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The Birling Family In J. B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls

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In 1912, the difference between upper and lower class was very distinctive and noticeable to everyone in that society. The upper class were sophisticated, traditionally intelligent and had recognisable titles for other classes to identify them and to give themselves pride ,although the lower class usually worked cheap labour and struggled greatly to have a decent quality of life. In An Inspector Calls, the Birling family represent a typical upper class family but they are still aware of Gerald’s families status above them and Priestley represents the character of Arthur Birling to be very mindful of this and his ambition is portrayed in many ways throughout the play. Arthur Birling addresses the lower class as “these people” when talking about the issues with Eva Smith, this represents his capitalist views as he does not believe that a man like himself, a “hard-headed businessman”, should be looking after the poorer members of society. …show more content…

An example of a women of lower class in An Inspector Calls would be Eva Smith as she worked for Mr Birling at a low rate and when she became uncomfortable with her low wages, she decided to speak out on her views; this caused her to get fired because she had no authority or place in the factory so Mr Birling saw her as inferior. This example could be arguably repeated for the incident in the shop with Sheila because her upper class status forced the lower class out of a job due to uncontrolled

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