generations

• "Sheila! What an expression! Really, the things you girls pick up these days!" - Sybil


  Criticising Sheilas use of the term 'squiffy' is partially condemning the younger generation as a whole - 'you girls'. Sheila is often patronised by her dominant, overbearing mother
• "He's only a boy" - Sybil


  She shows her ignorance in two ways; firstly by defending Eric, 'of course not' when the Inspector suggests that he is used to drinking, secondly by stating that Eric is 'only a boy'. He is not a boy, but a young man, Sybil refuses to see this. Her shock at the revelation 'staggered' is further evidence of this
• "You're beginning to behave like a hysterical child tonight" - Sybil

  She tells Sheila off. The simile highlights her overbearing tendencies. The adjective 'hysterical' proves her complete dismissal of her daughter's opinions
• "We often do on the young ones, they're more impressionable" - Inspector


  Priestley is highlighting how the younger generation are more open to other opinions and therefore may be able to shape society positively in the future
• "You're not the kind of father a chap could go to when he's in trouble" - Eric


  The relationship between father and son is not a close one. Birling is a traditional, distant, Edwardian father, who is out of touch with his son's views and lifestyle
• "Why you hysterical young fool, get back - or I'll - " - Arthur

  Mr.B implies here that Eric is a 'fool' because he is young. Ironically it is the older Arthur who nearly resorts to physical violence
• "You're beginning to pretend now that nothing's really happened at all" - Eric


  Eric sees that his parents are trying to 'pretend' that nothing has happened when it was suggested that the inspector was not real. He and Sheila, the younger characters, still feel responsible
• "It frightens me the way you talk" - Sheila


  Sheila is worried at the fact that her parents aren't taking any blame. Similarly, this quote conveys the stark differences in attitudes toward responsibility. Sheila has changed from a naïve character to an assertive woman who accepts blame, unlike her parents. This also mimics her mother's statement in the first act where Sybil condemns the way Sheila speaks