An Inspector Calls

Sheila and General

1a. what has been Sheila's part in Eva's life?

b. how does she feel about what she did? any quotes would help?

2. how has the mood or atmosphere of the play changed rom the start to the end of act 1?

3.how well do you think Goole has conducted the interviews?

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1) Sheila then tells the story of her encounter with the dead girl. She had gone into Milwards to try something on, and she insisted on trying a dress which, in the end, didn’t suit her at all. The girl had brought the dress up from the workroom and had held it up against herself to illustrate something—and “it just suited her. She was the right type for it, just as I was the wrong type,” Sheila reports. When she had tried the dress, she had caught sight of the girl smiling, as if to say, “Doesn’t she look awful.” She complained to the manager and made a big fuss.

At the end of this narrative, Sheila almost breaks down. “How could I know what would happen afterwards?” she asks, adding that if the girl had not been so pretty, she would never have done it. “I couldn’t be sorry for her,” she concludes. Sheila wishes she could help the girl, but, as the Inspector cursorily points out, “Yes, but you can’t. It’s too late. She’s dead.”

2) The mood of the play has completely changed from the celebratory engagement party that began the evening. By the end of Act I, the mood is filled with tension.

3) The Inspector is a pro, he conducts the interviews in a professional way and breaks his witnesses down as necessary.

Source(s)

http://www.gradesaver.com/an-inspector-calls/study-guide/section1/