ially those who cannot take care of themselves.
             In this play, Eva Smith represents the impecunious working class of the era and how hard they would have to work to make even the smallest income. She begins her arduous working life in Mr. Birling's factory earning an insufficient twenty-two and six a week. This would leave her with only a surplus of 0.16p a week and she would most probably be living in the worst conditions imaginable with little food and no luxuries. After coming back from their holiday, Eva and a few of her work companions, who must have been short of money after being off work for several weeks, organised a strike to propose a slight raise in their pay from twenty-two and six to twenty-five shillings a week. They were soon dismissed although Mr. Birling later admitted to the Inspector that Eva had been a good worker.
             When Mr. Birling was asked why he simply did not raise their pay by the minuscule amount they had requested, he dismissed the idea as preposterous and thought it was ridiculous that the Inspector would even suggest the idea. Mr. Birling, a former mayor, represents Priestley's hatred of businessmen who are only interested in making a profit. His first priority is to 'keep labour costs down'. He quickly banishes the Inspector's concepts of socialism and community. Just before the Inspector arrived Mr. Birling was making a long speech on how 'a man has to make his own way' and Britain was never going to go to war with Germany and the Titanic was
             never going to sink. This speech is used as dramatic irony and shows that he is arrogant and outspoken about his philosophies of the world. He is complacent and lacking in strength of character and refuses to worry himself with the horrendous lives of the poor. He has little or no conscience about what he has done and throughout the whole play he continues to ignore the shameful things he and his family have...