Weekly Updates

In the play I was introduced to the cast of characters, being:

• Arthur Birling - The Father

• Sybil Birling - The Mother

• Eric Birling - The Son

• Sheila Birling - The Daughter / Enaged To Gerald Croft

• Gerald Croft - Engaged to Sheila Birling

We were also introduced to the family dynamic where the Father is the strongheaded businessman (and breadwinner) of the household, his wife accompanies him (implying her main job is to care for the children, incredibly common the edwardian era), then the two children are not expanded upon too much, though Gerlad is implied to be higher on the social order than the Birling family being richer. After the dinner they the men go and talk to each other where Mr. Birling discusses how war will not happen, just because there is far too much at stake, and gives a powerful seach to Gerald about business and the family he hopes they have.

During this week we finally completed the first act of "The Inspector Calls". Last week we left off just before Inspector Goole appeared, and before that I notice everything was always in "rose-tinted glasses". Almost all things mentioned in the play had a positive spin on it, such as the Titanic never sinking, or war simply not being an option. However when Inspector Goole entered, not only did he remove the rose-tinted glasses, but he also brought in the main conflict of the play, the suicide of "Eva Smith". Inspector Goole was predominantly calm, composed and authoritative in his actions, allowing the audience to see the families transgressions. The implications of this suicide on Gerald, Sheila, Mr. and Mrs. Birling, king Eva out of the factory, having an affair with Evan and removing her only stable job in months is able to highlight the harm of the class system. There was also a budding conflict between generations where the elder members of the family unit take less of a responsibility, and behave more aloft, while Eric and Sheila are more down to earth, taking far more responsibility.