Admin Table of Contents
- 1 What is the social context of an inspector calls?
- 2 What is Priestley suggesting about social class through the characters of Mr and Mrs Birling?
- 3 What is the message behind An Inspector Calls?
- 4 Who says and probably between us we killed her?
- 5 What is it that makes Mrs Birling socially superior to her husband?
- 6 How does the Inspector show social responsibility?
- 7 What was it like to be a woman in the 1920s?
- 8 How did the working women of the 19th century change society?
The story centralises around a middle/upper class family who are involved in the death of a working class girl. Before WW2, Britain was divided by class. On one side there were wealthy land and factory owners and then there were the poor workers. However, war brought both sides together.
What does the quote but these girls aren’t cheap Labour they’re people mean?
He uses juxtaposition to illustrate Sheila’s socialist tendencies when she openly questions her father and says “but these girl aren’t just cheap labour – they’re people” highlighting that she is adopting a humanist point of view whereby she understands that girls like Eva Smith are also valuable members of society.
Mr and Mrs Birling both have the same attitudes towards the lower class; they both make the lower class seem like a collective, an identical group of people. They represent the ignorant capitalist generation that Priestley suggests was responsible for the inequality in society during the time when the play was written.
How does Priestley show his ideas about gender inequality in An Inspector Calls?
Within Priestley’s morality play, he expresses this inequality towards women through the actions of the members of the Birling family. Mr and Mrs Birling are shown as ruthless and selfish individuals who are self-centred and are both obsessed about their social status.
What is the message behind An Inspector Calls?
Priestley’s Main Aim in An Inspector Calls JB Priestly wrote ‘An Inspector Calls’ to enhance the message that ‘we don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other’.
What compelled Priestley to write An Inspector Calls?
Priestley was inspired to write An Inspector Calls because he did not like the social situation in Britain after World War II and he sought to…
Who says and probably between us we killed her?
37. Quotes: and probably between us we killed her. Analysis: Sheila moves on from the sheer shock and remorse of her role in the death of Eva.
What is Eric and Eva’s baby symbolic of?
Eva and Eric’s baby could be symbolic of a bridge between the upper and lower classes. It has the power to bring them two classes together and yet Mrs Birling destroys the baby because she is only interested in self preservation.
Mrs Birling’s power allows her to act in a patronising manner to everyone around her. She is described to be her ‘husband’s social superior’ showing how she was of a higher class and had married down.
What is Priestley’s message about socialism?
Priestley was a socialist. Socialists believe that capitalists (such as Mr Birling) benefit the rich over the poor. Socialism is based on giving power and rights to the working class (such as Eva Smith, working in the factory). Socialists strongly support unions, organisations that protect workers’ rights.
The Inspector goes to the Birlings’ to encourage them to be accountable for their actions, and to take responsibility for others. This means by being mindful of your own actions, you help take responsibility for others. By looking after others, Priestley suggests society as a whole will benefit.
How does Priestley present social responsibility in an inspector calls?
Priestly explores the theme of social responsibility through the actions of the characters in the play. Through Sheila, the Inspector, and Mr and Mrs Birling, Priestly suggests that everyone has a collective responsibility to one another.
What was it like to be a woman in the 1920s?
As a woman of the 1920s, one most likely would have been brought up during the Progressive Era. Thus, they had seen women fight for their rights and achieve a greater status in America. The middle-aged women would have also seen their daughters be drawn into the flapper movement.
How did the women’s rights movement change in the 1920s?
The 1920s began with a major success for the women’s rights movement: the right to vote. The 19th Amendment, passed in 1919, finally began to make men and women equal.
How did the working women of the 19th century change society?
The majority worked only until they married. Working women became consumers of popular products and fashions. Women who would never tolerate the strong smells and stains of chewing tobacco or cigars began to smoke the new, and relatively clean, mild cigarettes.
Do women’s roles and men’s roles overlap?
A widespread attitude was that women’s roles and men’s roles did not overlap. This idea of “separate spheres” held that women should concern themselves with home, children, and religion, while men took care of business and politics.