They all also believe they cannot be blamed for the death of Eva Smith and try to deny any contact with her. Arthur Birling is the main man in the family; he is the head of the house, Father to Sheila and Eric and Husband to Sybil. He is a well off business man and boasts about his advantages. “I’m talking as a hard headed practical man of business”. This is showing that he knows about his privileges and knows when to use them to try and get him and his family to get him out of trouble with the inspector.
Priestly starts presenting the Birlings by ordering some stage directions. Immediately we know Arthur Birling is a factory owner who was done well, when J.B. Priestly writes ‘belonging to a prosperous manufacturer.’ The reader can tell again he is well off when the writer says that the general effect should be heavily comfortable. He gives very precise stage directions, to go exactly the effect he wants. The fact it should not be cosy and homelike could almost help describe the atmosphere, and that the house is tasteless and not much effort has been put in to make it a home. The direction for the lighting to be ‘pink and intimate’ before the inspector arrives, then ‘bright and harsh’ when he is there helps the shift of tone, as each family member feels like a spotlight has been turned on them when he begins asking questions.
Mr Birling is shown to be an arrogant and confident character. With his first line in the extract given he shows a very careless and selfish attitude with the statement 'I discharged her'. Birling gives a cold attitude towards Eva Smith's life and shows that he doesn't care for her, giving himself a more noticeable selfish attitude. Birling decides to not use her name and constantly regards her as 'girl' and the fact he has to think about her time at his business shows that she wasn't important enough to him, and shows that he thinks workers and people below him don't deserve to be called by their names. Birling tries to intimidate Inspector Goole by boasting about his status and the type of people he knows, for example when Birling mentions the engagement between Sheila and Gerald Croft - a name made famous by 'Croft's limited', Birling brings this up to intimate the Inspector as Birling expects his status to buy him away from trouble and put him above the law.
"The Thing That Grows in the Gasoline Tank" expresses that the government agent is out of his realm as he doesn't consider this abnormality to be possible. The agent represents bureaucracy, formality and paperwork. The old man signifies the native population and the suffering of his people. He sees what needs to be done and acts accordingly. Once again the differences of the two cultures is seen as the native man embodies action, while the white man is about formal process.
In the story there are many instances in which Bartleby refuses to do as instructed by the lawyer his explorer. I feel sympathy for the lawyer because it must be hard to deal with an insubordinate good worker. Bartleby does his work that he wants to do well. The lawyer is in a tight spot because he has two other copiers Turkey and Nippers who were employed before Bartleby and hear him disrespect the lawyer. I could imagine if I were them I would be thinking look at this new guy challenging the boss and doing it in a polite but direct way.
Kisean callis Mrs. Keblish English II 6TH hour 16 January 2014 Character motivations I. George is a great and nice man who really cares about Lennie A. George feels obligated to take care of Lennie a. The reason he feels obligated to take care of Lennie is because he almost killed Lennie b. George knows Lennie can’t do anything by himself and will soon get himself killed B. George sees Lennie as stupid and not independent a. George doesn’t think Lennie could find his own food or shelter b. George believes that if Lennie lived alone he would constantly be taken advantage of c. George and Lennie have a nice relationship and at times George may see Lennie as good for nothing but I think George sees Lennie
“She’d had a lot to say—far too much—so she had to go.” Gerald Croft concurs that Birling “couldn’t have done anything else.” Birling is starting to become a little unsettled by the Inspector, and he asks Goole to spell his name, which he does. Birling then tries to threaten the Inspector by K mentioning that he is an “old friend” of the Chief Constable, Colonel Roberts. The Inspector simply remarks, “I don’t see much of him.” Eric comments that, were it I up to him, he would have let Eva Smith stay at the factory, which provokes an angry putdown from Birling, who then tries to close the case: “I don’t see we need to tell the Inspector anything more.” J Sheila enters from the drawing room to find out what is happening, and she is surprised to see the Inspector.
This shows how he does not know how to deal with conflict, confusion, and change. The museum presented an artificial way of how he would like to have lived his life; without change. The reality is-people change. I noticed that as people changed or there was a conflict, Holden distanced himself. For example: Holden strongly admired his English teacher, Mr. Antolini.
This quote defiantly shows that people are not born violent. The Invisible man clearly wants people to not ignore him that is why he is so mean, just to get attention. “The Destructors” also disproves that people are born violent. For example, “T was giving orders with decision: it was as though this plan had been with him all his life, pondered through the seasons” (Graham Greene 13). This shows that ‘T’ bosses the kids around cause he was giving “orders” about how he wanted stuff done.
A main example of this is how they take responsibility and how the old generation such as Arthur and Sybil Birling abnegate all responsibility and how the younger generation accept change and responsibility, for example in act one when the Inspector accuses Mr Birling of starting a chain of events when he sacked Eva. Mr Birling being a very arrogant man believes he had nothing to do with her downfall so he replies to the Inspector, “I can’t accept any responsibility.” This is a prime example of the older generation refusing to accept responsibility. Priestley presents this in a very direct manner which is shown throughout the play and doesn’t hide his views on the older generation. Another stage in the play when the older generation deny responsibility is during act two when Mrs Birling refuses to discuss the suicide of Eva and says “I don’t think we want any further details of this disgusting affair.” This shows she doesn’t want to hear any more information in case it alters the situation, also showing how she doesn’t accept change or responsibility. The contrast to this is how the younger generation such as Eric and Sheila accept responsibility, for example in act 3 when Eric says to the family “you’re beginning to pretend now that nothing’s really happened at all.” This shows that despite the fact the Inspector wasn’t a real inspector he has