Collective responsibility Essay Example for Free

Collective responsibility Essay The roles of the characters shift during the play as well. Sheila, who is described at the start as a pretty girl in her early twenties, very pleased with life and rather excited, suddenly assumes the role of the Inspector. She starts to understand that the Inspector knows all the right answers and is intrigued as to how. After he leaves she takes on his role and starts questioning her parents. It is almost as if she is leaving her fathers capitalist ideas and is stepping into the Inspectors shoes, conveying his socialist ideas. This shows the audience how socialism is better than Capitalism. Sheila is forced to follow her fathers capitalist ideas, nut upon given the choice; she would rather follow the Inspectors socialist idea. Also in that time women were meant to be seen and not heard, but socialism has given Sheila the chance to talk and state her feeling. This again shows that socialism is the better of the two as it shows equality between everyone. This is also evident in Eric as towards the end of the play, as Mr and Mrs Birling seem to be celebrating that the Inspector is not real; Eric is still mourning Evas death. He also points out to his parents that they are to blame for Evas death too. This is shown when Sheila says it wont bring Eva Smith back to life, and Eric adds that we all helped to kill her, This shows that the younger generation are perhaps more mature than their parents. It also shows that the younger generations habits can be changed, yet the older generation might stick to their beliefs and ideas. Another point of view may be that this shows how the world is changing and that we must change with it. The people that dont change their ways will end up like Mr and Mrs Birling, bitter and old. One of the most important devices that JB Priestley uses is the Inspector himself, for he is the pathway to truth and is almost like Jesus in the way that he gives people the chance to change, but it is up to them to accept and make the necessary changes. The Inspector is almost like Priestleys socialist voice. The name of the inspector is of significant importance. Goole suggests a ghostly, phantom almost omniscient character as he seems to know the outcome of events beforehand. The inspector turns the family against each other and is almost the puppeteer of the whole play. He controls what the family do and say. This is evident at the end of act three when Eric needs a drink and Mr Birling refuses but the inspector says Yes! I know hes your son and this is your house but look at him. He needs a drink now just to see him through, at which point Mr. Birling allows him to have a drink. Sheila also realises the Inspectors ability to make people say what he wants them to. This is shown in act when she is talking to Gerald and she says I know. Somehow he makes you. The Inspector cleverly makes the Birlings and Gerald reveal their crimes; he only gives them a menial amount of information such as a name and somehow makes them confess everything. The Inspector pushes the blame of Evas death from one character to another, introducing the idea of collective responsibility. It almost seems like the inspector is the characters conscience or a lawyer cleverly putting forward a case. In act 3 Priestley uses the Inspectors speech to convey his socialist ideas. This speech gives an opposite message to that which Birling gave whereby he said that a man has a mind to his own business and look after himself and his own. He said that we are members of one body. This is an ironic reference to the army. This shows how Priestley believes that we are all part of one community and like parts of the body we should all learn to work together. I think it also shows that no one is any more important than another, like in a body each person has a specific, unique job in life and without everyone working together, we would not be able to function properly, and our world will collapse. His speech is almost structured like an argument. The Inspector shows both sides of the rich and poor, and leaves it up to the audience to decide the final verdict. The Inspector almost represents the wars. This is as when the first war came, no one responded or changed their ways, so another war was sent to make them pay in fire, blood and anguish. This very effectively sums up what the wars were about, and how people should have seen the error of their ways and changed while it was possible, but the Second World War tried to get the message across at the end which is almost shown as at the end, the Birlings find out that an inspector is on his way to question them on Evas death. This is also a very important and powerful statement, as it would seem that the Inspector is implying that the war was sent to punish people for not working together and at the same time was forcing them to do so. The war broke down barriers between classes and people all had to work together for their country, not for personal gain, so what the Inspector spoke of was largely accurate. I think Priestley used the idea of war to convey his message because it was a major issue when the play was written and everyone would have suffered from it and would care greatly about it. This shows that the audience should change their opinions about one another; it also shows that if they had stuck together and shown equality between one another, then maybe the wars wouldnt have happened. Also some people may think that this speech shows that although the war may be sent down to punish the people, it may also have been sent down to guide the people. To show them that they should respect one another and they will all eventually have to work together. Some may say that the war may have been a blessing in disguise. In conclusion there are many dramatic devices used to contribute the raising political awareness in this play, and to help emphasise J.B Priestleys particular view, which is that the world needs to stop being Capitalist and start looking at the world form a socialists point of view. I think that Priestley has done well in showing how Socialism will always be better than Capitalism and has used a variety of ways to shows this. Possibly one of the best device used is the juxtaposition between the Inspector and Mr. Birling for this directly shows his personal views on the difference between Capitalism and Socialism. He also tries to show this by having the Inspector say that we are all part of one community, while Mr. Birling says as if we are bees in a hive, as if the community is vulgar, while the Inspector is showing just how wrong he is. Priestly has constructed an almost complete contrast between Mr. Birling and the Inspector, one representing Priestleys opinions and the other representing Pre World War One social opinions. Mr. Birling is ridiculed in the play with his speeches about the future. Mr. Birling is very explosive in his speech, which shows the uncomfortable nature of Capitalism, and how it can be upset by minimal things. The Inspector is given authority in his speeches and shows he is always calm and in control. This shows the audience that of the two ideas socialism is the better. I think that the main dramatic device used is the idea of collective responsibility. This is a major theme of the play. As well as trying to make the Birling family take personal responsibility for Evas death he also wants them to know that together they killed her. Priestley wants the audience to take responsibility for their mistakes, he wants them to feel guilty and work together to make things right. The fact that Priestley questions the morality of the audience is what makes them interested throughout the play. The audience feel as if theyre the ones that are being judged, and questioned, and that they need to confess and accept their responsibility. This involvement and idea of responsibility in my opinion is what makes An Inspector Calls an incredible, thought provoking play.

Internet Pornography, the ACLU, and Congress Essay -- Cyberporn Essay

Internet Porn, the ACLU, and Congress      Ã‚  Ã‚   Ashcroft vs. ACLU, 00-1293, deals with a challenge to the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), which Congress passed in 1998. The law, which is the subject of this essay, attempts to protect minors from exposure to Internet pornography by requiring that commercial adult websites containing "indecent" material that is "harmful to minors" use age-verification mechanisms such as credit cards or adult identification numbers.(Child) An earlier version of the law -- the 1996 Communications Decency Act -- was struck down as an unconstitutional restriction of free speech when challenged by the ACLU; the 1998 version attempted to address the constitutional concerns by limiting its scope to commercial websites, and carving out an exception for material that has "serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors." (Communications) COPA makes adult website operators liable for criminal sanctions -- up to $50,000 in fines and six months in jail -- if children are able to access material deemed "indecent," by "contemporary community standards," for those under 16. This raises the sticky issue of what "community" should set the standard for the global world of the Internet. No one has been prosecuted under COPA; the ACLU brought suit as soon as the law was passed, and a federal judge in Pennsylvania agreed to block enforcement. The Third Circuit upheld the injunction, ruling that COPA's reliance on community standards improperly allows the most conservative communities to dictate what should be considered indecent. The ACLU represents a number of plaintiffs who publish materials online, including an art gallery, Salon.com magazine, a bookstore, and the producer of a... ...rmful to minors on the Web, Beeson responded: "There isn't any way to make it a crime to display material harmful to minors on the Web." A decision from the Supreme Court is expected sometime in the spring of 2002. This case does not directly address the issue of how the community standards requirement applies to determining whether online material is obscene (speech that does not receive First Amendment protection) rather than merely indecent (harmful for minors but protected for adults). The court's ruling will nonetheless be significant in terms of the future of the "community standards" test for obscenity online. WORKS CITED: Child Online Protection Act. http://www.epic.org/free_speech/censorship/copa.html Communications Decency Act. http://www.epic.org/CDA/cda.html "Legal Challenge to COPA" http://www.epic.org/free_speech/copa/complaint.html

Jesus Christ Essay

Curley, I’m writing this letter cause for a long time I’ve been wanting to tell ya somethin’. When we married I knew from the firs’ day that you weren’t any good for me, from the firs’ day of our marriage I disliked you. An’ you know why, cause you’re nothin’ then jus’ a dirty ranch man, who can think on’y bout fighting and goin to have a shot offa corn in’a closest bar. Ya’r nothin’ better than other ranch workers, who get them 50 bucks at the end offa month an’ go to spend alla of ’em in’a brothel or for’a whiskey to get God damn drunk. I cn’t see any litt’ difference between you and them, an’ there’s no difference. Every week ya go to a bar an’ come back God damn drunk at late night. How do you think I feel then bout you? But ever’thing has a limit. You know, if not my ol’ lady I’d have gone to Hollywood an’ prolly I coulda find that man who promised me to take me in movie. Yes he sa’ that I’m natural, and if not my ol’ lady then I’d never be livin’ with ya in this God damn place, I coulda been in the movies, an’ had nice clothes – all of them nice clothes like they wear. An’ I coulda set in them big hotels, an’ had pitchers took me. But whatta I got – I’ve gotta husban’, a swell guy. An’ alla time I have to listen how he’d â€Å"use the ol’ one-two to make him go down†. And all I can do is jus’ to set in your God damn ranch an’ talk to a bunch of bindle stiffs. I’m dying from loneliness, Curley. An’ plus, when ya come home you starta talk about fighting again, you’re almost like fighting cock to me. You never care bout me, about how I felt and never try to make me feel better. Instead ya do opposite – ya tell me to set in your God damn two-by-four house, an’ do nothin’. But do you think that I like to stick in it alla time?.. But, Jesus Christ, if you see me outside you get so damn angry as somebody stole somethin’ from you, an’ alla your anger you put on me. For what? What have I done to you?.. You’re worse than an animal. An’ what about yer han’, stuck in’a machine, ah? Yeah, baloney! You’re a pathetic loser. Finally you’ve been shown that you ain’t the strongest. An’ I’m so thankful to that fella Lennie for doing it to ya. But why didn’ you use yer â€Å"ol’ one – two†, not tough enough. An’ why didn’ you ever fought with someone like Slim? What, was there no reason to, but you’re wrong there was an’ you knew it. You knew that there was somep’in between ‘im an’ me, but you was too scared to admit it, you was too scared to say a single word against Slim. It makes you such a loser, Curley. Aw God! I’m so fed up with you, Curley, if you could on’y understand how much. But I guess that I shouldn’t worry any more, cause I leave you, yes Curley I leave you. I’m gonna go to make my own life. I’ll prolly go to Hollywood and find the man. Course you’ll think that I’m outa my mind, but I ain’t. I ain’t gonna waste the rest of my life in your God damn ranch, rot there yourself! I wish you to rot in your damn place. Go on, go to brothel, drink, have a game of euchre, but I’m gonna be far away from you. Have a nice life! Your former wife.

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