Main Themes in Act One of J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls

Main Themes in Act One of J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls

One of the main themes put across in the book is the social

responsibility. Mr Birling states the fact that if he 'was responsible

for everything that happened to everybody he had anything to do with

it would be very awkward indeed.' This shows that he is a man who is

very ignorant and selfish. He cares about no one except himself and

his family and will trample on anyone to get to the top and make a

profit from his work. He sacked Eva Smith because she wanted 3

shillings more a week. That shows how tight fisted he really is. He

shows that he will not take responsibility when he goes wrong, or

something goes wrong around him that could have been caused by him.

Also Birling shows that the rich don't care about the poor at all. He

says they can 'go on the streets' which shows how big headed he really

is as well because he is showing how wealthy he is and that he has

power possibilities to send people onto the streets and that the poor

will do what ever he wants them to do, to stop themselves being thrown

onto the streets. He doesn't care if they do or not because it is no

loss on his account because he thinks that he will find people

everywhere that always want to work for peanuts.

Another theme in the first act is the sense of time passing by and how

shortsighted they really are about the future. When they are eating

their dinner they are talking about the wedding and the union of two

rival companies. During this meal the time seems to pass very slowly

because of the way they are eating and the long speeches. They all

talk about the war and how it will never start because the German

Kaiser makes a speech or two, or a few German Officers have too much

to drink and begin to talk nonsense, and that they'll hear war is

inevitable.