symbols and motifs

calls as a motif

Calls, in-person and over the phone, announce important events in the novel:

The Inspector, of course, "calls" on the family, and he does so in person, allowing the story of Eva's death to unfold over many hours

Arthur uses the phone, for his part, to verify information. He calls the police precinct in Act Three, to find out if there really is an Inspector named Goole on the force. There is not. He also calls the hospital to learn if a girl was brought in recently, as a suicide.

Thus, when Arthur makes a phone call, the information he receives tends to verify what he hopes to be true. But when Arthur and the Birlings receive calls and phone calls, the lessons they learn are neither easy nor pleasant.

Alcohol as a motif

The play begins with a party for Sheila and Gerald. Arthur offers everyone port, and they drink. Eric, accustomed to heavy drinking, has more than his fair share, and throughout the play the subject of his possible alcoholism arises.

every character has had at least something to drink by the time the Inspector arrives—except for the Inspector himself, who refuses because he is "on duty."

Eric's and Gerald's relationships with Eva/Daisy begin with alcohol consumption, and when questioned by the Inspector, Eric asks whether he might have another drink to steel his nerves.
Alcohol marks events of social importance in the family, and moments the family might rather forget. It is a means for the Birlings to interact with one another, and to feign intimacy when, as the audience learns, each family member has been leading his or her own life separately.

Rudness and impertinence as a motif

Sybil believes that the Inspector has rudely barged in on the family's celebration, and Arthur, too, wonders if the Inspector is obeying the rules of decorum the police department sets for its officers. To the Birlings, the Inspector's behaviour is the height of rudeness, because it upends the social norms on which the family operates. The Inspector asks questions the family would rather not answer, and he does not stop his questioning once he has begun. The rules that govern polite conversation do not govern the Inspector.

But the Inspector demonstrates that the Birlings, who are so aware of social norms, violate social conventions on their own time, and in more serious ways. Arthur, Sybil, and Sheila are defiantly uncharitable to Eva/Daisy, even in her time of need. And Eric and Gerald alternately treat Eva/Daisy kindly and dismissively, eventually leaving her to fend for herself.

The Inspector thus shows that "rudeness" is itself a construct, and that apparent politeness can be a mask for total lack of concern or morality.

disinfectant as a symbol

The Inspector reports that Eva/Daisy has killed herself by drinking "disinfectant," which has ravaged the inside of her body. This disinfectant should, symbolically, make her "clean," but it destroys her. In the same way, the Inspector's questions should "make clean" the family, by bringing people's secrets into the light of day. But these secrets nearly tear the family apart, too. Even after Gerald and Arthur question the Inspector's legitimacy, the last phone call and the renewed presence of disinfectant again bring up the idea that there is dirt that must be cleaned away by the asking of questions.

the engagement ring as a symbol

The engagement ring thus marks not only Sheila and Gerald's relationship but the idea of romantic love in the play more generally. Apart from Arthur and Sybil, whose marriage appears both strong and romantically cold, the other love-relationships in the play are illicit, involving people who are not married. Thus the engagement ring follows only those relationships receiving general social sanction. Relationships that could bring on "public scandal" receive no ring at all, and are only revealed on the Inspector's questioning.