Stereotypes are often controversial
profiles of groups of people that though sometimes hurtful, can be affective in
bringing about change. In Priestley Cooper’s An Inspector Calls the stereotyped characters are the Birlings, a
wealthy middle class family in 1912 England. The stereotypical characteristics
and actions of the family bring meaning to the author’s message that humans are
responsible for each other.
The wealthy Birlings show the expected
characteristics of the middle class in 1912 Brumley, England. The Father, Mr.
Birling, is the owner of a factory and a true believer of individualism. As a
typical factory owner at this time Mr. Birling cares only about making the most
money possible especially if that means exploiting the working class. His son,
who is the heir to the family company, is a womanizer and a heavy partier, and
his daughter is incredible spoiled. All three of them put themselves first and
see no fault in their ways. This flaw is pointed out to them by the inspector
who links their selfish behavior to the death of a young woman.
Though the Birlings didn’t directly murder
the young woman, with the use of stereotypes Cooper pins the blame on them. Mr.
Birling’s refusal to heed to his workers demands for better wages left the
young woman out in the cold which was made worse by his daughter, and his son’s
actions left her pregnant and without means to support herself. The young woman
in the play represents the working class, the hopeless victims of the wealthy. So
in essence the story is the typical exploitation of the poor by the rich but
explaining in detail just how it happens. The actions of the family are what
led to the woman’s death, and their actions were effects of capitalism.
Cooper’s view of the wealthy was one of
contempt, he found them selfish and truly believed that human beings were
responsible for each other. By using stereotypes to model the Birling family he
communicates his opinion that humans are responsible for each other.
Your essay is too short to convey your meaning. What you have so far is good, but to actually get your point across you need more explanation, especially in your first body paragraph, which is mostly plot summary. If you explained that "by stereotyping the family, Cooper meant to represent everyone in that situation" or something to that effect, it would go a long way in explaining the premise of your essay.
ReplyDeleteEssentially, you are pointing out facts of the play, and then telling me what Cooper wanted us to understand, without explaining to me how you reached your conclusion.
Your introduction is very good and lays out your general thesis. Yet, as Agney notes, I find it a bit difficult to fully understand the examples you give to support the meaning. But besides that you have great introductory sentences for each of your paragraphs and nice transitions.
ReplyDeleteYour peer reviewers have given good advice here, and I wish you'd gone back and revised using their input. You are just one revision shy of a great essay, here. In the first support paragraph, you make claims about the stereotypes for each character but offer no evidence from the play to show that these stereotypes are true. In the last support paragraph, you don't give any evidence to show that the daughter is being blamed--you just make an unsupported claim that she IS, and leave it at that. You need to separate the exploitation of the poor by the rich bit out into a final paragraph and clearly explain it instead of rushing through it in that same paragraph--you haven't made the step-by-step logical connections clear enough here.
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