Name: Shaheer Ahmed

Notes: An Inspector Calls

JB Priestley Background

Notes:

• Where did he grow up?

Ans. J.B Priestley grew up in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

• What was his life like as he was growing up?

Ans. When Priestley was young, his mother passed away and then was raised by a
stepmother. At 16 years old, he dropped out of his school to work as a junior clerk for a
company. During all this, he already knew what he wanted to become, a writer.

• Was Priestley from a working class, middle class or upper class background? How do
you know?
Ans. JB Priestley was born in a middle class family, this is written in the book “An
Inspector Calls”.

• What did Priestley do during the First World War?

Ans. Priestley volunteered for the army in September of 1914, he served for 5 years
straight. During these years, he only wrote some letters, experiences, and poems about
the war. Then finally, he ended his duty and went to university.

• What role did Priestley perform during the Second World War?

Ans. Priestley decided to become a broadcaster for the war. His writings now were about
how war damages a country and how to sustain in the post-war period.

• Why do you think Priestley rejected a knighthood and peerage but accepted the Order
of Merit?
Ans. He rejected the knighthood and peerage and accepted the Order of Merit because
he was told that the merit was given personally by the queen herself, not by anyone
elses decision.
Questions:
1. How do you think Priestley’s childhood and his home life affected his writing and his
political campaigning?

Ans. Priestley’s political campaigning was heavily influenced by Yorkshire, where he

lived when was young. He used a strong nonconformist socialist tradition in his
political campaigns to the public. His books, letters, and poems were heavily
influenced by their local newspaper of Yorkshire and was inspired by it. Also, he used
his father’s teachings to elevate his writings.

2. How do you think Priestley’s experiences in the First World War may have impacted
on his writing of An Inspector Calls?

Ans. The war changed Priestley forever, it changed his vision about people and their
thoughts. So, in “An Inspector Calls”, Priestley tried to show the reader that officers do
not care about the soldiers and kill them with no good decisions. Making it worse, his
friends from Bradford, leading to him speaking more about unfairness.

3. Why did Priestley choose to have An Inspector Calls first performed in Russia rather
than the UK?

Ans. There were no theatres available during that time in London. So, Priestley
decided to ask his Russian Translator if Russia had an interest for this writing, he did
this as his previous writings were famous in Russia already, so he took a chance and
it worked out. The first play of “An Inspector Calls” took place in Russia.
 The Edwardian Era
Notes:

• How was life different for people in the working classes compared to the upper classes?

Ans. Life was significantly different for people working in the upper class compared to
people in the working class. People in the working class had close to no respect or
admiration from others, they were told what to do and only do that. They were basically
given no importance even though they are humans. On the other hand, upper class
people, usually people from the royal family, were very wealthy, and respected by all
citizens. They chose what to do and weren’t given any orders to, as they had money.

• How did attitudes towards poor people from the rich change during this period?

Ans. There was a hard line painted between the classes. Upper class people had no
comparison with the medium class, and the medium class weren’t compared to the
working class. This meant that changes couldn’t be made, for example a family couldn’t
work harder and earn more money to go into the middle class, they were there
permanently and were only doing jobs with low pay.

• How did attitudes change towards women during this period?

Ans. During the start of this period, women weren’t really allowed to do actual paid work
if they were in the middle class or the upper class. But, as time went on women’s voices
started being heard, women in lower - middle class wanted to work to support their
families, so they were allowed to do so. Over time, women became more and more
crucial to workplaces and the country to survive, they were given work and included in
sports.

Questions:
1. Why did politicians start to make reforms that improved the lives of the poorest in
society?

Ans. They did this as they realised that as the government, they should not take a
laissez-faire (Leave them), they should help the poor and try to “drag them out of the
sea”. Winston Churchill was the one who was ready to help the poor in need and that
is why there was a change in the economy of the country and the status as more
people got employed and earned money.

2. How effective were these policies (see Bitesize link)?

Ans. The policies were only partially effective. The legislation made was not very good
and they had many flaws within them. This made this movement successful only for
some people and for specific areas. This all means that this was only a partial change
away from laissez faire and they required more in the future.
 3. Why do you think Priestley chose to set his play in 1912 – at the end of the Edwardian
era and just before the First World War?

Ans. J.B Priestley wrote the play in 1945 but set it in 1912. This is because he wanted to
show what happened during that era and how the classes were separated. He tried to
compare what the world is now and what it was before in 1912.

Post-War Period
Notes:

• After the unprecedented death and destruction of World War I and World War II, how did
Britain change?
Ans. After the two wars, Britain started to lose its colonies as countries took
independence, this is because of Japan’s victories against Britain leading to their
prestige being broken. Also, colonisation declined for Britain as the USA started to rise
in influence and opposed these ways.

• What is the National Health Service?

Ans. The National Health Service is an organisation in the UK which provides healthcare
services to all living there without caring about their race, beliefs, gender, or religion.

• How does the NHS (National Health Service) fit into Priestley’s political views? Explain
your interpretation.
Ans. The NHS fit into Priestley’s view very well. Priestley’s political views were very
concerned with social inequality in Britain. He talked about how all people weren’t
treated correctly and were separated from each other because of their origins. When
the NHS was made, it’s objective was to treat everyone equally in terms of health. They
gave service to everyone not caring about their gender, race, or religion. This helped
Priestley’s objective significantly.
Questions:
1. How well would Priestley’s own political views have aligned with those of the Labour
government in 1945?

Ans. Priestley’s political views aligned perfectly with the Labour Government of 1945.
The government’s aim was to take responsibility for all the people who lived in Britain
from their birth till their death. They made millions of job opportunities for people
who couldn’t get jobs before, they made the NHS which is a medical service for all
irrespective of their race or religion, and they did much more. Priestley also had the
view of all people being treated equally and being in a good state of life, not too
poor, not too rich. This made the Labour government perfectly align with Priestley’s
views of Britain.

2. Why would Priestley have chosen to have play performed at the end of the Second
World War and the beginning of the Post-War period?

Ans. He chose to have the play performed at the end of WWII because he set the play
in 1912, which was a very different time. It was the opposite of 1945, there were
boundaries, a lot of inequality, and riots. He wanted to show that approximately 30
years before Britain was opposite to what it was in 1945.

The Titanic
Notes:

• What was the Titanic and why is it so well-remembered?

Ans. The Titanic was a humongous luxury british steamship. It could carry approximately
2500 passengers and 1000 crew members. It is so well remembered because on its first
voyage from England to New York, it collided with an Iceberg and sank to the bottom of
the ocean, with no remains and only some survivors.

• How much did it cost to construct the Titanic?

Ans. It cost about 7.5 million dollars in 1909, to make the ship. In today's standards
(adding inflation), the titanic would have cost about 200 million dollars to make.

• How were rooms divided up on board? How likely were you to survive if you were in a
first class room compared to other passengers?
 Ans. The rooms onboard the titanic were divided into 3 classes, 1st class, 2nd class, and
3rd class. 1st class being the most expensive and for the royals and on the other hand
3rd class for the poor. If you were in a 1st class room, you would be very likely to survive
as the statistics show that 202 people out of 325 survived. Next comes the 2nd class, in
which people were less likely to survive. Then finally came the 3rd class who were very
unlikely to survive. Statistics show that only 118 out of 706 survived which is a lot less.

• Why is the sinking of the Titanic an important symbol in An Inspector Calls?

Ans. It is an important symbol as it supports dramatic irony which is used all over “An
Inspector Calls”. A character in the novel talks about how the Titanic is completely
unsinkable and cannot sink, and the opposite happens as it sinks on its first voyage.
This shows that nothing can change nature and overconfidence by people leads to big
flaws.

Questions:
1. The play is set only shortly before the Titanic sank. Why did Priestley choose this
moment for his play to be set?

Ans. It is set shortly before the Titanic sank because he wanted to show dramatic
irony in what people said and what happened. He wrote the play in 1945 but set it in
1912 so the audience would know that a character is saying if something true
happened or not One of the things that was said in the story was that the titanic was
“Unsinkable” but the iron was that it sank on its first voyage.

2. How does the Titanic represent the beliefs and ideas of Arthur Birling? In turn, how is
this representative of Edwardian society?

Ans. The Titanic sinking shows that the beliefs and ideas of Arthur Birling were
completely untrue. For a bigger picture, Priestley is trying to say that capitalist
thinking is wrong and that society should judge things differently.

The Two World Wars

Notes:

• How did the two World Wars impact Priestley's own life?
Ans. Priestley’s own life was significantly affected after the two wars. This is because it
led him to experience many things which he couldn’t have in normal life. He experienced
his friends dying, he experienced inequality even in the army. After the war, Priestley
went fully against the government's actions and tried to warn the people about what
would happen and what happened to him and his friends during the war.

• How did Priestley view the Second World War and its impact on society?
Ans. During WWII, Priestley became a broadcaster and talked about how the country will
need to take actions to survive after the war in the post war period. His ideas were very
strong and powerful, the public loved it, but some politicians did not like his ideas and
beliefs leading to him getting cancelled. But still, the ideas were conveyed to the society
and people tried to follow it.

• What did Priestley say about his experiences of being in the First World War himself?
Ans. Priestley said that the officers and people with higher status in the military do not
care about the soldiers. He barely saved himself from being pointlessly killed in hope of
success. This made him realise how unfair the world is, and how justice needs to be
provided to himself and other fallen soldiers.

Questions:
1. How do you think Priestley’s war experiences might have affected his own political
views and his desire to persuade others to agree with him?

Ans. Priestley’s war experiences affected his political views a lot, this is because he
got to experience what inequality really feels like. Priestley’s main objective was to
end equality and spread the word, when the war took place, he volunteered and saw
thousands of men die and suffer, all because of the officers who did not care. This
made him feel enraged and he persuaded the society even harder as he knew what
happened during war.

2. Why did the two wars have such a huge impact on British society and in particular its
class system?

Ans. After the war, British society had a huge impact. This is because the Labour
Party came into power with Winston Churchill as the Prime Minister or Britain. He and
the party came in and changed the social class system. They helped the poor by
giving them medical services free of charge, they gave men job opportunities, and
they changed lives. This meant that the class system was disrupted as poor people
were starting to get money and make shelter. All led to classes being ignored and all
people being treated equally making Priestley’s dream of equality come closer.