Eric Birling Quotes
This article has some of the key quotes for Eric Birling from the play, ‘An Inspector Calls’ along with explanation and analysis of these quotes.
These quotes can be used in exam answers. Some of the larger quotes do not necessarily have to be quoted in full but just the relevant words or sentence which connects to the point being made.
Many of the quotes cover the same themes and points, however this list of quotes is intended as a resource for students and readers of the play so each quote can be used in its own way or for explaining some of the same points as other quotes do. It would be up to the reader to decide which quote he would prefer to use if for instance two different quotes support the same point.
1. Quotes: I don't know – really. Suddenly I felt I just had to laugh.
Analysis: These are the first words that we hear from Eric in the play. Often the first impression we have of a person can be very significant. We see Eric slightly drunk. Sheila replies to these words with the claim that he is ‘squiffy’ which he denies. He does indeed have alcohol problems which cause him to having sexual relations with Eva Smith and fathering a child with her.
The penniless Eva pregnant with a child commits suicide. It is quite possible that being pregnant and feeling unable to provide for her future child contributed heavily to her depression and eventual suicide. Alcohol though in the context of these particular words of Eric can make you ‘laugh’, ultimately leads to tears and sadness overall in the end in this story.
2. Quotes: Well. Don't do any. We'll drink their health and have done with it.
Analysis: Mr Birling claims speech making is difficult to which Eric replies he should then not do a speech at all. In other words he attaches no importance or interest in hearing any potentially profound celebratory words to mark this event emanating from his father. He just wants to keep things simple, drink and then move on. Again we see the importance of drink to Eric.
Click on the Link to Read About: Gerald Croft Character Analysis and Eric Birling Character Analysis
3. Quotes: All the best! She's got a nasty temper sometimes – but she's not bad really. Good old Sheila!
Analysis: These words that Priestley plants in Eric’s mouth are very interesting and have been overlooked by others.
1. Sheila does indeed have a nasty temper as we find out later in the way she overreacts to Sheila and another working class lady when she (Sheila) tries out a dress. She is angered by what she perceives as them looking down at her. However this results in their dismissal and contributes to the series of events resulting in Eva’s suicide. Sheila’s ‘nasty temper’ proves to be fatal, in that it is not the only cause of Eva’s death but certainly contributes to it.
2. However despite Sheila’s horrible temper she is ‘not bad really’, and overall from the play we would say that Sheila comes across as a decent and compassionate person. Full of profound remorse and agony at what has befallen Eva. Priestley shows us that people cannot be simply termed good or bad but have both of them inside them.
3. ‘Good old Sheila’. This contrasts with Eric saying that Sheila is not ‘bad really’. The words ‘bad’ and ‘good’ are used in close succession. Eric seems to be saying that fundamentally, and overall, Sheila is good.
4. Quotes: What about war?
Analysis: Despite Eric’s flippant and slightly rude behaviour due to him being slightly drink and despite not being the most intelligent of people eve the relatively simple Eric asks his father about the war after Mr Birling says that his business is going to do well even though there were some problems recently. Even Eric, simple as he is, knows that the prospect of war is a reality and would affect everyone’s lives and their business.
This relates to a deeper theme of ‘An Inspector Calls’ that the world is an interconnected place where what happens to one person affects another. We are all dependent on each other. What happens politically between Britain and Germany will impact the Birlings but also what happens to Eva impacts the Birlings. Eric’s inability to control his drinking, Sheila’s inability to control her temper all impact Eva and then end up impacting the Birling’s themselves with the loss of Eric’s future child, Sheila’s future nephew/niece.
5. Quotes: I left'em talking about clothes again. You'd think a girl had never any clothes before she gets married. Women are potty about 'em.
Analysis: Eric seems to have a very superficial view of women which ties in with his generally immature personality. In fact he admits later on that Eva treated him as if he ‘were a kid’. We can get a little glimpse as to why she might have thought that way.
Eric’s lack of maturity could in part be attitributed to poor parenting by his parents, who if they cannot raise their own children properly cannot be said to have the right to have a hugely critical role in national decision-making, as some industrialists, capitalists and the wealthy actually did.
6. Quotes: My god!
Analysis: This is Eric’s initial reaction hearing of Eva’s death. His words are the first we hear after the inspector reveals Eva’s death. He is shocked. This shows Eric, despite his immaturity and other failings, does have a humane side to him, compassion.
He is sad at hearing the death of a young woman even if he does not know who she is which at this point in the play he didn’t.
7. Quotes: Is that why she committed suicide? When was this, father?
Analysis: After Birling says he knew the dead woman and that he fired her. Eric says these words, thus attributing causality between firing and a suicide. On a deeper level Priestley is telling us the actions of the rich can even be deadly, and this is evident in Eric’s words.
Logically this would mean that the rich have to think about the implications of their actions on others, which is something that Priestley would have wanted wealthy viewers of his play to start doing.
8. Quotes: It isn't if you can't go and work somewhere else.
Analysis: This is in response to Mr Birling saying that the dismissed former workers from his factory could work somewhere else if they did not like the pay he was offering them, ‘if they didn’t like those rates, they could go and work somewhere else.
It’s a free country, I told them’ What Priestley is doing her via Eric is alerting viewers to the fact that despite what Mr Birling says about Britain being a ‘free country’, limited opportunities and ways to earn money and survive restrict choice and freedom.
Workers are heavily dependent on the goodness of employers as they do not have many opportunities. Priestley is encouraging compassion, social responsibility and calling for a fairer Britain. Even the somewhat immature Eric is aware of the fact that the working class poor do not have much economic freedom and ability to choose what job they would like to do.
9. Quotes: He could. He could have kept her on instead of throwing her out. I call it tough luck.
Analysis: This is said after Gerald says Mr Birling had no choice but to fire the workers demanding higher pay. Eric as the presumptive heir to Mr Birling’s business disagrees. What is interesting is that after Mr Birling dies and if Eric became the owner of the business he would be in a position to implement better pay if he still believed in it in the way he seems to believe in it at the time he says these words. This shows that not everyone in wealthy upper classes has the same mindset as Mr Birling and there is hope for the future.
10. Quotes: Well, I think it's a dam' shame...
Analysis: Eric says this in the middle of an exchange between his father and the inspector about playing golf. It could be argued that whilst the conversation focuses on to something as comparatively trivial as golf, Eric still retains a sense of important and that is the loss of a young woman’s life is far more important. It could be argued here that Priestley is using Eric in a way to maintain the tempo. Rather than let the conversation flow off in to a tangent about golf or how well connected socially Mr Birling is Eric directs the focus immediately back on to what is important.
11. Quotes: No, I mean about this girl – Eva Smith. Why shouldn't they try for higher wages? We try for the highest possible prices. And I don't see why she should have been sacked just because she'd a bit more spirit than the others. You said yourself she was a good worker. I'd have let her stay.
Analysis: This sentence needs to be read with quote no. 10 above.
What is very interesting here is a critique of the hypocrisy of capitalism by Priestley in the form of Eric. Eric says that businessmen want money and want higher prices so why should workers not want higher wages? Why should the price of their labour be high, in the way that the price of products made by companies be high? What is a virtue and a positive quality when it is wealthy businessmen doing it is seen as a vice or a fault when workers are doing it.
Eric is legitimizing workers calls for higher pay. This is against a background of some seeing it as troublesome, subversive, a threat to order and stability and part of a wider ‘red menace’ as the communist, Bolshevik threat was something very prominent in the minds of the wealthy elites.
12. Quotes: Well, we don't need to tell the inspector all about that, do we?
Analysis: This is said to Birling when he brings up the issue of public school (expensive private school) not teaching him certain things. There is a great paradox here. For the aspirational Mr Birling to fit in more comfortably with the upper middle classes whose validation he seeks intensely he needs to send his son to a posh private school where he will acquire the manners, mentality and even accent of the privileged elite.
Despite this Birling seems critical of these schools. This prompts the question if Birling is so unhappy with public schools then the only other person who can really educated Eric about life is him and his wife. Has he then failed? Is Mr Birling a bad parent? Eric is also uncomfortable about Birling bringing up dirty laundry in front of the inspector, very ironic given that Birling wants to maintain an image as an upright and respected member of the local community and will do anything to stop any information damaging his reputation.
13. Quotes: That might have started it.
Analysis: This is said immediately after Birling says, ‘Well, don’t tell me that’s because I discharged her from my employment nearly two years ago.’ This was indeed the act that started the whole process that led to Eva’s sad death with each of the Birling family playing their part in subsequent acts which were all linked to each other.
Eric does not clear his father of blame and in fact feels his actions started the whole process. Eric clearly has a conscience and some integrity rather than blind loyalty to his father.
14. Quotes: Neither have I.
Analysis: This is said after Gerald says ‘I’ve never known an Eva Smith.’ Eva is similar to the name ‘Eve’, the mother of humanity and thus representative of women in general. ‘Smith’ is a very common English name. Therefore ‘Eva Smith’ represents many ordinary English women with her simple and common name.
On a deeper level perhaps Priestley is hinting at some irony, that in addition to Eric not knowing that Eva Smith is actually the woman whose child he fathered, that by not knowing ‘an Eva Smith’ it signifies he has never known any working class woman or their lives in a deeper manner.
Eric, like Gerald and the rich in general, do not know how the working class live and the reality of their lives. This is symptomatic of an ignorance caused by social separation, a form of classist apartheid very prevalent at the time.
15. Quotes: Can't blame her
Analysis: This in response to Eric hearing the inspector saying how Eva Smith started using another name after she was fired by Mr Birling. He expresses sympathy with her. Perhaps a sort of sympathy not too common amongst the rich and particularly businessmen at the time.
Eric has a more realistic, human and sympathetic attitude to Eva Smith and the working class.
1. He feels they have the right to call for higher pay.
2. He has sympathy for their suffering.
Act 3
16. Quote: You know, don't you?
Analysis: This is the very first line in Act 2 and clearly tells us that despite whatever impression he might have tried to give, Eric was hiding his affair with Eva. He then comes out and says that they know.
17. Quote: could I have a drink first?
Analysis: This is very ironic. After the revelations of Eric’s affair and fathering of a ‘bastard’ child (remember the play was set over a century ago and in that era a child not born to married parents was considered a great scandal) and his delusional and somewhat naive mother very surprised that he has alcohol abuse problems, he then asks for a drink the last thing someone would do if they were keen on dispelling notions that they have alcoholism issues and the thing they would do precisely to substantiate them.
This could be seen as a form of irony and even dark humour from Priestley. It also shows that Eric needs alcohol as a drug to get him through this particular moment and that perhaps he uses alcohol as a drug, almost for medicinal purposes, to escape from some unhappiness. He is not happy with his life, despite his father thinking that they have everything e.g. money and status. Priestley is showing money is not everything and cannot guarantee happiness.
18. Quote: Yes, I insisted – it seems. I'm not very clear about it, but afterwards she told me she didn't want me to go in but that – well, I was in that state when a chap easily turns nasty – and I threatened to make a row.
Analysis: This is what Eric says in reference to the first time he met Eva and forced his way in to where she was staying. He intimidated her and ‘threatened’ her by saying he would make a row. It shows the vulnerable nature of Eva, a poor, jobless woman who could not even turn a man away from entering where she was living. It is indicative of gross imbalance in power amongst the two genders.
Eva could not warn Eric to go away. She was poor and a woman. He was rich, from a well-connected family and a man. ‘An Inspector Calls’ highlights the suffering of women at that time.
19. Quote: Yes. And that's when it happened. And I didn't even remember – that's the hellish thing. Oh – my God! - how stupid it all is!
Analysis: This shows how the toxic cocktail of drinking and being able to force his way in to Eva’s room, a misuse of alcohol and a misues of power as a wealthy male led Eric to get involved in a situation where he cannot even remember what happened.
This is a man who could one day become a wealthy industrialist and employ lots of people who would be dependent on him for their livelihood. Priestley shows us how human and fall of flaws, as all humans are, the wealthy elite are.
20. Quote: Yes. I wasn't in love with her or anything – but I liked her – she was pretty and a good sport--
Analysis: The inspector asks Eric ‘…you made love again?’ to which Eric affirms that he did but denies loving Eva. We cannot characterise his relationship with Eva as one of love or a serious relationship that could lead to marriage and a family, nor however is it one of cheap sordid sexual exploitation.
It was a casual relationship but one which did feature some sort of genuine concern on the part of Eric for Eva’s welfare as a person suffering
21. Quote: Well, I'm old enough to be married, aren't I, and I'm not married, and I hate these fat old tarts round the town – the ones I see some of your respectable friends with--
Analysis: Birling replies to the quote above from Eric by saying ‘So you had to go to bed with her?’. Eric’s reply seems to tell us that he is essentially saying he is not a boy but a grown man with natural sexual urges which need to be fulfilled.
Many men his age are married and thus have companions whereas he does not. It is in that void that his affair with Eva Smith must be seen. He also takes a dig at Mr Birling’s friends for being with ‘fat old tarts’. He is not impressed by Birling’s friends.
22. Quote: Yes. And the next time – or the time after that – she told me she thought she was going to have a baby. She wasn't quite sure. And then she was.
Analysis: This quote lets us know that Eric knew of the possibility of Eva having his child. She was not sure at first but then later on she was. Eric thus realises the consequences of his action result in fathering a child, something he was not ready for partly because he himself is a quasi-child in some ways, not a fully matured man.
23. Quote: Yes, and so was I. I was in a hell of a state about it.
Analysis: This is what he says to the inspector when he (the inspector) asks in Eva was worried about having a child (see quote above). This shows as mentioned above Eric is not ready for fatherhood. He was in emotional turmoil over the prospect of having a child with Eva, of her being pregnant.
24. Quote: No. she didn't want me to marry her. Said I didn't love her – and all that. In a way, she treated me – as if I were a kid. Though I was nearly as old as she was.
Analysis: It was perhaps clear to Eva that Eric did not ‘love’ her, which might have meant in her eyes her being someone whom he should be loyal to and in a meaningful union of mutual support and commitment. Most likely she was just someone on the side for Eric. We can also see that Eric’s immaturity is apparent to Eva who has had a harder life and a more gritty experience of the world and is thus more mature in comparison to the spoilt rich boy Eric.
Eva has been schooled by hard knocks and working class life whereas even Birling thinks the public school Eric went to has not educated him sufficiently.
25. Quote: Well, she hadn't a job – and didn't feel like trying again for one – and she'd no money left – so I insisted on giving her enough money to keep her going – until she refused to take any more--
Analysis: Eva was jobless and did not want one. Now a capitalist might say that is her fault as it was her duty to work or find a job. In modern terms we might say she was psychologically traumatised and thus not capable of work for emotional reasons or even due to issues of mental health. Such ideas and terms did not exist or not in the same way back in the colder, more ruthless world of 1912 England.
Who can blame Eva for not being able to work when she had worked hard in life and had even one job removed from her for essentially nothing. The job in which Sheila Birling’s complaint led to her dismissal. Losing her income and her means of survival over something as petty and meaningless as that might have psychologically devastated her and though it may not have rendered her mentally unwell it could have caused a degree of mental instability or illness. Priestley is also showing there is no safety net for women in that situation.
Eva Smith was a hardworking woman who was the victim of injustice but had no means of surival. Socialists would have said then that this meant that the state should do its part to help such needy women in the form of social welfare payments. Priestley helps to advance this case by highlighting Eva’s plight.
26. Quote: I suppose – about fifty pounds all told.
Analysis: Eric states how much money he gave to Eva. Note fifty pounds back in 1912 is worth far more than now and would be equivalent to over £5,000 if adjusted for inflation. Eric though having problems with alcohol does have a compassionate side to him akin to his sibling, Sheila.
27. Quote: I got it – from the office--
Analysis: Eric says that he took the money from ‘the office’ to which his father asks if it was his office. Eric confirms that it was to which his father tries to verify from him that he ‘stole’ the money.
28. Quote: Not really
Analysis: This is Eric’s reply to his father asking whether he stole the money. Eric does not view this as theft. It appears that in his mind it is taking cash to help someone in need temporarily with that cash to be returned/repaid when possible.
This raises interesting questions about money and morality. Is Eric a thief? He did not do this out of greed or to satisfy selfish whims but to help someone struggling, someone who in fact ended up killing herself such was her miserable state. The money ‘belonged’ to his family it could be said and thus was partly his, though of course Mr Birling views it as his (Birling’s) money. In addition as mentioned earlier Eric planned to return the money.
29. Quote: No, not really. I intended to pay it back.
Analysis: As discussed above Eric planned to return the money he had taken from the business. He is asked if he ‘stole’ the money and this is his reply. He does not view this as theft and intended to pay the money back. What is interesting is this highlights what some would say is the very ugly greediness and even cruelty of Mr Birling and of capitalism.
Instead of having some sympathy or even respect for the difficult dilema that Eric was in and it was done to help someone who later killed herself and who had been treated unfairly by Mr Birling’s family multiple times, Birling is incensed with the loss of the money and has a very one-dimensional attitude to this.
This would seem to validate Eric’s statements later that Birling is not the kind of man that a son can turn to in times of trouble. Capitalism can be devoid of compassion and is obsessed with money above all else. We can see a clear example here.
30. Quote: Because you're not the kind of father a chap could go to when he's in trouble – that's why.
Analysis: Birling is not the ideal guardian or head of a family as a father figure. If such capitalists cannot be great fathers or leaders of a family how can they then lead society in general? If sons cannot turn to such wealthy industrialists in times of trouble then how can society rely on such people.
Despite Birling having made money and won titles and important positions he is a failure as a father. Poor in emotional intelligence and communication skills. Perhaps the poor parenting from Birling contributed partially to the void that Eric might be feeling which he attempts to fill by alcohol and other things.
31. Quote: Yes. That was the worst of all. She wouldn't take any more, and she didn't want to see me again. (sudden startled tone.) Here, but how did you know that? Did she tell you?
Analysis:
The inspector says to Eric that ‘The girl discovered that this money you were giving her was stolen, didn’t she?’ and this is Eric’s reply. What we can learn from this are various important points.
- Contrary to Mrs Birling’s rigid classism and view of the working class as morally inferior we see that Eva is a person of moral integrity and honesty. She refuses to take stolen money. Perhaps if she had taken that money she would still have been alive. This act of honesty could have cost her life.
- Eva is not greedy and money-obsessed in comparison to Mr Birling whose obsession with money can be seen in the preceding lines. Thus Eva asking for higher pay in Birlings’ factory was not driven by greed but by a need to survive. If Eva was greedy and immoral she would have taken that money.
- Contrary to Mr Birling and his wife who are boasting about their relationships and connections to important people, Eva does not seek to exploit Eric as a naive, foolish and rich young man. In fact ironically he is ‘not good enough’ for her it seems as he had committed an act of theft. We see here Priestley showing how the working class can be morally superior to the rich.
This line is arguably the most important and powerful line in the entire play. Eva Smith died, refusing to take stolen money. She was a person of honesty and morality which may have cost her and her child’s life.
32. Quote: She told you? Did she come here – but then she couldn't have done, she didn't even know I lived here. What happened?
Analysis: This quote illustrates that Eva did not know where Eric lived and thus how limited their relationship was. The Birling’s house was hardly any member of the supposedly inferior working class would be welcome.
33. Quote: Then – you killed her. She came to you to protect me – and you turned her away – yes, and you killed her – and the child she'd have had too – my child – your own grandchild – you killed them both – damn you, damn you
Analysis: After hearing the inspector saying that Eva went to the charity Mrs Birling was involved with and was refused help, Eric explodes in rage and unleashes some powerful words. Priestley uses these words to bring home the full impact of Mrs Birling’s actions and how dangerous her snobbery, prejucide and essentially cruelty can be. Such attitudes can be fatal and even kill people, they must thus be abandoned for a better Britain to emerge.
34. Quote: (almost threatening her) You don't understand anything. You never did. You never even tried – you -
Analysis: Eric’s rage is such that he comes close to doing something to his own mother causing his father to warn him to ‘get back’. Mrs Birling is clearly an ignorant woman with very limited life experience restricted primarily to socialising with the rich and having little understanding of the majority of British people at that time.
What is interesting is we cannot be sure what Eric means by ‘You never did’. What is it that Mrs Birling never understood? Is it perhaps that like her husband she was far from a great parent who could not show understanding of Eric? This is quite possible. However by the word ‘never’, we can sense that Eric has long-term deep rooted issues and grievances with his mother.
She is thus also a failure as a parent and not the model of success she would like to perceive herself. Priestley is again highlighting the many flaws of the rich upper classes.
35. Quote: My God – I'm not likely to forget.
Analysis: The inspector says to Mrs Birling ‘You refused her even the pitiable little bit of organized charity you had in your power to grant her. Remember what you did’ to which Eric says he will not forget this.
Eric it seems may remain psychologically scarred by the death of Eva, a woman pregnant with his child. This shows that society is interconnected because a rich man like Eric will be impacted emotionally by the fate of a working class woman like Eva. He will suffer.
We cannot divide society in to different groups and classes who will have no impact on each other and have a system of social separation and class apartheid.
36. Quote: I'll bet I am
Analysis: This is Eric’s response to Birling saying to him, ‘You’re the one I blame for this’. Birling does not blame himself, nor Sheila, nor his wife. Eric is different because he spent money. Mrs Birling refused to give money to Eva, Mr Birling refused to give money to Eva in the form of higher pay and Sheila though responsible for Eva being fired did not give her money.
This again shows Birling’s greedy and money-obsessed nature. Rather than respecting Eric for being the one person in the family who actively tried to help Eva, he hates him the most. Compassion is not something Birling cares about, what he cares about and reveres is money. Capitalism can indeed be a very cruel, brutal and inhuman thing.
37. Quote: Well, I don't care now.
Analysis: This is what Eric says to Birling’s statement, ‘Yes, and you don’t realize yet all you’ve done. Most of this is bound to come out. There’ll be a public scandal.’ Eric like his sister Sheila is a more humane person than his parents and he prioritises human welfare and suffering e.g. Eva’s death over less important things such as money and reputation.
Eric and Sheila are younger and thus closer to the more natural ,innocent nature of human beings that they possess as children whereas their parents have been moulded and dehumanised after decades of classism and other forms of social conditioning which has caused them to prioritise money and status above human welfare.
38. Quote: (laughing) Oh – for God's sake! What does it matter now weather they give you a knighthood or not?
Analysis: Birling says ‘You! You don’t seem to care about anything. But I care. I was almost certain for a knighthood in the next Honours List-‘ Eric laughs at this nonsensical misprioritisation of values. Amidst the background of a dead young woman, Birling’s obsession with a knighthood seems petty, even chilidsh.
We also see how volatile the situation is. From almost threatening his mother moments earlier, Eric is now in ironic laughter. The situation is very tense and dramatic, an emotional roller coster such is the impact that this is having on everyone.
39. Quote: Well, I don't blame you. But don't forget I'm ashamed of you as well – yes both of you.
Analysis: Following on from her husband reprimanding Eric for his drinking and womanising, Mrs Birling says to Eric ‘I should think not. Eric, I’m absolutely ashamed of you’ and Eric replies with these words. Rather than being proud of his father who is rich, friends with powerful people and could have even become a knight, Eric is ashamed.
What Priestley is doing here is telling us that beyond the labels and image that many have the reality can be darker and uglier. No one might even know about the Birlings and what they did to Eva. Birling might even go on to become knighted, but for those who know the reality of the Birlings they would find some of their actions shameful. Priestley is again telling the upper class, the wealthy in British society not to be so conceited or engage in a perception of themselves as perfect and free from faults.
40. Quote: No, Sheila's right. It doesn't.
Analysis: Sheila says it doesn’t make any difference whether the inspector was real or not. Her parents are concerned with their reputation and image and not with Eva’s death, so for them it does matter as they want to avoid any consequences for themselves from the authorities or news spreading of what has happened, however for Sheila and Eric that is not what matters, what matters is someone has died, whether the inspector was a real inspector or not. Eric and his sister’s value system is different to that of their parents and superior.
41. Quote: She's right, though.
Analysis: Sheila says ‘I suppose we’re all nice people now’ to which Birling reacts angrily to and tells her to be quiet. Again Eric agrees with his sister and is saying essentially that image and reputation are not important but the very real loss of the life of a fellow human being is.
Birling can be said to representing capitalist greed in this play and thus capitalism, in this context, does not care about people dying.
42. Quote: What's the use of talking about behaving sensibly. You're beginning to pretend now that nothing's really happened at all. And I can't see it like that. This girl's still dead, isn't she? Nobody's brought her to life, have they?
Analysis: Eric tries to remind his parents that someone has died. He is trying to bring their focus on to Eva, their focus is however on themselves and their reputation. Even with Eva dead they do not care about Eva but themselves. Again the ugliness of classism and capitalism and the inhumanity and cruelty it can produce is highlighted.
43. Quote: whoever that chap was, the fact remains that I did what I did. And mother did what she did. And the rest of you did what you did to her. It's still the same rotten story whether it's been told to a police inspector or to somebody else. According to you, I ought to feel a lot better - ( To Gerald.) I stole some money, Gerald, you might as well know - ( As Birling tries to interrupt.) I don't care, let him know. The money's not the important thing. It's what happened to the girl and what we all did to her that matters. And I still feel the same about it, and that's why I don't feel like sitting down and having a nice cosy talk.
Analysis: What Eric is saying essentially is that regardless of external perceptions or ‘image’, the cold reality is that the actions of the Birlings have been shameful. The elder Birlings do not care about realities but about external appearances such as their image and reputation, thus they cannot really be said to be people of high moral standards concerned with people and their problems, but greedy, self-centred people.
Eric also says money is ‘not the important thing’. This is in contrast to capitalism where money, profits take priority over other things.
44. Quote: And I say the girl's dead and we all helped to kill her – and that's what matters -
Analysis: Eric accepts responsibility for his role in Eva’s death but believes it is a collective responsibility that lies on the shoulders of the whole family, to which Birling reacts with absolute and utter fury, threatening to kick him out of the house.
Birling once again does not care about Eva, nor about her dead child, nor about the impact on his son. His mind is on being knighted, getting back the £50 Eric took. Again Priestley is very successful in showing us the potentially horrible nature of unrestricted capitalism.
45. Quote: I don't give a damn now whether I stay here or not
Analysis: Eric who has become more assertive is not scared by his father’s threat of being kicked out of the house. Emotions are high including Eric’s.
Eric has already grown in manliness. If he were to be kicked out he would have to fend for himself and stand on his own two feet. However these angry words are said in an emotional state of mind by Birling.
46. Quote: And it doesn't alter the fact that we all helped to kill her
Analysis: Eric is unphased by his father’s warning a moment ago about being expelled from the house, he again repeats that the family helped to kill Eva. By extension this portrays the poor treatment of the working class poor by the rich in general negatively.
The ‘we’ in this phrase could also be interpreted by members of the wealthy upper-classes to indirectly refer to them and their treatment of the poor and the need for them to change it.
47. Quote: And so we have.
Analysis: This is Eric’s reaction to Gerald saying ‘he bluffs us into confessing that we’ve all been mixed up in this girl’s life in one way or anther’. On a more general level what Priestley is illustrating here is that contrary to some unrealistic upper-class wishes of strict social separation, society is interconnected as we see in this play.
48. Quote: I don't see much nonsense about it when a girl goes and kills herself. You lot may be letting yourselves out nicely, but I can't. Nor can mother. We did her in all right.
Analysis: Another quote from Eric where he blames the family for Eva’s fate. Eric has a conscience and will not absolve himself from what happened to Eva.
49. Quote: I'm not!
Analysis: This is Eric’s response to Sheila saying to the Birlings ‘You’re pretending everything’s just as it was before’. A member of the upper class who may have watched this play by Priestley should not just be unimpacted by what they have seen or learnt in this play like the elder Birlings. Like the younger Birlings they should be moved and emotionally impacted by the depiction her of just one ‘Eva Smith’ when as the inspector says there are millions like her.
If this is a night of learning and education for the Birlings then watching the play should be the same for members of the rich who watch the play. They can either become like Mr Birling and his wife who choose to ignore what they have learnt or be like Sheila and Eric who are emotionally impacted by this. Of course the logical extension of being appalled by the suffering of the poor in British society at the time would be to work for a better Britain free of such suffering which was of course the aim of Socialists like Priestley.
50. Quote: And I agree with Sheila. It frightens me too.
Analysis: Sheila had said to her parents that ‘it frightens me the way you talk, and I can’t listen to any more of it.’. Eric agrees. It is not totally clear what frightens her but we could view it as fear of how indifferent to human suffering her parents could be. This indifference or this cruelty is frightening, because in the future it could lead to greater evil.