Zusammenfassung der Ressource
An Inspector Calls - Social Class
- Characters
- Auther Birling
- Worked his way up in class
- Pround of his achievents
- Boasts about having been the mayor
- Has agood local standing
- Rich & in first class. He owns his own business
- He is likely to be knighted
- He was originally 2nd class
- He is aware of his social superiors
- He shows off about his achievements etc
- He shows of his ort to Gerald
- "It's exactly the same port yourfather gets
- Sheila Birling
- Born into a high class family
- She is snobby and shallow about working class
people at the start
- Jealousy of Eva
- She begins to realise that social class isn't important
- She considers the conditions of her father's workers
- she show compassion when she hears of
Birling's treatment of them
- "But these girls aren't cheap labour - they're people"
- She feels guilty about how she acted to Eva
- she feels "fully Responsible"
- She's embarrassed about the
way her parents treated Eva
because of her class
- "How can you Pretend that nothing much has happened?"
- "It frightens me the way you talk"
- Sybil Birling
- Mr Birling social superior
- She is a snob
- She's very aware of the difference in social class
- She is irritated when Birling wishes to praise the
cook in front of Gerald
- She is very dismissive of Eva
- "Girls of hat class"
- Shes refuses to believe tht a
working class girl would refuse
(stolen) money
- "She was giving herself ridiculous airs"
- She claimed it was her "duty" to refuse help to a
working class girl
- She was born into a Higher class family
- Gerald Croft
- High class (Aristocrat)
- Wealthy
- Works with his father for
"Croft's Limited"
- Son of Lord and Lady Croft
- they are not overly impressed by his engagement to Sheila
- Perhaps because they are rvals of
Birling's business
- Perhaps because the Birling's are lower in social circles
- Did not care about Daisy's social class
- He pitied her when he first met her
- He helped when she was being harassed by Alderman Meggarty
- He seems to have genuinely
cared about Daisy in spite of who
she was
- He arranged for her to live in a friends flat & he
gave her some money
- Eric Birling
- He was born into the higher class
- He is not as concerned about social class
- He was happy to have a relationship with a working class girl
- He supported Eva by giving her money
- He supports the workers cause when he hears
about his fathers treatment of them
- "Why shoudnt they try for higher wages?"
- he doesn't care about Eva's class
- He feels guilty regardless of who she is
- He is embarrassed about the way his parent
treat those of a lower class
- "I'm ashamed of you"
- Eva Smith/Daisy Renton
- From just outside of Brumley
- Described as "country-bred" by Birling
- Of Working class
- She is poor & her parents are dead
- Described as "pretty"
despite of what class she is
- J.B. Priestly
- Beliefs
- During 1930s he became concerned about
consequences of social class inequality in Britain
- 1942 he set up a new political party
- The Common Wealth Party
- It argued for: public ownership of land,
greater democracy, new 'Morality' in
politics
- He developed the Welfare State at the end of WWII
- He thought that furure WWs could
be avoided by mutual respect between countries
- He became active in the UN
- Background information
- Born in 1894 - died in 1984
- He was part of the military in WWI
- His early plays included parallel
universes and political messages
- They were controversial
- In WWII he broadcast a radio programme
- it was attacked by the Conservatives
for being too left-wing