Look Back in Anger By John Osborne
Look Back in Anger Short Essay
Introduction
Look Back in Anger shows life in 1950s Britain after World War II. Jimmy represents the angry young men who were educated but had few chances for good jobs. The play highlights the gap between working-class and upper-class people, along with struggles with money, love, and identity.
Conflict at Home
The play begins with Jimmy, Alison, and Cliff. Jimmy constantly insults Alison and her family, showing his anger at the upper class. He remembers his past happy days with his lover Madeline. Alison is pregnant, but unknowingly, Jimmy curses that her unborn child will die so she can feel real pain.
Breaking Relationships
Helena, Alison’s friend, encourages her to leave Jimmy. Colonel Redfern, Alison’s father, arrives to take her away. Before leaving, Alison writes a farewell letter. After her departure, Helena unexpectedly begins a relationship with Jimmy.
Return and Loss
Months later, Alison comes back after losing her baby. Helena realizes her mistake and leaves Jimmy. The tragedy finally brings Alison and Jimmy together again as they reconnect through their playful bear and squirrel game.
Conclusion
The play ends with Alison and Jimmy reunited, showing how pain and love shape relationships in a divided society.
Look Back in Anger By John Osborne in Tamil @Banumathi K's Literature Insights 👇
Look Back in Anger Detailed Summary
About the Author:
John James Osborne (12 December 1929 – 24 December 1994) was an English playwright, screenwriter, and actor. Some of his most famous works include The Entertainer (1957), Luther (1961), Inadmissible Evidence (1964), and A Better Class of Person (1981).About the Play:
Look Back in Anger is an autobiographical play based on John Osborne’s unhappy marriage to actress Pamela Lane and their life in cramped accommodation in Derby. It is a realist play, often described as a kitchen sink drama. The three-act play is set in a one-bedroom flat in the Midlands. It reflects the lack of working opportunities for young people in post-World War II society.
Characters:
💐Jimmy Porter -A young angry man
💐Alison Porter - Jimmy's wife
💐Cliff Lewis - Jimmy's close friend and roommate
💐Helena Charles - Actress; Alison's friend
💐Colonel Redfern - Alison's father; a retired army officer.
Jimmy Porter:
Jimmy Porter is born into a working-class background but is highly educated. However, he feels stuck because his education has not helped him rise in society. He runs a sweet stall with his friend Cliff, who is poorly educated. Jimmy is an angry man who often speaks out against the comfortable and lazy upper class, directing much of his anger toward his wife Alison and later Helena. His personality is a mix of kindness and cruelty, and his blunt honesty frequently pushes people away. Deep down, he feels frustrated, lonely, and useless in post-war England.
Alison Porter
Alison Porter comes from an upper-class background and is married to Jimmy Porter. Although she was initially attracted to Jimmy’s energy, she becomes worn out by their constant fights. Jimmy often accuses her of being too calm and lacking passion. Alison feels trapped between her upper-class roots and Jimmy’s working-class world, struggling to find her own place within their troubled marriage.
Cliff Lewis
Cliff Lewis is a kind man from a working-class background and a close friend and roommate to both Jimmy and Alison. He lives with them and often helps to keep their marriage together. With his easy-going and relaxed personality, sometimes bordering on laziness, he provides a calming presence in the household. Cliff has a gentle, self-taught intelligence and shares an affectionate, slightly flirtatious bond with Alison, though without strong passion. Eventually, he decides to start his own life and moves out of Jimmy’s apartment.
Helena Charles
Helena Charles is an upper-class friend of Alison and an actress who comes to stay with Jimmy and Alison while working in a play. She has a strong, matriarch-like authority that often makes men feel uneasy. When she first visits, she disapproves of Jimmy and Alison’s messy and emotional marriage. Concerned for Alison, she informs Alison’s parents about the problems and urges her to leave Jimmy. Later she is in relationship with Jimmy.
Colonel Redfern
Colonel Redfern is Alison’s father and a former British army colonel who served in colonial India before 1947. He is gentle and kind, but was raised to expect respect and obedience. After leaving India, he feels uneasy because his authority is no longer taken for granted. He remains stuck in the past, often remembering the old days of the British Empire. Jimmy criticizes him for living in an outdated version of England, and the Colonel himself admits this is true. Despite the tensions, he seems more concerned about Alison’s well-being than eager to break her marriage.
Act 1
The play begins on a Sunday morning, Alison is ironing clothes while Jimmy and Cliff read the newspaper. Jimmy is angry and talks a lot about how much he hates the upper class. He complains that Alison and people like her don't feel anything deeply because they haven't suffered. He insults Alison and her family. He even says all women are noisy and clumsy - try to ruin men. She's used to Jimmy's attacks, and won't give him the reaction that he wants.
Jimmy recalls that the last time he felt such enthusiasm was when he was with his former mistress, Madeline, whom he dated at eighteen and who was ten years older than him. When Cliff tries to lighten the mood, he and Jimmy playfully fight and bump into the ironing board. Alison burns her arm. Jimmy feels sorry, but Alison yells at him to leave.
After he leaves, Alison tells Cliff she pregnant but hasn't told Jimmy. She's afraid he will feel trapped. Cliff is kind to her and kisses her. Jimmy walks in but doesn't say anything. Later, Alison and Jimmy have a sweet moment and play their bear and squirrel game pretending to be animals who love cach other.
Then Cliff gets a phone call. It's Helena, Alison's rich friend, who wants to stay with them. Helena is working with an acting company nearby, and has nowhere to stay. Jimmy gets angry again and says he wishes Alison would have a baby that dies, just so she can feel real pain.
Act 2; Scene I
Helena and Alison doing house chores
Jimmy plays the trumpet. Alison worries that Miss Drury will kick them out of the apartment for making too much noise. Helena asks if Cliff is in love with Alison. Helena asks if Alison is in love with Cliff. Alison confirms that she and Cliff feel some attraction, but says that it's not a passionate feeling.
Alison said her friendship with Cliff was by chance and worked because he was kind. It was not the same with Hugh Tanner, Jimmy's childhood friend. After Jimmy finished university, he and Alison went to live with Hugh. She disliked Hugh Tanner from the moment they met on her wedding night.
Hugh began to join Jimmy in making fun of her. They used her connections to wealthy families to attend parties for food or money, acting like barbarians at each event. Alison felt like she was a prisoner from the upper class. Hugh enjoyed this life but sometimes caused trouble, like flirting at parties.
Hugh was writing a novel but decided to move to China because he no longer liked living in England. Jimmy argued with him, saying Hugh was quitting and leaving his mother behind. Hugh's mother had helped Jimmy start his sweet shop Alison doesn't dislike Hugh's mother she considers Hugh's mother ignorant.
In the end, Hugh went to China to look for a new life, and Jimmy and Alison moved into the apartment where they live now. Helena asks why Alison married Jimmy. Alison married Jimmy partly because her family disapproved, which made Jimmy fight for her more.
Helena tells her she needs to decide what to do since she has a baby to think about, but Alison just says she feels very tired. Helena tells Alison that she should inform Jimmy about the baby. She says Jimmy will either take the news well, or Alison will need to leave him. She says that Alison must fight, or escape—otherwise, Jimmy will kill her.
When Jimmy comes in, he hears that Helena and Alison plan to go to church. He gets upset, thinking Helena is trying to take Alison away. Then Jimmy lets fly an attack against Helena, saying that this is a cheap trick to win Alison to her side.
Jimmy says that Alison's mother used unfair tricks to protect her. Jimmy says Alison's mother judged him for his long hair and even hired a detective to watch him, trying to stop him from taking Alison away. Jimmy insult Alison's mom and upper class people. Helena fight for them but Alison remains calm.
When Jimmy was ten, he watched his father died. His father had been injured while fighting in the Spanish Civil War, and had returned to England only to die shortly after. Jimmy says he was the only one who cared. He says this taught him more about love, betrayal, death and life than anything Alison or Helena knows.
Jimmy leaves to answer the phone. While he's gone, Helena tells Alison that she has sent a message to Colonel Redfern, Alison's father, to come take her away the next day. Alison doesn't resist.
Jimmy comes back and says Hugh's mother had a stroke and she is dying. He asks Alison to come with him to the hospital, but she chooses to go to church instead. Jimmy is left alone.
Act 2, Scene 2
The next evening Alison is packing and talking with her father, Colonel Redfern. He found Jimmy unusual, an educated man running a sweet stall but admitted Jimmy was clever and honest.
The Colonel was an officer in the British military and served in India and he is nostalgic for his time there. He considers his service to be some of the best years of his life. He also agrees that Jimmy might be right in saying Redfern belongs to a world that's now gone. He sees Colonel Redfern as an old-fashioned man stuck in the past. Colonel Redfern accepted Jimmy's view on him and felt lost in the modern world.
The Colonel revealed that the bitter fights before Alison's marriage were partly his and her mother's fault, even confessing that her mother had once hired detectives to investigate Jimmy. She thinks for a moment about staying, but Helena enters and Alison decides to go. Helena arrived to help her pack.
Cliff came in and tried to persuade her to stay. She tells Cliff to take care of Jimmy, and glances around the room. She gave him a farewell letter for Jimmy. Alison says goodbye to Cliff and leaves with her father. After Alison left, Cliff and Helena talked about Jimmy's reaction. Cliff, unusually irritated, Ieft Helena with the letter.
Helena looks around the room, and eventually picks up the teddy bear, and lies down on the bed with it. He sees Colonel Redfern driving away earlier and notices Alison in the car, but he doesn't stop her or talk to her. Helena gives him a goodbye letter from Alison. Jimmy is angry about her polite tone. She should have written angry words, but instead she make a polite, emotional mess of it. Helena then tells him Alison is pregnant. He shows no emotion, insults Helena, and she slaps him. Then she kisses him passionately, and the act ends.
Act 3, Scene 1
A few months later, things look the same as in Act 1, but now Helena is ironing clothes. Cliff and Jimmy joke and read the newspaper. Cliff then tells Jimmy that he wants to move out of the apartment. Jimmy takes the news calmly and tells him that he has been a loyal, generous, and good friend and is worth more than any woman (six times more, in fact).
Helena says she loves Jimmy. She says she has always wanted him, and they kiss. Jimmy says that he'll close the sweet stall, and they'll leave together. Helena agrees.
Alison appears at the door, looking sick and weak. After a pause, Alison says hello. Jimmy says, to Helena, “friend of yours to see you, ” and exits.
Act 3, Scene 2
Jimmy is playing his jazz trumpet across the hall. Alison tells Helena she's not angry and doesn't want to break up Helena and Jimmy. But Helena says that Alison's return has reminded her that being with Jimmy is wrong. Alison says that Helena shouldn't leave Jimmy because he needs her.
Alison has had a miscarriage, and Helena sees it as a sign that her own relationship is wrong. Jimmy learns about miscarriage. Jimmy says that he isn't glad to think of anyone being ill or in pain, and that it was his child too. But, he says with a shrug, it isn't my first loss. Alison replies that it was her first loss.
Jimmy looks at her, then looks back at Helena. Helena tells Jimmy she's leaving. Jimmy tells her he always knew she'd leave when things got difficult. He says love isn't easy, it takes effort and courage. Helena leaves. Alison apologizes to Jimmy. He says she should've at least sent flowers when Hugh's mother died.
Alison cries and says losing her baby has made her understand Jimmy's feelings. She says she wants to feel pain and weakness too. She falls at his feet. Jimmy helps her up. Gently and teasingly, he starts their “bear and squirrel” game again. Alison joins him.He says, "Poor squirrels; ” and she replies, “Poor, poor bears.”
Look Back in Anger portrays life in 1950s Britain after World War II. Jimmy represents a whole generation of young men from the 1950s who were angry at society and felt deeply disappointed. They felt stuck, with little chance to improve their lives—many had education but few opportunities for good jobs. The working class and upper class often failed to understand each other, which created social tension. The play highlights real problems of the time, such as money worries, boredom, and personal conflicts.
Themes:
💐Class Conflict
💐Marital Strain and Domestic Discontent
💐Alienation and Isolation
💐 Love and Betrayal
💐Generational Gap
💐Disillusionment and Frustration
💐Masculinity and Gender Roles
💐Change vs. Tradition
💐Friendship and Loyalty
💐Escape and Resignation
Look Back in Anger By John Osborne in Tamil @Banumathi K's Literature Insights 👇
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