Mr Birling did not accept these rates and therefore sacked Eva Smith who was one of the ringleaders of this strike. Mr Birling told the other workers the rates would not go high and if they wanted to leave the place they should do so. This was the first of many events that drove Eva Smith to committing suicide. Obviously, when the Inspector question Mr Birling, he defended himself and said he did nothing wrong. You can see this in many places. For example when he says,.
"Well it's my duty to keep labour costs down".
He also tries to defend himself when he says,.
"We"d have added about twelve per cent to our labour costs. Does that satisfy you?" .
This shows how Mr Birling tries to defend himself and says he has done nothing wrong. Obviously everyone else apart from Gerald does not agree with him. You can see this when Sheila says,.
" These girls aren't cheap labour, they"re people.".
Another example of this is when Eric says,.
"He should have kept her on.".
This shows that Sheila and Eric thought that their father had done something wrong.
This was a very big mistake by Mr Birling. It left Eva without a job and no support as she had no family. It affected her very much and was the first of many aspects that drove her to committing suicide.
Eva Smith luckily after getting sacked got a new job at a shop called Milwards. It was a new start for Eva. She could rebuild her life from here. She was very happy at Milwards. Sheila's involvement in the suicide of Eva Smith is that Sheila used to go shop at Milwards. One day Sheila went to buy a dress, which her mother objected to saying that the dress would not suit Sheila. However, Sheila still wanted it. When Eva brought the dress to Sheila, before she gave it Sheila, she held the dress against her body. This got Sheila very angry and jealous because when she tried the dress on, it did not suit her at all. Then Sheila caught site of Eva smiling at Miss Francis as if to say, .