generational divide in aic Flashcards
mr b paragraph ideas
Priestley uses Mr birling as a vehicle to expose the hubris and arrogance of the older generation especially in an era of indsutrial change, as the noveau rich believe that they were responsible for the wave of soceital proseperity and trust their efforts as the correct way, hence holding a resentment for the more laid back and in mr birlings case finanically more stable youth.
mr b patronizing quotes
he uses a semantic field of education and schooling when conversing with the two younger men, telling them verbally to view him as some higher voice using the imperitives ‘listen’ and ‘remember’
despite both the boys being financially well off and adults, he continuously refers tp them as ‘youngsters’ and ‘boys’ as a method of asserting his dominence over them despite his socially mobile posiiton and provincial tone of speaking.
he also constantly refers to how they lack the hard experince he went through, as he was able to become socially mobile he sees hard working as the rule and not the exception that he actively represses, by this and the use of the word boys he is actively emasculating the youths
he also aserts control over the youths by overcompensating his provinical tone with the quantity of his speeches, of which priestley uses dramantic irony to mock as he inocrrectly predicts future events that eric tries to contradict but is silenced, showing the pompous and arrogant tone of the upper class
- ‘good hard school of experiece’ here he addresses the youngsters, with the semantic field of learning- emasculating them dow to school children, this also reveals his resentment as he feel hard labour is the only way to become a real man.
- ‘more money and time to spend’ ‘things are so much easier’ he fears his older morals of labour and effort are being stumped by new comforts
aim of priestley through mr b
to create sympathy for the younger generation who are repressed and patronised by mr b and also blocked from exploring fresher political views by his overbearing voice as shown through his elongated speeches- not only does he mock priestleys capiltalist viewpoint but he uses cruel and narrow minded derrogatory tones to silence it
context of mr b in gen divide
he rose out of a lower class background through work in the industrial era and social mobility so sees himself as the rule of being smart instead of the exception that he now tries desparately to opress in order to preseerve his own wealth
due to the scrutiny his class gets by the old money he is resentful of the youths he is surrounded by who are comfortbale in their position
priestly urges the youths to break out of th eopressive hold of the elders through the cyclical structure that reminds them it will keep occuring, much as how ww2 had just happened, there needed to be a societal shift
mrs b paragraph starter
whilst mr birling sows how the industrialist mindset creates a repressive state in the older generation, mrs b represents the utter resistence to any form of change due to her comfort in her old money name and lack f struggle
mrs b gen divide paragraph ideas
she represents the upper class compelte resietcne to change, its clear she does not want any form of a cultural shift and idolises things to be preserved as they are as she is a rare benefactor of the unequal state of victorian society- she mocks shielas useage of the word ‘squiffy’ as it has connotations to modern slang represnting a chnage in society even a minute one and even diminishes her husbands praise of the cook
she repeats the words ‘dont’ and ‘wont’throughout the play whenever the insepctor tries to indroduce her to information, representing the upper classes refusal to remotely open their minds to change- and maintains he has no ‘power’ to make her hcnage her societal viewpoint, showing how she views the idea of shifting your beliefs as a sign of submission
‘naturally one of the things that prejudiced me against her’- in her meeting eva its clear mrs birlings refusal to change leaves her with an outdated lacking of moral shame and a compass that means she cannot see wrong is being outwardly anti aiding of the poor, she feels that it is her birth right and only natural for her to have a distain for the poor even if they are morally prisitne like eva, one of the things suggests that there are other factors than just the behaviour that she lists, implying that other factors like class and gender are fair reasons to dislike a girl
- ‘as if a girl of that sort would ever refuse money!’ exclamation shows her horror at anyone in the lower class breaking the status quo, she is so consumed by prejducce she cannot see humantiy in others.
contextual purpose of mrs b
she represnts the inability to change in the upper class due to them being the sole benefactors in an unjust victorian society that makes them largely unwilling to opose it
eric and sheila pargaprah idea and context
priestley uses the youthful compassion and empathy of eric and sheila as juxtaposition to the concrete harsh values of their paretnts to draw sympathy for this repressive enviroment and to highlight the dire need for a societal youth driven change to a post war audience
churchill had just been overthrown for a labour gov depsite his position as an iconic war hero it was clear that old values and heroism was second now to the want for soceital change and the prevention of a cyclical war enviroment
youths gen divide paragraph structure
both sheila and eric begin the play as mouthpieces for their parents, with sheila repreatedly echoing the word ‘imperitneince’ after her mothers usage of it, this is symbolic as it is a traditionally classist word highlighting how she is on course due to her repression to inheret her families backwards values. here priestley implies the opinions are not their own ad the verbatim repetitoin shows directly how values are passed down generationally.
even then its clear by the way eric wuestions his fathers speech about the germans and even asks about the unfair values of lwoer costs and higher prices that the youths are far more receptible to a sense of jsutice that priestley fears they will loose touch of if they continue
due to the intolerable actions of the parents the audience will likely find themsleves rooting for the youths today their vales even unwillingly
sheila then cyclically at the end defies her mothers repetiton of the word, this time deeming it ‘such a silly word’- silly is almost a reclamation of her youth but also a mocking tone, if anything its a showing of her new defiance of older standards of femenity that her mother priases
- both children seem to represent a more left wing idea towards things, both seem to sympathise and have real youthful empathy for the poor ‘theyre people’ why shouldnt they try for higher wages’
