The Super Juicy CURRENT YEAR 11 (2012-13) THREAD Mark V

COULD SOMEONE GIVE ME A GRADE ON THIS AIMING FOR A/A* WOULD BE SOOOO GRATEFUL THANKS Sheila says to her father “You don’t seem to have learntanything” Birling replies to this “You’re wrong I’ve learnt plenty” What haveboth Sheila and Mr.Birling learnt?

J.B Priestley uses ‘An Inspector Calls’ written in 1946 butset back in 1912 to voice his socialist views about how he feels the world willdevelop after world war two and as a warning that if the ruling classes do notchange their selfish beliefs we could see another war happen, which was verytopical at the time written with the invention of the atomic bomb. The play iscentred on the Birling family who we bee each breakdown with the arrival of theelusive character of the Inspector who has arrived to make each member learn oftheir mistakes. This essay will focus on the two protagonists Mr Birling andSheila Birling and how their characters develop in the play and what they aretaught by the Inspector.
We see Sheila Birling’s character evolve from the first actto the end of the play. The opening stage directions describe her as “verypleased with life” and we see her as quite a childish and materialistic sort ofperson, especially with the Inspectors arrival when she blames Eva for ruiningher night “I wish you hadn’t told me” enforcing her self-centred attitude butat the same time summing up the whole Birling family who try to block out thereality of life in the lower classes, creating a divide between them.
However, Priestly guides the audience to establishing a connection with Sheilaby subtly hinting of her intuition, which we see so strongly with the Inspectorsarrival, when she “teases” Gerald of what he did last summer implying to theaudience that she does not have the confidence to stand fully up against him onthis uneasy matter, so half jokes about it. Contrastingly we see this on a muchgrander scale in Act 2 and Act 3 conveying that the Inspector has helped herbecome much more mature and independent in learning the lesson of her effect onEva Smiths life. This relates to the suffrage movement which was becomingincreasingly popular around 1912 when it was set and so reflects how the roleof women in society was changing as Sheila does in the play emerging from aweaker willed character to someone who can stand up to her parents depicted inthe quote “You don’t seem to have learnt anything”.
On the other hand Priestley may not be implying this at all but be saying thatbecause Sheila needed the Inspector to draw these qualities out of her she maynot be a dominant and independent as first seen and for this reason the lessonSheila learns, who represents the younger generation, is superficial which iswhy there was still a second world war because the extent of her change was notfar enough.
Furthermore, MrBirling is immediately portrayed as foolish and idiotic to the audience in hisgreat speech to the family in which Priestly takes the opportunity to implantdramatic irony. Mr Birling passes off the war here as a “silly little scare”and as we know the play was set before both wars but shown to audiences after.The effect of this on past audiences would have been quite shocking becausenearly every family in Britain lost someone in the war, creating a hugeoxymoron on the idea of “silly”. Priestley would have used this shock createdto make audiences lose all trust in Mr.Birling and his views on socialism, particularlywhen he scoffs at the idea of “community”. He does not seem to pick up on the obscurityof the Inspector appearing sharp after these words but Sheila does learn fromthis and begins to understand that the messages the Inspector was trying toestablish may be important.
However, Mr Birling does learn from the Inspector but maybenot in the right way. Unlike Sheila he sees no importance of his role in the “chainof events” for a very long time but tries to shift the blame by throwing hispower around and threatening the Inspector by name dropping that he seesColonel Roberts “frequently”. This suggests that Mr Birling and the oldergeneration are so set in their Victorian ideas of class and responsibility thatit is almost impossible to change and it is up to the younger generations suchas the quick thinking intuition of Sheila to do so- Priestley’s main message ofthe play.
The Consequence of this for audiences of1946 who would have been made up of the upper classes including many just likethe Birling’s who are exposed in the play, makes the question there own moralsand ideas which would have been Priestley’s main hope in inducing social changemaking the audience learn a lesson as well.
Although I believe we do see Birling begin to learn a lessonin act 3, he offers the Inspector “thousands” to compensate his involvement inthe death of the girl. This could imply that if even Birling whos beliefs arethat “a man should look after himself” feels guilt and responsibility now,Priestley and the Inspectors socialist ideas are important and should befollowed. Yet, it could also imply Birling still cannot learn the lessonbecause although he shows this guilt it is not for the right reasons he stillfeels no empathy for Eva but is worried of what will happen at the “inquest” tohis reputation and what the newspapers will say. He is still showing only carefor himself, not Eva. On balance Ibelieve the latter to be true because just moments after the Inspector leavesBirling switches back to his old beliefs conveyed by the repetition of “triumphantly”in the stage directions for him, concluding that he is quick to forget theevents, just Priestley could be implying the upper classes were quick to forgetthe reasons for the first world war which is why it led to the second one.
In conclusion, we see that Priestley uses Sheila’s lessonsand what she has learnt to show his hopes of the younger generations to make achange in society and not the older who have set in stone their views. Hechampions them and those in audience to take the opportunity as though it is afinal chance because in 1946 many would have feared the destruction of all inan atomic war. However the question is still there of why the youngergenerations in the Birling’s did not seize the opportunity of change after theytook on and learnt the lessons of the Inspector. I believe that it could not goto great extent in 1912 because of the power of the older generations who werequick to forget and did not even learn which is why the play was shown in 1946to convince audiences that everyone should contribute.

just got the 10 hour sam learning certificate lol according to them 10 hours of sam learning increases your grade once

What is SAM Learning? Everyone seems to go on about it on here, but we've never had to use it at school (well I haven't, anyway).

A revision website which is really good (for languages anyway) and your school has to pay for it. Theres a lot of course specific activities on it and you can be set homework on it, and compete against friends to get points

I would do that but I haven't washed my hair since Thursday and I don't want to be judged by my neighbours


Posted from TSR Mobile

... No comment.

Not.the.greatest... But I was rushed and did them both in a short space of time so

How do you even get time to draw ?

Today:

Candy Crush
Trampoline
Food
Russel Howard
Talking
Texting
Art

C.R.A.F.T(TT)

Haven't done revision

C.R.A.F.T(TT)- That's is so cool.

yh same I haven't done much revision too...

C.R.A.F.T(TT)- That's is so cool.

yh same I haven't done much revision too...

Ikr tomorrow is school though... I have:

Biology - BOOOO
Maths - yay?
French, Welsh, French -

Candy Crush
Reddit
Apple Juice
Fruity Loops
Talking
TV
Youtube

Crafty

Looks like you guys had an amazing day today.
Mine was so boring. :/ Not even in the mood to revise.

Food
Amazon
Imagining
Lying in bed


the word also describes what is going to happen in my exams