An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley :: Papers

An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley In my English class I have been reading the play An Inspector Calls The play is astir(predicate) a fairly well-off family (the Birlings) who have their evening spoilt by having an inspector chitchat round, to ask them questions about a girl, Eva Smith, who drank some disinfectant to kill herself. I am going to start my comparisons with the head of the house-hold, Arthur Birling. Arthur Birling is a selfish, arrogant, family man who doesnt cope the meaning of the word responsibility. The play starts off with the family sat around the dining table, toasting to the daughter, Sheilas, engagement to Gerald Croft. While the girls (Sheila and her mother, Sybil) trail off to the drawing room, Arthur decides to teach Gerald something about responsibility A man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own He also has a fairly good reason as to wherefore he thinks like this, and he tells so to the inspect or If we were all responsible for everything that happened to everybody wed had anything to do with, it would be very awkward, wouldnt it? When Arthur doesnt know the full story as to why the inspector has arrived, he tries to use his importance to get his way. He threatens the inspector with the following phrase Ive half a mind to report you perhaps I ought to warn you that our chief constable hes an old friend of mine, and that I see him fairly often Arthur doesnt react at all to the death of Eva, and he acts as though such is life. When the inspector leaves towards the end of the play, Arthur tries to think of all sorts of ideas to prove that the man wasnt an inspector at all, - proving that Arthur didnt change at all in reaction to the death of adept of his former employees. Sybil Birling is Arthurs wife. She is very like her husband in being selfish, and is very unrepentant. Sybil finds out that she had