Class

Symbolic meaning

Shows:

• The working class- Eva, Edna

• The middle class- the Birlings

• The aristocratic upper class- Gerald, Mrs Birling

Context/ message

• Society has become less divided by class due to WW1 and WW2

• Priestley highlights how society shouldn’t return to the ways of 1912 when upper class treatment of the working class was cruel

Gerald

• ‘They’d all be broke, if i know them’

  • Commenting on strikers at Birlings factory

  • Superior attitude

  • Upper class view of working class as dissolute and unable to control finances or act responsibly

Mr Birling

• ‘If you don’t come down sharply… they’d soon be asking for the earth’

  • Views working class as aliens

  • Believes their demands are unreasonable and unrealistic, asking for too much

Mrs Birling

• ‘As if a girl of that sort would ever refuse money’

  • Patronising and dismissive

  • Reflects upper class view of working class as lacking morals

The Inspector

• ‘We are members of one body’

  • All classes are the same, equally important and necessary