Show how Osborne’s Look Back in Anger presents disillusionment
of Post-War generation. / Show how Osborne’s Look Back in Anger presents the
mood and temper of Post-War England. / Give an estimate on the character of
Jimmy Porter./ Why is Look Back in Anger called a milestone in Post-War drama./ Do you think that Jimmy Porter is the product of the contemporary milieu? Argue your answer.
Look Back in Anger has generally
been regarded as an expression of the mood of disillusionment, frustration, and
rebelliousness of Post-War youth and Jimmy Porter has been regarded as the
spokesman of that Post-War generation. The play is a protest against
contemporary society. Jimmy seems to be a rebel against the society which had
betrayed the young people and against an older generation which had left the
younger people down. Jimmy feels that society has not treated him according to
his desires. He is a university graduate but he is running a sweet- stall. Of
course, nobody has compelled him to run a sweet stall, but he is already tried
his hand at various other occupation as well and has not been able to achieve
much success in any. He therefore, finds himself adrift, and is leading a
purposeless existence. He finds his Sundays to be depressing because they offer
him the same routine- reading the newspapers, drinking tea, ironing the
clothes. Even his playing upon the trumpet is just a kind of escape from his
boredom. He finds both his wife and his friend to be utterly devoid of any
life, animation, or enthusiasm.
Jimmy as a true representative of Post-War generation youth is also a
rebel against the class- distinctions of which he found himself to be a victim.
Alison’s parents had fiercely opposed Alison’s marriage to him, and that
opposition has left bitter memories of them in his mind. Alison, though now his
wife, still reminds him of the middle class from which she has come. Her
continuing to correspond with her mother means that she is to that extent on
the side of his enemy, namely, the middle class. He therefore, keeps talking
not only in a sarcastic and condemnatory manner about Alison’s parents and
Alison herself, but in a most offensive and insulting manner. Helena too in the
beginning is a red rag to him because she is another representative of the
arrogant middle class.
