Sunday, June 2, 2019

How Do The Characters in An Inspector Calls Reflect 1912 Society? :: English Literature

How Do The Characters In An Inspector Calls Reflect 1912 Society?J.B Priestley, born in 1894 in Bradford. He went to Bradford GrammarSchool but did not check to go to University but to follow hispassion for writing, first he wrote articles for the local Londonpapers before going on to be a playwright. He joined the army in 1914at the age of 20. After being on the frontline in the Second WorldWar, Priestley became very political and started to involve hispolitical opinions in his work, as in An Inspector Calls which hewrote in the second workweek after the Second World War which only tookhim a week to finish. He put his meat across to the audiencethrough the play, which states that people of all the cordial classesmust learn to get along with each former(a) since everyday is spenttogether.The play An Inspector Calls is set in 1912 but written in 1945. Thecharacters reflect the society of 1912 in many ways. There are sixmain characters that reflect 1912 society and one character, theInspector, who takes control and who basically expresses the opinionsof Priestley. The circumvolve family are the stereotypical upper classfamily of 1912, they own a large suburban house, the father of thefamily is a wealthy businessman and all have high social status.Mr Arthur Birling is the man of the house he has his wife Sybil, hisson Eric and his girl Sheila. He is a hard headed businessman,only concerned with wealth, profit and social status. He reflects astereotypical upper class businessman of 1912 because the husbandwould go out to work, run the business and earn the specie. Mr Birlingis the person who got the Birlings their high social position, this isall he cares about for example when he realises that Eric stole moneyfrom his office he says, Ive got to cover this up as soon as I can.You damned fool here he shows how concerned about his socialposition he is.This is what Priestley gets at. Priestley is annoyed about the factthat the upper-class businessman, such as Birling, had no outlook onothers, mainly the working class, and Priestley tries to get hismessage across to the audience that people in Birlings positionshould not act as arrogantly as he and realise the value of othersacross the community. Mr Birling thinks very highly of himself and itshows especially where he talks about the First World War and how warwas impossible, Just because the Kaiser makes a speech or two, or a

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