Key Quotes

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"Unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable."
Repitition shows overconfidence, dramatic irony, Birlings confidence is misguided, titanic is symbol of arrogance, foreshadows Brilings fate.
1 of 50
"sharp ring of a front door bell"
Suggests conflict between binary opposites, contrast of sound, sense of anticipation.
2 of 50
"there isn't a chance of war"
dramatic irony, confidence is misguided, contradicts Birlings successful manner as he got this wrong.
3 of 50
"the dining room...of a fairly large surburban house, belonging to a prosperous manufacturer"
Birlings are materialistically successful, role model of capitalists, emphasises their self protection, lavish only to themselves.
4 of 50
"community and all that nonsense"
Birlings capitalist viewpoint is nonsense, his seflishness results in Eva's death, very vague to undermine his confidence.
5 of 50
"I might find my way to the next Honors list"
Birling is pompous and brags of connections, doesn't deserve award of allegiance to moral principles, only cares of repuation and not helping others.
6 of 50
"telephone rings sharply"
No denoument to readers thinking, ambiguous ending, conflicts the capitalist responses before it occured, Birlings second chance.
7 of 50
"sometimes. There isn't as much difference as you think"
Edwardian's aetheticism is flawed, foreshadows Birlings confessions, uses words against them to reveal truth.
8 of 50
"pleased with themselves"
dramatic irony as it contrasts to end of the play, ignorance to social responsibility, "pleased" shows superficial morals.
9 of 50
"millions...Eva Smith's and John Smiths"
repitition shows Eva is a microcosm, She represents working class women and poverty, monologue emphasises direct message.
10 of 50
"we are members of one body"
metapor for social responsibility, cotradicts Birlings "bees in a hive", authorative nature shows socialism is right, inclusive pronoun shows readers are involved.
11 of 50
"if men will not learn...taught it in fire and blood and anguish"
metaphor foreshadows war and society needs to change, triplet, graphic description shows impact of cause and effect, emotive in last attempt to break down self protection.
12 of 50
"you made her pay a heavy price for that"
metaphor shows cause and effect leads to death, shorter sentences delivers points quickly so they are accusatory, personal pronoun involves audience.
13 of 50
"that was nice for you"
sarcastic to show ridiculed viewpoint of Gerald, believes she is disposable due to social class, men only lust and greed.
14 of 50
"(massively) Public men, Mr Birling, have responsibilities as well as privileges"
stage directions build tension and heightens Inspectors power, hints at socail responsibility Birling neglects, Birlings naiviety contrasts to status, materialism is irrevelant in moral issues.
15 of 50
"helping deserving cases"
Mrs Birling uses socal power to convince council to reject Eva, not charitable but controlling, ironic as she lacks emotions for Eva who is "deserving"
16 of 50
"claiming elaborate fine feelings...simply absurd in a girl of her position"
Mrs Birling pretends to be a socialist but is a capitalist, viewpoint is flawed, ironic as she looking down on working classes "position" who need help, Eva's position is her own fault.
17 of 50
"we often do on the young ones. They're impressionable"
younger ones progress and learn quicker, elders are more stubborn, "impressionable" hints they're gullible, inclusive pronoun represents socialists.
18 of 50
"Mother - I begged you and begged you to stop-"
repition emphasises tension causes by obligatory scenes, Sheila is perspective like Inspector, "stop" shows Mrs Birling is full of self protection, cliffhanger used to create tension.
19 of 50
"An Inspector Calls"
Misleading as it sounds casual but is actually calculated, misleading as titular character isn't main focus, metaphorically an Inspector, fits into whodunit genre
20 of 50
"(bitterly) I understand a lot of things now that I didn't understand before."
stage direction shows resentment Birling holds towards Eric, highlights naiveity, ironic repition of "understand|" as he doesn't really.
21 of 50
"I suppose it was inevitable...warm-hearted - and intensely grateful."
Eva's expoolited due to her status, exploited due to sexuality, Gerald is a liar as he could choose, defensive nature represents his self protection.
22 of 50
"it frightens me the way you talk"
contrasts to capitalist views, empathetic, she takes social responsibility, Eric does too as younger ones are hopeful, she has matured.
23 of 50
"George sat entranced with his own picture"
"entranced"=dream like and unrealistic, "picture"= ideal life is only imaginary, Lennie helps him to believe
24 of 50
"You ain't so little as mice. I didn't bounce you hard"
unaware of strength, foreshadows later violence, "bounce"=childlike, destroys everything he touches, not malicious
25 of 50
"Crooks had retired into the terrible protective dignity of the *****"
powerless, "protective dignoty"=few rights, "*****"=insulted, his name defines him, "retired"=given up
26 of 50
"well, you keep your place then, ******. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny"
violent verb "strung"=enslaves ruthless, black people had little status, "easy"= reduces Crooks which shows her own insecurity in how she's treated, no room for friendship, "******"=inherent racism
27 of 50
"She had full-rouged lips and wide spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red."
red connotations, "heavily"=fake and hiding real her
28 of 50
"think I don't like to talk to somebody ever' once a while?"
can only get attention by using sexuality, she's lonely like ranchworkers
29 of 50
"she was very pretty and simple"
sad; she's only positive when dead, no longer a threat, audience doesn't realise beauty till they lose it
30 of 50
"now what the hell ya suppose is eatin' them two guys?"
question involves reader, biggest understatement in English Literature, insensitivity, phonetic speech, "eatin'"=hope consumed
31 of 50
"George stood up and threw the mouse as far as he could into the darkening brush and then he stepped to the pool and washed his hands. "You crazy fool.""
"darkening"=hope is fadin, "brush"= cyclical, "threw the mice"=symbolises throwing way Lennies dream
32 of 50
"inside the walls were whitewashed and the floors unpainted"
"whitewashed"= lack of personalisation, like a stable, reflects racist society
33 of 50
"In three walls there were small, square windows and in the fourth, a solid foor with a wooden latch"
"small"=barely any hope, "solid door+latch"= hard to escape, cyclical
34 of 50
"when the sound of his footsteps died away, George turned on Lennie, "so you wasn't gonna...leave your big flapper shut...damn near lost us the job"
"died"=personification to foreshadow deaths, "damn near"=likely to lose dream, "flapper"=uneducated, "talkin"=phonetic, "turned"= George has power
35 of 50
"the silence fell on the room again. It came out of the night and invaded the room. George said, "anyone like to play a little euchre?""
silence creates tension, "invaded"=personification that they have no control, "night"=no hope, "euchre"=not lonely
36 of 50
"we'd tell about you framin' Crooks"
Candy used as a moral compass to highlight ill-treatment Crooks gets, "framin"=dialectal, uneducated, voice of reason(Steinbecks opinions)
37 of 50
"Don't tell Curely i said none of this"
gossiper of ranch, fits to his name, flat character for plot development when he explains other characters, double negative=average ranchworker
38 of 50
"never seen no piece of ********* worse than her"
she's used for plot development to create tension, "jait bait"=causing trouble, double negative emphasises that she is unimportant to ranchworkers
39 of 50
"ain't i got a right to talk to nobody"
double negative reveals the truth, "rights"=not a person but a symbol, lack of name shows male opression, lonely
40 of 50
"i guess we gotta get him."
euphanism represents killing Lennie, powerless now, practical
41 of 50
"You crazy *******."
"*******"=Lennie abandoned by father, "crazy"=mentally handicapped, "you"=interogational
42 of 50
"looking in wonder at his crushed hand"
"crushed"=Lennie is physically strong, Curely has more power though as he crushes dream
43 of 50
"I'll work my month an' I'll take my fifty bucks"
"bucks"=american dialect, no companionship causes him to be hopeless, iterant worker cycle
44 of 50
"Lennie dabbed his big paw in the water"
"paw"=animalistic and he's wild and unpredicatable, "paw"= violent?, "paw"= isn't as clever as humans, "dabbed"=trying to escape cycle nature takes but can't
45 of 50
"I di'nt mean no harm, George"
George has authority, no control/wild, violent but not malicious, childlike so we feel sorry for him
46 of 50
"They say I stink"
"stink"=becoming animalistic, "they"=society segregating blacks
47 of 50
"it's just the talking. It's just bein' with another guy. That's all."
Doesn't understand George first but realises how important companionship is, Crooks is lonely in contrast like iterant workers
48 of 50
"mauled copy of the Californian Civil Code"
"mauled"= used alot so rights are important, "mauled"= no respect for system, Crooks has no justice, he's a fully developed character who can read.
49 of 50
"with us it ain't like that. We got a future."
George clings to his dream to get through the day, contrast to other workers, future makes dream seem even more further way
50 of 50

Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Suggests conflict between binary opposites, contrast of sound, sense of anticipation.

Back

"sharp ring of a front door bell"

Card 3

Front

dramatic irony, confidence is misguided, contradicts Birlings successful manner as he got this wrong.

Back

Preview of the back of card 3

Card 4

Front

Birlings are materialistically successful, role model of capitalists, emphasises their self protection, lavish only to themselves.

Back

Preview of the back of card 4

Card 5

Front

Birlings capitalist viewpoint is nonsense, his seflishness results in Eva's death, very vague to undermine his confidence.

Back

Preview of the back of card 5
View more cards

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