An Inspector Calls - How does the writer explore the themes of social responsibility, and man's injustice to man through the play."

Inspector Calls Coursework

Question:” How does the writer explore the themes of social responsibility, and man’s injustice to man through the play.”

John Boynton Priestly was born in Bradford in 1894. He immediately joined the

British army on the outbreak of the first world war and was sent to fight in France. When he left the army he became a university student at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and completed a degree in Modern History and Political Science.

Priestly then found work as a theatre reviewer and contributed many other articles to different newspapers, and began writing his early novels and over fifty plays. In the 1930s Priestly became increasingly concerned about social problems. This is reflected in his writing at that time.

During the second world war Priestly became the presenter of a BBC radio programme that followed the nine o’clock news on Sunday evenings which built up such a following that an estimated 40 percent of the adult population in Britain was listening.

However, the show was ended because some members of the Conservative party complained about Priestly expressing left-wing views on his radio programme.

Priestly and a group of friends now established the ‘1941 Committee’, which discussed things such as how the war was to be won and the economy, Priestly soon became chairman of this committee.

In December 1941 the committee published a report that called for public control of the railways, mines and docks and a national wages policy. A further report in May 1942 argued for works councils and the publication of ‘post-war plans for the provision of full and free education, employment and a civilized standard of living for everyone.’

On 26th July 1941 members of the ‘1941 Committee’ established the socialist ‘Common Wealth Party’ with Priestly as the chairman. But Priestly soon resigned after a disagreement and the party was dissolved after poor performance in the 1945 general election and most members joined the labour party.

After the war Priestly continued to write on politics and literature including supported newspaper article attacking the decision of Russia to abandon the policy of unilateral nuclear disarmament, and in his later years Priestly wrote two volumes of an autobiography before dying on 14th August 1984.

An inspector Calls is set in 1912 before the war, and attacks the social contexts of the time such as working conditions, pay, wealth and greed. It aims to encourage people to take responsibility for their actions and not shift the blame to other people, and the mysterious inspector clearly voices Priestly’s own views, he sees the calling of the inspector as a call for reformation in Britain at that time.

Mr Birling is a successful businessman in his mid-fifties. He is described by Priestly as ‘heavy looking, rather portentous and rather provincial in his speech.’ He is always striving to become better and cares very little about his workers and treats them like slaves. He is self-important, pompous and quite old-fashioned.

An example of this self importance can be found a lot in the text. For example, on page seven Birling rambles on about nonsense like ‘The unsinkable Titanic’, ‘Very little chance of a World War’ and ‘Russia being technically and socially behind’. The audience watching the play in 1945 when it came out would be fully aware that what he says is completely the opposite to what actually happened or was proved since.

Birling first became acquainted with Eva Smith when she came to work in his factory two years previously. He started off the chain of events that lead ...

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Birling first became acquainted with Eva Smith when she came to work in his factory two years previously. He started off the chain of events that lead to Eva’s death by firing her from her job for being one of the chief organisers of an organized strike over pay.

A rise for all of the employers would have been morally right, but very bad for the business that Birling ran and would have greatly reduced profits, so Birling did the thing that was right for him as would have been expected with his character, although nowadays you would not be fired for organising a strike, it was the custom of most employers of the time. Money was such a precious thing and if a ‘troublemaker’ was found then no matter how harsh it was they would have been sacked.

Birling believes its every man for himself, and that poor people should work their problems out themselves. He is very sexist although that is a common attitude at the time, and doesn’t believe women should be exposed to horrible things such as death and even the truth.

He shows relatively little guilt or remorse for Eva’s death, and reacts very angrily to the accusations, except in the Inspector’s final speech where he says “Look inspector- I’d give thousands-yes thousands” which indicates he did in fact begin to accept some of the blame, but then as soon as they find out the truth about the inspector he suddenly turns back into his pompous self and acted as if the previous events had never happened and everything was as normal, he hadn’t learned a lesson at all.

Mrs Birling is obviously the wife of Mr. Birling and is used to the life of luxury. She is about fifty in age, and acts heartless and cold. She is unaffected by the Inspector’s interrogation, and cares greatly about her social superiority.

However during the Inspector’s interrogation Mrs Birling found out that she knows relatively little about her family’s lives and the lives of other folk outside her home. For example she knew nothing about Erics heavy drinking or the respectable gentlemen visiting places to find a female companion for the night, this made her feel very embarrassed and not so socially powerful as she thought.

Mrs Birling met Eva/Daisy two weeks before her supposed death. Eva/Daisy came to the Brumley Women’s Charity Organisation pregnant and appealing for money. Abortion was out of the question as it was not a legal practice at the time and although certain doctors claimed they could perform the act, it was a risk putting yourself in their hands.

From the start Mrs Birling was prejudiced against Eva’s case because as the child was conceived with Eric, Eva decided to take his surname and Mrs Birling took this offensively thinking the girl meant to be impertinent and lost her temper. This turned out to be the last event in the chain before Eva committed suicide.

At that time Eva was feeling emotional and desperate as her life had progressed in a downward spiral ever since she lost her job fighting for what she believed in. However she fought through determined and didn’t expect a miracle from the council but Mrs Birling’s refusal was the last straw.

The whole way through Mrs Birling has no remorse or guilt for what has happened to the girl. To her, the very matter of the death is a great shame, but nothing to do with her and nothing for her to worry about.

Mrs Birling carried out her actions with no thought to what effects it could have and even continued to dismiss her mistake after the ‘death’ which is morally wrong, she remains cold and stone-faced even when ever other member of the family is starting to accept the blame.

Gerald is engaged to marry Sheila, he is a calm and sensible character, favoured very much by Mr. And Mrs Birling and also Eric despite being a few years his senior. He acts self-assured, well mannered and generally a nice person.

His involvement with Eva Smith started out very honourably. He helped her when she was being cornered by a drunk, and, when learning about her homelessness, offers her a flat to stay in. For a limited period of time he offered Eva all that she wanted, a home, food, money and above all companionship. However Gerald broke off the relationship when he pleased and didn’t see her again, leaving Eva with another disappointment.

However, at least he did provide her with some happiness if only for a limited period of time, and he genuinely felt upset at the news of Eva’s death, so affected that he had to leave the room, this at least shows some compassion on his behalf, and tells me that he wasn’t just using Eva for other things, he actually felt something for her.

On his walk Gerald was the one that figured out that the inspector was a fake and came back to tell the others the news who then verified his idea. After finding out all was back to normal Gerald took the same attitude as Mr and Mrs Birling, and didn’t learn his lesson, he only showed an interest in the first place when he realised that he had a relationship with this girl and when he found out she was alright he was satisfied.

Although Gerald’s part in Eva’s suicide is nothing morally wrong or particularly nasty, and the exactly the same thing happens frequently these days, he didn’t change his attitude towards social responsibility and after temporarily turning into a more caring sensitive Gerald, he quickly returns to his normal self when he realises its all a hoax.

Eric Birling is the teenage son of Mr. Birling. He is seen as immature and surrounded by the bubble protecting him from the real world. Priestly describes him as “Much less at ease than his sister…half shy, half assertive.”

Eric was associated with Eva due to their relationship after Gerald had broken up with her. Eric met Eva at the Palace Bar, a place renowned for young ladies who wanted to find young men. They started talking and a drunk Eric forced his way into her house and made love to her.

They continued seeing each other for some time until she told him that she was pregnant. Eric stole money from his father’s business to give to her but she refused as she knew where the money came from. She also refused to do the proper thing at the time and marry Eric as she knew that he didn’t love her.

Even though Eric acting immaturely and irresponsibly he did offer to support Eva and stealing from his own father’s business showed how far he was prepared to go to get money for her, if he was to get caught he would ruin his own and to a lesser extent his family’s reputations for the rest of their lives.

Eric felt exceptionally guilty when the inspector revealed the news that Eva had killed herself to him, but even after the family realised it was all a hoax his conscience still affected him and he learned a great lesson that his parents hadn’t. Despite all of his irrational behaviour, Eric became a better person afterwards and realised his responsibilities to treat people properly.

Sheila Birling is the daughter of the family and is described by Priestly as “A pretty girl in her early twenties…pleased about life…excited”. She acts very naïve and immature as if she lives in her own world where everything revolves around her. She is used to a perfect lifestyle and would take very badly to anyone trying to change that.

Eva had a job at a well-known department store called Millwards, where Sheila frequently shopped. Sheila had Eva fired when she lost her temper at the way Eva smiled at her while she was trying on a dress. Sheila found it offensive and used her power of being a regular customer to do something selfish and ignorant. This was her only encounter with Eva Smith.

However, when the inspector informs Sheila of the suicide, she suddenly feels incredibly guilty for the little thing she did, and becomes a nervous wreck while the inspector questions the other members of the family. Unlike most of the others she feels instantly guilty and wishes to take all of the blame.

Even when she finds out the truth Sheila continues to feel guilty, and that her acts were immoral. She realised that you should never do something without knowing how it can affect someone else. Sheila completely changes from a selfish, spoilt child, to a mature, caring young adult, which shows that she is a much better person then her parents are, and that the hope for the world is in the young people, who will make the world into a better place without prejudice and discrimination.

The Birling’s and Gerald take away nearly all of the quality of Eva Smith’s life, which was enough to make her commit suicide. They took away two jobs, made her pregnant, left her on her own with nothing and refused to help her in any way when they had the chance, all because of their ignorance and uncaring attitude towards people of a lesser social standing then themselves.

Yet the worse thing is that Mr. Birling, Mrs. Birling and Gerald pretend that nothing has happened when they realise that the inspector was a hoax. They are more interested that the truth doesn’t get out then how many Eva Smith’s in the world they have affected and will continue to affect if they carry on with the attitude they have now. For a minute, you started to think that they were changing a new leaf at the end of the final inspector speech, but then nothing changes, they still cannot realise that the lesson they must learn is that no matter what class or social standing, race or religion, we are all equal and must work together for the world to become a better place.

Eric and Sheila both do selfish, immature things to affect Eva Smith but the thing that differs them from the rest is that they admit what they have done is immoral straight away, and sincerely vow to change their ways. Despite being the youngest in the family, they show more compassion and maturity then the elders in realising the message that the Inspector delivers. Priestly portrays the young as being the hope for the future with more of a social conscience then the older generations, journeying from selfishness to social awareness.

In conclusion, Priestly tells us through the play his view that capitalism is wrong, and people should be treated equally whoever they are, and it also agrees with the religious commandment “Love your neighbour as yourself”. The characters are made to show people a lesson and not just provide a nights entertainment. These words of the Inspector tell us that we must do something about this social inequality now or suffer in the future.

“And I tell you that the time will soon come when men will be taught it in fire, blood and anguish”

THE END