Inspector Calls Themes Flashcards
Age the inspector
“A man in his fifties”
- the inspector is older conveying he’s gained experience from his life and knows what should happen
- Inspector could represent Priestley because Priestley is 51 when he wrote the play and was a socialist. Priestley was also interested in rights for workers and the inspector was against Mr Birling for mistreating his workers
- the inspectors views juxtapose the rest of his age group so that’s why he targets the younger generations. Also they’re more impressionable and they’ll be the ones that inherit world and can make the world change
- “man” is very generic way of describing someone suggesting anyone can could be like the inspector and try and make a change. Moreover it conveys the Inspector wants to keep his identity hidden foreshadowing him not being a real inspector. He’s hiding his true intentions
Age and responsibility Gerald
"Everything's all right now Sheila" -now the inspectors been proven false Gerald believes everything can go back to normal, conveying he hasn't learnt -addressed directly to Sheila suggesting he wants her approval that nothing's changed because he wants to be like everyone else or now he's confessed what he's done wrong he wants forgiveness Also by Sheila refusing it foreshadows changing gender roles and Sheila is ahead of her times. Also conveys to women in the audience that they don't have to go back to how it was and its better for them now- context gender -Gerald is the only one of the younger generations not to change could be because of his upper class background and how he's never known anything different. Whereas Birling had to work his way up so Sheila and Eric no where they came from even if Birling doesn't want to admit it
Age Mr Birling
“You’ll have a good laugh over it yet”
- conveys Mr b thinks it’s a joke because it’s in the lexical field of amusement, links with mrs b as she says “amused”, suggesting she’s in on the joke as well
- depicts difference between older and younger generations because Sheila and Eric don’t feel it’s a joke
- “laugh” also conveys Mr b hasn’t learnt his lesson because he isn’t taking the message seriously. His response foreshadows the new inspector because the play is circular so a new inspector comes to reteach him
- also conveys Priestley doesn’t want things to go back to how they were, he wants change - shows people must keep learning the lesson, nothing will change if u don’t take responsibility
- “yet” connective time phrase believes the younger generations will try behaving like them soon implying the younger generations were meant to look up to the older ones, but they don’t conveying society Is changing
- at the start Eric contradicts his fathers actions so that foreshadows their juxtaposing views now
- if Birling gave in it would be like going back to where he came from and he mite just want to forget about that
Age and Morality Sheila
“I behaved badly too. I’m ashamed of it”
- Sheila’s wiling to accept responsibility and will become a better person for it. Priestley made it a Morality to show the audience it’s never to late to change and God will forgive you if seek forgiveness
- “ashamed” conveys she regrets it and feels guilty suggesting she knows nothing will bring Eva back
- however by learning from her mistakes she can honour her so the girl didn’t die for nothing
- Priestley could be saying sacrifice needs to happen for the greater good links to Inspector saying there’s lots of “Eva Smiths”. Also links to war but by it being revealed in nite conveys hindsights a great thing
- juxtaposition of “I “ and “too” conveys Sheila accepts responsibility but knows she isn’t solely responsible. She blames the older generations even tho they don’t blame themselves suggesting she doesn’t try to be consumed by guilt. Too much guilt means u can’t make a positive impact
- could be Sheila’s way of introducing blame onto her parents or being annoyed at them that they won’t take responsibility so she does it for them
Responsibility and Age Eric
“(angrily) how can it be? The girls dead isn’t she?”
-he accepts responsibility and realises he can’t change it but regrets what he did
-adverb conveys he’s could be taking his anger out on others because he doesn’t want to admit to himself he was mainly responsible. Mite not know how to cope because he’s has an easy life
-or he could be upset no ones taking him and Sheila seriously so he resorts to shouting at them
He lost the most, his child, and now he has to live with the guilt
-rhetorical questions imply Eric doesn’t want to believe what’s happened, he’s questioning it. Or he may want to follow older ones, easy way out, but knows it’s wrong, shows real change
-the repetition of ? Conveys his frustration no ones takes them seriously because he. Doesn’t want this kid to die for nothing
-blunt with no emotional language “dead” conveys he’s fed up or he’s becoming numb to the situation because he doesn’t no how to cope, but stage direction juxtaposes this suggesting Eric inner turmoil about what he’s done
Responsibility and Morality Inspector
“In fire and blood and anguish”
Inspector tries to teach Birlings a lesson
-leaves clear message about what happens if they don’t change- conveys to audience hindsight is great and there naivety
-“anguish” could link to small scale things like family arguments because when he leaves Birling there arguing, this suggests family needs to support a strong base before change can happen
“Blood” connotates war and how many people lost there lives. Also conveys guilt because the birlings will be sorry they haven’t changed after the war
- links with changes in society now
-Priestley does this to show everyone has to change to make a big difference bit little things do go a long way because the inspector gets Sheila and Eric to change
Responsibility Edna and Eva
“Millions of John Smiths and Eva Smiths”
- both have very little dialogue conveying their lack of importance to society, also makes them different from everyone else because there of a lower class
- generally upper class made decisions and don’t think about lower classes
- they have little responsibility in society because they depend on th upper class to live, Eva only has responsibility over death conveying how the system doesn’t work because she feels the only way to help herself is to die
- she’s the symbol of poor because “Eva” originated from the Ada and eve story…
- Inspector has to speak for Eva conveying her inferiority because because someone has to stand up for beliefs when usually they’re a personal thing
- however it does create change implying little things go a long way and sometimes something bad has to happen for change to come
- Edna is Eva’s living representative and shows Inspector into the room, this could convey she wants him there and wants the Birlings to learn there lesson because she of a to lower class to get change by herself, she’s dependent on them to much
- Edna isn’t treated well conveying Birlings lack of respect to lower classes and table order shows hierarchy and Edna never sits conveying the upper class feel they’re superior
Responsibility Mr Birling
“It’s my duty to keep labour costs down”
- idea of responsibility juxtaposes Priestley and Inspector because he’s only responsible for himself and his money
- noun “duty” conveys mr b has a commitment to keep costs low because duty connotations honour, feels like he has to honour how far he’s come so he won’t go back. Also links to the military conveying how mr bs views actually lead to war
- links with dramatic irony
- Birling is willing to give poor pay to others in order to gain wealth himself therefore showcasing his la know responsibility because he doesn’t care his workers are living in poverty
- personal pronoun “my” highlights birlings a capitalist beach he doesn’t rely on anyone else and works to get himself wealth
- Birling dismisses his responsibility with Eva conveying he values his wealth over a young girls life especially as he only cares when his knighthood comes under scrutiny
Morality and class Mr Birling
“I was almost certain for a knighthood in the next honours role”
-narrow sense of morals, only thinks of himself
-repetition of knighthood from earlier in the book suggests how important it is for him, like an achievement to celebrate how far he’s come. Or he wants to forget where he came from and move on, reason why he doesn’t care about Eva she reminds him of where he came from
Also it’s a way to try and move up a class again, does it to impress Gerald
However “almost certain” conveys his lack of certainty now conveying it may just have been an act but now it doesn’t matter and spy more truthfully
-also him and Eva both come from working class but only Eva has morals juxtaposition of working class.
-working class may not have been wealthy but they were happy and had a sense of community which Is better than being greedy
-working class weren’t recognised enough because Mr B was going an award yet he has a negative impact on society
By Priestley stripping it if him it suggests bad things happen to people who aren’t responsible and things will come back to haunt you
Links to it being a Morality play based on the 7 deadly sins as Birling did wrong and now Gods punished him
Morality Gerald
"You must have adored it" Gerald's Morality juxtaposes itself because he looks after Eva but at the same time misuses his responsibility to Sheila -he stays with the person who needs him the most conveying he enjoys feeling important -links with verb "adored" because that connotates affection and how Gerald enjoys being important because it gives him power links with him being proud of his class and she makes him seem superior - link to lower class being dependent on upper class -however it could also suggest Gerald genuinely cared for her but this point is juxtaposed when he breaks it off because of her class -foreshadows him taking no responsibility because he likes being upper class too much and doesn't want that to change and everyone become equal -this lessens Gerald's Morality because he wasn't helping Eva to be a good person but for his own benefit foreshadowing him breaking it off because he values him and his wealth above everything else -line was said by Sheila conveying she now knows what sort of person Gerald is and foreshadows her not taking the ring back especially with Vern "must" as it conveys her certainty
Class and Gender Mrs Birling
"As if a girl of that sort would ever refuse money" -conveys girls as weak and vulnerable and would do anything for money -links with people not wanting Sheila to hear the truth -mrs b is prejudice against the working class because she thinks they have a lack of morals when actually Eva has more than Eric "Sort" conveys she thinks there all the same, the working class is a collective and have no individual identities Conveys what upper class thought of the class system and had preconceived opinions about them. Conveys how little they interact because Mrs b has a lack of knowledge "Money" conveys Mrs b believes Money is the most important thing because she's wealthy, this foreshadows her reaction to not taking responsibility -by Eva refusing money it suggests she's standing up to the class system because she's not behaving stereotypically, by having money it doesn't mean on,y you can make the change because little things go a long way and simple things encourage change Priestley combing to people they shouldn't change back because stereotypes forced people to behave differently to how they mite want to
Class the Inspector
“(Taking Charge masterfully) stop!”
- Inspector doesn’t care about the class system because he stands up to the upper classes
- Priestley does this to convey that if everyone took a stand change mite happen and they’re partially to blame for the problem because they act helplessly
- Inspector change can happen because he controls the Birlings because he forces them to be quiet
- however the ending juxtaposes this because only Sheila and Eric change, this conveys the upper class only change when they’re forced
- “masterfully” implies this is a skill he’s done before because he’s acquired the skill. This conveys he teaches people lessons all the time so little things make a difference because he’s only one person but he can make society better by encouraging others to change too
- Priestley would want people actions go far
- the ! Conveys the Inspector os out of place because it emphasises what he said because it was different for people in his class to do. Also it conveys he said it forcefully because otherwise the birlings wouldn’t listen
- this conveys there’s now hope for change because upper classes do follow lower classes
Gender Sheila
“But these girls aren’t cheap labour- they’re people”
Gender Eric
“I insisted- it seems”
Gender Gerald
“Young and fresh and charming”
“It’s bound to be unpleasant and disturbing”
