Responsibility/Eric Birling

Question 1

“you killed her – and the child…your own grandchild”

Answer 1

• Creates sympathy for Eric
• Ignores Inspector’s message of joint responsibility
• Perhaps, Eric did not change
• morally dubious
• Eric’s accusation of blame upon his mother is​ tantamount (equivalent) to Mrs Birling’s blame of the “father​”.
• Attempts to blame mother to absolve himself of any blame
• instinctual and his genuine belief

Question 2

“You don’t understand anything. You never did. You never even tried”

Answer 2

Eric continues to ​undermine himself​ as he berates his mother “​You don’t understand anything. You never did. You never even tried​”. Priestley’s use of​ repetition​ and hyperbole​ creates a ​parody​ of the ​sweeping statements​ we might expect a teenager to use in an argumen​t ​with their parents.