English Literature Assignment on 'An Inspector Calls'

Authors Avatar

English Literature Assignment on ‘An Inspector Calls’

John Boynton Priestley (1894-1984, I will refer to him as Priestly after this formal Introduction). He was an English writer, born in Bradford. He served in the infantry during World War I. As a newspaper essayist and critic he wrote on a variety of subjects and often revealed his opposition to materialism and mechanisation in society. The publication of two of his early novels made him become a popular novelist. Priestley's major plays include When We Are Married (1938), An Inspector Calls (1946), and Dragon's Mouth (1952); on the latter, he collaborated with his wife, the English archaeologist and writer Jacquetta Hawkes. After declining a knighthood and a peerage, he accepted the Order of Merit from Queen Elizabeth II in 1977.

‘An Inspector Calls’ is written by J. Priestly and is a play that was written with his knowledge of World War One (WW1). But without any knowledge of the forthcoming war, World War Two (WW2) but he sets the play in 1912 so none of the characters are aware of WW1. In ‘An Inspector Calls’ an Inspector arrives to a house currently homing a celebration to a forthcoming unite between two family owned rival businesses. The two rival families are The Birling’s and The Croft’s. The Inspector then rips away at the two families (Mr, Mrs, Sheila and Eric Birling as well as Gerald Croft) over an Eva Smith’s death. The Inspector’s repetitive questions make the characters shatter under pressure and ruins the proposed marriage between Sheila Birling and Gerald Croft, which therefore ruins the anticipated unity between the two families and the two businesses. I will be analysing Sheila Birling’s character and how she reacts to all the confusion, anger and misconception of the whole event. And then I will try to find any ways in which Priestly uses Sheila as a tool to express symbolic morals or stories.

Join now!

Before the Inspectors visit Sheila would be described as a normal young lady, she is materialistic in the way that she loves her engagement ring from Eric (her husband-to-be) and also her love for clothes; “Oh-Gerald-you’ve go it-is it the one you wanted me to have?…Oh-its wonderful! Look-Mummy-isn’t it a beauty?”.

Sheila is young and very excited because tonight is a celebratory party for her and Gerald’s engagement. Sheila is happy to have pleased her father because this engagement has a different importance in Mr Birling’s mind because he is hoping to become business partners with Gerald’s father; “…though Crofts ...

This is a preview of the whole essay