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English Literature - Unit 1, Inspector Calls > Character Analysis > Flashcards

Character Analysis Flashcards

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1
Q

Mr Birling character summary:

A

Upper-middle class capitalist values, selfish and consider reputation more than morals

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2
Q

“You’d think everybody had to look after everybody else, as if we were all mixed up together like bees in a hive - community and all that nonsense”

A

Mr Birling: p.168

  • lack of responsibility
  • concerned by status
  • bees don’t have hierarchy
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3
Q

“If you don’t come down sharply on some of these people, they’d soon be asking for the earth”

A

Mr Birling: p.173

  • strict (shows he has no time for others)
  • generalises people
  • portrays them as greedy
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4
Q

“There’ll be a public scandal - unless we’re lucky - and who here will suffer from that more than I will”

A

Mr Birling: p.208

  • no guilt
  • hasn’t learnt from mistakes
  • only cares about his status and knighthood
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5
Q

What point was Priestley making about mr Birling?

A
  • represents capitalists
  • no guilt
  • narrow minded
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6
Q

“Unlike the other three, I did nothing I’m ashamed of […] you have no power to make me change my mind”

A

Mrs Birling: p.197

  • no guilt
  • superior in the family
  • narrow minded
  • shames/ intimidates others
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7
Q

“She was claiming elaborate fine feelings and scruples that were simply absurd in a girl of her position”

A

Mrs Birling: p.199

  • dislikes lower class
  • no empathy
  • assumes as Eva is single and pregnant she has no morals
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8
Q

“As if a girl of that sort would ever refuse money”

A

Mrs Birling: p.199

  • preconceptions of lower class
  • shows lower class as greedy
  • “of that sort” = no time for lower class
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9
Q

What point what’s Priestley trying to make with Mrs Birling?

A
  • shows that women were as cruel and cold hearted as men were
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10
Q

“I felt rotten about it at the time and now I feel a lot worse. Did it make much difference to her?”

A

Sheila: p.179

  • shows regret
  • shows she has morals
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11
Q

“You mustn’t try to build up a kind of wall between us and that girl. If you do, then the inspector will just break it down”

A

Sheila: p.186

  • struggles to hide truth
  • guilty conscience
  • contradicts mother
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12
Q

“[…] It doesn’t much matter who it was who made us confess. And it was true, wasn’t it?”

A

Sheila: p.209

  • faces the facts
  • good morals
  • ashamed of parents
  • trying to change mind of parents
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13
Q

What point was Priestley making about Sheila?

A
  • younger generation introduce socialist views which come into place after world war 2
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14
Q

“Why shouldn’t they try for higher wages? We try for the best possible prices”

A

Eric: p.174

  • contradicting parents
  • socialist views
  • had feelings for Eva?
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15
Q

“You killed her - and the child she’d have had too - my child - your own grandchild […] you don’t understand”

A

Eric: p.206

  • ashamed of parents
  • different views to parents
  • tries to make them feel guilty
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16
Q

[Bursting out] “you’re beginning to pretend as if nothing’s really happened at all. And I can’t see it like that. The girls still dead, isn’t she?”

A

Eric: p.214

  • accepts his parents are completely different from him
  • cannot help but empathise
  • shows guilty conscience unlike parents
17
Q

“My God! …I’ve suddenly realised - taken it in properly - that she’s dead”

A

Gerald: p.191

  • shocked and upset about death
  • doesn’t show guilt for actions
18
Q

“I didn’t install her there so that I could make love to her. I made her go to Morgan terrace because I was sorry for her.”

A

Gerald: p.191

  • good intentions
  • controlling
  • empathy but didn’t treat her well
19
Q

“Everything’s alright now Sheila. [holds up the ring] What about this ring? SHEILA: No not yet. It’s too soon. I must think.”

A

Gerald: p.220

  • different reactions show how different they are
  • Sheila matures throughout play
  • Gerald doesn’t feel guilt
  • Gerald shows he is controlling
20
Q

“She was here alone, friendless, almost penniless, desperate. She needed not only money, but advice, sympathy, friendliness. You’ve had children. You must have known what she was feeling. And you slammed the door in her face.”

A

The inspector: p.198

  • teaches morality
  • short snappy sentences
  • relates to Mrs Birling’s life
  • shows empathy to Eva
21
Q

“We don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other. And I tell you that the time will soon come when, if men don’t learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish. Goodnight.”

A

The inspector: p.207

  • we are all same class
  • all responsible for others like a community
  • fire and blood and anguish = world war 2
  • shows inspector as all knowing
22
Q

What point was Priestley trying to make with the inspector?

A
  • we all represent each other
  • implies that selfishness of capitalists caused world war 2
  • inspector introduces socialist views which become more common after the world war 2
23
Q

“INSPECTOR: both her parents were dead, so that she’d no home to go back to […] so that after two months, with no work, no money coming in, and living in lodgings, with no relatives to help her, few friends, lonely, half starved, she was feeling desperate.”

A

Eva Smith: p.176

  • had no chance of happiness
  • no support
  • many hardships
  • vulnerable
24
Q

“GERALD: she told me that she’d been happier than she’d ever been before - but that she knew it couldn’t last - hadn’t expected it to last. She didn’t blame me at all”

A

Eva Smith: p.193

  • easily pleased, shows how vulnerable she is
  • intelligent, uses mind over matter
  • forgiving character, hides feelings
25
Q

“INSPECTOR: the girl discovered that this money you were giving her was stolen, didn’t she.
ERIC: yes. That was the worst of all. She wouldn’t take any more”

A

Eva Smith: p.206

  • has morals
  • values her morals highly as she rejected the money
  • wasn’t satisfied with her life
26
Q

What point was Priestley trying to make with Eva smith?

A
  • lower class are vulnerable, not cared for, lonely and exploited by those of higher classes.
  • led to suicide.

English Literature - Unit 1, Inspector Calls (3 decks)

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