The story is about a traditional upper class family called the Birlings, who throughout the play are revealed to be involved in the life and death of a young, working class girl called Eva Smith. We discover that she commits suicide because of the chain of events, which the Birlings were involved in. In this essay I am going to be examining each character’s involvement in her life and their attitudes towards Eva smith and girls like her.

The first character I am going to look at is Mr. Birling. He is a very successful businessman who as worked hard to get where he is and believes that nothing will bring him down. He is very pompous and has strong views on many subjects. He likes to describe himself as a, “ hard headed man of business” who is working for “ lower costs and higher prices”. This is the reason why he is involved with Eva in the first place.

Eva was working at Birling’s factory where she went on strike for more pay. The sharp way in which Mr. Birling reacts to this shows us his attitude towards his staff. “ I refused, of course”. He appeared shocked to see that a girl like Eva would even consider asking for more money. It almost seems as though he felt threatened by her actions, as his way of life could be in trouble if the working class became organised and demanding. Him and the inspector seem to have a lot of disagreements throughout his questioning. Mr.Birling gets very annoyed with the inspector and he makes threats on many occasions “Perhaps I ought to warn you that’s he’s an old friend of mine, and that I see him fairly frequently. We play golf together”. He seems as though he is implying that rules don’t apply to him and that he is superior to everyone. Even the way he describes Eva shows that his attitude to lower class people is insensitive and rude.” She was lively looking – country bred – I fancy”. It seems as though he is almost describing a farm animal, not a real person. This also highlights the point that he doesn’t think of them as real people but as machines working for his company. Mr. Birling’s attitude towards Eva Smith’s life is totally different to his daughter’s, Sheila. She is a similar age to Eva but she is unaware of the reality of the world. This is due to the protectiveness of her father, “ I protest against the way in which my daughter, a young unmarried girl is being dragged into this”. He thinks it is acceptable to fire a “young unmarried girl” just because she cannot live on her existing wage, but it is inappropriate to even let his daughter hear about real life situations. Overall Mr. Birling’s attitudes towards people like Eva Smith and lower class citizens is rude, arrogant and selfish. He only thinks of himself and his family and any one else that is socially inferior to him is looked down upon.

The second character, who I am going to analyse is Sheila. She is a young, spoilt girl who is about to be married to a wealthy man called Gerald Croft. In the time when the play is set it was normal that wealthy woman didn’t work and probably wouldn’t for their entire lives. A woman’s main role was to marry into a respectable family and look after the children and household.

Sheila is a very protected from what is really going on around her. Her attitude at the time towards people like Eva was not as bas ...

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Sheila is a very protected from what is really going on around her. Her attitude at the time towards people like Eva was not as bas as Mr.Birling’s, but it was still unacceptable. Whereas Mr.Birling treated others poorly, the majority of the time, Sheila only used her social position and wealth to get her own way depending on her mood. At times she is sympathetic towards Eva. “These girls aren't cheap labour – they’re people”. She seems to be defending their rights and arguing that they are not just cheap labour but humans with real feelings. At times she has two sides to her personality. One is a sympathetic side and the other is spiteful, spoilt girl.

Sheila’s first involvement with Eva began in Milwards, which at the time was a very respectable shop. The Birlings had their own account at Millwards, which the company relied heavily on, as they were regular customers.

One day when Sheila and her mother went shopping at Milwards they met Eva, who was working there after she had been fired from Mr.Birlings factory. Sheila was trying on a dress when she caught Eva smiling at her. “I caught sight of this girl smiling at Miss Francis – as if to say: ’doesn’t she look awful’ - and I was absolutely furious”. With Sheila seeing this, she immediately complained to the manager and “Told him that if they didn’t get rid of that girl, I’d never go near the place again and I’d persuade mother to close our account with them”. With the Birlings being one of their most prominent account holders they soon complied with Sheila and told Eva to leave. She even admitted being jealous of Eva which is what made her so annoyed, that someone socially lower than her could look better than herself. “If she had been some miserable plain little creature, I don’t suppose I’d have done it”. It shows that Sheila’s attitude towards Eva is impertinent and rude. It highlights that she is a very jealous girl and that she has to get her own way even at the expense of others. Incidentally she felt terribly guilty after admitting what she had done.” It was all my own fault”. But it still didn’t change the fact that she used her power, as a daughter of a good customer and also of a man well known in the town, to punish the girl just because she made her feel jealous.

Altogether Sheila’s involvement with Eva left her jobless and in turn homeless, which contributed to the chain of events which led up to her suicide.

Gerald is the third character that was revealed by the inspector to be involved in the life of Eva Smith. By now she had changed her name, like many other ‘working girls’, to Daisy Renton. Gerald Croft is the son of Sir George Croft who was an extremely important businessman and everyone in the town would have known of him. Gerald had recently proposed to Sheila and they were celebrating their engagement the night the play is set. The first time Daisy Renton’s name was mentioned Gerald gave himself away. “(Pulling himself together) D’you mind if I give myself a drink”. Just by his surprised manner it is obvious that he is guilty.

When the play was set it was not uncommon for men to have mistresses and it was almost classed as normal, even Alderman Meggarty who was a important figure in the town of Brumley, was seen in the Palace Bar, which surprised many of the Birlings. ”Well really! Alderman Meggarty! I must say, we are learning something tonight”. This shows us that young men of this era were not all they seemed. Gerald was the son of a very important man, he was engaged to a young woman and he held a very important reputation on the line but he still went ahead and had an affair with Daisy. This tells us that Gerald, and men like him, didn’t have respect for their wives and were willing to risk everything just to be with a girl. Gerald’s attitude towards other people was generally acceptable, but by him going off with Eva, it shows to us that he is insensitive to other people’s feelings and that he is putting on a front to everyone that he knows. The way he describes his relationship with Daisy makes him sound like he is a hero and the innocent one.” The girl saw me looking at her then gave me a glance that was nothing less than a cry of help”. It seems like a coincidence that his friend was going away and leaving Gerald a set of keys to his apartment that he conveniently used.

In Gerald’s eyes what he is doing is acceptable, but the way in which he abruptly ends the relationship shows us it was not love that kept them together but physical passion.

Mrs. Birling is the fourth character that is involved with Eva Smith. Mrs.Birling is married to Mr.Birling and is the mother of Eric and Sheila. She seems the more dominant member of the family, as it is recognisable that she makes most of the decisions in the household. She also tells Mr.Birling what to do in social situations. “Arthur, you’re not supposed to say such things”. Mrs.Birling is involved in a charity organization called the Brumley Woman’s Charity Organisation that is an organization where desperate cases can appeal for money. The main reason she is involved in the charity is not because she wants to help people but purely for the fact it looks good on her behalf.

Eva came to Mrs.Birling for help as a last resort as it was only two weeks prior to her suicide. Once again she didn’t use her real name but changed it to Mrs.Birling. Mrs.Birling herself was extremely annoyed at this as, if to say just because she is working class she could not possible have the same name as an upper class, respectable woman.” I think it was simply a piece of gross impertinence – quite deliberate – and naturally that was one of the things that prejudiced me against her case”. She even admitted using her influence as a prominent member of the organisation to refuse her case.

Even after admitting everything, she was very confident that she did nothing wrong and that the inspector could not bully her into thinking so.” If you think you can bring any pressure to bear upon me, inspector, you’re quite mistaken. Unlike the other three I did nothing I’m ashamed of.” “I consider it my duty.” This shows that her attitude is very stubborn and that she will stand her ground in all circumstances. Sheila and Mrs.Birling’s involvement with Eva is very similar, as they both looked down on the girl and both used their power to eliminate her from her last resource.

The way Mrs.Birling comments on Eva’s feelings just shows us how much she does or doesn’t know about working class people. “ She was giving herself ridiculous airs. She was claiming elaborate fine feelings and scruples that were simply absurd in a girl in her position.” She is saying that a girl in Eva’s position cannot possibly have feelings and emotions. Also, when she explains that Eva was refusing stolen money, she could not believe it.” As if a girl of that sort would ever refuse money.” Now she is implying that she cannot even keep to her own morals just because she is in a difficult situation. It just shows that Eva must have had more self-respect for not accepting the money than Mrs.Birling has got for assuming that she should take it. This shows that duel standards are at work in the era the play is set. Then at the end of Mrs.Birlings enquiry she starts blaming everyone but herself for her actions. She blames Eva herself and she also blames the father of the Eva’s unborn child and says he should take full responsibility, not knowing Eric is the Father.

In conclusion Mrs.Birling’s attitude towards Eva and girls like her is extremely unfair and selfish. The only person she cares about is herself and she will blame anyone, even her own son, to protect herself.

The fifth and final character I am going to analyse is Eric. He is the youngest in the family but he and Sheila are of a similar age. Eric is young, spoilt and appears to have a lot more freedom than Sheila. He always manages to have money, which is either given to him, or as we find out, stolen from his father. We also find out that he is a heavy drinker, which causes many problems for him.” He’s been steadily drinking too much for the last two years”. He first met Eva, like Gerald, in the Palace Bar. Once again he was drunk and he demanded that he go back to her flat.” I was in that state of mind were a chap easily turns nasty – and I threatened to make a row”. This shows that he was no better than Gerald for what he did, and that all he did was use her. In his defence he said that he “didn’t even remember doing anything”. To him this makes it acceptable that just because he can’t remember it, it means it never happened. He then goes on to admit that he met up with her several more times and that she fell pregnant.” She told me she thought she was going to have a baby”. There was no chance that they could ever marry, as Eric was supposedly a respectable upper class man and Eva was a poor, working class woman. At the time the play was set it was frowned upon to even think that they could be married, as classes rarely mixed. With marriage out of the question, all Eric could do was to support her the best he could. This shows he does have a sensitive and caring side as he offered at least to try and support Eva. He started giving her money, but she soon found out it was stolen, so she refused to take any more. This shows that Eric is not only having an affair but he is stealing money from his own father. This highlights the point that his attitude towards Eva and his family is totally irrespectable.

Overall Eric is immature but at times he can be caring and sensitive. Although what he did was wrong he tried the best he could to keep Eva alive.

Finally, when each character’s involvement is revealed, we see that they all react in different ways. Mr and Mrs.Birling refuse to accept any responsibility for what they did. Eric and Sheila accept what they did and felt terribly guilty. Gerald is in-between, as he feels sorry for what he did but he believes that he did not cause Eva’s untimely death.

Another difference in the characters, is the way they react when they find out that the inspector is not a real inspector. Once again Mr and Mrs.Birling think that just because it is not a real inspector that what they did never happened. They seem more worried about their reputation than that a girl has just lost her life, they also seem to find it amusing.” In the morning they’ll be as amused as we are”. Eric and Sheila still believe that what they did was wrong and the fact that the inspector was not real did not change anything and they still did bad things that could have caused another girl to commit suicide even if it wasn’t Eva Smith. Gerald appears to want to forget it more than anything and return to normal. This difference in behaviour shows us that they have been brought up in different generations and have been taught to deal with certain situations in different ways. Mr and Mrs.Birling are from the older generation and they believe that their social status is everything. Eric and Sheila are of the younger generation and they feel genuinely sorry for what they did and. Gerald is once again in-between the two generations and he is a mixture of the two.

Overall, even if the Birlings didn’t contribute to Eva Smith’s death they still used their power and position to take from the working class. Everything still happened and it shows us that attitudes at this time, towards others lower than them was rude, inappropriate, and in turn could have led to someone else’s suicide. This also shows us that the Birlings represent more than themselves, but their whole class and that Eva represents her class and that the events that took place, happened on a daily basis without anyone knowing. Each character’s attitude towards Eva slowly changed, as the generations grew younger. This indicates how social classes were slowly wiped away and that today’s generations are more equal.

By Steven Davis