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an inspector calls :male-detective: - Coggle Diagram
an inspector calls :male-detective:
themes
age
the younger birlings are much more inclined to change their thoughts and actions than the older birlings and gerald who refuse accountability
class
gender
social responsibility
characters
edna
the only working class person on stage, as eva smith is never actually shown
mr birling
mr birling is a strong capitalist and is deliberately made unlikeable by Priestley to make the audience associate capitalism with negativity
he is the embodiment of capitalism
fired eva smith from his factory as she organised a strike for better pay
mrs birling
eric birling
eric rapes eva smith and steals money from mr birling for her
eric ends up taking on board the inspectors ideas and taking responsibility, he ends up changing from not taking accountability to being responsible
shelia birling
sheila takes the most responsibility out of everyone, and she even feels remorse when she finds out about eva's death. immediately she starts changing her ways and starts stepping up to her family members who don't take accountability.
when the inspector leaves sheila takes on the role of the inspector and questions her family. she changes the most
at the beginning of the play, sheila is the typical edwardian woman, she is very quiet and patriarchal, but at the end she speaks up for herself and becomes the modern woman
the inspector
(mrs birling talking about the effect the inspector has had on shelia) "we always do (have an effect) on the young ones"
this is priestley commenting on socialism and how young people are more open to seeing the faults of society and be socialist
gerald croft
eva smith/daisy renton
context
written by JB Pristley
Priestley was a socialist :earth_africa:
he used the inspector as a mouthpiece for his views as he was banned from his job at the bbc for voicing them
had a near death experience at war and became a writer afterwards
set in 1912 although it was written in 1945
edwardian era
quotes
mr birling
"by the way some of these cranks talk and write now you’d think everybody has to look after everybody else, as if we were all mixed up together like bees in a hive – community and all that nonsense.”
"a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own – and –"
“i can’t accept any responsibility”
“if you don’t come down sharply on some of these
people, they’d soon be asking for the earth”
“i’ve got to cover this up as soon as i can”
mrs birling
eric birling
sheila birling
the inspector
gerald croft