Sheila's Starting Point: Capitalism and Class
Sheila begins the play as the perfect example of middle-class privilege - she's vain, materialistic, and completely disconnected from working-class struggles. Her excitement about her engagement ring shows how much she values material possessions as symbols of wealth and status.
The class divide becomes crystal clear when you compare Sheila to Eva Smith. Whilst Sheila enjoys luxury and security, Eva faces poverty and desperation. When Sheila first learns about Eva's suicide, her selfish reaction - "I wish you hadn't told me" - reveals how the middle classes often prefer to ignore uncomfortable truths about inequality.
Priestley deliberately makes Sheila represent everything wrong with capitalist society in 1912. She's absorbed her family's values without questioning them, showing how the privileged classes simply accepted their advantages whilst ignoring the suffering of others.
Quick Insight: Sheila's initial selfishness isn't meant to make you hate her - it's Priestley showing how society shaped young people's attitudes in 1912.
