Who is the inspector, why did he call and what did the characters learn from his visit? J.B. Priestlys' "An Inspector Calls".

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Who is the inspector, why did he call and what did the characters learn from his visit?

J.B. Priestly wrote the play “An Inspector Calls” in 1945, it was set in a small town in north England called Bromley in 1912. The main characters are Arthur Birling, Sheila Birling, Gerald Croft, Sybil Birling and Eric Birling. Arthur and Sybil Birling are married, Eric and Sheila are their children and Gerald Croft is Sheila Birling’s fiancée. The significance of the above dates are that J.B. Priestly tried to show how hypocritical the upper class people were towards the working class people and it is before the war and the sinking of the Titanic.

    In my opinion the Inspector is a time traveller because he knows everything that has happened in the future and in the past. ‘Time present and time past are both perhaps present in time future and time future contained in time past’. T.S. Eliot wrote this quote in 1935. J.B. Priestly is influenced by T.S. Eliot who says that ‘what you do today will affect you in the future.’ The Inspector uses his knowledge of the future and past to make the Birlings feel partly to blame for Eva Smith’s Death. I think his main purpose of his call to the Birling’s house was to make each of the Birlings feel guilty and to try and change the way they feel about lower class people.

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        Arthur Birling’s part in Eva’s death was unfairly sacking her just because she asked for a pay rise. ‘And this girl, Eva Smith was one of them. She’d had a lot to say – far too much – so she had to go.’ The quote shows why Eva was sacked for just asking for a pay rise. Now Eva would have to live without any money, which means very little food and she, was also left living on the streets thanks to Arthur Birling sacking her. When Arthur found out the Inspector wasn’t really an Inspector he was overjoyed that ...

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