How is class conflict portrayed in Look Back in Anger?

In Look Back in Anger, the sorrows, hopelessness and anger of the working class are depicted and the conflict between the upper class and the lower class is also demonstrated. In the post-war period, after World War II, in England, a great change in social values took place.

What is the main theme in Look Back in Anger ‘?

Disillusionment and Nostalgia Look Back in Anger is the archetypical play of the “angry young men” movement in British theater, which was marked by working class authors writing plays about their disillusionment with British society. In Osborne’s play, we see this in Jimmy’s sense of political emptiness.

Why does Jimmy provoke Alison and Cliff?

Jimmy complains that the Sunday papers are boring, and also that they make him “feel ignorant.” He taunts Cliff for not being smarter, then taunts Alison, asking her if the papers make her feel stupid, too, even though she’s not a “peasant” like Cliff.

What is the relationship between Jimmy and Cliff in Look Back in Anger?

The Jimmy-Cliff duo in Look Back in Anger presents a picture of genuine Platonic friendship between two men, despite their similarity in values and disparity in responses. The early part of the play leads us to suspect Cliff to turn out to be the intrusive agent in the Jimmy-Alison alliance.

How does Jimmy social class and anger lead to alienation in Look Back in Anger?

Jimmy Porter feels alienated from both his wife and society in general. He is a struggling middle class working man who is bored and confined by his monotonous life. His wife Alison has come to accept life, silently bearing any and all burdens. Jimmy feels resentful of Alison’s aloofness and indifferent…

What is the relationship between Jimmy and Alison?

Jimmy saw a potential threat in Alison. She represented everything he could not stand and everything he had hated. That is why he could not love her as any other girl. She never acted in a way which would provoke his outbursts of rage and anger but she had to put up with them nonetheless.

What are the reasons for Jimmy’s anger against his wife?

Even at the beginning of the play, he asks his friend Cliff, “Do the Sunday papers make you feel ignorant?” Jimmy is bitter because, as a working-class person, he has not had the opportunity to be educated, and he resents his wife, Alison, as he believes that she has had an easier life as a member of the middle class.

What brought the clash between Jimmy and Helena?

Helena was a source of triangular rivalry to Jimmy; she temporarily threatens his abilities to control Alison. However, after Alison leaves, Jimmy takes Helena as a counteractive lover, rather than a passive wife. Cliff is dis-enchanted by Helena’s presence in Jimmy’s life, even though it made Jimmy relatively calmer.

What are the differences between Alison and Helena?

Alison is less excitable and doesn’t stir up as much trouble as Helena. The two women appear to be aligned in many ways and are supposedly friends, but Alison is more practical and is willing to walk away from Jimmy, whereas Helena seems willing to put up with his poor behavior.

What does bear and squirrel represent in Look Back in Anger?

The ‘bear-and-squirrel’ game in Look Back in Anger signifies the conjugal relationship of Jimmy Porter and Alison. The ‘bear’ and the ‘squirrel’ represent Jimmy and Alison respectively. They are the stuffed toys that Alison and Jimmy keep on their dressing table or in the chest of drawers.

How did Jimmy Porter react to the social class system in England?

Another way for Jimmy to reveal his great hate for the classes above him is his contempt for Alison’s entire past. Jimmy spoke for a large segment of the British population in 1956 when he ranted about his alienation from a society in which he was denied any meaningful role.

What was the reason that Alison decided to marry Jimmy?

He asked her to marry him because she made him forget that the world wasn’t worth liking after becoming bitter and disillusioned following his father’s six-month struggle with death, during which time Jimmy sat with him and listened to him talk and talk.