An Inspector Calls (Grades 9–1) York Notes

Priestley presents ideas about justice in different ways. He does this through what the characters say about what happened to Eva Smith and what they did to her.

Mr Birling owns a factory. He sacks Eva Smith from her job because she asked for more money and because he does not care about whether she had a job or not. He does not care about any of his workers and says they should ‘go and work somewhere else’ if they don’t like the money they get. The inspector does not think this is fair and thinks there will be more unfairness that will lead to trouble if Mr Birling stays in charge.

Sheila Birling thinks that her father is wrong. She feels sorry for Eva Smith and people like her. She feels very bad when she finds out how Eva Smith died. When she finds out how her moaning about Eva Smith meant Eva Smith got sacked she feels even worse and she thinks it’s her fault that Eva Smith died and then the Inspector says to her, ‘you’re partly to blame.’ So because she feels so bad about justice she listens to the Inspector.

Gerald is engaged to Sheila, but he thinks it’s all right to have an affair with Eva Smith, which is not right. But the reason he does is because he feels sorry for Eva Smith, because she is being got at by gross old Meggarty. Gerald treats her okay but he drops her when he doesn’t want her anymore. Eric is worse. For example, He gets drunk and makes Eva pregnant, but he feels sorry about this when he listens to the Inspector and like Sheila he thinks he is to blame.

In some ways Mrs Birling is the worst. She is hard and mean and thinks she is always right. She is a snob really. The way she talks about Eva Smith it shows she doesn’t think Eva Smith is worth much. Anyway she won’t help her, which is unfair and she sends her away when she comes to her asking for some support.

So none of the Birlings and Gerald Croft treat Eva Smith right and each one in their own little way make her kill herself. This is the unfairness that the Inspector talks about when he says that lots of people like Eva Smith get treated badly by people who are in charge. These are the ideas about justice that J. B. Priestley has.