Social Responsibility Flashcards
Ts1: Mr Birling and Mrs Birling refuse to take responsibility for their actions and believe an individual is responsible for looking after themselves, not others.
‘A man has to look after himself’
‘Look for the father of the child… it’s his responsibility’
‘There’ll be a public scandal’
‘I did nothing I’m ashamed of’
‘A hoax… the whole thing’s different now’
Ts2: Sheila and Eric realise that employers have a social responsibility towards their employees, taking a more socialist view.
‘These girls aren’t cheap labour… they’re people’
‘Why shouldn’t they try for higher wages? We try for the highest possible prices’
Ts3: Inspectors message is that we are all responsible for each other. If we do not learn that, society will be doomed to repeat its errors (WW2)
‘We’ll have to share our guilt’
‘A chain of events’
‘Fire and blood and anguish’
Ts4: Sheila and Eric accept responsibility- showing hope for social change lies in the younger generation.
‘He was our inspector all right’
‘You mustn’t try to build up a kind of wall between us and the girl’
Topic sentences
Ts1: mr B, Mrs B and G refuse to accept responsibility and believe everyone should look after themselves, not others.
Ts2: Sheila and Eric realise that employers have a social responsibility towards their employees.
Ts3: I’s message is that we are all responsible for each other, if we do not learn that, society will be doomed to repeat its errors(WW2)
Ts4: Sheila and Eric accept responsibility- showing hope for social change lies in the younger generation.
‘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.
‘He was our inspector all right’
L/I= he interrogated them and made them confess. He was their moral inspector rather than a police inspector. They’ve all committed moral crimes against another innocent individual.
‘I don’t come into this suicide business… we can keep it from him’
L= euphemism ‘business’ wants to distance himself emotionally. C= wants to conceal affair from Inspector/public. Reputation more important than honesty.
‘Fire and blood and anguish’
L= violent tricolon emphasises his message of need for social change. R= audience in 1946 lived through two WW. Realise need for social change to avoid more suffering.
‘You mustn’t try to build up a kind of wall between us and the girl’
L= metaphor. I= could represent the class divide that Mrs B tries to assert; could also represent Mrs B’s denial to accept social responsibility. Mrs b needs to accept responsibility for others and accept the truth.
‘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.
‘I did nothing I’m ashamed of’
Mrs B refuses to accept responsibility for what happened to Daisy. C= unlike the younger generation, she’s not open to change. Hope for social change lies not with the older generation who involved Britain in 2 WW, but with the younger generation, who can change.
‘We’ll have to share our guilt’
L= verb ‘share’- we’re all responsible for each other in society; our actions have an impact on others.
‘A chain of events’
L= metaphor- one action leads to another and all actions have consequences; no one person is responsible for what happened to Eva.
C= Inspector is a political construct for Priestley’s socialist views demanding social reform+ welfare state.
Advocate for Fabian society who were a group that wished for gradual social reform like introduction of Welfare state. C= NHS 1948. They also campaigned for a minimum wage.
Ts5: Gerald doesn’t accept social responsibility, damaging his relationship with Sheila.
‘Fairy Prince’
‘A hoax… we’ve been had’
‘You and I aren’t the same people’
‘Everything’s all right now Sheila. What about this ring?’
‘I don’t come into this suicide business… we can keep it from him’
