Letter to the Birlings from Eva Smith
To the Birlings, Once you have received this letter, you will have probably all found out how I was entangled with each of you. It all started the day I got fired from Mr Birlings Company. All because some co-workers and me went on strike because we wanted a raise from 22 and 6, to 25 shillings. Mr Birling thought I had too much to say so he fired me. Then, hoping to make a career out of it, I went to work at Milwards as a sales assistant. Although one day, I had the unfortunate blessing, of serving a, miss Sheila Birling. She seemed to take a disliking to me and I later learned she had tried to get me fired, and had succeeded. Then one day I
thought my luck had changed, I met Gerald Croft at the Palace Bar Music Hall in Brumley. Where he saved me from Joe Meggarty. Joe had pushed me into a corner and seeing that I was in distress, Gerald saved me and took me outside. We then went for drinks and after a while I ended up becoming his mistress, as he was engaged to miss Sheila Birling. Gerald set me up with a nice set of rooms and he began to help me financially. Soon the affair ended, because Gerald had to go away on business, in September. At ...
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thought my luck had changed, I met Gerald Croft at the Palace Bar Music Hall in Brumley. Where he saved me from Joe Meggarty. Joe had pushed me into a corner and seeing that I was in distress, Gerald saved me and took me outside. We then went for drinks and after a while I ended up becoming his mistress, as he was engaged to miss Sheila Birling. Gerald set me up with a nice set of rooms and he began to help me financially. Soon the affair ended, because Gerald had to go away on business, in September. At the end of November I met Eric in the palace bar. We chatted, but he was rather drunk and later admitted he had a drinking problem. He threatened to make a scene if I didn't let him into my house. I carried on seeing him and a few weeks later, I explained to him, that I was pregnant. He asked me to marry him, because it was the manly thing to do, but I declined, as I knew he didn't really love me. He gave me £50, but I returned it when I realised that he had stolen it from his fathers company. I decided to go to the Brumley woman's charity, which is for women in distress, which I was. What I didn't realise, was that I was about to be served by Mrs Birling. I don't know why I did it, but when asked my name, I replied with Mrs Birling. She must have taken this as a sign of gross impertinence, as she did not seem to want to help me as much as before. She did not think I was deserving enough. She gave me the cold, hard, push over the edge, which finally finished me off. Maybe now you will all realise what an effect you have on others, and not just be worried about your social status and whether you're going to get your knighthood. I bet everyone feels sorry for the poor girl who killed herself, and think it was a pity and such a waste of a life. But maybe if you had changed the way you treated me, and not thought of your social status all the time, things would have been different. But you just thought of me as an employee, a girl with a pretty face but no future, all because I was not rich enough for you to socialise with. Maybe the next time you turn someone away, Mrs Birling, you will remember me, and how my life turned out after you ignored my cry for help. If only I had got someone else to serve me, I might still be alive, and happy. But no I got a woman who likes her friends to think that she is helping the poor, and doing a good deed for society. Where as in actual fact, you are making it worse, you are making people believe that everyone who is supposedly out to help, just wants something else to write down, for when they hopefully get their knight hood. Sincerely, Eva Smith
