Social Class - An Inspector Calls

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  • Created by: 07BO02
  • Created on: 20-11-17 19:12
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  • Social Class
    • The characters in the play represent the classes. Priestley challenges their views and behavior in order to challenge the class hierarchy.
      • Working class. (Had all the hardest jobs and little money)
        • Eva Smith/Daisy Renton - She struggles through life, doing tough jobs, only earning enough money to survive.
          • Quote: "...with no work, no money coming in, and living in lodgings, with no relatives to help her, few friends, lonely, half starved, she was feeling desperate." - Inspector
      • Middle Class (Owned factories or were professionals. Had plenty of money or control.)
        • The Birlings - They are wealthy, own a business and are able to live very comfortably.
          • Quote: "a fairly large suburban house, belonging to a prosperous manufacturer" - opening stage directions
      • Upper class. (Inherited loads of land and money. Were often Lords and Ladies.)
        • Gerald - His family own land, and are socially 'better' than the Birlings. Inherited money had higher status than trade.
          • Quote: "I have an idea that your mother - Lady Croft - ... feels you might have done better for yourself socially" - Mr Birling
          • Quote: "She comes from an old country family - landed people and so forth..." - Mr Birling
      • Priestley uses the fictional town of Brumley as a microcosm of British Society in the Edwardian era (1912).
    • The Inspector doesn't actually fit into a class.
      • Characters like Mr Birling try to use their social status to gain power.
        • Mr Birling thinks his position of authority makes him more important. He had been Lord Mayor and an Alderman for many years. He is now a Magistrate.
        • He tries to use his position to intimidate the Inspector, but fails. This shows that your social status shouldn't always make you gain power or authority over others.
          • Quote: "How do you get on with our Chief Constable, Colonel Roberts?... Perhaps I ought to warn you that he's an old friend of mine,...We play golf together sometimes up at the West Brumley." - Mr Birling
          • Quote: "[dryly] I don't play golf" - Inspector
      • The Inspector however doesn't need a social class to gain power.
        • It's the Inspector who propels the play forward. He is always composed and in control while the other characters are much more flustered.
          • Quote: (After Gerald, Mrs Birling and Sheila were basically bickering among each other.) "[imperturbable] Yes..." - Inspector
            • The stage direction "imperturbable" shows that the Inspector is composed as  it means 'unable to be upset or excited; calm'.
        • The fact that he mainly has control during the play highlights that your social class can't give you dominion  and control.
      • The Inspector is used as Priestley's mouthpiece.
        • The fact that he doesn't have a social class reinforces that the message Priestley is universal - everyone should learn and never "forget" it no matter their class.
        • Since he is classless, he seems to see things more clearly which encourages the audience to trust him and his unbiased view.
    • Gerald doesn't change by the end of the play.
      • Quote: "Everything's all right now, Sheila" - Gerald
      • The 2 youngest characters (Eric and Sheila) change at the end. Gerald is slightly older than them but is still much younger than Mr and Mrs Birling.
        • This shows that age and different generations aren't the only factors that are preventing a change in post-war society.
      • Gerald is of a higher class than the Birlings.
        • This implies that it's Gerald's class that was the reason he didn't change.
        • Demonstrates that the social hierarchy is another factor stopping a change in post-war Britain.
    • Eva Smith is used to demonstrate the thoughts and feelings of a working class person.
      • Quote: "One Eva Smith has gone - but there are millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with us" - Inspector
        • "Smith"  very common last name which highlights how common Eva's situation is.
        • The fact that Eva changed her name to Daisy Renton, which seems more posh, suggests the she was trying to improve her situation by becoming a different person.
        • The name Smith was common among the lower classes. It originates from the lower class blacksmith families.
      • Her life is heavily impacted by the actions of the Birlings and Gerald. Priestley emphasises how a person's life can be easily affected by the whims of the upper classes.
        • Mr Birling exploits Eva and the other girls who work at his factory by giving them very little pay. They were just "cheap labour" to him.
          • Quote: "If it weren't, the factories and warehouses wouldn't know where to look for cheap labour. Ask your father." - Inspector
          • Mr Birling views represent the capitalist views of many business men at the time.
        • Sheila demands that Eva is sacked from her job despite the fact that she has no evidence that Eva had done anything.
          • Sheila has the power to Eva dismissed from her job and force Eva further into poverty. Showing how many of the higher classes misuse their authority.
          • Quote: "...I told him that if they didn't get rid of that girl, I'd never go near the place again and I'd persuade mother to close our account with them" - Sheila

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Proud-pathan

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can we get one about mr birling and his ideas on social responsibility 

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