Character Study of Mr.Birling from An Inspector Calls by Priestley Priestly effectively conveys his attitude and opinions towards society via Mr. Birling, with the use of dramatic irony. "An Inspector Calls" is set in 1912 but was written in 1945. Society at the time the play was set, was strictly divided into social classes and the majority of the wealth was in the hands of the minority of the population. Priestley was writing the play for a middle class audience and was trying to speak up for the working class by showing how the Birlings and Gerald Croft were all involved in making a young working class girl's life a misery. Priestley wanted to show us that we have a responsibility to others to act fairly and without prejudice and that we do not live in isolation; Our actions affect others. We have to confront our mistakes and learn from them. At the beginning of the play Mr. Birling says, "The Titanic... unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable." The 1945 audience knew the fate of the Titanic (being that is sunk on its maiden voyage), and so Mr. Birling immediately appears in a bad light, although his view was that of everyone in 1912, and so he is a stereotype of society then. Mr. Birling's attitude is shown in his words, "...A man has to make his own way... has to look after himself" and, referring to the working class, "If you don't come down sharply on some of these people they'll soon be asking for the earth". Mr. Birling has a selfish attitude towards life, and also an attitude to only care for himself and family, and basically forget everybody else, in fact, this is exactly what he tells a speech on at the celebration of Sheila's and Gerald's engagement, "... a man has to look after himself - and his family too, of course..." which gives the impression of the selfishness, and also greed. Another example of this is when he tells a speech about how it is the best day of his life, "Gerald, I'm going to tell you frankly,
she needed more money. So she said to him give me 25/6 because of that
the land and yet it had such a weak economy and could use the money
A Comparison of Characters of Mr. Birling and Inspector Goole in J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls
J.B. Priestley's Motives Behind An Inspector Calls J.B. Priestley was born in Bradford, Yorkshire in 1894. His mother
Lack of peasants and laborers sent wages soaring, and the value of land plummeted. For the first time in history the scales tipped against wealthy landlords as peasants and serfs gained more bargaining power. Without architects, masons and artisans, great cathedrals and castles remained unfinished for hundreds of years. Governments, lacking officials, floundered in their attempts to create order out of chaos. The living lost all sense of morality and justice, and a new attitude toward the church emerged.
"And be quiet for a moment and listen to me. I don't need to know any
Priestley’s Main Aim in An Inspector Calls JB Priestly wrote ‘An Inspector Calls’ to enhance the message that ‘we don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other’. This is something Priestly felt strongly about and he succeeded in representing his views through the character of the Inspector in the play itself. He wanted to communicate the message that our actions, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, always affect others.
not a forgotten people. Although the upper class is the wealthiest, they are the minority and can
Birlings, as they find out that they have all played a part in a young
However, Zinn disapproves this notion, by using statistics and facts to show that the wealth was concentrated among a few select individuals, while the vast majority of common people lived in poor and unsatisfactory conditions. When discussing the issue of money, Zinn states that in 1770, “the top 1 percent of property owners owned 44 percent of the wealth” due to their control of the colonies and their political power (Zinn). This naturally incensed the vast majority of the middle and lower class, as rebellions became more commonplace and violent, during the 17th and 18th century. Zinn also describes the conditions the poor lived in, as saying that it was quite common for shelters “built for one hundred poor, [to house] over four hundred”, which shows how one can understand their plight, as while they struggled to make a living, the rich plantation owners sat back and let the hard work of their slaves and servants make them rich (Zinn). Eventually, the upper class realized that their huge gap in wealth would eventually cause problems in maintaining control over the people. And so, by giving certain liberties to the poor, and using racism to separate slaves and Native Americans from white colonists, the upper class therefore managed to control the formerly unruly population until the American Revolution. In this chapter, the historical thinking skill of argumentation is prominent. Zinn uses this skill to argue his point that the vast majority of the American colonists were poor, by presenting many valid statistics and descriptions. He uses many first-hand accounts from colonists who lived at the time, to show the plight of the poor. Also, the author links the idea of poverty and rebellion, to show how colonists became increasingly violent due to their political leaders not
Divisions within the social stratum is a characteristic of societies in various cultures and has been present throughout history. During the middle ages, the medieval feudal system prevailed, characterized by kings and queens reigning over the peasantry. Similarly, in today’s society, corporate feudalism, otherwise known as Capitalism, consists of wealthy elites dominating over the working poor. Class divisions became most evident during America’s Gilded Age and Progressive era, a period in time in which the rich became richer via exploitation of the fruits of labor that the poor persistently toiled to earn. As a result, many Americans grew compelled to ask the question on everyone’s mind: what do the rich owe the poor? According to wealthy
family, but it must not be 'cosy’ or homely. The lighting is to be a
Throughout American history, wealth inequality has taken many different forms, and has affected many people and groups in different ways. In the following analysis, two measures of 'wealth inequalities' will be used. First is a more traditional view, regarding the distribution of income and wealth among the upper to lower classes. The size of the gap has varied over time, widening and compressing throughout American history. While America has been thought of as a middle class nation, this is a fairly recent phenomena that began after World War II. In this context of today, this idea appears to be fading as wealth is becoming more concentrated towards the upper classes. Additionally, these effects of both the concentration and equalization of income distribution can differently affect groups of people.
Since the unemployment rate was high for a long period of time it began to make America’s wealth distribution even more unequal. In 2007, slightly before the recession, the top 1% wealthiest’s share of America’s total wealth was 24% (Gitlin 7). After the peak of the recession in 2011, the top 1%’s share had ballooned to 40% and the bottom 80% of Americans owned less than 10% (Jordan 2). The 1%’s wealth had jumped 16% in four years because of the loss of jobs by middle and lower class Americans (Gitlin 7). This created a situation in which the wealthiest were getting wealthier and the middle and lower class were getting poorer. It is obvious that a system that continues to work in this fashion is very unfair and is not going to work properly. This sense of immorality with the current direction in which the economy is moving and the built up frustration of this system are just some of the many factors that sparked the original protestors to create Occupy.
but she seems to be a person who would only marry for love and not for