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An Inspector Calls: quotations to learn

The exam question on An Inspector Calls has no extract, so every quotation comes from memory. These are short, checked lines that each do more than one job.

Quick guide for students · 6 minute read

There is no extract for An Inspector Calls. In Section A of Literature Paper 2 you choose one of two questions on the whole play, and every quotation you use has to come from memory.

The play is still in copyright, so we quote short lines only, each one checked against the play. They are grouped by character. Learn the exact words, who says them and which act they come from, and find each one in your own copy so you know what happens around it.

Mr Birling

  • “unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable” (Mr Birling, Act 1). Birling’s claim about the Titanic. The audience knows the ship sank in April 1912, so his total confidence makes him look foolish. This is dramatic irony, where the audience knows something a character does not, and it teaches them early not to trust his judgement.
  • “a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own” (Mr Birling, Act 1). Birling’s view of life: look after yourself and your family, and nobody else. The doorbell rings straight after it, as if the Inspector has come to answer him. The whole play argues against this idea.
  • “I can’t accept any responsibility” (Mr Birling, Act 1). His first defence, made before he has even finished telling his part of the story. The word can’t makes a choice sound like something out of his control. Every other character either echoes this line or rejects it.
  • “the famous younger generation who know it all” (Mr Birling, Act 3). Birling mocks Sheila and Eric for learning the Inspector’s lesson. The sarcasm shows that he has learned nothing himself, and the audience sides with the young.

The Inspector

  • “an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness” (stage direction for the Inspector, Act 1). He need not be a big man, because his weight comes from his manner. The nouns name qualities: a man who cannot be moved or bought, in a house where Birling expects to be in charge.
  • “brighter and harder” (stage direction, Act 1). How the lighting changes when the Inspector arrives. Until then it is a soft, cosy glow for a family party. The harder light feels like a police interview, where nothing can hide.
  • “Public men, Mr Birling, have responsibilities as well as privileges” (the Inspector, Act 2). The Inspector answers Birling’s pride in his position. Money and power bring a duty to other people.
  • “We don’t live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other.” (the Inspector, Act 3). The heart of his final speech. The short sentences, each starting with we, sound like a sermon. The metaphor of one body means that harm to one person harms everyone, and this is Priestley’s message.
  • “millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths” (the Inspector, Act 3). The repeated millions turns one young woman into every poor worker. Smith is one of the commonest English surnames, so Eva stands for ordinary working people.
  • “they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish” (the Inspector, Act 3). His warning of what will happen if people do not learn to care for each other. The repeated and piles up the suffering. For audiences in 1945 and 1946, it pointed to the two world wars they had lived through.

Sheila

  • “these girls aren’t cheap labour” and “they’re people” (Sheila, Act 1). Sheila’s first protest when she hears how her father treated Eva. The word labour turns workers into a cost, and the word people gives them back their lives. The younger generation questions the older one from the start.
  • “I’ll never, never do it again to anybody” (Sheila, Act 1). Her promise after she admits she had Eva sacked. The repeated never shows real remorse, and anybody widens the promise to everyone. Her change starts here.
  • “You and I aren’t the same people who sat down to dinner here” (Sheila, Act 2). Sheila sees that the evening has changed them, and she refuses to go back to how things were.
  • “The point is, you don’t seem to have learnt anything” (Sheila, Act 3). Once the Inspector has gone, Sheila sees that her parents have not changed. Her criticism shows how far she has moved since the start of the evening.

Mrs Birling

  • “Girls of that class” (Mrs Birling, Act 2). Mrs Birling treats Eva as one of a type. The word that pushes Eva away from her, as if she belonged to a different kind of person. Her class prejudice lets her refuse help without feeling guilty.
  • “Go and look for the father of the child. It’s his responsibility.” (Mrs Birling, Act 2). She blames the father of Eva’s child without knowing it is her own son. The audience works it out before she does, so her own words trap her. This is dramatic irony again.

Gerald

  • “I didn’t feel about her as she felt about me” (Gerald, Act 2). His honest admission about the affair with Daisy Renton. The balanced sentence shows that the relationship was unequal: she gave more than he did, and he had the power to walk away.
  • “Everything’s all right now, Sheila” (Gerald, Act 3). Once Gerald believes the Inspector was a fake, he wants the evening back as it was, engagement ring and all. Though he is young, he sides with the parents.

Eric

  • “You’re not the kind of father a chap could go to when he’s in trouble” (Eric, Act 3). Eric attacks his father for being cold and distant. The family failed Eric in the same way that society failed Eva: nobody was there when help was needed.
  • “the fact remains that I did what I did” (Eric, Act 3). Eric refuses to let the family off once the Inspector seems to be a fake. The plain repetition of did leaves no room for excuses.

Using them in the exam

Many of these lines work for more than one question. “I can’t accept any responsibility” fits a question on Mr Birling, on responsibility or on the older generation. “You’re not the kind of father a chap could go to when he’s in trouble” fits Eric, Mr Birling and family. When you learn a line, list every question it could help with.

This section of the paper also has 4 marks for spelling, punctuation and grammar. Learn to spell the names: Priestley, Birling, Sheila, Gerald, Eric, Eva Smith, Inspector Goole.

For a way to make the quotations stick, see How to learn quotations so they stay learned, and for the whole plot, An Inspector Calls: the story, act by act.

Sources

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