Who Was To Blame For Eva Smith Death Essay

Who Was to Blame for the Death of Eva Smith?

There were many events that lead to Eva Smith’s death and the members of the Birling family and Gerald Croft all had a part to play in her death. It started with a chain of events which eventually drove here to suicide, through them being selfish.

Eva Smith originally worked at Mr Birling’s factory. She was a good worker however Mr Birling fired her because she had asked for a slight pay rise. He was selfish and exploited Eva and some of the other workers for his own work gain. He said,’ a man has to make his own ways’ as if he expected Eva to live for herself after losing her job. He thinks that people shouldn’t be responsible for others. However, he isn’t to blame but we learn that he is a very cold person when he denies being responsible for Eva’s death and when he fired Eva.

After losing her job, Eva Smith was lucky to receive a job at Milwards. However, when Sheila Birling went to the shop, she had wanted Eva to be fired. Sheila did not like how someone, especially from a working class, could look better than her. Eva did not do anything which lead to her being fired, except from smiling. In the play Sheila is told,

She called herself ‘Mrs Birling’. She was turned down by the organization because Mrs Birling thought she was lying. After realising her mistake she still denies being responsible for Eva’s death. Mrs Birling is snobbish and we can tell when she calls Eva ‘a girl of that class’. She upholds her class and disrespects the lower class. She believes that she is better than everyone below her. Mrs Birling tells Eva ‘to look for the father of the child. It’s his responsibility.’ At that point she did not realise that the father of the child was her son, Eric Birling. Once she discovers that her son is involved, she feels upset and shocked. However, when she did not know she was behaving as if she had nothing to do with