Mr Birling's Suicide In An Inspector Calls

Societies often create a fissure separating its citizens into different groups, some based on one’s generation, social level, political beliefs, etc. In Priestley’s An Inspector Calls, a young woman named Eva Smith commits suicide due to a chain of events starting from her dismissal from a company run by wealthy Mr. Birling and followed by his son, Eric who uses her without her consent during a drunken night. While Mr. Birling and Eric have many commonalities, the generational gap causes both to view responsibility differently. To begin, although both characters represent the upper class in society, Mr. Birling exemplifies the idea of someone focused on earning their status while Eric symbolizes inherited privilege. Mr. Birling had to earn

Mr. Birling fires Eva for unionizing and he defends his actions even after knowing the consequences of his actions by saying, “ if they didn’t like those rates, they could go and work somewhere else” (17). Readers learn that Birling’s company pays a substandard wage and that he himself has no concern for workers who cannot survive from these wages. Once they attempt to unionize, he cold-bloodedly fires the major union supporters and stubbornly keeps the workers’ wages at the same low level. It is ironic that even though he had to work hard for his wealth, he feels no responsibility for helping others who are merely trying to survive. However, Eric reacts to the situation differently by taking responsibility for Eva’s death and claiming that “the fact remains that [he] did what [he] did” (61). Eva’s suicide has occurred and Eric demonstrates ownership of her despair and suicide. This immediately puts him at odds with his father’s selfish philosophy because Eric recognizes that he damaged another life and helped push to her suicide and the subsequent suicide of the child she was carrying. Because he accepts his role, he becomes changed and horrified at his actions toward