Mr And Mrs B As Parents Flashcards
Ts1: Mr and Mrs B are presented as not being emotionally supportive of their children and this is due to many UC families using a nanny system for their children.
‘You don’t understand anything. You never did’
‘You’re not the kind of father a chap could go to when he’s in trouble’
‘Look for the father of the child… it’s his responsibility’
Ts2: Mrs Birling tries to instil her views of expectations for women onto Sheila and Mr Birling attempts to instil his capitalist views on Eric
‘Men with important work to do… spend nearly all their time and energy on their business… you’ll have to get used to that’
‘A man has to look after himself’
‘Your daughter isn’t living on the moon’
‘Be quiet so your father can decide what to do’
‘I don’t believe i Will’
‘Crank’
‘Like bees in a hive’
‘Why shouldn’t they try for higher wages? We try for the highest possible prices’
Ts3: Even though Mr and Mrs B instil their views into their children, Eric and Sheila are constructed as turning to a more socialist perspective, reflecting Priestley’s political view that his hope for social reform lies with the younger generation as they learn to accept social responsibility for their actions, unlike Mr and Mrs B.
‘These girls aren’t cheap labour… they’re people’
‘Why shouldn’t they try for higher wages? We try for the highest possible prices’
‘I know I’m to blame’
‘He was our police inspector all right’
‘The girl’s dead and we all helped to kill her’
Ts4: Sheila is presented as not giving in to the expectations of women in the Edwardian era that Mrs B instilled in her.
‘I don’t believe I will’
Topic sentences:
Ts1: not emotionally supportive.
Ts2: instilling their views.
Ts3: children not listening to their views and turning more socialist perspective.
Ts4: Sheila challenges assumption that women have to be of secondary importance to men’s business even though Mrs B instilled this in her.
‘You don’t understand anything. You never did’
Mrs B does not understand her rob but she also I= alternatively refused to understand the Inspector’s message that she is responsible for others. R= creates sympathy for Eric. His own mother has never tried to understand him. He feels isolated and alone.
‘You’re not the kind of father a chap could go to when he’s in trouble’
Illustrates divide between father and son personally as well as ideologically. R= feel sympathy for Eric. He has no one to turn to emotionally despite his privileged life. May explain his alcoholism.
‘Look for the father of the child… it’s his responsibility’
C= Mrs B believes responsibility is an issue for the individual not the state. She seeks to pass the blame to the father not share it. R= due to the structure of the play, audience has worked out father of child is Eric. L= creates dramatic irony. Audience sees Mrs B’s views as flawed.
Mrs B isn’t emotionally close enough to Eric that she doesn’t know he is the father of the child.
‘Men with important work to do…. spend nearly all their time and energy on their business… you’ll have to get used to that’
C= women 2nd class citizens in patriarchal society. Mr b resigned to this but new generation of suffragettes challenging it. Mrs b is resigned to the fact that she, to Mr Birling, is subservient to his business; and tells Sheila to do the same with Gerald. C= Sheila disagrees showing the changing expectations of women in Edwardian society.
‘A man has to look after himself’
C= Mr B set up as foil to inspector to allow Priestley to present his political debate. He represents capitalist individualism. Mr B is shown as portraying his capitalist views onto Eric.
‘Your daughter isn’t living on the moon’
Mr B shelters Sheila from outside world so she only knows what is instilled into her by parents.
L= hyperbolic imagery. Sheila should know what is happening in her world and not be protected from it. Only by understanding her wold can she begin to change it for the better.
‘These girls aren’t cheap labour… they’re people’
C= Sheila begins to realise that her father’s workers aren’t just a collective workforce, but individual human beings and deserve to be treated with respect. L= adj ‘cheap’ normally applied to goods. I/D= reflects Marxist interpretation- human beings reduced to means of production in capitalist society. Even though they are generationally similar, S+G have different views on the treatment of workers.
‘Why shouldn’t they try for higher wages? We try for the highest possible prices’
L= question D= later I, makes him question his fathers economic and political ideology. Contrast= comparative and superlative adj. Makes workers requests seem reasonable and capitalist businesses (like Mr B’s) seem exploitative of workers
‘I know I’m to blame’
Unlike her parents, Sheila emerges as more mature and she changes as a character. She accepts that she is partly to blame for Eva’s death. C= reflects Priestley’s belief that hope for social change lies with the younger generation.
R= many of the younger generation would be watching his play post WW2 and want to change society for the better- NHS 1948 etc.
‘He was our police inspector all right’
L\i= he ‘interrogated’ them and made them confess. He was their MORAL inspector rather than a police inspector. They have all committed moral crimes against another innocent individual and Eric realises this.
