Inspector Goole Flashcards
But just remember this. One Eva Smith has gone – but there are millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with us,
Priestley opens with a simple sentence on the speech before the Inspector’s departure to emphasise the lasting impact that he wants to have on the Birlings.
When “One” is used, Eva Smith is being objectified, he is showing that there are many people like her.
The Inspector wants to make the Birlings realise this. There is still an opportunity for the Birlings to change the way they treat people, Priestley uses common names to show how universal the suffering of the working class is – it is not just women, but also men who experience this pain.
Through the repetition of “millions”, Priestley seems to open up the play from the limited scope of one family’s dining room to a global concern, whilst the Biblical language suggests that this is a question with both earthly and eternal significance.
Because what happened there may determine what happens to her afterwards and what happens to her afterwards may have driven her to suicide. A chain of events.
Anadiplosis - initiates the idea of connections and he memorably summarises this with the metaphorical image of a “chain of events” - connotes heaviness and imprisonment which links to the fact that the whole Birling family and Gerald are tied in on this and it is what is weighing them down
The noun “chain’ suggests physical linking.
Makes the same point as the inversion of the detective fiction genre because everyone is responsible for the death of Eva Smith.
I don’t play golf
Less like a character more like a moral force who relentlessly uses omniscient abilities to pursue justice.
