Who’s Mostly To Blame for the Death of Eva Smith?

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Who's mostly to blame?

Historical Context: John Boynton Priestly was born in Bradford, Yorkshire on 13 September 1894.

At the tender age of 16 J.B.Priestly decided to leave school rather than work towards a university scholarship. His very first job was with the local wool firm of Helm and Company, as a junior clerk.

It was during this period before World War 1, that Priestly gained much experience which was to colour his writing career: Whilst gaining the practical working experience which would later be of use, Priestly found himself surrounded by people who read a great deal, cared a lot for at least one of the arts, and preferred real talk and hot argument to the social chit-chat.

It was in these discussions that helped Priestly a lot in his writing. It was this time that he started to write in a small attic at home.

J.B.Priestly joined the infantry at the age of 20. This was during the outbreak of war. By the time he had left the army in 1919 he had seen front-line service in France and had narrowly escaped being killed on at least one occasion when a German shell exploded no more than 2 or 3 yards away from him. He was also the victim of a gas attack. It was from these experiences that J.B.Priestly benefited from, for his writing.

When finally leaving the army , Priestly took a place at Cambridge University to read Modern History and Political Science. Despite successfully taking his degree, he had found that academic life did not suit him and in 1921 he left for London with his newly-wed wife to work as freelance writer. The death of his wife did not prevent him from achieving consistent success as an essayist throughout the 1920's.
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J.B.Priestly wrote 'An Inspector Calls' in 1945, but like 'Eden End' it was set in 1912.

1977 was the year that the Queen gave Priestly an 'order of merit', of which he enjoyed until his death in 1984 at the age of 89.

Introduction: I am writing an essay on J.B.Priestly's book 'An Inspector Calls', it was written in 1945 but set in 1912. The subject that I will be talking about is the person who is most to blame for Eva Smith's death. The Birling family were all to blame, as well as Sheila's newly ...

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