older vs younger generation Flashcards
mr birling
“now look at the pair of them-the famous younger generation who know it all. And they can’t even take a joke”
- His callousness is apparent through both his acerbic tone and his ability to dismiss the notion of suicide and the exploitation of the working classes as a “joke”
- He ridicules his own children, yet it is ironic as he is the only character who claims to
“know it all” with his mentions of the
“unsinkable” Titanic and “silly little war scares”. Priestley encourages the younger generation of his audience to reject the beliefs of their parents.
mr birling
“What’s the matter with that child?”
- The diminutive noun “child” is used to disregard Sheila’s beliefs as immature and unimportant.
- The pronoun “that” is used to expel himself from responsibility over Sheila once she starts exhibiting socialist beliefs, he is so strongly repulsed by them he will reject his own child.
“Sheila! What an expression! Really, the things you girls pick up these days!”
This exposes her superficially driven codes of conduct as she cares more about etiquette than morality. She is opposed to Sheila’s use of colloquial language as it is an emblem of the progressive younger generation that challenge her beliefs. Through using the noun
‘girl’ Mrs Birling belittles Sheila in order to dismiss her behaviour and portray it as foolish or uncouth, she reinforces the separation between the older generation who are robust to these newer ways of thinking and the younger ones that seem vulnerable to
-pick|ing]. them up as if they were a disease.
“What’s the matter with that child?”
“He’s only a boy”
- Mrs Birling absolves Eric from his behaviour, although this is an example of dramatic irony as we know in reality he is far from an innocent child.
- The diminutive noun “boy” is almost emotive, she is trying to evoke pity for him.
“Yes, go on, Mummy”
Infantile language “mummy”
Short simplistic sentences.
Submissive interjection on “yes”.
sheila
(To Mr and Mrs B) And can t you see, both of you, you’re making it worse?”
Rhetorical question, she is questioning their regressive and stagnant views.
Direct address on ‘both of you’, empowered by socialism to allow her to directly criticise her parents.
Verb “see” emphasises they are blinded by capitalism and Sheila is trying to awaken them.
-[flaring up] If you want to know, it’s you two who are being childish- trying not to face the facts.”
[flaring up] shows her built up frustration and anger at being dismissed and patronised by her unaware parents.
Hyphen after ‘childish’ creates a pause, used for emphasis by Sheila to belittle her parents arrogance that they are superior and morally righteous as they belong to the older generation.
Alliteration ‘face’ and ‘facts’ creates an ongoing sound, akin to how Sheila highlights their dismal of their ignorance is ongoing.
“He could. He could have kept her on instead of throwing her out. I call it tough luck.”
Usage of a short sentence highlights the finality of the argument; that Mr Birling had the ability to help her and chose instead not to.
• Harsh use of vocabulary in “throwing her” shows the difference in perspective between generations. Mr Birling just viewed it as business as opposed to Eric who recognised the catastrophic ramifications of the action.
“(Shouting) And I say the girl’s dead and we all helped to kill her - and that’s what matters.”
- Eric’s acceptance that he had a hand to play in the death of Eva exposes a damning view of the generation gap, where the young accept their wrongs whereas the old do not.
- Collective pronoun “we” shares responsibility, reminiscent of Inspector Goole saying “we must share something.”
- Hyphens create pauses as Eric is repulsed and disgusted by his parents- his anger
Mrs Birling: “Eric, I’m absolutely ashamed of you.”
Eric: “Well, I don t blame you. But dont forget I’m ashamed of you as well-yes both of you.”
- Juxtaposition of Eric admitting his wrongs and looking to advance with Mrs Birling’s shameless attempts to place the blame on anyone but herself.
- Shows hope for the younger generation in accepting wrongs and moving on.
- Repetition of ashamed, used in a dual context of Eric feeling shame for his parent incessant neglecting of their moral duties.
‘young man about town”
“a pretty fortunate young man”
There is irony concerning the repetition of the adjective “young” to describe Gerald. Within the play, youth becomes associated with being impressionable and adopting socialist views. However, Gerald fails to live up to this ‘ideal’ that Priestley proposes; this reinforces the disappointment the audience feels towards Gerald’s character, whilst we almost forgive the Birling parents as a result of their age it seems Gerald is more consciously adhering to the tropes of capitalism.
