Category Archives: An Inspector Calls

Jenny’s AIC essay

by

How does Priestley present ideas about inequality in An Inspector Calls?

Priestley explores multiple types of inequality throughout An Inspector Calls. Social class and gender inequality are two themes explored in great detail, throughout the whole play, through Priestley’s use of Eva Smith and two separate generations.

The first type of inequality Priestley presents is the inequality faced by the lower class. He personifies the lower class through his use of the character Eva Smith. Eva Smith is a very carefully chosen name because Eva links to the Bible story of Adam and Eve, demonstrating Eva is the first, and Smith is a common name, implying she is just one of many who face class inequality. The lower class are working for the upper class and are not treated fairly or equal to the upper class and cannot earn as much money. Priestley wants the audience to feel this is wrong, as he is a socialist, so he uses the character of Birling to represent the upper class. Mr Birling is a Capitalist, unlike Priestley. Priestley turns the audience against Mr Birling right from the beginning of the play during his speech, when he speaks of the Titanic being ‘absolutely unsinkable’. Priestley uses dramatic irony, because despite the play being performed after the titanic sank, it was set before the event occurred. Priestley does this so that the audience realise at the start of the play that Mr Birling is naïve and thinks very highly of himself. This means that when Mr Birling reveals that he did not allow Eva Smith the pay rise she was requesting, the audience view Birling as a pompous, selfish businessman. This allows Priestley to convey the message that inequality towards the lower class is unfair and pass his socialist views to the audience. This is in order for him to be able to present that society must not go back to how it was before World War Two and the Titanic.

Priestly uses the character of Sheila to help him portray how younger minds are more impressionable, so if you are going to start anywhere you should start with young people. Sheila argues against both class and gender inequality, once she has found out what happened to Eva, when she says ‘but these girls aren’t cheap labour…they’re people.’ This is a demonstration that everyone deserves to be treated fairly because we are all people and no one is inferior. Priestley chooses to use Sheila, at this stage of the play, as she is the one who can empathise with Eva the most, being a young girl herself. Priestley does this so that the reader and the audience can relate and empathise with her, allowing them to comprehend how Eva was feeling and realise how wrong the inequality she was facing was. As Mr Birling is a Capitalist and treats the women so harshly, this turns the reader against Capitalism. Consequently, Priestley is able to successfully inflict his socialist views on the audience by demonstrating this can be done with equality, so is a better way forward.

Priestley also explores how different generations have different ideas about inequality and responsibility. Despite both Mr and Mrs Birling being partially responsible for the fact that Eva Smith committed suicide, due to their unfair, objectified treatment of her, neither see themselves as having done anything wrong. Sybil Birling demonstrates this when she said ‘I did nothing that I’m ashamed of’ which portrays that because Eva is of the lower class, she sees her as an object and feels no remorse for refusing to help her. Similarly, Birling tries to blame other people for what he did. Sheila and Eric, on the other hand, by the end of the play, accept that everyone is responsible for what happened when he says ‘it’s what we did that matters’. This demonstrates to the audience that the younger generation bring hope for the future and the possibility for the inequality to end and all classes and genders to be treated equally by all of society. This portrays Priestley is demonstrating that it is possible to have an equal, socialist society and that society should never go back to how it was before.
Overall, Priestley presents that inequality is wrong and is mostly due to Capitalists who will not treat the lower class fairly. He uses the Inspector and the younger generations to voice his socialist views and explore the characters conscience and his play can be seen as a warning to society. Priestley is warning the audience at the time, through the death of Eva Smith, that she was one of many and society should not go back to how it was before. If it did, it would have had bad consequences for society and all the Eva Smiths facing inequality. It also conveys to the reader today that we should learn from the past because it was unjust and they should never let history repeat itself.

Characters as Narrative Devices

by

A common error that is made by year 11s is to treat characters as real people.  They are not.  They are as much a narrative device as symbolism or literary techniques.  Below are two images that will help you to consider how Priestley and Steinbeck USE their characters to convey their message.

AIC Narrative DevicesOMAM Narrative devices

Revision Sessions this week and next week

by

Thursday after school – 12th May – Unseen Poetry – open to all lit and lit certificate people.

Thursday 19th after school – Unseen Poetry – open to all lit and lit certificate people.

Lunchtimes next week:

Monday 16th – OMAM extract analysis

Tuesday 17th – OMAM context

Wednesday 18th – AIC – Characters and themes

Thursday 19th – AIC Priestley’s methods

Friday 20th – Open house – drop in session for any questions.

I will also send this list to your tutors.

Mrs P

11A and 11B -A sample lit exam

by

Hello

Some of you have been asking to see a paper to see what it physically looks like.  I have hyperlinked some examples below.

Remember:

For the Unseen Poetry/ Character & Voice Paper – Spend 30 mins total on Unseen and 45 mins on the character and voice.

Poetry Paper

For the OMAM/AIC paper – Spend 50 mins on OMAM and 40 mins on AIC

OfMice&Men and AIC paper

Remember there will be revision sessions at lunch time all next week. I will post that later.

Mrs P

 

11A – Ewan’s AIC Essay

by

An Inspector Calls: How does Priestly present ideas about gender in ‘An Inspector Calls’?

Ideas about gender are very persistent throughout the course of ‘An Inspector Calls’. Priestley believed that, at the time, women were seen as second class citizens and he disagreed with this biased and unfair treatment of women.

A character who suffers harshly at the hands of sexism is the character of Eva Smith, a lower-class girl. Throughout the play men use their status to abuse Eva Smith in ways that they see acceptable. For example, in Act 2; when Gerald explains to the Inspector how he met Eva Smith (named Daisy Renton at this point) he says “Old Joe Meggarty… had wedged her into a corner”. This shows how an upper-class man was able to take advantage of the lower-class women. Priestley criticizes this behaviour and by the use of “old” implies that this is outdated or a traditionalist view, which he opposed. Also, the use of “wedged” conveys that Eva Smith does not want to be there and that she had no choice in being there. This reflects Priestley’s abhor of this treatment of women as it goes against their own personal interests. Alternatively, the use of “wedged” and a speech made by the Inspector at the end of the play, “that lesson will be learnt in fire and blood and anguish”, suggests that Priestly feels, or is even trying to encourage, that women rise up against their injustice, which is an example of dramatic irony as, in the 20th century, women name suffragettes fought for the rights of women.

Another way that Priestly presents ideas about gender is through the anecdote that Sheila Birling tells in Act 1. She explains that she had Eva Smith fired from Milwards as she had looked better in a dress than Sheila had; “you might be said to have been jealous of her.” First of all, this shows Priestley’s belief that the upper-class were no different from the lower-class, as both seem as emotionally torn as the other (though at the time the upper-class would have denied as their status was what made them look good), which could have extended to how Priestly felt about gender, that men and women were no different from each other. As stated in the above brackets, the upper class wanted to look splendid in the eyes of others. However, during the 1900’s, women were seen as the possessions of men, which is highlighted by the fact that Sheila went to Millwards’; she even mentions to Gerald that it was “for his benefit” which tells us that she was only there to look nice for Gerald, which he is pleased by: “Good!” This shows Priestley’s distaste for the objectification of women during the 1900’s; he believed, and shows in the play, that this treatment of women leads to pathetic and “jealous” behaviour that will always leave a woman who is emotionally damaged, as implied by Sheila’s “jealousy” of Eva Smith, and physically damaged, as in the case of Eva Smith, who we know is supposed to have killed herself at the end of the play.

Finally, at the time that ‘An Inspector Calls’ is set, women were expected to have children at to look after them. This idea about the roles of women is put into conflict at the very end of the play. Eric tells us that “She thought she was going to have a baby,” which immediately places Eva Smith into what was expected of her at the time, however, she was not married and would therefore have been shunned by others, especially those of the upper-class (which was one of the reasons why Priestly was spiteful towards them). However, the fact that Eva Smith was expecting a child would have agreed with the audience at the time, who believed that that was the role of a woman. However, when we discover that Eva Smith, or a girl, has “just died in the infirmary” this destroys this view that women were responsible for looking after the child, which would have outraged the audience at the time. Priestly believed that it was unfair that people believed that women were solely responsible for the child: Mrs Birling even states “the father, of course” when asked who was responsible for Eva Smith’s death. This illustrates Priestley’s view that men were not as important as they believed (he even criticizes them by having Eric, the father, as a drunk, “he’s squiffy”, which highlights his own weakness) and that they also had a responsibility to bring up their children, whether in the upper or lower-class, which he tried to destroy the barrier between by writing ‘An Inspector calls’.

As we can see, Priestley was a socialist who believed in equality for all. At the time, women were seen as second class citizens and they had little say on how their lives were led. Priestley challenged this view by creating stark contrasts between the views of people at the time and the events that befalls the characters in the play; an example being Eva Smith, who would have been expected to look after the child, failed by killing herself and the child along with her.

A* up your An Inspector Calls vocabulary

by

Useful phrases for language analysis:

  • The playwright uses the dramatic device of … to…
  • The connotations of this noun/verb/adjective are …
  • This evokes / creates a feeling of …
  • Metaphorically/ symbolically this implies …
  • Priestley’s choice of lexis here presents … as …
A* Vocabulary Meaning
Bourgeoisie Upper Class
Collectivist Someone who believes we are all part of one group/team
Conscience A sense of right and wrong.
Conservative (right wing) Someone who believes in individual freedom (i.e. the Birlings)
Hierarchy A society which in unequal
Individualist Someone who believes we are solely responsible for ourselves.
Industrialist A business person who is a manufacturer of goods for sale.
Materialistic Someone who is money orientated.
Microcosm A smaller version of a bigger thing.
Misogynistic Extremely sexist.
Omniscient All knowing (like the inspector).
Patriarchy A male dominated hierarchy.
Proletariat The working class.
Social Class The way that society is divided by money and occupation.
Social Responsibility The idea that we are responsible for the more vulnerable members of society.
Socialist (left wing) Someone who believes in social responsibility e.g. Inspector Goole and Priestley.
Society The culture or group that we live in.
Superficial To be shallow, artificial or insincere.
Unionisation To organise yourself into a group e.g. workers’ union.