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An inspector calls flashcards

Terms in this set (30)

-Quote taken from Labour's speech in the year they were elected that made fun of Men who thought of themselves this way.
-It would have been recognised by the audience and they would automatically think of briling as a bad person
-"Hard headed" stubborn and old fashioned mind set that would eventually lead to Mr.B's downlall
-"Man" Mr.B feels that the only way he can be a real man is to work hard and make his way up society
"A hard headed man of business"- Mr.Birling about himself
-Mrs. B has a lack of sympathy or compassion towards anyone in a worse situation then her because she thinks that they almost deserve what they get and that it's none of her business
-She feels that nothing could change her mind because the Inspector is someone from a lower section of the working class as he did not own his own business and therefore she is superior to him
-Mrs.B thinks she did the completely right thing by turning Eva away which reflects society and capitalism as a whole in 1912
'You have no power to make me change my mind.'-Mrs. Birling to the inspector
-This shows Sheila has a different mind set from her parents and is more easily influenced by what the inspector has to say
-Sheila represents all the people who were capitalists but switched to socialism after seeing the consequences capitalism has on the innocent
-This quote reflects the Inspectors socialist views and how he believes that people like Mr.B are wrong in the way they treat other people
"But these girls aren't cheap labour- they're people."-Sheila Birling about her Dad Mr.B's actions
-This quote shows where Eric started to turn against his Dad instead of desperately trying to please him and make up for the money he stole from him
-Eric standing up to his Father like this shows how different the older generation were to the younger generation in 1912 and some people's views were starting to change at the time but were often not heard as capitalists controlled the majority of society
"He could have kept her on instead of throwing her out."- Eric Birling about his Dad Mr.B
- This shows capitalists views of the lower class in 1912 and how they should be happy with what they have and settle for the basic kindness of a few people
-It also reflects on her own personality and how horrid she was on the inside as well as the way she was brought up in a high class household that taught her most of her values
-Mrs. Birling spits out this sentence as if she is disgusted to even have to talk about the lower class and how she treats them
"Girls of that class" Mrs. birling about Eva smith
-Quote taken from the Book of Roman in the bible
-Most of the audience would have been Christian at the time and would know this quote off by heart as they would say in every Saturday while taking holy communion
-Paul said this from prison when he found out that the Roman Catholic church was split instead of united as a community and Priestley reflects this in his play
"We are all members of one body"- Inspector Goole
-Generald is the link between the older and younger generation. While he shares some of the views of sheila and Eric he also hold many of the opinions of Mr and Mrs.B.
-Gerald is a business man himself and a capitalist Priestley seeks to make him look stupid in this scene as later on in the play Eric points out that there was no real need to fire her and Sheila tells her Dad that people shouldn't be treated like cheep labour and therefore should be given a liveable wage.
-This quote also shows her Men in power would do anything in 1912 to keep their money and in turn hurt the lower classes and keep them poor so they had to work for them.
"You couldn't have done anything else."- Gerald croft to Mr.Birling when he admits to firing Eva
-Mrs B. thinks that just because her husband was powerful that she should be exempt from any and all consequences
-She has a high view of herself that is very egotistical but normal in 1912 as most women were very proud to have powerful husbands
-This shows how little responsibility she feels she should have in responsibility even though her husband was one of the people who should of had the most social responsibility
"my husband was Lord Mayor only two years ago."- Mrs. Birling to the inspector when he pushes to question her further
-This quote aims to make Mrs.B look stupid as she doesn't yet realise that her own son is that father of Eva Smith's baby
-Priestley makes her look even more foolish by having sheila realise before her even though she believed that as she was older then her daughter that she would know and understand more about the world.
-The quote shows irony as Mrs.B is trying to remove all blame away from herself and her family while making the situation worse for her son by saying that he should be publicly humiliated and punished for what he ad done.
-The keyword "blame" shows that Mrs.B knows that what happened to Eva was really someone's fault but she doesn't want to admit that is was partially her fault so she pushes the blame onto someone she thinks she doesn't know or associate herself with.
"I blame the young man who was the father of the child she was going to have."-Mrs. Birling denying all responsibility for killing eva
-This quote shows that Mrs.B feels that young girls have lost respect for themselves by talking like people from the lower classes. It also shows her lack of respect for her daughter and the choices she makes.
-It also shows how she is trying to deny Eric's alcoholism and does this by taking the attention away from his and trying to make a fool of that words Sheila uses
-This creates irony as it actually makes the audience focus more on what Sheila was trying to say and then it makes them think about why Mrs.B is quick to deny any comment about her son being drunk
"the things you girls pick up these days!"-Mrs. Birling talking to Sheila about the slang used by the younger generation at the time
-This shows the way that Mr.B sees women as a whole and the ways that they can earn respect.
-he feels that there is no other purpose for women other then to sit still, look pretty and get married.
-this also shows his lack of respect for the people who can't afford a lot of nice dresses as he thinks that the only way women can have self-respect is by dressing themselves up wich not everyone can afford.
"well, a sort of sign or token of their self-respect."Mr. Birling about the way women dress
-The inspector reflects Priestley's views here as he believed in social responsibility
-The inspector quotes Paul here from Colossians which has a direct impact on the audience as nearly all of them were christian and would have read/ heard this before
-This then causes the audience to look at their faith and whether they were really fulfilling what the quote was asking them to do within their lives.
-This helped to drive Priestley's message of social responsibility.
"We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other"-The Inspector on taking responsibility for the society we live in
Murder on the Orient Express
-The novel was written in 1934 and most of the upper class people had read it since they had the money and education to.
-MOTOE had similar themes and plot to priestley's since he knew that his audience enjoyed and recommended it to those around them
-In both cases there was a strong theme of social responsibility and everyone involvement in a pretty much unknown to the audience character
-Priestley profited off this since the same people who could afford and understand the novel also went to see AIC giving a stronger emphasis of a message already in the back of their minds.
The morality movement
-A movement that strongly influenced literature from the 19th century causing many books and plays to be based around a lesson that would make the audience question their morals and actions
-Priestley used this in AIC to promote his message of socialism and social responsibility by making the inspector a socialist as well as very smart while making birling a capitalist with prejudice views that the audience knew weren't true because they had lived through the exact events
The apostle Paul
-The apostle paul wrote a letter from prison to the Roman Catholics which told them to unite under Jesus Christ and not to be divided
-priestley knew that the audience were predominantly Christian and would have heard passages from the book of Romans several times throughout their lives meaning that when he quoted it they would recognise it
-This worked well as the Christians in the audience who were capitalists were forced to think about their interpretation of the passage compared to Priestley's version and question which one sounded more Christ-like
The 7 deadly sins
-Since the majority of the audience at AIC was christian they would have known about the 7 deadly sins and possibly would have seen them represented in the play.
-Each character was representing a different sin: Lust- gerald, Envy-Sheila, Sloth-Eric, Greed-Mr.B, Pride-Mrs.B, Wrath, The inspector and Gluttony- The birlings all together
-This would force the audience to question the characters that they see themselves most in and in turn look at themselves and hopefully change for the better.
Aristotle's tragedy formula
-When Aristotle invented the tragedy play he said that there were rules to what made a play a tragedy
1) a hero with a fatal flaw
2)unity of place, time and action
In the play Birling is the "hero" of the capital society and his fatal flaw is firing Eva smith.
-The play never leaves the dining room, is set in one night and the main action is the suicide of Eva Smith/
A christmas carol
-In both AIC and ACC we see a person or people who are capitalists with no care for those of a lower class
-Then we also see a supernatural event happen to them which has some kind of change in the person or people
-We are then given an ominous warning about what will happen if the people or person doesn't change.
-The only difference is that Mr and Mrs.B do not change so we get to see the beginning of their downfall.
Sheila Birling
-The daughter of Mr and Mrs.B
-She starts the play as a spoiled rich girl with no perception of the world around her
-By the end of the play she has learned a lot from the Inspector and managed to change her ways
-She ends up standing up to her mum and dad and ending the engagement with gerald because of what they did.
Eric Birling
-The son of Mr and Mrs.B
-At the start of the play he appears to be arrogant, naive and a copy of his dad
-By then end of a play we learn the Eric is a drunk who stole from his dad and got someone pregnant but he also learns from the inspector and wants to change and become a better person
-He does also stand up to his dad and tells him that what he did to Eva was wrong.
Mrs Birling
-The wife of Mr.B
-She came from an upper class family and married below her social status which was unusual for women in 1912
-Mrs.B is a selfish character who sees wealth, power and social status as the only important things in life
-She thinks that the inspector is "impertinent"
-She would do anything to take the blame away from her and her family
Mr. Birling
-Mr Birling is the head of the Birling household.
-He has made himself very wealthy by being a 'hard-headed' business man.
-At the start of the play he comes across as being arrogant, making long speeches about his predictions for the future.
-he is self-conscious about being from a more working-class background
The Inspector
-The inspector has a socialist view and is the representative of Eva Smith in the play since she couldn't have voiced her own life
-He is also a mirror the J.B Priestley's views and as a strong independent character helps to push the message of social responsibility in the play
-It is theorized that the inspector is a ghost because of the end of the play where the police tel Gerald the no one had dies and no inspector had been sent to their house.
-This is backed up by the name of the Inspector "Goole" which sounds like "Ghoul" meaning ghost.
Gerald Croft
-Gerald Croft is the link between the older and younger generation while he shares the age range of Sheila and Eric he has many of the values of Mr and Mrs.B
-For example he agrees with Birling that there was no other option but to fire Eva but sheila and Eric think she should have been kept on.
Eva Smith/Daisy Renton
-Although Eva isn't actually in the play we get to hear about a lot of her life through the events with the birlings
-Eva was a nice girl who grew up in the countryside and got a job in Birlings factory
-She then got fired for asking about a livable wage
-She went to millwards and got fired after Eva got jealous of her
-She then changed her name and met gerald who eventually broke up with her so she moved to the seaside
-After that she met Eric who got her pregnant and tried to take care of her but she didn't want what he could offer her
-After all of this she killed herself. It is rumored that Eva may have been a few different people that the inspector smushed into one to make the Birlings feel bad and change their ways
Class theme
-Priestley sets up a clear divide between the upper and lower classes
-He does this to show how badly people were being treated by capitalism and how difficult it was to earn enough money to move up in society
Social responsibility theme
-The message of social responsibility is heavily pushed through the play
-Priestley does this to force the audience to think about their own views and see themselves in the Birling family and think about how they need to change.
Older vs. Younger generation theme
-In the play there is a huge divide between the older Birlings and their kids
-At the beginning of the play the adults in the family have complete control of their kids but by the end both Sheila and Eric had changed for the better and were able to appreciate what they have while thinking about others
Gender roles theme
-In the play we can see Mr. Birling, gerald and Eric handling the inspector while Mrs.B and Sheila go into the living room to talk about her engagement and wedding.
-We also see Eric and Mr.B joking about how girls buy so many dresses as it's their only token of self respect
Socialism vs. Capitalism
-In the play the Birlings represent the capitalist and the Inspector represents the Socialists
-throughout the play the Birlings and the inspector fight about their views and eventually the inspector tells the Birlings that if they do not change to the way he thinks things should be there will be dire consequences
Sets found in the same folder