An Inspector calls by J.B. Priestly - Book Report/Review Example

An Analysis Of An Inspector Calls. An Inspector Calls is A Play in Three Acts By J.B. Priestly. John Boynton Priestly was a socio-political commentator. The play deals with individual responsibilities as part of the bigger whole of social responsibilities. The victim suffered from sexual, economic class and social inequality. We read how every character denied responsibility for Eva Smith's death. The playwright speaks indirectly through the voices of his characters. He puts the reader in the shoes of the characters and we understand the rationale behind their words and actions. He used the Inspector to structure the series of questions that would reveal slowly, the personalities of the Birling family. Priestly employed the technique of active analytical and logical thought to convey his themes. He did not preach to us directly but showed through events what the contemporary social situations were like. Inspector Goole asked awkward and pointed questions like, 'Get into what' and 'Why' This digging showed us the true undercurrents of the superficial version of anything. The honesty of the characters seemed somewhat contrived since they did not attempt to lie or evade his questioning. Priestly had been effective in his message as he used the effect and plausible cause narration to illustrate his points. The reader is not overwhelmed by a sudden load of facts but rather slowly introduced to the complexities behind a topic of discussion. The plot of the play is about the post-mortem investigation of a suicide. Inspector Goole is determined to shake the too comfortable upper middle social class family and address the issue of responsibility. His line of firing brought out several skeletons in the Birling family closets. Each Birling had some depth of interaction with her. Each contributed to the downfall of Eva. The play explored the identity of the main murderer or culprit that drove the final stake into Eva's heart by leading her to suicide. The theme of this play is social injustice. In this play, the victim who suffered the most social injustice was Eva Smith. Eva used to work in Mr. Birling's factory. She was one of the leaders in a strike to ask for an increase in pay. Although Mr. Birling acknowledged her as 'A good worker too'; he refused to grant her request and further hurt her by firing her. He justified his action by saying, 'Rubbish! If you don't come down sharply on some of these people, they'd soon be asking for the earth.' (Priestly, 1964). His son, Eric Birling, took sexual advantage of Eva. Eric's excuse was that he was drunk at that time. All the characters denied any responsibilities for Eva's death and in fact argued that they were the ones who suffered injustice. They blamed Eva for their reactions. Mr. Birling was a capitalist. He goal was to make as much money as he could. He prided himself on being a self-made man. He extolled the virtues of self reliance but was blind to the fact that he oppressed workers and obstructed their desires to make a better living for themselves. He rose from humble beginnings and became self complacent in his current status. Eva was a threat to him because she reminded him of himself when he first started out as a poor worker Mr. Birling married above his social class because he was a snob who spurned his humble roots. Sheila Birling, the daughter, personally complained about a minor fault and had Eva fired from her permanent job. She was a complacent, spoilt brat whose actions were totally irresponsible. She blamed Eva because Eva smiled when she was shopping at Milwards. Sheila was of the opinion that the serving staff should not smile and be familiar with their high class customers. She thought nothing of her behavior. She did not know the seriousness of the consequences of her actions. Sheila recounted to Inspector Goole; 'I've told my father - he didn't seem to think it amounted to much - but I feel rotten about it at the time and now I feel a lot worse. Did it make much difference to her' (Priestly, 1964). Sheila's outward show of remorse was the turning point of her complacency. She started to walk a different social path from her father. She admitted that 'It was my own fault' and that she shouldn't have got Eva into trouble. Inspector Goole was a working class man and he understood the struggles of his class, the social inequalities and injustices suffered by the poor. He was honest and blunt to the Birlings. He told Sheila that 'But you're partly to blame. Just as your father is.' (Priestly, 1964). Inspector Goole was Priestly's mouth piece to voice how individuals were responsible for one another because all causes and effects were inter-related. He said that, 'Because what happened to her then may have determined what happened to her afterwards, and what happened to her afterwards may have driven her to suicide. A chain of events.' (Priestly, 1964). Eric Birling tried to exonerate blame from himself. He tried to hide behind his father by mirroring his father's opinion. He said, 'By Jove, yes. And as you were saying, Dad, a man has to look after himself -' (Priestly, 1964). By this, Eric has given himself away. He meant he had to look after his best interest while casting aside the woman's interest. It meant he was involved with Eva and thus responsible somewhat for her death. As we have discussed Mr. Arthur Birling, Sheila Birling, Eric Birling and Inspector Goole, we now turn our attention to Sheila's fiance, Gerald Croft. He was somewhat of a sycophant who wanted to be in Mr. Birling's good books. He affirmed what Mr. Birling said about Eva and the factory workers when he told Mr. Birling, 'You couldn't have done anything else.' (Priestly, 1964). Gerald was also trying to hide the facts that he had intimate relations with Eva. He used her and paid for her services and discarded her later. He was socially irresponsible and felt upset upon hearing the news of her death. He left the room to compose himself and also to hide the fact that he felt so deeply for Eva when he was already engaged to Sheila. Eric and Gerald were Priestly's portrayal of the young men of the upper middle class society who were guilty of moral sins. Priestly showed how women were used as workers and sexual objects while being repressed without outlet for expression and social justice. Gerald broke off his affair with Eva and got away easily. Eric also used Eva's body to satisfy himself. Although Eric did offer marriage and money to help Eva, he did so after he learnt that his action could have resulted in Eva's pregnancy. Eric offered a lifeline to Eva but she refused to take it because she knew that Eric did not really love her. She had consideration for him too. She could have thought of the consequences of Eric marrying beneath his class, his father's objections and Eric's possible ruin. We can see how ironic it is that a poor young woman can be true to herself and generous in considerations while the rich Birlings were false and selfish. This play was Priestly's criticism of the Edwardian social order of society. He showed how a poor woman suffered from gender injustice, social class injustice and lack of communal responsibilities. The voice of Inspector Goole was actually that of Priestly's. He expressed his views through a play so that he could recreate the problems of social injustices. Priestly's characters showed the consequences of irresponsible behaviors. He wanted to convey the message that an individual's irresponsible behavior had far reaching effects on other individuals and the community as a whole was subject to blame. Priestly used his play as a form of entertainment to convey his message to the society in an acceptable way. The end. Works Cited. Priestly, J.B. An Inspector Calls. (1964). UK: Amazon.co.uk Read More