An Inspector Calls By Aishah Rao

An Inspector Calls By Aishah Rao

1. Themes

   • Love
     • Sheila and Gerald's relationship is put to the test
     • Mr.B's view is only to see the two companies be in harmony together and to have a prosperous business.
     • Mrs.B may have had a loveless marriage. She is socially more superior than Birling. "men with important work to do sometimes have to spend nearly all their energy on their business". Can link to loneliness
   • Responsibility
     • Mr.B feels his responsibility is to make a success of his business.
     • As a family man (Birling) he has a responsibility to provide for the material needs of his family. Making it clear to Eric that "he is not the kind of father a chap could go and talk to".
     • Mrs.B feels she has the responsibility of only helping those who deserve help.
     • Sheila has realised that as a powerful customer she has an obligation not to let her personal feelings and ill-temper lead to misery for people who have no power
     • Eric has little sense of responsibility. He drinks far more than is good for him
     • Gerald showed a sense of responsibility when he rescued the girl from unwanted attentions from another man
     • All of them have had an active role, of the demise of Eva Smith/Daisy Renton
   • Time
     • Their actions at the end of the play determine the end result of Eva/Daisy
     • We wonder whether things will be different and how the characters will behave.
     • Priestley set his play in 1912, two years before the start of the First World War
     • The Inspector arrives before the suicide is a reality
     • The Inspector offers the characters to change the future, to break the circle
     • The reflections of the past, and the possibilities of the future, highlight the importance of caring for others, of taking responsibility for our actions and considering the consequences of them.
   • Society
     • We are given the perspective of the rich and powerful to the poor and destitute.
     • Priestley uses the inspector as his mouth piece,to try and get others to accept that all people share a common humanity and so are part of an interdependent community.
     • The inspector becomes a spokesperson for the disadvantaged and a voice for the conscience which the Birlings and Gerlad lack.
     • The inspector has a oratorical style of speaking, especially when he is making his final speech on suffering from "blood,fire and anguish" if they don't change their ways.

2. Social & Historical Context

   • Historical
     • "An Inspector Calls" written in 1946 but set in 1912 before the First World War.
     • Sliding as a world power (1912)
     • War in Europe looming (1912)
     • Exploitation of the working classes (1912)
     • Arrogance of the manufacturing industry (1912)
     • Strikes, civil unrest, huge class divisions (1912)
     • 2nd World war ended (1946)
     • Detonation of 2 nuclear bombs on Japan (1946)
     • 80 million deaths (1946)
     • Russia emerging as a global superpower (1946)
   • Social
     • Priestly is seen as a Socialist.
     • Birling made his money through building up a successful manufacturing business.
     • Mrs.B Corrects her husband when he thanks "cook" suggests that she comes from a "better" family background than Birling
     • Enhanced his status by getting on to the town council, becoming Lord Mayor and accepting duties of a Magistrate.
     • By getting a knighthood Sheila will be presented as a more daughter-in-law for Lady Croft
     • His questioning brings out secrets that will cause a "scandal" and seriously damage the Birlings' social position
   • Political
     • Hierarchy; Capitalists at the top Socialists at the bottom.
     • The Suffragettes (women's vote) - Sheila is rude and disobedient to all the men. (1912)

3. Main characters & Key quotes

   • Mr Birling
     • "I speak as a hard-headed business man"
     • "a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own"
     • "Look - there's nothing mysterious- or scandalous- about this business- at least not so far as I'm concerned
     • "I'll admit that fellow's antics rattled us a bit. But we've found him out - and all we have to do is keep our heads."
   • Mrs.Birling
     • "men with important work to do sometimes have to spend nearly all their time and energy on their business"
     • "that was one of the things that prejudiced me against her case."
     • "Unlike the other three, I did nothing I'm ashamed of or that won't bear investigation"
   • Gerald
     • "you seem to be a nice well-behaved family"
     • " She looked looked young and fresh and charming and altogether out of place down there."
   • Inspector
     • "But after all it's better to ask for the earth than to take it."
     • "A nice little promising life there, I thought, and a nasty mess somebody's made of it."
     • "You see, we have to share something. If there's nothing else, we'll have to share out guilt."
     • "We often [make an impression] on the young ones. They're more impressionable."
     • "he's a young man. And some young men drink far too much."
     • "There'll be plenty of time , when I've gone, for you all to adjust your family relationships."
     • The Inspector is omnipresent
     • "One Eva Smith has gone - but there are millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with us"
     • "the time will soon come when, if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish."
     • " And you think young women ought to be protected against unpleasant and disturbing things?"
     • "Let's leave offence out of it, shall we?"
   • Sheila
     • "What do you mean by saying that? You talk as if we were responsible-"
     • "But these girls aren't cheap labour- they're people."
     • "At least I'm trying to tell the truth. I expect you've done things you're ashamed of too."
     • " We've no excuse now for putting on airs and if we've any sense we won't try."
     • "Because mother's been busy blaming everything on the young man who got this girl into trouble."
     • "But now you're beginning all over again to pretend that nothing much has happened."
     • "The point is, you don't seem to have learnt anything."
     • "that summer when you stayed away from me, I wondered what happened"
   • Eric
     • "In a way she treated me- as if I were a kid."
     • "I wasn't in love with her or anything - but I liked her- she was pretty and a good sport-"
     • "You're beginning to pretend now that nothing's really happened at all. And I can't see it like that."