Arthur believes a man’s duty is to provide for his family and a man is always head of the family, ‘a man has to make his own way- has to look after himself – and his family too, of course, when he has one’. Children’s roles are to behave, work hard and respect himself and his wife and not to answer back or disagree with them for they are the mature, responsible figures in the family.
Birling puts down Eric several times in the play, ‘You’ve got a lot to learn yet!’ he doesn’t think they should be handed everything on a plate. He wants Eric to learn to take responsibility but how can he when he isn’t given any? He thinks the younger generation are irresponsible in the way they act and the things they say.
Arthur considers male’s the dominant sex, they have to go to work, they have to lay down the laws and the women stay at home and care for the children and make sure the husbands needs are attended to. As an employer he knows he has a certain authority and uses this against his employees, overriding their proposals. His analysis on his status in society is slightly higher than that of the actual situation.
Sybil is the more withdrawn of the two parental figures, she agrees with her husband on most aspects and although some of her characteristics vary from her husbands she still has a high opinion of herself and a low opinion of working class citizens.
Sybil dismisses the prospect of war just as her husband does and looks forward to a flourishing future.
Sybil knows her place and doesn’t argue with her husband but does disagree with him occasionally, ‘Now Arthur, I don’t think you ought to talk business on an occasion like this.’
Mrs.Birling does as her husband wants her to, regarding family life. She stays at home and looks out for the children, even though her children are young adults she still sees them as little and irresponsible and she identifies them as needing guidance.
Her opinion on the younger generation is, they need to follow her example and not ask any questions about any suspicious behaviour, ‘When you’re married you’ll realize that men with important work to do sometimes have to spend nearly all their time and energy on their business. You’ll have to get used to that, just as I had.’
Sheila knows her position but doesn’t hold back her opinions and is willing to argue with her mother and father to get her beliefs and outlook across. Birling, ‘Just a minute Sheila. Now, Inspector, perhaps you and I had better go and talk this over quietly in a corner-‘, Sheila- ‘Why should you? He’s finished with you. He says it’s one of us now.’
Sheila notices the generation gap and hopes her parents will become more susceptible to change, she is aware that her parents are likely to look down on her because of their morals and assume her and Eric’s attitude is down to their age.
Sheila is unwilling to follow in her parents footsteps and thinks she has the right, as a person; not as a woman, to question her partner and disagree with what her parents believe is right for her. Sheila knows her parents have little faith in her decisions but doesn’t feel obliged to prove herself to them as an individual.
Sheila accepts that she is responsible and maybe even takes too much blame for Eva’s death, she is the only person willing to admit that as a person she is hugely a part of Eva’s reason for suicide.
Eric is reserved and doesn’t respond much to the goings on concerning other people. You aren’t really able to judge his character very well and his perceptions don’t come across as much as the other characters, he admits and accepts his role in Eva Smiths death proving he is actually one of the more responsible figures.
His view is: There are those who have money, and those who don’t. The people with money, they are living the better life, money for him brings him peace within himself and happiness, it helps him feed his alcohol addiction. Take all that you can from life, even though this attitude could be perceived as irresponsible toward people around him.
His family life is different to that of most people, he has wealth but very little warmth and love within his family, ‘You don’t understand anything. You never did. You never even tried – you-‘ Eric gets cut off by Arthur but the probable ending to his sentence is ‘-didn’t love me’. He criticises his mother for always pushing him to be responsible and to follow his father. Although, regarding Daisy Renton/Eva Smith his opinion is; he did the ‘right’ thing for her as he had some kind of moral obligation to help her out.
Eric thinks the older generation should act as role models for the young generation. The older generation give the younger generation opportunities, for example; his father provides him with work, although the older generation are far less forgiving and don’t accept any nonsense and any trouble that anyone gets into is their problem, ‘Because you’re not the kind of father a chap could go to when he’s in trouble’. He accepts the older generation are resistant to change but can’t understand why they can’t or don’t want to listen.
In term’s of Edwardian society, Eric was only doing what was expected of young men and he had no responsibilities to anyone else so there wasn’t anything stopping him having fun with Daisy.
Overall Eric was willing to admit his role but was still ready to blame his father overly for the outcome of the situation.
