РефератыИностранный языкAnAn Inspector Calls

An Inspector Calls

– Differences And Comparisons Of Arthur B. And Sheila B. Essay, Research Paper


?An Inspector Calls? by JB Priestly


Differences & Comparisons between Mr B. and Sheila


Arthur Burling is the main man in the Burling family, and


seems to control it, i.e. whatever he says – goes! The play is


set in an imaginary town called Brumley, somewhere in the


North of England.


Mr. Burling has a selfish attitude towards life, and also an


attitude to only care for himself and family, and basically


forget everybody else, in fact, this is exactly what he tells a


speech on at the celebration of Sheila?s and Gerald?s


engagement,


?… a man has to look after himself – and his family too, of


course…?


which gives the impression of the selfishness, and also


greed. Another example of this is when he tells a speech


about how it is the best day of his life,


?Gerald, I?m going to tell you frankly, without any


pretenses, that your engagement with Sheila means a lot to


me. She?ll make you happy, and I?m sure you?ll make her


happy. Your just the type of son-in-law I wanted…?


makes people think whether he wants them to get married


for themselves, or for him, and whether it means a lot to him


sentimentally, or a lot to him in the business world. Burling?s


first priority is to make money,


?It?s my duty to keep labour cost down?


and is also a social climber, and Sheila is engaged to the son


of his ?friendly? rival, which is why it could mean a lot to him


in the business world because Gerald?s father is in a higher


class than the Burling family. We can see that he is a man


that tries to ?make everything better? by using his money,


?Look inspector, I?d give thousands…?.


I think this may be a ?domineering? attitude, because he


wants to dominate people, and do all he can to do it, which


reflects on how he treats his employee?s. In his factory,


there is certain employees which ask for a pay rise, but


Burling refuses to pay more than ?the going rate?. Burling


can afford the pay rise, but returns by sacking one member


of the ?strike? pack, Eva/Daisy Smith. After this, Burling was


blamed for starting the ?domino? effect of Eva/Daisy?s


suicide, but refuses to accept the blame.


Appearance plays a big part of Burling as well. How he


looks is very important to him indeed in the respect that he


always has to look ?posh? and always dresses cleanly and


smart. I think he does this not because he always want to be


clean and smart, but to keep a good reputation with other


high class people, and not to make them think that he is any


lower than themselves. When the inspector asks questions


to/about his family, he tries to protect his reputation by


acting the innocent to the questions, even though we know,


that he knows the answers to the questions, but wont tell


them, to protect his reputation (hard to explain!!).


Burling cannot see the consequences of neither his, nor his


family?s actions. We know this because Burling makes


comments which seem ridiculous to us now, in the ?90?s and


the year 2000. Things like the Titanic being unsinkable and


that European nor World war would never happen. According


to Burling, war will never happen because in his eyes, it


would affect business, but Burling does not stop to think that


people may care more about things other than business,


which is why he cannot see the consequences of his own


actions and is also another example of the selfishness within


him.


Burling hates stealing. When Eric (Burling?s son) steals ?50


from Burliness office, he cares about nothing more than that


he stole from him, and the amount he stole (because ?50


was quite a bit of money in 1912), and Burling wasn?t really


concerned why Eric stole the money. Burling then exclaims,


?You dammed fool – why didn?t you come to me when you


found yourself in this mess??.


Eric?s reply indicates that Mr. Burling was never close to his


son,


?Because you?re n

ot the kind of chap a man could turn to


when he?s in trouble?.


Such a response indicates that things aren?t going to


improve much after the play ends, and also indicates that


there may be a bad family relationship.


Sheila is Mr. Burling and Mrs. Burling?s daughter, and is


engaged to Gerald, Burling?s rival. Sheila has a totally


different attitude to Burling, and we see this emphasized as


the play progresses. She is very happy with life at the


beginning of the play, young, and attractive. Although her


happiness is about to be destroyed, as in her faith in her


family. Her response to the tragedy is one of the few


encouraging things, which I think, came out of the play. She


is genuinely upset with the death of Eva/Daisy, and learns


from her actions, unlike Burling. Not only she admits her


faults and it seems as though see takes too much guilt on


her shoulders, but seems keen and anxious to change her


behavior in the future,


?I?ll never do it again? she exclaims.


I think Sheila is aware of the mystery surrounding the


inspector, yet realizes there is no point in hiding the facts


from him, which is also a totally different attitude to Burling,


because Burling seems to think he can hide the facts, and it


will be okay, but Sheila, unlike Burling is not bothered about


impairing her reputation, she is only bothered about the


suicide.


Sheila is amazed that her parents have not learned


anything from the episode, and thinks that even though the


inspector may be a hoax, I think she is convinced that her


parents behaved in an entirely unsuitable manner, the way


they were hiding facts, etc. Eric agrees with her, and is like


Sheila in many ways. For example, Eric is also amazed that


their parents have not learned anything in the episode.


Sheila?s family have tried to block knowledge of everything


that is unpleasant in life, but Sheila respects the truth and


her parents don?t know that she has more knowledge of


unpleasant things that happen, and sometimes even more


than her parents, e.g., Eric?s Drinking. At the start of the


play, Sheila is selfish, moody and has a bad temper, which


she may get from her father. So at the beginning, Sheila is


rather like her father, but she cannot see this. One day, her


bad temper goes too far because Mrs. Burling says her dress


does not suit her, and Sheila unleashes her anger on


Eva/Daisy, resulting her getting sacked from the fashion


store. I think she regrets this later on, when she changes,


and sees how ill tempered and selfish she was, but makes no


attempt to do anything about it.


Sheila does realize, in the end, the harm she has caused,


and still wonders why her parents cannot see what they


have done. Although the inspector does turn out to be a


hoax, her parents seem to carry on as normal, especially


Arthur, because he is just happy that the scandal will not get


out, thus Arthur loosing his Knighthood, but, Eric and Sheila


will probably never be the same again, as they have learned


what they have done.


There are a couple of comparisons between these two


people, e.g., Arthur being selfish, and Sheila being selfish (at


the beginning of the story) but overall, these are two very


different people, the way they turn out in the end, and even


the beginning when they are a little like each other.


I did enjoy this book, although I think there should tell


more about what the inspector actually is, instead of leaving


it in suspense, but it cant really be suspense because it


doesn?t ever tell you what he is, because it is the end of the


story, and suspense is where you really want to know what


it is, but it will tell you in the end. I think suspense at the


end of a story is not good, because it puts a bad ending for


the story, because you really want to know the end, or


something.


English Essay – Peter


Bibliography


This is an English literature GCSE exam question. Done by Peter G, Liverpool UK, Y2K

Сохранить в соц. сетях:
Обсуждение:
comments powered by Disqus

Название реферата: An Inspector Calls

Слов:1543
Символов:9756
Размер:19.05 Кб.