In this assignment I am going to talk about character Eva Smith who actually doesn’t appear in the play ‘An inspector calls’ but the whole play revolves around the Birling’s family treatment of her. J. B. priestly wrote this play “AN INSPECTOR CALLS” it was set in 1912 but it was written in 1940. Society in 1912 was very different to society today. In 1912 there was a big difference between the rich and the poor people. Working people were treated very badly. Also working conditions were very poor. The wages were very low and they had to work long hours.
I have chosen to write about Eva Smith because she is badly treated by all the Birling family. The first person she met from Birling’s family was Mr Birling himself. She was working in Mr Birling’s factory. She was working well but she wanted more money so the five ringleaders and all others went on strike Eva Smith was one of them and the strike didn’t last long but Mr Birling let them all come back at the old rates except the five ringleaders, who’d started the trouble Eva Smith was one of them. Mr Birling said “well, its my duty to keep labour costs down”.
This treatment of Mr Birling was very unfair because all Eva Smith wanted was more money because what she was getting paid wasn’t enough for her to support herself. Mr Birling’s treatment to Eva Smith shows that he did not care about his workers, only about his profits. After Eva Smith got sacked from Mr Birling’s factory she got a job in Milwards. She felt she was making a good fresh start and she was happy working there. After a couple of months just when she felt she settling down nicely they told her that she’d have to go. It was nothing to do with how she was doing her work.
They admitted that all she knew was that a customer complained about her and so she had to go. That customer was Sheila Birling Mr Birling’s daughter. She met Gerald Croft after she got fired from Milwards. Gerald met her first some time in March last year in the palace bar. They went to the county hotel. Gerald asked what is your name’she told him that her name is Daisy Renton that she’d lost her job in one of the shop here and had top leave after a strike. She said something about the shop too but wouldn’t say which one it was and she was deliberately vague about what happened.
I couldn’t get any exact details from her about herself just because she felt I was interested and friendly but at the same time she wanted to be Daisy Renton and not Eva Smith. In fact I heard that name for the first time in tonight. Any way two nights later when we met again not accidentally this time of course. One of my friends Charlie Brun Swick had gone off to Canada for six months and had let me have the keys of a nice little set of rooms he had in Morgan terrace and had asked me to look after them and use them if I wanted to.
So I insisted on Daisy Renton moving into these rooms and I made her take some money to keep her going there. I want you to know that I wasn’t in love with her or I could make love with her. Now the next person she met from Mr Birling’s family is Eric. She met Eric one night last November in the palace bar. Eric said ” I wasn’t in love with her or anything but I liked her she was pretty”. Eric went bed with her afterwards and she gets pregnant. Eric met her again for night afterwards and after they arranged to see each other and the next time or the time after that she told Eric that she thought she was going to have a baby.
She wasn’t quite sure and then she was they both were worried about the baby that she was going to have. She said to Eric” not to meet or talk to her again” she treated Eric as he was a kid. That’s all about Eric how he treated Eva Smith and what he did. Now the last person Eva Smith met from Birling’s family was Mrs Birling. Eva Smith had changed her name to Mrs Birling because of her affair with Eric. Then she met Mrs Birling. Eva Smith went for assistance to Mrs Birling’s mother’s committee.
Eva Smith didn’t only need money but she needed advice, sympathy and friendliness. I think it was cruel and vile. Mr Birling said” I think there is nothing to blame me I did my duty”. Mrs Birling created a lot of trouble to Eva Smith and didn’t feel sorry for her. That’s the end of all the trouble Eva Smith had from Birling’s family. She had been badly treated. I think this girl Eva Smith was treated very badly by the Birling’s family and also her death was horrible and was a result of the treatment she received from this family.
