GCSE and A-Level Goblin: A Contextual Timeline of An Inspector Calls
Hi. If you are new here I’m GAG, the GCSE and A-Level Goblin, and I seriously regret installing a microwave in my forest hole. I’m gonna talk about a timeline I made to explain the important context surrounding J.B. Priestley’s An Inspector Calls, because if I don’t get you guys through your exams, a really big demon said he would beat me up and make me live in a hole in the forest for all of eternity.
The Importance of Time in the Context of An Inspector Calls
J.B. Priestley was very into the concept of time. Very into it, like how much dogs are into eating. He lived through 2 World Wars and saw society change a lot in that time, for the better and for the worse.
The play was set in 1912 very deliberately, 2 years before the start of the First World War. Society was very different back then in England and status and ‘class’ were everything. Priestley was never a big fan of having a class divide between the rich and the poor, as he was a socialist and humanitarian who believed everyone was equal. So when World War 1 broke out and Priestley fought in the trenches, aged 20, he noticed how the classes became less important to everyone in times of need and conflict. In fact, a mortar (a giant bloody bomb that looked like an oversized bullet) was fired into the trench wall next to him and it exploded, burying him alive under the earth. Everyone around him, regardless of class and rank, risked their lives to dig him out before he died of suffocation.
Now, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that a young Priestley grew up with the idea we should be looking out for those around us after his life was saved by the selflessness of others. To Priestley this was a lesson learned; we didn’t listen to each other and we didn’t look out for each other, and because of that we ended up in a nightmare war, often referred to as “the meat grinder” because it killed so many people.
World War 2 Begins
Imagine then, that he has learned this lesson about protecting his fellow man, and seen WW1 as the punishment. Imagine being 45 and it all begins to happen again; WW2 breaks out. Humanity has not learned its lesson. It’s easy to see how you might lay awake thinking about how things could have been if we had learned to care for one another before this happened. Could war have been avoided? Could classes have been broken down so we saw each other as human beings and took responsibility for everyone’s welfare?
The 1946 Election
With ideas of social justice in his mind, J.B. Priestley writes An Inspector Calls, and he times it carefully. He has been involved in the forming of Clement Attlee’s Labour Party, a party designed to take care of the everyday working person, and he knows that a general election will take place in England in 1946. Well then, he thinks, if I appeal to the people my age, who can vote in this election and can remember being a young adult in 1912 (like Sheila and Eric were), I may be able to show them how important it is to look out for everyday people like Eva Smith. So, he times his play to be released before the election in hopes people will vote for Clement Attlee, and the Labour Party, to bring about change in England by flattening the class structure and making everyone more equal.
Summing Up
Priestley was saved by other people selflessly taking responsibility for his life when they didn’t have to. He saw the First World War as a lesson to us all that we need to be kinder to each other and more socialist. When WW2 breaks out he thinks we have not learned our lesson, so he will write a play about it and show how this relates to how badly people in poverty are treated. He times the release of his play to influence people of a similar age who might vote for change and bring in the Labour Party to take care of the needs of ordinary people like Eva Smith.
Chris, if you touch one more safety device I will be forced to place you in the microwave… This place is a zoo.
