J.B.Priestley’s play, An Inspector Calls :: English Literature

AN INSPECTOR CALLSCOMPARE THE LIVES OF EVA SIMTH AND SHEILA BIRLINGProperty is that old fashioned way of thinking of a bucolic as athing and a collection of things on that thing. This quote is takendirectly from J.B.Priestleys late night post scripts on BBC radio in1940, which were banned for being to critical of the governmentsactions, and support be used to sum up the capitalist view perfectly. Ithink this quote is made from the stay of view of a capitalist whobelieves that the old-fashioned belief is to think of property asbelonging the country and its people however the new belief, hisbelief, is that property can belong to individual people and not tothe state or its people at all, and when a person owns his ownproperty he can discharge it any way he sees fit. This is a belief whichPriestly continually criticizes throughout his play.An Inspector Calls was written in 1945, the year the Second World warfareended, but was set in 1911. The social climate of both years was ofgreat unrest as was many areas of industry in Britain and many strikestook blank space all over the country much like the strike which took placein Mr. Birlings factory. Priestley set the play in 1911 because ofthe onset of the freshman World War and he would be able to write theplay with the wages of hindsight, he could withal make Mr. Birlinglook bad with his surpassing beliefs and his promises of no war. Hemay have also set the play in 1911 because at this time he was 18years old, working as a junior clerk in a wool firm and was about togain his first insight into the differences between the socialclasses. The people he met at this age encouraged him to take part intheir political arguments and discussions which were soon to influencehis opinions and frame the values he was to later write about. Thesealso led to him eventually attending university already politicallyaware at the age of 25.By writing the play 35 years after it was set, Priestley gave hisaudiences the advantage of hindsight. He wanted to do something aboutthe injustices of society, and because only the middle and swiftnessclasses could afford to go to the theatre, his audiences were exactlythe kind of people he was attacking. They were witnessing their ownlives on stage and for them it may not have been a very pleasant thingto see. I believe that at the time only the middle and upper classes