An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley John Boyton Preistly was born on 13th September 1894 in Bradford, Yorkshire. Priestly decided to leave school at sixteen rather then work toward a university scholarship. 'I wanted to write' he says in his autobiography. He believed 'the world outside of classrooms' would make him a better writer, and he felt that he 'must spend at least the next few years trying his hand at it'. It was during the period before World War One, that Preistly acquired and developed the skills that would make him an exceptional writer. Priestly says himself that the years 1911-1914 'set their stamp on me'. Priestly found himself spending time with people who read a great deal, cared a lot for at least one of the arts and preferred real talk….hot argument to social chit-chat. But there weren't any professional writers in this new group, Priestly, who grew up among his fathers group of socialist friends, now found himself joining in with their political arguments. Priestly said ' I was politically minded to some extent' however he was 'never able to put politics first' The outbreak of war meant that when Priestly was 20, he joined the Armed Services as an Infantry Man. At 25 (1919), Priestly left the army. During his time in the war he had been in active front-line service in France and had nearly been killed when a German bomb exploded at two or three yards away from him. He had also been the subject of a gas attack. Priestly says ,I was lucky in war and have never ceased to be aware of that'. I believe that coming so close to death and narrowly escaping with his life gave him confidence and the belief that he was meant to be alive, in retrospect we know his writing was to influence the way Britain was at the time. Priestly was a socialist man, meaning he believed in equality and fairness, something which was rare in most years of his life. Through his plays he tried to influence people into his way of thinking.
There would be more of an effect on the audience at the time, as it
Criticism in An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley "An Inspector Calls" has been called a play of social criticism. What is being criticised. Explain some of the dramatic techniques which Priestley uses to achieve the play's effects. "An Inspector Calls" has been called a play of social criticism as Priestley condemned the many different injustices that existed in the society between the first and second world wars.
and say and do. We don't live alone. We are members of a body. We are
for each other. And I tell you that a time will soon come when if men
This coursework focuses on how each character contributes to the suicide of a poor girl Eva Smith/Daisy Renton.
as a writer has been to make the public aware of his opinions through his very popular and
talks with. He is a man who has come to the Birling's house to do his
especially for a woman. Even if a woman did get a job they would get
satisfied. He talks a lot and likes the sound of his own voice. He's a
in jeopardy than how he may have driven a young girl down a spiral to
Birlings, as they find out that they have all played a part in a young
the suicide of Eva Smiths death. The aim of the story is to, try to
create a novel out of an actual event. He had thousands of notes on the subject,