What is Priestley's main aim in 'An inspector calls'? how successfully does he achieve it?

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Kiah Peters

“We don’t live alone. We are members of one body. we are responsible for each other.”

What is Priestley’s main aim in ‘An inspector calls’? how successfully does he achieve it?

        J.B Priestley wrote an Inspector Calls in 1945 at the end of the Second World War. He set his play in 1912 before the Titanic sank. As the Second World War was ending, many things began to change. The upper and working classes had been mixed due to the War Effort. People became dressed alike and worked in the same places. Priestley had served in the First World War and was in a German gas attack. By the end of the First World War he was writing and became a voice heard all over the nation on the radio, warning people about the changes and being in a better world.  His socialist philosophies were also projected in his plays.  

“We are members of one body.”

Priestley’s stage directions are very detailed.  They help to show the audience that the Burling’s are not a close family who can talk to each other about their problems.  The stage reveals the image of rich family, but it must not be 'cosy’ or homely.  The lighting is to be a pink, intimate colour to begin with but when the inspector arrives it is meant to be brighter and harsher.  This is to create the feeling that the family think that they all know each other but when they begin to shed light on the truth, they realise that they don’t know all that much about each other after all.  

Birling’s opening words in Act One are to Edna.  She has only a small but significant role to play.  Edna is a working class woman.  She is a servant who must turn to her employers needs.  She is a symbol of the working classes.  In Arthur Birling’s eyes a man needs to:

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“…make his own way – look after himself – and his

                        family too…”

Arthur Birling is a capitalist who believes that it is a man’s “responsibility” to look after himself and his family.  He feels that he has no “responsibility” towards his workers.  He owes them nothing except their wages.  He feels that his duty is to:

                        “…Keep labour costs down”.

That was a view shared by capitalists in 1912, including Gerald.  He tries to enforce his ideas on his son Eric when he says:

                It’s about time you learnt to face a few responsibilities.”

He ...

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