How does J B Priestley put across the idea of 'Community Responsibility', in the play, An Inspector Calls?

An Inspector Calls: J B Priestley

How does J B Priestley put across the idea of ‘Community Responsibility’, in the play, An Inspector Calls?

The play, An Inspector Calls, was written in 1945, within a week of World War 2 ending, but is set in 1912, before World War 1. J B Priestley wrote this play purposely, as he saw an urgent need for social change, and he used the play, to convey his desire, for social equality. The period between the dates used, is to make us the audience, aware of what has happened, and to learn from mistakes made. Priestley, made the audience, take full notice, of how much wrong, can come from assuming the future. I will be analysing, how J B Priestley put across his idea, of ‘Community Responsibility’.

The play opens, with the celebrations of the family, for the engagement between Gerald Croft and Sheila Birling, in the Birlings’ dining room, in Brumley, 1912. During their party, Inspector Goole arrives, bringing the news of the suicide of a young girl named Eva Smith. She had swallowed some disinfectant and died. Each connection alone was not too terrible, but putting them together, they amount to a lot. Two years earlier, 1910, when she worked at the Birling Factory, Eva Smith, had been dismissed by Arthur Birling, for asking for a pay rise. She soon got a job, working as an assistant at Milwards, an admirable shop. After just two months of working there, through one of Sheila’s bad tempers, she got the sack. She then became Gerald’s ‘mistress’, and for a while, she was happy; but that was all to come to an end in September 1911, when Gerald called off the affair. Two months after that, she met Eric Birling, and she becomes pregnant. She has no money, and will not accept Eric’s, as she knows it was stolen. She then goes to Mrs Birling, who works for the Charity Committee, for help, and she is turned down. Finally, she had had enough, and she took her own life, and this is when the Inspector arrived. He forced the knowledge upon each one of them, that they each held some responsibility for her death. When the Inspector leaves, it is thought that maybe he was not a real Inspector, and it is revealed that no girl named Eva Smith had died that night. Mr and Mrs Birling, and Gerald, then act as if nothing has changed, but Eric and Sheila’s faith in their parents, is destroyed, along with their happiness. This shows, that some people change, and others do not.

Mr Birling opens the play, with,

Mr Birling: You ought to like this port Gerald. As a matter of fact, Finchley told me it’s exactly the same port your father gets from him. (Act 1, Page 2)

Just from Birling’s first line, it shows him trying to ‘social climb’, by getting just a humble bottle of port. Status and class, are the most important things to Birling, and he does not care who he ‘walks over’, to reach the top.

Mrs Birling, is described as a ‘rather cold woman’, and we can see this from one of her many ‘snobbish’ remarks.

Mrs Birling: A girl of that sort. (Act 2, Page 47)

She had been referring to Eva Smith/Daisy Renton, and throughout the play, this is exactly the type of comment that Mrs Birling would make.

As cast in the film made in 1953, by Guy Hamilton, we know that Sheila, is a ‘pretty girl, in her early twenties, very pleased with life, and rather excited’. Although in the beginning of the play, Sheila Birling came across as a self-centred, immature girl, she is the one, who develops and matures the most, throughout the play.

Eric Birling, is much like his sister Sheila. However, he is rather more awkward, and we can see this, when he is described as, ‘not quite at ease, half shy, assertive’. By the end of the play, both Eric and Sheila, have lost all faith in their parents, and are ‘one mind’.

Gerald is the son of Sir George Croft, rival of Mr Birling. He is polite and tactful, and being older than both Sheila and Eric, in his early thirties, is treated by Mr and Mrs Birling, as an equal.

Without the Inspector, none of the characters would ever have known that they had even ‘put a foot out of line’. He is the one who brings out the truth. This story is a story of hidden secrets and possibilities, and J B Priestley, uses the Inspector’s character to highlight these.

Eva Smith/Daisy Renton remains a mystery throughout the pay. ...

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Gerald is the son of Sir George Croft, rival of Mr Birling. He is polite and tactful, and being older than both Sheila and Eric, in his early thirties, is treated by Mr and Mrs Birling, as an equal.

Eva Smith/Daisy Renton remains a mystery throughout the pay. She resorted to picking up men at the Palace Theatre bar to earn a living, but she was kind, caring, and supportive of her fellow workers.

Birling: And this girl, Eva Smith, was one of them. She’d had a lot to say – far too much – she had to go. (Act 1, Page 15)

She has obviously been fairly pretty; because Sheila had been jealous of they way that she had looked at Milwards. Despite never actually appearing on stage, and not ever finding out her real name, the play revolved, around the past two years of her life.

J B Priestley puts across the message of ‘Community Responsibility’, mainly through the attitudes of the characters, and through dramatic irony. In Act 1, when Mr Birling is giving one of his many speeches, he mentions both the war, and the Titanic.

Mr Birling: There isn’t a chance of war. (Act 1, Page 7)

Mr Birling: The Titanic – she sails next week – forty-six thousand eight hundred tonnes. And absolutely unsinkable. (Act 1, Page 7)

Because this play was set in 1912, but written in 1945, just after the end of the Second World War, all of the audience know that both statements that Birling had just made, were completely wrong. We had had two wars, and the Titanic had in fact sunk. The Titanic had been a symbol, of how supposedly secure, everything was in the world, for people like the Birlings’ and the Crofts’. This is so ironic, and through this irony, Priestley had started to put across his message.

J B Priestley, has deliberately made clear, the difference between the Inspector and Mr Birling, to show a big contrast between the two. The Inspector, is warm-hearted and understanding, while Birling is uncaring and selfish. Mr Birling, did not care at all about Eva Smith, and in fact tried to blame it on Eva herself. He had absolutely no concept of a community, or his responsibilities towards it.

Mr Birling: Still, I can’t accept any responsibility. If we were all responsible for everything that happened to everybody we’d had anything to do with, it would be very awkward. (Act 1, Page 14)

By giving him this character, Priestley can make the audience recognize, just how wrong Mr Birling was, and show them the importance of helping others who are in need; especially those in one’s own community.

Priestley gives each character, a very definite personality; most of them having a very narrow view of responsibility. Because of the disastrous consequences that come from the family’s actions, the audience can clearly see what can happen if one gets too self-involved, and does not admit to their wrongs. Each action alone, does not amount to much, and Priestley uses this to his advantage, if the audience are able to see what happens if a small action is carried out, then they can imagine the consequences of a big action; and this is one of Preistley’s methods of putting across his views.

Mrs Birling is described as a ‘rather cold woman’, but she does in fact have a duty to the community, as she is involved with the Women’s Charity Committee. However, she only helps those, who she thinks deserve to be helped, and unfortunately, Eva Smith was not one of those people.

Mrs Birling: I wasn’t satisfied with the girl’s claim – she seemed to me to be not a good case – so I used my influence to have it refused. (Act 2, Page 44)

The audience can see how nasty and selfish the Birlings seem in this play, and nobody would want to be like them, so Priestley is showing the audience that if they want to not be like them, then they should take responsibility for their own actions, and this is exactly the message that he is trying to get across. We can also see here, that the Birlings were very highly respected in their community, and they definitely knew it.

Just before the Inspector enters, Birling is giving a speech, and he is talking about the nonsense of communities.

Mr Birling: you’d think everybody has to look after everybody else, as if we were all mixed up together like bees in a hive – community and all that nonsense. (Act 1, Page 10)

Here, J B Priestley is using the Inspector’s entrance timing, as a sign of disproval with what Mr Birling has just said. Priestley has given Birling, completely the opposite personality to himself, to show that his own views are right. The audience can clearly see how wrong Birling is, so the only other way of living, is to live in contrast to him, and this is what Priestley wants people to do.

In the middle of Act 1, when the Inspector is talking to Mr Birling, Sheila and Gerald, Gerald says,

Gerald: I don’t really see that this inquiry gets you anywhere, Inspector. It’s what happened to her since she left Mr Birling’s works that is important. (Act 1, page 18)

Here, Gerald is partly correct. It is important to see what happened after she left the works, but it is also important to find out what happened at the time of working there. Gerald has been very quick to defend his future father-in-law and to tell the Inspector that Birling is not to blame, but what he does not realise, is that he is telling the Inspector that the rest of the family and himself, are to blame.

After being dismissed from Arthur Birling’s works, Eva Smith found herself a job as a sales assistant at Milwards. Sheila had been a valued customer there, and she had used her influence, to get Eva the sack, after seeing her smiling in the mirror when she had been trying on a dress. Sheila had been jealous of the way that Eva had looked, and this tells us that she was a pretty soul. Sheila could not find it in herself to be happy for anyone but herself. Eva had been pretty, but Sheila was jealous. Sheila had everything that Eva probably wanted, but she had forgotten this, and ‘could not be sorry for her’. If only Sheila had not been bad tempered, Eva may have still been alive, and that is what it came down to. If people were just a bit more caring and understanding of others in their community, then maybe fewer bad things would happen in the world. So here, we have come back to ‘Community Responsibility’. No, Sheila was not responsible for Eva Smith, but she was responsible for her death.

In contrast to her father, Sheila felt very guilty for having Eva sacked. Sheila had done a just as bad thing as her father, but we feel less inclined to blame her because of her repentance. However, Arthur Birling dismissed Eva cruelly and never gave her a second thought, and Sheila’s action was the result of a bad temper, and she regretted it immediately. She seems genuine when she says,

Sheila: It’s the only time I’ve ever done anything like that, and I’ll never, never do it again to anybody. (Act 1, Page 24)

The reaction that Priestley wanted to get from his audience was for them to think about feeling sympathy towards others, and about taking responsibility for their own actions.

Gerald had then become involved, when Eva had been sacked from Milwards. In an attempt to start a new life, Eva had changed her name to Daisy Renton. After meeting her at the Palace Theatre Bar, where Daisy had been working as a prostitute, she had become his mistress, for the summer of 1911. He had helped her, and given her a place to sleep. At first, Gerald had simply pitied Daisy. He had taken her for a meal, and this really put the message of community responsibility to the audience. However, this pity, turned into an affair, and now aside from helping a member of his community, Gerald was helping himself, and Priestly put this into the play, to show his audience that if we are too self-involved, then something bad, like Eva/Daisy killing herself, may come from something good, like Gerald trying to help her.

The next person to have played a part in Daisy Renton’s life was Eric. He had got her pregnant, and then offered her stolen money, which she would not accept. Eric was very disturbed when he found out that she had committed suicide, because not only had she died, but so had his child. He was quick to admit to his faults, and hid nothing from the Inspector or his family. When Mr Birling finds out about Eric being the one to get her pregnant, he is more worried about what others will say or think when the word gets out. He is worried that he might loose his chance for a knighthood, and he does not give a thought to Eva/Daisy, or his family’s feelings.

Mr Birlng: You don’t realize yet all you’ve done. Most of this is bound to come out. There’ll be a public scandal. (Act 3, Page 57)

Eric: Well, I don’t care now. (Act 3, Page 57)

Mr Birling: You! You don’t seem to care about anything. But I care. I was almost certain for a knighthood in the next Honours List. (Act 3, Page 57)

What Mr Birling had said about Eric not caring about anything was shocking! He was completely wrong. He was the one who did not care about anything. Mr Birling seemed genuinely shocked that Eric could be so unsympathetic, but to the audience, Birling sounded absolutely ridiculous. How could he care about money and status at a time like this? This showed the difference between generations. Mr Birling generation did not care about the community or their responsibilities, but the younger generation were starting to.

The final thing to ‘push Daisy over the edge’, was when she was refused help by Mrs Birling, at the Women’s Charity Committee. She had gone there for help, and the mother of her baby’s father, had turned her away. This is a big sign for the audience about Community Responsibility. Despite Mrs Birling actually being in an organization to help the community, she still could not help. The audience can see how stupid this is, that Mrs Birling’s job was to help people, but when someone came to her for help, she wouldn’t give it to them. Priestly’s intentions, were for them to take this on board, and they should leave the theatre, thinking about the parts of the play which were impractical, and they could try and relate to them, and if they were in a situation that was silly, and may result in the unhappiness of others, they could change it.

When it turns out, that the Inspector had in fact been a fake, and that no girl had died, the older generation carried on as i9f nothing at all had happened.

Mr Birling: Well, here’s to us. Come on, Sheila, don’t look like that. All over now. (Act 3, Page 71)

Mrs Birling; In the morning they’ll be as amused as we are. (Act 3, Page 71)

However, the younger generation were a complete contrast to this.

Sheila: You’re forgetting one thing that I still can’t forget. Everything we said had happened really happened. If it didn’t end tragically, then that’s lucky for us. But it might have done. (Act 3, Page 70)

Eric: I don’t see much nonsense about it when a girl kills herself. You lot may be letting yourselves out nicely, but I can’t.

Sheila and Eric have now learnt the lesson. They know that they have done wrong, and they are ready to admit that. They have learnt one of the most important lessons of life, about helping others, and not being selfish, and unfortunately, it had to be learnt under those circumstances. Here, Priestley felt that hope lies with the younger generation, which was one of the reasons of making Sheila and Eric understand their responsibility in the end, and not the others. This was also shown very well in the National Production that I saw, because throughout the play, there was a small boy that was onstage. He was often with the Inspector, and I felt that the Inspector was playing the role of Priestly himself, so Priestley’s feeling of the younger generation being the future, was shown here, was the boy was never far away from the Inspector.

The Inspector’s final speech was the message of the play. It summed up everything that J B Priestley had wanted to say to the world.

Inspector: We are members of one body. We are all responsible for each other. And I tell you that the time will soon come when, if man will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish. (Act 3, Page 556)

This is the main speech of the play, which really spells it all out for the audience. It is telling the audience, what has just been told in the play, and it is like a final conclusion.

This brings us to the question, ‘Who is the Inspector?’. Although we never actually find out who he really is, the audience can make their own assumptions. Through clues in the play, I was led to believe that the Inspector was someone with very close connections to Eva Smith/Daisy Renton. The clues that I picked up on, were the following; his foreknowledge of the girl’s death, and his intimate knowledge of her, despite never actually speaking to her. Also, the Inspector’s telling Sheila that there is not reason that she should understand about him. He is assumed to be some sort of a time-traveller. When I saw the National Theatre Production of this play, the Inspector was dressed in period clothes from the late 1940’s. This suggests that he is someone from the future, but the only thing that the audience can do, is imagine.

The final part of the play, which expresses his ideas to the audience, is his method of dramatic irony again, at the end of the play. The family have just found out that it had all been a sham, and that no one had really died. Then, it is so ironic, that after finding out that they had not in fact killed a girl, and some of them are relived, while others are still very disturbed, that it has in fact all happened, just the way that the Inspector had told them.

This play has such a strong message, and J B priestly uses many ways to show us this, as I have explained above, and this message is likely to stay with the audience, for a long time to come.