an inspecotr calls - eric Flashcards
“he could have kept her instead of throwing her out” - eric - act 1
eric is willing to challenge his fathers decisions he chooses to make.These exchanges show the audience the younger generation have the ability g against traditions and therfore make a change for the future.
this also shows how the older generation see no possibilty in forgiving others(mr birling firing eva )
while the younger generation are open to compassion and mercy
eric also asks to his dad how “why shouldn’t try for higher wages”, showing he recognises the capitalist system is selfish and exploitive. he sees the workers dont benefit from the company’s high profits, impling how mr birling is unjustified in denying their request.
“wasnt the usual sort”(describing Eva) “i hate these fat old tarts round the town” - eric - act 3
eric’s treatment of eva is an allegory of how most upper class men treated women ad viewed sex. priestly shows how men abused and exploited women , particularly prostitutes, and how they took advantage of desperate situtations some women were in .
this is a bigoted description of women , with profanity “tarts” , showing how he shames women for sex work and displaying sexuality .
audience knows that at this point the it is the family’s fault eva is on the streets.
eric therefore blame the “tarts “ for the situation he contributed to. he also descrbibes eva as not the usual sort to justify why he slept with her . suggesting how she was a more respectable ,refined option, but his actions show how hypocritical he is .
prieslty demonstates how upperclass men condemned prostitutes while simultaneously using them. je suggest how women , particularly of a lower class and sex workers, were scapegoats that men used to disguise their own mistakes and flaws
alongside his bigortry he objectifies and sexualises women .He describes eva as “pretty and a good sport”, suggesting his attraction to her was superficial. “good sport” connotes to kindness and generosity , impling eva tolerated eric while he took advantage of her . “sport” can also refer to a hunting game , presenting women as a prey for men
sheila accuses eric being “squiffy” - act 1
from the start of the play , Priestly associates eric with alcohol when his sister sheila accusing himneing squiffy.This contemporary slang ,meaning slightly drunk, draw s the attetion of the audience to sheila’s use of informal language.
It positions the birling siblings as fashionable memeber of the younger generation who adapt the language t the times.
this can foreshadow both characters adapting their attitudes to social responsibilty as the play unfolds and they become more sympathetic to the inspectors message .
In addition prieslty delitrately aligns eric with alchohol to foreshadow the later revelations about his drunken bahaviour on the night he met eva smith.
Eric’s free and easy use of alcohol is also used to signify the double standard in society for men and women .
“and thats when it happened .And i dont even remember - thats the hellish thing”
With eric’s next words , the audience understands that he now takes responsibilty and he admits his guilt.Heres priestly uses short scentences and a hyphen to reveal eric’s distress.
His lack of details about what happened suggests he can barley bring himslef to admit what he has done .
The scentence ‘’ and thats when it happened”implying rape , allows us to form our own conclusions about what had happned that night .
priestly also repesents eric as an immature young man who does not have a close relationship with his father.He tells mr birling that he is “not the kind of father a chap could go to when he’s in trouble”
By using the friendly word”chap’ to describe himself , he is maing excuses for his behaviour by positioning himself as a victim rather than accepting responsibilty for his actions.
At this point in the play we see eric ‘s immaturity because he is providing short term solutions.(By asking eva to marry him and supporitng her with stolen money) but he does not see the long term consequences of his criminal behaviour .
‘we did her in all right” - end of play
by the end of the play , eric , like sheila has learned the lesson of collective social responsibilty .
The discussion of wether the inspector is real does not matter to eric , who insists “we did her in all right”. He delirately uses the plural personal pronoun “we” to emphasise that it is not just his mother who is responsible for eva’s death , but all of them.
This might symbolise Priestly’s socialist view that we all have a collective responsibilty for the welfare of eva and other vulnerable memebrs of society .
Eric also states “it what happened to the girl and what we all did to her that matters”.
Hes accpeted his role in her downfall and the inspectors socialist message of collective responsibilty is more important that the identity of the inspector .
Eric’s language therefore echoes that of the inspector , the mouthpiece of prieslty .
Throughout the play, prieslty has presented eric as an immature young man with a drinking problem , an exploiter of eva and a theif .
As eric matures and accepts responsibilty for his actions he becomes receptive to the inspectors message that “We are members of one body,We are all responsible for each other”
