To him Eva Smith was just a trouble maker.
Although Arthur Birling set Eva's tragedy in motion I don't think he was to blame at all for her death because he was just behaving as any other manufacturer at that time would have done. However, I did dislike his attitude when he found out about her death. He was too concerned about keeping the story quiet to protect his position in society and his knighthood. Arthur Birling's attitude that "a man has to mind his own business and look after himself" was precisely what JB Preistley was fighting against when he wrote this play. He believed that we should all help each other and take responsibility for our actions.
After being sacked from Birling's Eva was out of work for two months but then she got a job as a sales assistant in a clothes shop. It was here where Sheila's involvement took place. She had been a valued customer at Milwards and used this to her advantage to get Eva dismissed. Sheila had complained about Eva for laughing at her when she tried on a dress. What had perhaps annoyed her even more was that Eva looked better in the dress than she did. Eva was very pretty and Sheila was jealous of her and because of this she "couldn't be sorry for her".
Unlike her father Sheila felt extremely guilty for having Eva dismissed. As she says "I felt rotten about it at the time and now I feel a whole lot worse". Eva's second dismissal left her in a worse state than her first dismissal and she became despondent. Sheila has been the cause of this further degeneration but we feel less inclined to blame her because of her remorse. Whereas Arthur sacked Eva quite cold bloodedly and never gave her a second thought, Sheila's action was the result of a fit of temper and she regretted it immediately. She seems genuine when she says,.
"It's the only time I've ever done anything like that, and I'll never, never do it again to anybody.".
This is the reaction JB Preistley wanted to get from his audience.