Soon after questioning Sheila, it transpired that Sheila had a shop assistant fired from Milwards some time ago. This shop assistant happened to be Eva Smith. Sheila was in a foul mood that day and when trying on an outfit, caught sight of Eva Smith smirking at her because the outfit did not suit her. This sent Sheila into a temper and she complained to the management. She threatened to withdraw her and her parents’ accounts from Milwards and never shop there again if the shop assistant was not fired. This left the management with no choice, and despite her hard work, Eva Smith was fired through no fault of her own.
Unlike Mr. Birling, Sheila blames herself for the suicide of Eva Smith and her involvement in it. Sheila realises she has made a mistake and vows to never repeat it again:
“It’s the only time that I’ve ever done anything like that, and I’ll never, never do it again to anybody.”
At this point we realise the differences between Mr. Birling and Sheila. Both are told that they have been involved in the death of Eva Smith, and both were involved for petty reasons. However, they respond in totally opposite ways. Mr. Birling justifies his actions and acts like he has done nothing wrong, while Sheila blames herself and learns from her mistake.
The next person who is involved in the ‘chain of events’ that led to the death of Eva Smith, is the surprised Gerald Croft. Gerald Croft genuinely doesn’t recognise the name Eva Smith. The inspector soon gets through to him though, and convinces him that the woman he knew as Daisy Renton was actually Eva Smith. Unlike his fiancée Sheila, and future father in-law Mr. Birling, Gerald did not leave Eva financially incapable, but he did leave her emotionally distraught.
Gerald had a long affair with the woman he knew as Daisy Renton after heroically saving her from a local pervert. Gerald did have the decency to support her, and ended the affair once he realised that she felt much more strongly about him than he did about her. Gerald also made her happy, up until the point of leaving her.
Like Mr. Birling, Gerald disassociates himself from any involvement with the suicide of Eva Smith:
“I hadn’t set eyes on the girl for at least months. I don’t come into this suicide business.”
However, he is not like Mr. Birling in every way, as he is still concerned about what happened to Eva Smith/Daisy Renton, much like Sheila. He asks many questions about the well-being and whereabouts of Daisy/Eva after his affair with her.
Gerald accepts what he has done and we as the reader feel he is genuinely sorry about what he did, like Sheila, but doesn’t regret doing what he did, like Mr. Birling. Gerald is in fact a cross between Sheila and Mr. Birling with the way he reacts after being told the extent of his involvement with the death of Eva Smith.
Mrs. Birling was the chair of the Brumley Women’s Charity Organisation. This organisation is an organisation ‘to which women in distress can appeal for help in various forms’. Eva Smith applied to his organisation, but as Mrs. Birling.
Mrs. Birling being of an upper class society, saw this attempt at impersonating her and this impersonation coming from an member of the lower class society, left her fuming and biased against Eva Smith’s case.
The case presented to Mrs. Birling, was that Eva Smith was left pregnant by a young man who had given her stolen money in order to support her. Mrs. Birling told her to marry the young man as that was expected of that period in time, but Eva Smith refused.
Mrs. Birling pushed Eva Smith even further out into the cold world than she already was, all alone and with no money. Like Mr. Birling, Mrs. Birling refuses to accept responsibility for any involvement in the death of Eva Smith. Mrs. Birling, just like Mr. Birling, claims she was only doing her job. Mrs. Birling actually goes one step further than Mr. Birling and blames the father of Eva Smith’s baby for the death of Eva Smith. Little does she know that the father of the baby was in fact her son, Eric Birling,
Eric got Eva pregnant, but it was merely a drunken one night stand. Eric and Eva did not love each other and had no intention of marrying each other despite the baby, Eric did not even remember her name. Eric did accept responsibility for his actions and offered to support her, but in order to support her he had to steal from his father’s business. This was eventually discovered by Eva and she stopped taking the money from him. When Eric found out about the extent of his involvement with the death of Eva, we know he does feel guilt and remorse. This is made clear, for example, when the Inspector asks him:
“Remember what you did”
Eric replies, unhappily,
“My God – I’m not likely to forget”
This guilt and remorse turns into anger against his mother Mrs. Birling for her part in the events:
“Then – you killed her. She came to you to protect me – and you turned her away”
Like Sheila, Eric realises that he has been involved in the death of Eva Smith. Unlike Sheila, Eric attempts to shift the blame and responsibility of his actions onto somebody else, his mother. This could be because the guilt and remorse that Eric feels is so great, that the punishment he is facing personally due to mental and emotional anguish is sufficient enough and does not want to face the wrath of his family.
After uncovering all of this the inspector makes a speech on how we should all look out for one another, and leaves. Later, the family realises that the inspector was indeed a fake. They also realise the way in which they identified “Eva Smith” was by being shown a photo by the inspector that no-one else saw. This leaves them wondering if their actions were actually affecting the same person.
Mr. and Mrs. Birling find out that there has been no suicide at all and use this to relinquish any responsibility . By their reasoning, their actions are excused because no-one has actually died. Eric and Sheila, and Gerald up to a certain extent, still know that what they actually did was wrong. It doesn’t matter about the consequences, their eyes have been opened and they realise that what they do does affect other people and could lead to death.
These are two very different views and this could be because of the age gap. The modern view seems to be that the action is wrong, whereas the traditional view is that depending on the consequence, the action is wrong.
Eva Smith is a common name and Inspector Goole (which we later find also never existed as an inspector) is trying to show the Birlings’ that what they do can have affect on others. He is trying to teach them that they must consider the consequences of their actions. If they do this and they realise that what they are about to do is wrong, then the consequences can be avoided. Sheila, Eric and Gerald realise this but Mr. and Mrs. Birling don’t seem to.
When answering the question “Who is to blame for the death of Eva Smith?” We must consider that Eva Smith may not have existed, but Eva Smith is just a typical person. So in actual fact, the question is addressing the death of every person. And the answer that the Inspector is trying to instil, is that society is to blame. If we were to look out for one another and think about the effect of our actions, then our consideration would lead to less suffering. Until we realise this then we will always be looking for a scapegoat. Different people will answer this question, mentally, in different ways. Those who believe in individualism, will try and shift the blame, those who don’t, will accept their responsibility and blame society and themselves. These people will learn from their mistakes and this can only mean that they will try not to repeat it. As a result of the action not being repeated, the consequence will be avoided.
My own view is that this question can be interpreted in many different ways. The interpretation will depend on your personality or attitude. If the general view is to accept the excuses that some of the characters give and feel that they are justified in not accepting responsibility, then we live in a society that is more concerned about oneself. The other position is to accept responsibility for our actions and understand that they can have consequences on other people. This is a more caring society. My view is that the author believed that the generation of the elder Birlings belonged to a more selfish society and that the younger Birlings were part of a more caring society. In this way, he believes that there is hope for the future.
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