“Am I my brother’s keeper?” So asks Cain in the Bible story of Cain and Abel (Genesis, 4:9.)  How responsible are any of us for the welfare of others?  Are you responsible for your fellow human beings?  Priestley’s play asks us to examine our level or responsibility.  The play takes the position that society as a whole benefits when its individual members are cared for.  The current debate on health care is a good example of this.  Should we all have a hand in a healthcare system that cares for all of us, or should it be each person for him or herself?  As a trekkie might put it:
 
 
Although Priestley wrote the play in 1946 (near the end of WWII) he chose to set it in 1912. The Birlings and Gerald Croft live in a rose colored world, a golden time of prosperity.  Many people felt that they were as unsinkable as the great new British ship the Titanic. The Titanic provides the audience with a terrific symbol of the hubris of thinking that anything made by man is perfect, flawless, and incapable of error.  A few short years after the catastrophic demise of that ship, the world was plunged into a war the likes of which mankind had never seen.  The family members deny the consequences of what is happening in the world and they deny the consequences of the choices they make in their lives.
 
The rich and the privileged are shown to forget that their successes are built on the labor of the people who work for them.  The Patriarch, Mr. Birling, has been dependent on the people he has perpetually ignored.  In the film Citizen Kane (1941) the character Jed Leland says to Kane, “You used to write an awful lot about the workingman... He's turning into something called organized labor. You're not going to like that one little bit when you find out it means that your workingman expects something is his right, not as your gift! Charlie, when your precious underprivileged really get together, oh boy! That's going to add up to something bigger than your privileges! Then I don't know what you'll do! Sail away to a desert island probably and lord it over the monkeys!” As with Charles Foster Kane, Birling’s denial and self-deceit contribute to a kind of hubris that has trapped him in a very small world he is desperate to control.
 
The older generation is seen as being more set in their ways and the younger generation is seen as more moveable and flexible. The Inspector tells Mrs. Birling that his work makes more of an impact on the young. We go on to see how Sheila and Eric are conscience-struck by their actions while Mr. and Mrs. Birling try to absolve themselves of blame. The young are flexible enough to change, the old aren't. This gives the audience hope that future generations will learn from the mistakes of the past.  Priestley sees the hope for the future is with the young.  There were many messages in the most recent Presidential campaign that echoed this idea.
 
The play also shows that prejudice against the less fortunate is not something to be proud of. Mrs. Birling is infuriated when Eva Smith doesn’t seem to know her “place.”  She punishes Eva by denying her request for aid.  Priestley shows us the unfair and disconfirming nature of such a class system.
 
So what is to be gained from Priestley’s cautionary tale?  Perhaps we can be encouraged to look more kindly on the less fortunate.  Perhaps we can donate our time in the service of helping others.  Perhaps it does take a village.  Perhaps you will become your brother’s and sister’s keeper.

"Their hopes and fears, their suffering and chance of happiness, all (are) intertwined with our lives, with what we think and say and do. We don't live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other."
- Inspector Goole in An Inspector Calls