An inspector calls

Context

The story of AIC was created in 1946 and settled in 1912 which was just before the World War One. It was a period of time that anxiety and horror of human burst. The old medieval beliefs collapsed in a sudden; people were left in a society that was no longer holding the ‘god-base’ values but the ‘man-made’ values, resulting in an era of desires. This was a time of efficiency and material enjoyment. People from the religious world hesitated before the unknown path of science, they can’t help to question the reliability of science——is it another ‘superstitious’?

This fear to the social switch lead to a period of time that is called the gothic revival. Charles Dickens, a famous writer of England, contributed a lot on pulling gothic fantasies that was the connotes of anxious and fear, into the reality. In Dickens famous piece Oliver Twist sets in the mysterious urban City of London, which is characterized as foggy and scary. The loss of moral bindings between people and the high stress of factory work everyday lead to high crime rate. We can see our negative stereotypes of urban life in those wide-spread urban myths. Back to London city, the innovation of Dickens’ piece, in the point of view of gothic literature, is the replacement of a gothic castle with a real place.Few years later, Frankenstein was created by Mary Shelley. Inside this fiction, we can say that rather than the creation, who is also a victim, the one that gives the outlet of all evilness is the unscrupulous paranoid scientist Victor Frankenstein. He creates a life along to his willingness without considering possible consequences and influences. Modernism began to inflate during the bursting of inventions, people started to believe that the rational mind of human can be place on the shrine. However, the hypothesis made in Frankenstein gave a tragic result.Priestley lived a period between these two above. And we can see a gradual growth in thoughts along. Dickens focuses on the social problems in an industrialized society between person and person. He conveys a message that everyone is the same in their mind and (especially for those above lower classes) no one shall be materialized. In Priestley’s writing the concern became more severe (inevitably, the time was pushing everyone). The gap between rich and poor was growing, we can no longer ignore the consequences of social inequality. So, in AIC the ‘consequence’ is the suicide of Eva Smith (though not confirmed, Eva Smiths are under the pressure of capitalism), which is bloody. The morality theme of the play emphasized the lesson Priestley wants us to hear either. Years after when Frankenstein was created, people need to reflect on the inferiority of rationalism. And interestingly that romanticism at that time came to the same solution as early gothic revival, back to the appreciation of nature.

Eva Smith

Eva Smith is the victim of the Birlings in An Inspector Calls.

She is an employee at Birling’s factory who leads a group of workers in a strike for higher wages. When their request is denied, she is forced to leave the factory. The inspector alleges that Eva Smith repeatedly changed her name, and is the same girl that Sheila requested be fired, that Mrs. Birling denied aid, and that Gerald and Eric had affairs with. As Gerald points out, however, there is no evidence that this is true. As such, Eva Smith becomes not just a character in the play, but also a symbol within the play.Eva Smith is characterized by Priestley as warm-hearted, pure, hopeful, resilient, and brave. She does not give up against the large gap between those who are rich and those who are poor. After her loss of social voice, dignity, love, body and hope, she has no more belief to support her life. According to the research ‘Eva’ has a meaning of ‘life’, it is the Latin for ‘Eve’, the first female created by god, either. Also, the Bible was first written using Latin. Namely, we can make an interpretation that the suicide of Eva Smith symbolized replacement of the old order of a god-base value of moral restrictions etc. by the new order of efficiency, profit and desire of oneself. The society is losing its temperature.Some readers may feel confuse about the voice feeling sympathy for Eva Smith. Why does Eva lead the strike after all? She could have keep silent and live her life in the way most workers do. Priestley already gives the answer in the play. He features a maid serve the Birling family named Edna. You may found this quite unfamiliar, because usually we do not put our attention of someone like this, like a tool to push the plot going. Edna, just like Eva, is a lower class female labor force, but she has no voice to rebel. No matter how impolite Mr. Birling is, she says nothing for reject. This is a character that is materialized. However, Priestley gives her a name that means ‘delight and pleasure’, which is quite irony, because we never see any emotion express by Edna the maid. By contrast, we see the courage of Eva to fight for not only her rights, but the rights of workers. But to see these who bear everything by themselves, like Edna, we need a social reform as what Priestley suggests.When Eva Smith and Daisy Renton ceased to exist in this world, it will be the time that the consciousness of society stand up to make its sound, and it will be the time that the eye of day closes, before the arrival of night.

Sheila

Sheila experiences a great transform within the play.

She is presented as childish and materialistic in the first act.

In Sheila’s address to her parents when she first appears on the stage, ‘mommy’ and ‘daddy’, a rather baby-like way of addressing, Priestley builds a first impression of Sheila for us. Also, quote from Mr.Birling, ‘are you listening Sheila? This concerns you too’, we get to know how other characters view Sheila. Obviously, this way of speaking should not be apply to a young woman. Sheila is not treated fairly by her family, combining to the context of the early 20 century, female was still a vulnerable group in the society as they were seen as inferior to men. And it may be this biased altitude that makes Sheila this immature.

When Sheila put on her engagement ring, Priestly describes her as ‘admiringly’. Additionally, after putting her ring on, the ring is the only thing Sheila concerns. She says ‘sorry daddy, I wasn’t listening’ after Mr.Birling reminds her. This detail demonstrates the materialistic of Sheila.

However, Sheila quickly turns mature in the process the Inspector unwrapped the crime of the family. Her address for her parents turns into ‘Father’ and ‘mother’, and Sheila makes many great summaries too, like the following: ‘you mustn’t try to build up a wall between us and that girl… the Inspector will just break it down…’ Sheila is probably the first one to get the message of the Inspector.

(Unusually, I think the turning of her altitude is the most fascinating part in this character.)

In stage one of Sheila’s change, she expresses her horror after she realizes her crime and try to warn another people it is a fault to hold some preconceived stereotypes of other people. Priestley presents her as ‘distressed’, ‘urgently’ and ‘carefully’. When Mrs.Birling turn out to be totally uncomprehending, Sheila reacts to be ‘hysterical’ and she talks ‘bitterly’. Lastly in Act 3, Sheila begins to echo words by Inspector Goole. For example, she mentions ‘fire and blood and anguish’. After the Inspector left, Sheila and Eric are the one who take the role of teaching the morality lesson. They are handed with the heavy task of their century.

The changing process of Sheila is the process that she gradually wake from her original fake life and face the dilemma of her time. Eric and Sheila are people from that era of reflection. They are the one who’s fate is to find their own stance in the flowing river of the 20 century, because they can see the past and are the one arriving in the future. As their mind is opened by the Inspector already, they can only struggle in sober and pain, seeking the resolution for their confusions. The transition of society is up to them.

To add something, the deeper meaning of Sheila’s name is also worth mentioning. The word ‘Sheila’ means ‘blind’. The word ‘blind’ may be the initial status of Sheila, compare to her self-awakening in the following plot, she is, indeed, blinded, by her parents. Unlike Mr. and Mrs. Birling, Sheila has the talent and condition to break the limitation of her time. She has the courage either, to directly face the indifference of person to person. If Sheila can wake and see the problem, we might be able too, to wake up from the blindness and contribute to the social reform (according to Priestley). Together to help the society regain its warmth.

不吐不快 + 真爱