How successfully does Priestley present different attitudes between the older and younger generations in An Inspector Calls?
In "An Inspector Calls," Priestley successfully presents different attitudes between the older and younger generations. The younger generation represent a false sense of hope, because in the end, the capitalist patriarchy overcomes them. However, the older generation is trapped by hubris, because they are too obstinate to acknowledge their faults and choose to forget the inspector's lesson.
Throughout the play, Sheila is seen as the proxy of the inspector, yet ultimately giving a false sense of hope that she has truly learned her lesson. She changes from being in the comfort of complacency in capitalist society to being a representative of socialist change. When she exclaims "these girls aren't cheap labour, they're people," we glimpse Sheila's change. The contrast of "they’re people" portrays her raw emotion of being faced with the bitter reality of her father and fiance exploiting helpless workers. They are forced to operate within a cartel, so they do not have the viable option to work in another factory. However, Sheila refers to the women as "girls" which could suggest that she too has a diminished identity as woman. Despite her high status in society, this isn’t enough to overcome the patriarchal dismissal of women.
However, once the inspector leaves Sheila seems powerless to retain the inspector’s lesson. Gerald confirms Sheila's somewhat reluctant acceptance of capitalism. When he offers "what about this ring?" Sheila replies, "I must think," which implies that she has not changed. The fact that she even considers the potential marriage after Gerald's newfound affair and Eva’s suicide explicitly portrays how she has not learned her lesson.
For example, she later goes on to say "it was my fault she was so desperate," therefore blaming herself for Gerald's affair. In 19th century society, women were conditioned from birth to blame themselves for men's faults, trying to pretend that they were content with their unequal marriage. The curtailed phrase "just out of pity" further emphasises her attempt at deluding herself that Gerald is truly, in fact, her “fairy Prince” and not someone who, in actuality, had a premeditated plan to install Eva in his friend's apartment in order to sexually exploit her for less money than a prostitute at the Palace Bar.
Alternatively, Sheila has learned her lesson, but Priestly suggests that because of the patriarchy, a woman did not have a voice to advocate for political change, and therefore, he is also implying the severe inequality of capitalist society and that having a socialist reform would restore said equality.
Similarly, Eric represents the younger generation, but he follows the attitudes of Gerald and Mr. Birling in that he, out of cowardice, chooses to delude himself by trivialising his heinous crimes towards Eva. He normalises his sexual violation by using the euphemism "I was in that state when a chap easily turns nasty." The phrase “that state” implies that his behaviour is universally accepted as typically male because it is so common. He sees himself as a good “chap”, who is terribly influenced by drinking. Priestley makes Eric use the third person of "chap" as a way of displaying Eric's deceiving nature, as he used this to disassociate from his guilt in how he treated Eva. Thus Eric is the epitome of sexual exploitation in the play.
Mr. Birling represents the upper class exploitation of the working classes, full of Eva Smiths and John Smiths. Just as Eric knows his behaviour is criminal, Birling knows his treatment of the strike leaders is criminal. So, when Birling says "we were paying the usual rates, and if they did not like those rates, they could go and work somewhere else," he essentially justifies sacking Eva despite knowing full well that the Birlings and Crofts are an illegal cartel. They can’t “go and work somewhere else” if that somewhere is a factory. This criminality reveals there is only a very slight difference between the younger and older generations.
Furthermore, the Inspector accuses all the male characters of being the issue in society, regardless of their generation. This is significant because Priestly conveys that they are equal in attitudes despite their age. So he warns, "If men will not learn, they will be taught in fire and blood and anguish." The distinctive address to men portrays how women had no influence or voice in the patriarchal society of 1912. The triplet "fire, blood, and anguish" is a direct reference to the war, emphasising how the capitalist regime sees people as pawns to earn a profit as they are merely expendable, just like a balance sheet of profit and loss.
Its triadic structure could also arguably imply how capitalism is anti-trinity, hence socialism would be what Christians should follow.
Therefore, Priestly captures the younger generation's false hope for socialist reform, as they seem to drown in capitalist conformity by the end, standing with capitalist constructs (Birling, Gerald), though they have little control within society. The play ultimately presents a scathing critique of capitalism and its inherent inequalities, and the failure of individuals to recognise and change their own complicity in perpetuating those inequalities.
I’ve fiddled with word order and unclear vocabulary to show Aysha how to get grade 9. If she has used ChatGPT to help her, why not? (I could be wrong). She can totally revise from it in her exam, as can you. But she has written a much better essay than ChatGPT can do on its own when I play with it!
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