Eric - social class

Key Quote

"""It isn’t if you can’t go and work somewhere else."" (Act 1) "

Technique 1

Juxtaposition (contrasting ideas) highlights bourgeois (business owners) exploiting workers’ supposed “freedom” to choose jobs. Eric’s line contrasts freedom with the proletariat’s (working class) harsh, dehumanising conditions."

RAD

Eric’s statement is emblematic (symbolic) of proletariat (working class) struggles for job freedom and protection.

Technique 2

Eric’s short sentence disrupts Birling’s rationalisation (justification), exposing Eric’s disillusionment with capitalist values. His concise words mirror the Inspector’s brevity (shortness), symbolising rising moral authority and power shifts."

Context

War Context: Economic inequality creates instability (unequal society), linking working-class struggles to causes of global conflict. Class System: The quote shows proletariat (working class) trapped by employers, exposing moral failures in social mobility."

WOW

"The play’s layered structure reveals characters’ unscrupulous (immoral) flaws, exposing societal hypocrisy (double standards). This line first appears fair but later unveils systemic (whole system) exploitation of the working class."