An Inspector calls Key Quotes
Mr Birling 'Community and all that nonsense’ His speech is disrupted by Inspector’s arrival, as the
Inspector’s main role is to convince the characters
(and audience) that capitalism is wrong
Mr Birling ‘The Germans don't want war’ Discredits Mr Birling’s view, millions of people died
and Priestley founded campaign for nuclear
disarmament, caricature of capitalist ideology
Mr Birling 'Unsinkable, absolutely unsuitable’ Not only discredits Mr Birling’s view, Titanic appears
unsinkable in the same way it seems like political
party couldn’t change, but Labour Party got elected
day before the play was first performed
Mr Birling ‘The famous younger generation’ Parallel between death of Eva and deaths in WW1,
second phone call represents WW2 as first generation
didn’t learn lesson from catastrophe of WW1 so
history repeated itself, Mr B is warning about what
has gone wrong, Inspector represents Priestley’s
political views
Inspector ‘Fire and blood and anguish’ Reference to WW1 and WW2, making sink between
capitalism and war, right before he leaves. Inspector
leaves to see if they'll learn their lesson, like Priestley
wants audience to use wars as lesson
Inspector ‘You might have been said to be Strange that sheila with social advantages, jealous of
jealous of her’ Eva with no money or social status, shows how society
valued appearance of women as this would attract
husbands, damaging them by limiting opportunities as
well as ways of thinking and values
Sheila ‘It doesn't make any real Sheila doesn't care about reputation, she cares about
difference’ their actions and social responsibility
Sheila
Mr Birling 'Community and all that nonsense’ His speech is disrupted by Inspector’s arrival, as the
Inspector’s main role is to convince the characters
(and audience) that capitalism is wrong
Mr Birling ‘The Germans don't want war’ Discredits Mr Birling’s view, millions of people died
and Priestley founded campaign for nuclear
disarmament, caricature of capitalist ideology
Mr Birling 'Unsinkable, absolutely unsuitable’ Not only discredits Mr Birling’s view, Titanic appears
unsinkable in the same way it seems like political
party couldn’t change, but Labour Party got elected
day before the play was first performed
Mr Birling ‘The famous younger generation’ Parallel between death of Eva and deaths in WW1,
second phone call represents WW2 as first generation
didn’t learn lesson from catastrophe of WW1 so
history repeated itself, Mr B is warning about what
has gone wrong, Inspector represents Priestley’s
political views
Inspector ‘Fire and blood and anguish’ Reference to WW1 and WW2, making sink between
capitalism and war, right before he leaves. Inspector
leaves to see if they'll learn their lesson, like Priestley
wants audience to use wars as lesson
Inspector ‘You might have been said to be Strange that sheila with social advantages, jealous of
jealous of her’ Eva with no money or social status, shows how society
valued appearance of women as this would attract
husbands, damaging them by limiting opportunities as
well as ways of thinking and values
Sheila ‘It doesn't make any real Sheila doesn't care about reputation, she cares about
difference’ their actions and social responsibility
Sheila
