Who Is To Blame For Eva Smith's Death

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An Inspector Calls: Who was most to blame for Eva Smith’s death? The play ‘An Inspector Calls’ is set in a conservative British society, early 20th Century. The play is about an inspector investigating the suicide of a girl named Eva Smith. The inspector discovers that everybody in the play has indirectly contributed to pushing Eva towards breaking point. In this essay I will discuss whether one particular person is mostly to blame. The Inspector’s first interview is with Mr Arthur Birling, the first person to meet Eva Smith. He had employed Eva as a labourer at his factory. She was then fired from her job for wanting a small pay rise - twenty five shillings instead of twenty two and six. Mr Birling refused and fired her. He fired a young girl for wanting three more shillings; three shillings that Mr Birling could easily spare. She was fired because of Mr Birling’s greed. Mr Birling’s action started the chain of events that was to follow. Sheila Birling, Arthur Birling’s daughter, was the next person to meet Eva Smith. At the time, Eva was working as a shop assistant in ‘Milwards’. Sheila manipulated the owner of Milwards into firing Eva, because Eva was prettier than Sheila. Sheila had just tried on a dress that looked terrible, Sheila looked in the mirror and saw Eva smiling…show more content…
We can see how each event led to her feeling like society didn’t need her; led to her feeling suicidal. The chain of events leading up to Eva Smith’s death, affected her in a way that would not have been expected by any of the characters. I believe that all of the characters in the play helped push Eva towards the edge. Every event that happened added up to cause Eva to lose self-esteem until finally she reached a suicidal state of mind. All the characters are to be blamed for her
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