6. In his own words: Priestley stated that it was the period 1911-1914 that ‘set their stamp upon me’ His experiences in the war affected his writing; “I was lucky in that war and never ceased to be aware of the fact.” I surrounded myself with ‘ people who read a great deal, cared a lot for the arts and preferred real talk and hot argument to social chit chat’.
7. How much consideration should be given to the social historical context when reading ‘An Inspector Calls’?
19. What is clock face planning? 6 point planning allows you to organise your response quickly and logically.
20. Every essay must have a clear introduction and a forceful conclusion which avoid ‘horror statements’.
21.
22. To what extent is it possible to feel sympathy for Eric? In A1 Mr Birling describes himself as a ‘hard-headed practical man of business’. How far do you agree with this statement? Refer closely to his words and actions.
23. 4.His relationship with Eva Smith reveals him to be dishonourable, dishonest and “a drunken, young idler”. 5. However, by Act 3 greater sympathy is felt as he begins to take responsibility for his own actions. The audience is left with hope that his mistakes will not be repeated in the future. 6. In conclusion…
24. Six Point Plan 1. It is essential to remember that this character does not appear at all in Act 2. 2. Our first impressions are of a “squiffy”, silly, immature young man with few social graces. 3. Outwardly, the signs of status reveal a great deal about upbringing and can be linked to SHC.
26. In what ways does Eva Smith’s life as revealed by the Inspector, make us aware of the attitudes of people at the time the play was set?
27. The play examines ‘an arrogant and confident populace on the brink of disaster’. How does this reflect the social, historical, context?
28. ‘ An Inspector Calls’ is a play about the evils of capitalism. Discuss with close reference to the play.
29. The play has elements of a “whodunnit” since the girl’s story is gradually revealed through the Inspector’s careful questioning of the suspects . Discuss the extent to which this is true.
30. ‘ An Inspector Calls’ is a play about man’s inhumanity to man. Discuss with close reference to the play.
Priestley took a degree in Modern History and Political Science at Cambridge University.
However, his programmes were cancelled by the British Government for being too critical of their actions in the war. Socialist views made him unpopular with the public but he insisted he was a patriotic socialist
Written post WW2 and set PRE ww1----allowed him luxury of hindsight and the benefit of dramatic irony/tension
He was very agst war bcs of own eprnces & socialist values
moving from one section of the class system to another was frowned upon by those in power. Workers were beginning to let it be known that they wanted to have a say in what happened to them and did so through to co-ordinate these actions. The bosses, These were mainly based on how much profit they could make and they rarely considered the welfare of the workers. Being of a higher class than the workers, believed that they knew best and should make decisions for the masses. Workers were beginning to let it be known that they wanted to have a say in what happened to them and did so through to co-ordinate these actions. The Inspector implies in his retort that the upper middle classes have stolen the earth. This fits in with the socialist view that the rich capitalists have wrongful ownership of 'the means of production' : through some strange historical twist they have acquired the factories and manufacturing plants that should be owned by the workers.
Remember, he has also demonstrated how responsibility for one's actions and for others is a complex thing - no single person is solely responsible for Eva's death, but no one is absolved or let off the hook. Just because you aren't entirely responsible doesn't mean you can abdicate responsibility altogether.
in the middle and upper classes if you were female, but not if you were male (same 2day in manyrespects?). Double standard of morality, respectable women had to be chaste but respectable men did not, but sex was supposed to be only with working class girls, mainly through use of prostitutes and mistresses, as doing so with their own class would have been breaking the moral codes…as with Mr B…Unmarried mothers were frowned upon and in some cases treated as if they were mad and locked up This was due to fear of pregnancy outside of marriage as there was little contraception. Also moral code of the time where ladies were supposed to remain chaste and pure until they married. According to a d and could find it hard to refuse sex to a man as it was these men who held social and economic power. Many of these women became pregnant and had no resources to care for themselves or their children.
Father was head of the family and his word was law within the family. Mothers had some influence in areas, but were less direct in doing so. Children, even when older and in adulthood were expected to completely obey parents.
The ideal was for those pinched at the waist - slim. , husband and wife were regarded as one, with the woman the "possession" of the man. As such, a woman had no legal control over her person, her own land and money, or her children. Daisy/Eva - a working class girl, possibly an orphan, who has to work for a living and is seen to be completely at the mercy ofmen. follows this path by not working, the only occupation mentioned which she does is shopping.
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