Book Club Guide

An Inspector Calls

by J.B. Priestley · 1945 · Classics

Key themes

Social responsibility and the interconnectedness of all lives
The complacent wealthy and the damage they leave behind
The gap between public respectability and private morality

About this book

In 1912, the wealthy Birling family is celebrating when a police inspector arrives with news that a young working-class woman has died. As the evening unfolds, each family member is shown to bear some responsibility for her death. Priestley's compact morality play — written in 1945, set in 1912 — is a searing examination of class, responsibility and the complacency of the prosperous.

Written in 1945 but set in 1912, An Inspector Calls premiered in the Soviet Union before being produced in London. Priestley wrote it in a week. It has been performed more continuously in the UK than any play except Shakespeare.

Discussion questions

The Birlings believe that each person is responsible only for themselves — 'every man for himself.' How does Priestley systematically dismantle this view through the course of the evening?
Sheila and Eric respond very differently to the Inspector's revelations than their parents do. What is Priestley saying about generational differences in moral awareness?
The Inspector's identity remains ambiguous — possibly a ghost, possibly a hoax, possibly something allegorical. What does Priestley achieve by refusing to explain him?
The play was written in 1945, set in 1912, and ends with the possibility of a real inspector coming. How does this time structure — and the knowledge of what happened between 1912 and 1945 — function in the play?
An Inspector Calls is Britain's most-studied GCSE text. What does it offer that makes it so durable in classrooms — and does repeated study reduce or deepen its power?