Sheila

• Sheila Berlin: 'slowly carefully now you mustn't try to build up a sort of wall between us and that girl'
• Sheila: 'I tell you whoever that inspector was it was anything but a joke'
• Sheila: 'laughs rather hysterically why you fool he knows of course he knows'
• Sheila: 'these girls aren't cheap labor they're people'
• Sheila: 'now I feel really engaged'
• Sheila is warning her family about pretending to be detached from or superior to the situation
• The use of slowly and carefully in the stage directions imply that Sheila is thinking carefully about how to get this complex issue across
• The use of wall is a metaphor for the boundaries that the Birling's are trying to put up between the different classes and between themselves and the situation
• The phrase anything but a joke shows that the younger generation understand and are more socially aware than the older generation
• The use of the imperative tell show Sheila standing up to her family, challenging them with self confidence and certainty
• The adverb hysterically in the stage directions implies that Sheila has an early understanding of the inspector and is getting somewhat frustrated at the fact that the others are still pretending
• Sheila insults Gerald with the phrase you fool to signify that he is a fool compared to the knowledge of the inspector
• The use of the verb knows builds on our understanding that the inspector is omniscient, meaning that he knows everything
• The phrase their people tells us that Sheila does in fact carry some socialist views, believing that the women who work in factories are not just objects but individuals
• Sheila is mirroring the attitudes of her family before the inspector arrives and alters them, showing that she is materialistic and only sees true value and truth in her relationship to Gerald once he has given her a piece of jewelry
• Sheila's response of now I feel really engaged conveys the capitalist idea that wealth is more important than affection