An Inspector Calls: Answering
questions on themes
What are themes?
• Themes are the big ideas behind the text such
as social class, time, gender roles,
responsibility etc.
• The questions usually focus on the how
Priestley presents a particular theme but
because the themes are inter-related, this will
inevitably mean you need to bring in other
ideas as well.
Examples
• “How does Priestley show the differences
between the social classes in An Inspector
Calls?”
• Arthur Birling says, ‘If we were all responsible
for everything that happened to everybody
we’d had anything to do with, it would be very
awkward, wouldn’t it?’ How does Priestley
present ideas about responsibility in An
Inspector Calls?
Answering on themes
Being asked to explain how a theme is presented means you
have to examine three things:
1. The way in which Priestley relates to the theme in the
stage directions. How the scene is described, where the
characters are located, how they make their entrances
and exits all may relate to the theme. In addition, the
adjectives used to describe their manner and appearance,
the adverbs used to describe their actions and moods and
relations with each other may also suggest the theme.
2. What the characters say and do and especially how this
relates to the way in which they build our understanding
of the theme of the play.
3. How the characters’ relationships develop and how these
relate to the theme.
Key skills
Remember the exam questions are about asking you to show
three key skills. That:
1. You can write about the play in a thoughtful way. You can
pick out quotations and use them to express and explain a
series of relevant points. PETERCA paragraphs
2. Your points show that you can identify and explain
features of the play’s form, structure and language and
how Priestley uses these present themes. Don’t forget to
talk about these using the specialist terms: dramatic
irony, imagery, metaphors, similes, etc.
3. You can write in a clear, well-structured way. 5% of the
marks in the exams are on SPAG – spelling, punctuation
and grammar – so make sure you brush up on these.
The theme of generations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0zzE61faPg
• The best way to approach themes questions is to
brainstorm. Create a spider diagram of all the
points you can think of that relate to the gap
between the young and the old in the play.
• If you get stuck, ask yourself questions
• WHO is old, who is young? How are they
described? What might they represent?
• WHAT do they say to each other? Do they
understand each other? WHEN the play starts,
what are their relationships like? WHEN the play
ends have their relationships changed? HOW and
WHY have they changed?
The OLD
• Arthur Birling and Sybil Birling – are the same and
share traditional views, find examples from the text to
suggest their views. They know best, children should
be seen and not heard. Don’t like their authority
challenged. Find evidence for all those. What is their
attitude to Eva? To the Inspector? What is their view
after the Inspector has left? When the Inspector is
found to be a fake? Do they learn anything?
• They represent the ruling class. Hence they are oldfashioned and wrong – this fits with Priestley’s desire
to show the whole class system as needing reform.
The YOUNG
Sheila, Gerald, Eric and Eva are different. More open-minded.
• Eva is ambitious – find evidence of how she wanted to
improve herself. She was determined and brave – find
evidence for that. She also wanted social change – find
evidence.
• Sheila is superficial but changes. Eric is spoiled but also
changes. They both challenge their parents- find evidence
of how their language differs from their parents and how it
changes through the play. They both learn to be
responsible for their actions and how their decisions affect
others. Eric and Sheila both finish the play wishing to
distance themselves from their parents and are no longer
controlled by them. This relates to Priestley’s ideas that
there is a chance for the future to be better if we learn
from our past mistakes.
Gerald
• He is the one member of the younger generation who
sides with the old. WHY?
• Is it because he is an aristocrat? How was his attitude
to Eva slightly different from Arthur Birling’s? He seems
to have a guilty conscience but in the end he doesn’t
seem to learn anything. Why is he marrying Sheila?
Gerald perhaps suggests that the brighter future is not
inevitable.
• The theme of the generations links to the theme of
class. Priestley is making a criticism of the upper
classes by saying that they are set in their ways and
therefore are not likely to change. It is up to people to
choose change and make it happen.
CONTEXT
• Play is staged in 1946 but was written in 1945 – right at the
time of the elections in Britain that brought the Labour
Party to power with a mandate to change.
• The Labour government of 1945 was determined to change
the class structure of Britain to give poorer working people
a greater say in the way the country was run and better
opportunities for health and social mobility.
• The generations in the play may therefore represent the
new world that was coming into being when the play was
written. Remember the idea of the play being
representative of the whole period between 1912 and
1945.
• The family is like a microcosm of society as a whole? How
the experience of the Inspector’s visit is an analogy of the
interlude of the Wars? Like the family which has been
shaken up by the Inspector, Society, has been shaken up by
the Wars. Neither will ever be the same.
How do you get your grade from a C to
a B?
(Infer and interpret information from the text)
Point, Evidence, Technique Explanation, Reader, Context
How do we use the PETERC chain to get C/B/A grades?
1. Putting the quote in context of the action
(How does it fit in the novel/play?)
The Three Steps
Involved in
Explaining
2. Naming and discussing specific
language features / stage
techniques (word choice, simile,
metaphor, symbol, lighting,
character position, costume)
Explaining
3. Referring to the social and historical context and how the reader would be affected
How do you get from a C to a B?
(Infer and interpret information from the text)
Point, Evidence, Technique, Explanation, Reader, Context
For example: A low ‘C’ grade looks like this:
How does Priestley use the conflict between old and new
generations to convey his message?
Priestley shows a wide gap in thinking. This is shown on pg
50. Mrs B: “I simply don’t understand your attitude.” this
shows the misunderstanding and different ways of thinking
between the old and new generation and how stubborn
the old generation are in comparison to the new.
It focuses on the task but uses only a PEE chain.
How do you get from a C to B?
(Infer and interpret information from the text)
Point, Evidence, Technique, Explanation, Reader, Context
To get it to a B/A use the three steps in explaining
Priestley uses the wide gap in thinking between old and new generations to create
conflict and to convey his message that as a society we should take responsibility for
one another. This is shown when Sheila, just before the inspector questions Eric,
causes her mother to get angry and say, “Sheila, I simply don’t understand your
attitude.” At this point in the play, Sheila has admitted to the role she has played in
the death of Eva Smith and has taken responsibility for her actions. Her mother’s
short sentence and the use of the word “simply” show that Mrs Birling is truly
confused about Sheila’s changed attitude. There is such a wide gap in the thinking of
the two generations that it is inconceivable to Mrs Birling that Sheila should feel guilt
and remorse for her part in the death. As a wealthy upper-class woman in 1912
who has no social conscience, Mrs Birling is stubbornly unable to change and this
highlights Priestley’s message to the audience of the need for change and the
horror of what will happen if society doesn’t.