sybil

• 'go and look for the father of the child, its his responsibility'


  • inspector uses his line of enquiry to force syb to foreshadow the irony of the father being eric
  • also highlights contrast between sheila and syb as Sheila accepts her role in evas death immediately and is remorseful 'ill never ever do it again to anybody'
  • here syb is symbolic of conservatism and resistance to change whereas Sheila symbolises the progressive younger generation who will replace the outdated views of their parents
• 'weve done a great deal of useful work for deserving cases':


  • emphasis on adj 'deserving' reveals her joy in playing god in these young women's lives- whether they receive aid and benefit or are refused and suffer.
  • 'deserving cases' highlights how the aid is given out at the discretion of the upper classes.
• 'impertinence' claiming to be 'mrs birling' as 'one of the things that prejudiced me against her'


  • those living in poverty have no way to escape it as they cannot challenge their exploitation; evas attempt to strike saw her fired and the institutes meant to help them are prejudiced against them.
• 'simply a piece of gross impertinence'
• 'eric im absolutely ashamed of you'


  • syb still has not accepted any responsibility- she only expresses this after ig leaves as she knew he would object to this.
  • 'well, i dont blame you. but don't forget im ashamed of you as well' - eric has accepted responsibility and doesnt let parents escape theirs
  • syb remains unsympathetic despite being the last cause for her suicide
• 'girls of that class would never refuse money'


  • syb misusing her upper class power and privilege, presenting her as immoral: source of poverty is the greed of upper classes
  • irony due to mr birling's greed costing her job and the initial capitalist greed sparked a chain reaction that ultimately ended in suicide.
• 'first i blame the girl herself. secondly, i blame the young man'


  • deflecting blame onto eric inadvertently
  • supporting patriarchal view that lower class women choose to be prostetutes
• 'in spite of whats happened to the girl since, i consider i did my duty'