An Inspector Calls Challenge Quiz

An Inspector Calls Challenge questions

The answers and an explanation for each question appear as you play, and on the answer-key page of the printout.

1. In the speech he makes to Gerald and Eric just before the Inspector arrives, what is Birling's view of social duty?
   The wealthy owe a duty to the whole town · The state should settle industrial disputes · Each man must see to his own family first · Employers owe their workers a fair wage
2. At the close of Act One, what does Sheila work out from Gerald's reaction to the second name the girl used?
   That Gerald had spoken to the Inspector · That Gerald had visited her father's works · That Gerald wanted to end the engagement · That Gerald had known the girl himself
3. On what grounds did Mrs Birling turn the girl's appeal to the charity committee down?
   The fund had already helped the girl once · The girl would not say where she lived · The girl asked for more than was allowed · She resented the girl's use of her own name
4. Mrs Birling demands that the father of the child be held publicly to account. Why is this the turning point of Act Two?
   She unknowingly condemns her own son · It convinces the Inspector to leave · It proves Gerald fathered the child · It makes her husband admit his fault
5. After the telephone calls suggest the inquiry was a hoax, how do Sheila and Eric differ from their parents?
   They keep their guilt whatever the truth · They agree the whole thing was a hoax · They blame Gerald for the inquiry · They want to inform the newspapers
6. What news does Birling bring back from the telephone in the final moments of the play?
   No officer of that name is on the force · A girl has died and an inspector is coming · The Infirmary has no record of a death · Eric has decided to leave the house
7. Why does the Inspector show the photograph to one person at a time?
   It hides his lack of a warrant · It protects the dead girl's relatives · It keeps each confession separate · It saves time during the inquiry
8. What best describes the generational divide Priestley builds across the play?
   Only the men feel any responsibility · The young and old blame each other alike · Everyone is relieved by the final call · The young accept blame, the old refuse it
9. Why does Priestley leave the Inspector's identity unexplained?
   To hint that Gerald invented the hoax · To show the police cannot be trusted · So his message matters more than his rank · To excuse the family of any real guilt
10. What does the last telephone call imply about the Birlings?
    The Inspector was real after all · The girl is alive and still in Brumley · The family will be arrested at once · They must face the reckoning again

More An Inspector Calls practice: all An Inspector Calls quizzes · characters quiz · themes quiz · plot recall quiz

Original questions written for Pagine. This book is in copyright, so questions paraphrase rather than quote it.