The Meaning Of An Inspector Calls - J.B. Priestly

others. They are responsible for the young woman’s’ death by treating her different; and show what Priestley is trying to say, and is fighting against.        " An Inspector Calls" is a well-made play because it contains many factors that sustain attention of the audience.        One of the factors that makes the play captivating is the use of climax, the way it keeps the audience on the edge of their seats all the way through; it is quite slow to gather the plot and then finally has a powerful climax, for example the way the Inspector extracts small pieces of information from the family and slowly puts the picture together and narrows it down to the guilty person as the climax. He misleads the family until they are all contradicting one another.           He keeps the audience guessing all the way through the play, and as clues are solved the culprit becomes clearer, but as soon as one thinks he or she knows who it is Priestley cleverly switches to another character. This makes the audience very interested in the action that is happening.The strange appearance of the Inspector when the Birlings are having a celebration party, and Mr Birling is giving a speech on how the modern man should be. The Inspector steps in almost as he was prepared to challenge Mr Birling; this seems to bring up facts about the inspector’s life and who he is, as the local police have never heard of him.But "An Inspector Calls" is more than just a good play; it is a play that attacks the social issues of around 1912 just before the war. In the time of Priestley, people only seemed to look after themselves; their time was not spent on the community, but on their lives.        The Inspector in the play is a mysterious man who comes and goes without a trace and seems to have no background. The Inspector is used to show Priestley's views on the social problems of the time. The Inspector is different to the Birlings as he seems to favour community responsibilities. The Birlings represent the richer people in society that do not care for their fellow people in the nineteen tens, for example Mr Birling sacked the girl Eva Smith for striking for a higher pay. They are set so far away from the community that they did not even realise that Eva Smith had died, let alone how they helped to kill her. They find this out only when the Inspector brings it to their attention. Even though "An Inspector Calls" is a very well made play Priestley really tries to get across the importance for care of your neighbour. I feel that Priestley was a very social person in his time, unlike most of the people, who were only, interested in them self. Priestley believed that everyone should share their wealth or at least help the less fortunate. He thought that the people were being extremely selfish and foolish too.        He felt that the day would come when people would be “taught the lesson through blood and anguish.” I feel he was right but there is still some teaching to be done.