An Inspector Calls
By J.B Priestly
English Coursework
Interpretation by XXXXXX XXXXXXXX
The play 'An Inspector Calls' was written by J.B Priestly. He began writing it in 1942 after 'toying' with the idea for many years. The play was finally released in the UK in 1946. Priestly was born in 1894. He joined the infantry in 1914 at the age of 20 when World War One broke out, and he left in 1919. In this time he had fought at the front line in France and thus saw the destruction man can cause.
He had lived through the first and second world wars, as well as the birth and deployment of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. During this time, Priestly gained a far greater appreciation for life than ever before, as he had experienced German shells exploding no more than two or three feet away from him, as well as surviving a gas attack.
An Inspector Calls
Edna faces the crowd as her employers receive judg...
An Inspector Calls (film)This greatly influenced Priestley's writing, as in WW1 the resources were very basic. For example, men on horse back. Then just 31 years later it was the atomic bomb, which caused a lot more death and a lot less allied casualties than all other weapons and techniques. It worried Priestly that between the end of WW1 and the end of WW2 there had been vast improvements in weaponry, for example the atomic bomb had immense power and priestly dreaded to think what would happen in another 27years. He wondered if man would go too far....
I have noticed a theme in the play that reflects that of the tragedy of the Titanic. Both the Titanic and Edwardian society where huge in mass and both were thought to be 'unsinkable'. However, they both came to an end. All this faith in something man made was...