Cheat Sheet Inspector (Paper 2 Lit)

An Inspector Calls Cheat Sheet (Paper 2, Question 1 )  Getting an A/A*

Commentary Question: (10 Marks – 20 minutes)

Make sure your points are tailored to the question - if it’s about atmosphere/mood  OR characterisation.

Remember the mood/atmosphere is likely to change and the characterisation is likely to be nuanced/complex

Focus on language and the writer’s techniques – try and be CONCISE + DETAILED

Be confident - talk about the interesting moments in the extract and suggest perhaps how mood/atmosphere changes over the course of the extract/how the readers’ understanding of character changes over the course of an extract /how different readers may respond in different ways

Try to cover the breadth of the extract – something from beginning/middle/end

‘Priestley highlights/emphasises/suggests/creates/implies/hints/…’

Essay question: (24 marks – 40 minutes)

!!!! Do not tell the story - analyse the text as a deliberately constructed work of art!!!

4 marks are available for spelling, punctuation and grammar – make sure you know how to spell key terms

CONTEXT is v.important for of An Inspector Calls- show understanding of why Priestley was writing….

An Inspector Calls is set pre-Titanic, pre First and Second WW but is written after the Second World War

It is set on the eve of new world breaking – a world of world wars and Titanics sinking….

>>> dramatic irony because the audience knows that society did collapse and that to a certain extent ‘fire, blood and anguish’ did engulf industrial Britain and change it forever. Priestley was a passionate Socialist and the entire play can be seen as a political allegory of class tensions or a political treatise.

NB You do not need to explicitly analyse language, structure or form in the essay question: concentrate on context + Priestley’s ideas.

Key techniques/ideas:

·         Priestley – has a strong political agenda. The play is heavily didactic in tone. This could be seen as a weakness –that the political message ‘We are all responsible for each other’ is in a sense too simplistic and is rammed down the audience’s throats in quite a heavy-handed manner. >> different audiences>>at different times>>from different backgrounds>>will respond in different ways

·         Priestley himself was a political commentator/political activist – he hosted a popular radio show until 1940 when it was cancelled due to pressure from the Conservatives to silence his left-wing politics.  The play was published in 1945 so it is possible to argue that Priestley turned to art in order to make his political ideas heard more widely.

·         The play received a ‘cool, almost hostile’ reception in 1945 – and still has the ability to divide an audience.

·         The play is an attack on the social class structure of Britain which had been traditionally seen as a social good. It also critiques capitalism – where the wealthiest in society can control the direction of society and protect themselves to the detriment of others. >>> The play suggests captialism leads to people becoming morally blind to and unable to see the difference between right/wrong + justice/injustice. >> young/old divide in the play.  Can changing the class structure really solve the problem of evil and abuse in society however?

·         Ghoulish Goole – the twist of the identity of the Inspector and the double coup de theatre at the end of the play is Priestley’s way of involving his audience in his didactic aims: the inspector may come our way - how would we fare if he did? It is a kind of theatrical modernisation of the idea of divine justice but again Priestley risks losing his audience here. A modern audience is less likely to believe in divine justice in 2015 - does this mean we will see the play as a historical artefact rather than how Priestley intended it to be seen?

·         Symbolism – Inspector as the voice of God/conscience and Eva Smith as the working class woman/everyman figure/ Eric+Sheila v. Mr and Mrs Birling – younger/older generation. Birlings as Capitalists.