Sheila In J B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls

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Sheila Birling Is presented in An Inspector Calls as a childish immature daddy’s girl to start with, this all changes however once the inspector arrives to interrogate the family about Eva Smiths suicide. By this point Sheila is now much more inquisitive and is much more mature. Through An Inspector Calls JB Priestley helps to shows how Sheila grows up and how she takes responsibility for her actions unlike her parents. This clearly shows how the younger generation are more impressionable, especially for Sheila when she is with the Inspector. Sheila is presented in the stage directions as “a pretty girl in her early twenties, very pleased with life and rather excited”. Sheila seems quite girlish and immature to start with but yet seems to be quite perceptive of certain things, for instance when Sheila says to Gerald "last summer, when you never came near me." This suggests that she is not senseless and shows that JB Priestley is already starting to show early signs that Sheila is quite intelligent and that Sheila is going to have …show more content…

Sheila is definitely the most curious character after the inspector. Sheila seems to be very inquisitive, especially about wondering what Gerald’s part in the story is. What is weird about Sheila though is that when she finds out about Gerald’s affair she does not stay angry, instead she says how she respects his honesty by saying “I don’t dislike you as I did half an hour ago, Gerald. In fact, in some odd way, I rather respect you more than I’ve ever done before”. This quote is said by Sheila after Gerald has been questioned about his affair with Eva Smith. This is showing that she is becoming more mature and that even though she has learnt more about the affair Gerald had, she still acts sensibly and does not act in a childish manner but rather more in a the way you would expect a lady to act . JB Priestley clearly is showing how yet again the younger generation is much more understanding and willing to accept