Conflict Flashcards
Umbrella
Conflict is present within B family in many ways and Priestley uses this to explore social inequalities within Edwardian society.
Ts1: conflict appears between Mr B and E due to different views over workers.
‘Why shouldn’t they try for higher wages? We try for the highest possible prices’
‘If you don’t come down sharply on these people… they’d be asking for the Earth’
Ts2: Mr B and the I conflict over political ideas.
‘Crank’ ‘Like bees in a hive’ ‘It’s better to ask for the Earth than to take it’ ‘We are members of one body’ ‘Your daughter isn’t living on the moon’ ‘Lonely,half starved, desperate’
Ts3: conflict arises between different members of the B family due to contrasting views and ideologies of WC women.
(Men)‘Spend nearly all their time and energy on their business… you’ll have to get used to that’
‘Girls of that class’
‘Get into trouble? Go on the streets’
‘You refused her… even the… pitable little… charity you had in your power to grant her’
Topic sentences:
Ts1: mr B and Eric conflict over views on workers
Ts2: I and Mr B conflict over political ideologies
Ts3: members of B family conflict over ideologies on WC women
‘Why shouldn’t they try for higher wages? We try for the highest possible prices’
L= interrogative sentence. Questions Mr B’s economic ideologies. Points out hypocracy. L= comp adj and sup adj makes workers asks seem reasonable and the businessmen as exploitative. R= anger at Mr B’s greed. Sympathy for workers.
‘If you don’t come down sharply on these people… they’d be asking for the Earth’
L= metaphor. WC demands for more, Mr B finds it unreasonable: must be punished. C= trade union act 1913.
‘Crank’ (Mr B)
L= noun. Mocks socialism R= ironic as by end of play mr B and capitalism are fools.
‘Like bees in a hive’
L= simile D= Mr B believes socialism reduces individuals to drones of the state. R= performed Russia 1945. Sympathy= socialists
‘It’s better to ask for the Earth than to take it’
L= hyperbolic metaphor. Makes Eva’s requests seem fair. Unlike capitalist Mr B who exploits workers for max profits. R= sympathy for Eva as exploited for work.
‘We are members of one body’
L= metaphor. Shared responsibility for each other
I/D= socialist work together for mutual benefit, unlike individualism. They can’t function alone like a body without all organs.
WRITERS INTENTIONS: Inspector mouthpiece for Priestley’s socialist views. Wants social change.
‘Spend nearly all their time and energy on their business… you’ll have to get used to that’
‘I don’t believe I will’
Mrs B accepts she occupies inferior position despite her higher social class.
D= reflects men are financial providers and women stay in the domestic sphere.
‘I don’t believe i will’
Declarative sentence. Refuses to be 2nd to business. Reflects difference in generation. C= suffragettes.
‘Girls of that class’ (Mrs B)
L= use of determiner (that not this) implies WC are seen as different species. C= reflects class prejudice in highly stratified society.
‘Get into trouble? Go on the streets’
C= reflects UMC prejudice of women- considered troublesome and immoral. R= irony as Birling’s actions immoral. C= double sexual standards. Married men get away but women not allowed to be prostitutes.
‘You refused her… even the… pitable little… charity you had in your power to grant her’
L= adj ‘pitable’- little emotion. Emphasises how little D asking and how mean-spirited Mrs B was.
R= despise her for her hard-heart.
C= no welfare state, relied on charity.
Beveridge report 1942. NHS 1948.
I/D= as women has little power in society only place for Mrs B to exercise it is in the committee. She abuses her power.
