AIC key quotes for themes Flashcards
Birling : ‘‘Perhaps, we may look forward to a time When Crofts and Birlings are …’’ (act 1)
(capitalism)
'’Perhaps, we may look forward to a time When Crofts and Birlings are working together - for lower costs and higher prices’’
modal verb + the fact that Lord + Lady croft aren’t there to present how fake and unlikely this is undermining Birling’s capitalist attitude.
adverb ‘together’ = sees S’s engagement as a pathway to a business negotiation to expand his own prospects.
comparative adjectives = microcosm for capitalism, emphasizes how profit motivates everything in society.
Birling : ‘‘hard _________, practical man of __________’’. (act 1)
(capitalism)
'’hard headed, practical man of business.’’
plethora of adjectives = self absorbed, bombastic and arrogant nature
‘hard headed’ = how he doesn’t listen to others to show the dominance capitalists had at the start of the century
however also comical as if it is a catchphrase in an advert for a commercial product showing arrogance.
Birling : ‘‘unsinkable, …’’ (act1)
(capitalism) (age)
'’unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable.’’
repetition ‘unsinkable’ = admiration for the titanic, mimics capitalist’s desire for domination.
however this bombastic phrase appears to be anachronistic for a contemporary 1945 audience = shows capitalism has fatal flaws.
Birling : ‘‘If I’d agreed to this demand for a new rate we’d have …’’ (act1)
(capitalism)
'’If I’d agreed to this demand for a new rate we’d have added about twelve percent to our labour costs.’’
statistics = how workers were dehumanised, workers were liabilities to owners and if they reduced profit, they were disposable.
however during this period, government did ell employers to keep labour costs down.
shows callous perspectives of business owners and were viewed solely at how much they contributed versus how much they cost.
Birling : ‘‘I don’t see how it is any concern of yours …’’ (act1)
and finds Inspectors questions ‘‘offi____’’
'’I don’t see how it is any concern of yours how i choose to run my business.’’
and finds Inspectors questions ‘‘officious’’
adjective ‘officious’ = sees the inspector as a challenge to his authority and intelligence whilst also showing capitalists as secretive, defensive and hostile.
possessive pronoun ‘my’ = how his business his his own and views it as an income and not a place for workers to benefit from an income + how in 1912 the liberal party would have allowed B to run business how he likes linking to laissez faire attitudes.
However Inspectors questions = felt culture of personal freedom and privacy allowed capitalists to be exploitative and fraudulent and needed to be challenge and addressed embodied by the 1945 election of labour as this was published.
Inspector : ‘‘We don’t live _______. We are members of ________. We are ____________ for each other.’’ (act3)
(social responsibility)
'’We don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other.’’
anaphora of ‘We’ = brings about the idea of togetherness and responsibility.
reinforced by semantic field of connection which advocates for community and equality.
metaphor = how nothing happens in isolation and everyone is linked by morality
or socialist idea that society benefits most when everybody is contributing and receiving.
Inspector : ‘‘If men will not learnt that lesson, they will be …’’
(socialism/ communism)
'’If men will not learnt that lesson, they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish.’’
triplet = semantic field of war as the direct result of choosing capitalism over communism
P is almost like a prophet to the Birlings warning them of an event a 1945 audience would have just witnessed meaning it is even more evocative and heartfelt.
imperative verbs = how capitalists have to be forced to learn from their mistakes otherwise a change will not happen.
Inspector : ‘‘There are a lot of young women living that _____ __ ___________ … If there weren’t, the factories and warehouses wouldn’t …’’ (act 1)
(socialism/ communism)
'’There are a lot of young women living that kind of existence … if there weren’t, the factories and warehouses wouldn’t know where to look for cheap labour.’’
personification of ‘warehouses’ + ‘factories’ = how domineering and influential they were in society.
implies that business and profit were treated with more care and respect than ‘young women’ who’s only purpose is to provide ‘cheap labour’.
‘young girls’ = pitless and inhumane also how poverty is an epidemic as even most innocent parts are affected.
The construction of the reality of young women’s lives in the edwardian era alongside ‘factories’ and ‘warehouses’ suggests that poverty and unemployment are not solved by authorities as they are parts of their business models .
Inspector : ‘‘She wanted twenty-____ shillings a week instead of twenty two a ___________. You made her pay a heavy price for that. And …’’
(exploitation)
'’She wanted twenty-five shillings a week instead of twenty two a sixpence. You made her pay a heavy price for that. And now she’ll make you pay a heavier price still’’
motif of price = mirrors capitalist’s focus on money and trade.
The pay rise Eva wanted is miniscule compared to the ‘heavy price’ for her how capitalists constructed barriers that did not allow social mobility in classes.
her death = greed and stinginess came before human kindness reinforced by short simple sentence to reflect callous approach
also ‘heavy price’ = may suggest that everything in a capitalist society has a cost attached and nothing can be viewed in a purely emotional way.
comparative adjective ‘heavier’ though may reveal that socialism will outlast capitalism and that Eva’s life is a metaphor for the change that needs to happen that is reflected in labour’s landslide victory in 1945.
Gerald : ‘‘She looked young and fresh and charming and …’’
(exploitation)
'’She looked young and fresh and charming and altogether out of place down there.’’
hendiadys = extent too which he romanticises her and that this was the only factor he befriended her.
suggests that capitalist don’t really have others interests at heart and how the patriarchal society have the power to disempower women sand take advantage of them.
how Gerald says how Eva was :
‘‘__________ grateful’’ and how he at once :
‘‘became the most important …’’
(exploitation)
'’intensely grateful’’
‘‘became the most important person in her life’’.
despite Gerald no giving her much, her loneliness meant that his status meant that he as an ‘upper class’ he was automatically important.
adverb ‘intensely’ and superlative ‘most’ = how dependant Eva was on Gerald however this treatment became a form of sexual exploitation.
however shows how Gerald used Eva to nurse his own ego suggesting that masculinity is fragile and depends on the submission of women for validation.
Inspector : ‘‘As if she was an ________, a thing, not …’’
(exploitation)
'’As if she was an animal, a thing, not a human.’’
power of three = the extent to the power imbalance and hemunastion of her also ow barbarically they were treated.
abstract noun ‘thing’ = shows how Eric could satisfy his own sexual needs without thinking about it too much
Sheila says she wants to understand :
‘‘What happens when a man says he’s so busy at the works that he …’’
adding she’s :
‘‘supposed to be engaged to a ____’’
(gender)
'’What happens when a man says he’s so busy at the works that he can hardly ever find time to come and see the girl he’s supposed to be in love with’’
'’supposed to be engaged to a hero’’
sarcasm ‘hero’ = sees Gerald for the pretender he is and almost being the embodiment for the woman’s suffrage from 1912 to 1945 and representative of the ‘new woman’ by challenging Gerald’s actions which previously women would have had to ‘come to accept’ as her mother says.
repetition of ‘supposed to be’ = presents their engagement as a hollow myth of obligation and how their love isn’t real
Briling : ‘‘Your engagement to Sheila means a ___________ ___ __ __. She’ll make …’’ (act1)
(gender)
'’Your engagement to Sheila means a tremendous lot to me. She’ll make you happy’’
personal pronoun ‘me’ = ownership over her actions and successes and also conveys a form of narcissism.
imperative phrase ‘make you happy’ = wife’s only duty to please husband
by referencing Gerald’s happiness before Sheila’s, Birling makes clear that he sees Sheila as a gift he is giving to Gerald and doesn’t think the relationship should be mutual or equal.
Birling : ‘‘I’m not defending him. But you must …’’ (act3)
(gender)
'’I’m not defending him. But you must understand that a lot of young men-‘’
perpetuates that women should tolerate their husband’s mistreatment of them.
pronoun ‘lot’ within the phrase = how society believed men had an uncontrollable sex drive and how this was an accepted part of culture.
how male solidarity isolated and ignored women.
imperative ‘must’ = how women had to tolerate or how Birling was just focused on his relationship with croft’s Ltd again reinforcing capitalist attitudes.
Birling : ‘‘She was a lively good looking girl - …’’ (act 1)
(gender) (exploitation)
'’She was a lively good looking girl - country bred, I fancy.’’
adjective ‘lively’ = infantilises her, almost as something to be played around with. Sees women as a measure of how long they can last in the grip of a domineering patriarchal society.
‘country bred’ = dehumanisation as livestock.
dynamic verb ‘fancy’ = fantaissing her as a sexual object with objectification.
Gerald : ‘‘I hate these fat old tarts …’’
(gender)
'’I hate these fat old tarts round the town’’.
bigoted description of women = colloquial language/ profanity = ‘tarts’ how he shames women for sex work and displaying sexuality despite being part of society that causes them to do so.
uses this to present Gerald as hypocritical = condemned prostitutes while simultaneously using them.
suggests how men thought they were untouchable as they used lower class women as scapegoats to disguise their flaws.
Gerald : ‘‘I think Miss Birling ought to be excused __ ____ ______ __ ____ _________… she’s had a long, …’’
(gender)
'’I think Miss Birling ought to be excused of any more of this questioning… she’s had a long, exciting and tiring day’’
patronising and belittling = triplet ‘long,exciting,tiring’ = delicate and childlike, they also allude to female hysteria where Gerald is trying to invalidate her before she reveals his secrets.
speaking for Sheila = how the patriarch stole women’s voices and women voices were erased from conversations that concerned them .
wants to stress that sexist stereotypes were invented to benefit and protect men.
