Wealth And Social Class In JB Priestley's An Inspector Calls

Have you ever wondered what life is like for people in specific social classes and all the baggage that comes with being wealthy? In the article “Amber Waves of Green”, author Jon Ronson has sit downs with hard working americans making a income of $200 a week all the way up to $625,000 a week. In another writing titled “The Mansion”, written by Michael Lewis, allows the reader to get insight on what life is like as a middle class individual taking on a higher style of living. Within the two articles the reader can point out that both Jon Ronson and Michael Lewis disagree on living styles, what wealth can do for you, and how it can affect the people around you.

The beginning of the play exhibits Priestley characterizing women as gentle, being inferior to men and possessive of their luxuries; “I think it’s perfect. Now I really feel engaged.” The fact that Sheila needed to have a ring to set her engagement suggests that the ring matters

The description above illustrates an image of a small sized room, filled with expensive, over-sized materials that are too big for the small room they have. This portrayal informs us of how Tom is trying to bring the riches of East Egg into Manhattan to allow Myrtle to have feel as if she is a part of the wealthy society and parties. In contrast, Gatsby’s party was hosted at his own house, a mansion, filled with extravagant furniture, bars, gardens, orchestra, and workers. The guests all wore evening gowns charged with various colors and spirit. As opposed to Tom, Gatsby didn’t have to go to Manhattan to throw a party since he had nothing to hide. Instead, he wanted to make known of his lavish parties. He wanted people to talk about him as the mysterious wealthy man. He wished to be the main gossip of the town, hoping that one day it will grasp Daisy’s undivided attention and love.

With Gaskell's descriptive details, the wealth of the Carson family is made concrete: "Mr. Carson's house was a good house, and furnished with disregard to expense. But in addition to lavish expenditure, there was much taste shown, and many articles chosen for their beauty and elegance. Adorned his rooms" (10-14). The Carson's are seen as having expensive and tasteful choices in the furniture that adorn their house, expensive and tasteful choices, which they can obviously afford. Not only can they afford the posh house, but also multiple servants at their beck and call. The Carsons are rich enough to pay someone else to do the work around the house and ultimately take care of them, such as making breakfast. "The servants [were] very busy with preparations for breakfast" (18-19). The Carson's wealthy is, again, seen through the fully stocked kitchen that the servants are working in, a "kitchen hung round with glittering tins, where roaring fire burnt merrily, and where numbers of utensils hung round" (22-24). The servants are also in an environment where there are mouth-watering "broiled steaks, […] toasted bread, and boiled eggs" (28-29). The Carsons are wealthy enough to have such a fulfilling meal, and it is only just for breakfast; there is still lunch and dinner and perhaps, snacks in between. As a representation of the lower class, Wilson and the servants would be lucky

soon find out that Eva worked in his factory, and how she was fired by

In the beginning, Priestley describes the Birlings’ house as ‘a fairly large suburban house’ with ‘good solid furniture of the period’, showing they are upper-middle class and that they have money. They also have servants such as a maid and a cook. Priestley wants to give us an idea that the Birlings are upper class both in possessions and attitudes.

Priestley creates Mrs Birling as an unlikeable character to try and get across the message of the play, that the rich should treat the poor better. He does this by making

Priestley’s Main Aim in An Inspector Calls JB Priestly wrote ‘An Inspector Calls’ to enhance the message that ‘we don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other’. This is something Priestly felt strongly about and he succeeded in representing his views through the character of the Inspector in the play itself.

The characters of Sheila and Eric are important in the play as; Priestley introduces them to be coming from a trouble-free, spoiled and wealthy family background where there are no problems, although later we find out that this is not the case.

In Ian McEwan’s Atonement class distinction and the strive to ascend the socioeconomic ladder is prevalent. Specifically, the difference between the Tallis’ and the Turners is evident from the start. While the Tallis’ are affluent and live in a mansion, the Turners are relatively poor and can’t afford many of the things that their

Mrs Birling is described as "…her husband's social superior". She is a snob and is very aware of the differences between social classes. She tries to deny things that she doesn't want to believe a prime example would be Eric’s drinking she says at the beginning of Act 3 “you don’t get drunk” this line really emphasises the extent at which Eric is not only insignificant to the older generation but ignored. The reader is shocked by this statement as we know at the beginning of the play he is a drunk by the way he responds and sits in his chair ‘half at ease’ and it is ironic that his own mother is oblivious to it. As they are higher class than Eva Smith they also feel as though the death is less important, as Mrs Birling states 'Girls of that class -” this shows that she was prejudice towards the girl due to her class and her position (getting pregnant and not being married) she was therefore in Mrs Birling’s eyes not worthy of receiving any money from the charity, this is echoed when she says “I'm Mrs Birling, y'know” using a patronising

In contrast to Mr and Mrs Birling, Priestley sets up the younger generation (Eric and Sheila) as reformed characters to contrast with the older generation, who are too set in their ways,"[sarcastically] so nothing really happened. So there's nothing to be sorry for, nothing to learn. We can all go on behaving just as we did". Again we must remember that Eric and Sheila are just caricatures of the younger generation, who have the capacity to learn and to carry Priestley's message.

Lymphoma or lymphatic cancer is a very serious and life threatening disease. In this country there is an estimated 63,900 new cases, 7,100 of which are Hodgkin’s lymphoma as opposed to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Since around the 70’s the occurrence of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma has almost doubled while the occurrence of Hodgkin’s disease has declined. (Steen, 1993)

Birling is also very dismissive of Sheila; we witness this when he says “nothing to do with you, Shelia. Run along”, the way in which he speaks to her is quite belittling and we are made to believe that although she is his daughter, women are second class to men, he truly believes that she is not worthy of being spoken to with regard to the inspectors visit. Birling is a very single minded man who does not take kindly to opposition to his beliefs. This is seen when he says “we’ve had experience – and we know” this shows he is no longer prepared to discuss the topic any further, when discussing war with his son Eric.

“And a whole clan named Blackbuck, who always gathered in the corner and flipped up their noses like goats at whosoever came near.” (p.49) another setting described in the novel is New York City, a ‘mixing pot’ of all of the social classes. But also the setting for Tom and Myrtle’s apartment “The living room was crowded to the doors with a set of tapestried furniture entirely too large for it” (p.25). This is in contrast to an upper classes house for example “A breeze blew through the room, blew curtains in at one end, and out at the other like pale flags” (p.10) because this quote is explaining the proximity of space within the house, unlike Tom and Myrtle’s apartment which is ‘crowded’ and ‘furniture entirely too large’ it shows what money can buy, i.e. if you are upper class and have more money then you can buy a ‘oversized’ house, but if you are of the lower class then you can only afford a ‘crowded’ and compact house/apartment.