His name, perhaps, is trying to suggest that Inspector Goole is not a living being at all. His name-“Goole” sounds exactly the same as the spirit type “ghoul” and the author could possibly be trying to hint to us that the Inspector is like our conscience or a good spirit trying to uncover all truths. He may be used more as a dramatic device rather than a real character. However, the fact still remains that the Birling families actions did make a girl take her own life. Sheila Birling still seems to remember this. Sheila, the daughter of Mr Birling, is described as: “… a pretty girl in her early twenties…
” She is also described as being “very pleased with life. ” At the beginning of the play she seems rather spoilt and very much a typical, pathetic female of her time in which she is dependent on Gerald. She appears to be a daddies girl and wants to please Birling as much as possible: “I’m sorry daddy. Actually I was listening. ” At this point in the play I would never imagine Sheila to answer back to her father at all. The impression of her being used to getting her own way is confirmed when the Inspector reveals that Sheila is the second girl to have had dealings with Eva Smith.
By her father, Sheila is taught to look after herself only. Through jealousy, Sheila gets Eva Smith fired from her job at Milwards: “She was a very pretty girl… that didn’t make it any better. ” Even from finding out she was slightly involved with the inspection though, Sheila starts to show some guilt, and, unlike her father, accepts it: “… if I could help her now, I would. ” During just one night, Sheila changes entirely. She matures a great deal and seems to become independent. She even seems to gain more confidence and stands up to her family. “Sheila (flaring up) – ‘If you want to know, it’s you two being childish.
‘” Throughout the whole inspection it is Sheila who insists on knowing everything. In a way, I believe that in stepping into a more realistic world, rather than one where she is protected by her parents, she learns to grow up a lot and even seems far more mature than her parents. Now it becomes unclear whether or not she will marry Gerald, as she seems to want to learn to rely on herself a lot more. Overall, the play was written by Priestly to teach us a very important lesson – that we should all be concerned for one another and that, even the slightest things we do may affect someone somewhere.
Our biggest relevance to this message is the incident on September 11th, where hundreds of people were killed and America was disrupted hugely. The Afghans were angry at America’s greediness and felt America was not doing anything to help them. As a result, lots of innocent people died and many families were destroyed. This just shows that, throughout the play, Birlings views are selfish and self-centred. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE J. B. Priestley section.
