Look Back in Anger

Look Back in
Anger
Study Guide by Course Hero
derision. He expresses outrage over the political and social

What's Inside conditions of post–World War II England, which to him are a
great disappointment in terms of hope for the people.
j Book Basics ................................................................................................. 1
d In Context ..................................................................................................... 1
d In Context
a Author Biography ..................................................................................... 3
h Characters .................................................................................................. 4
Osborne Changes British
k Plot Summary ............................................................................................. 6
Theater
c Scene Summaries .................................................................................. 13
British theater after World War II (1939–45) specialized in
g Quotes ........................................................................................................ 23
Victorian classics and genteel drawing-room affairs. Whether
l Symbols ...................................................................................................... 25 comedy or drama, these types of plays reflected the lives of
the upper and middle classes and portrayed safe, acceptable
m Themes ...................................................................................................... 26 subjects. The 1956 debut of John Osborne's Look Back in
Anger severely disrupted staid British theater. Osborne's play
wasn't the sole catalyst for such an upheaval in British
culture—other novelists and playwrights were pushing the
j Book Basics conservative boundaries as well. One example is the 1954
novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding (1911–93), which
AUTHOR explored humanity's innate savagery by demonstrating the
John Osborne cruelty of children who turn against each other while stranded
on an island without adult supervision. In theater, Irish
FIRST PERFORMED playwright Samuel Beckett's groundbreaking Waiting for Godot
1956 premiered in England in 1955 (it was published in 1952 and first
performed in French as En attendant Godot in 1953). Look
GENRE
Back in Anger certainly helped ignite change, and the play
Drama
attracted an audience eager for something new.
ABOUT THE TITLE
The term kitchen-sink drama refers to dramas focusing on the
Look Back in Anger refers to the complex emotional state of
nitty-gritty of everyday life. These were plays and films
the play's main character, Jimmy Porter. Educated, in his
depicting young, working-class people struggling to get by,
mid-20s, and married, but barely making ends meet, Jimmy is
marriages in disarray, disillusioned youth, and matters of race
frustrated by the lack of future he sees in economically
and sexuality. These works were a far cry from the traditional
depressed England. He views the past and the old ways and
offerings of the British theater. Osborne's Look Back in Anger
ideas that brought about this environment with resentment and
garnered notoriety for its main character Jimmy Porter, a
Look Back in Anger Study Guide In Context 2
brash, unrelenting "angry young man." This character both out who he is.
resents and misses the simplicity of the past. However, he
sees no clear future in a country struggling to recover from In the mid-1970s, not long after Quadrophenia came out, the
World War II and losing its status as the preeminent world punk movement exploded. While punk rock was very much an
power. A review of the play when it opened described it as American invention, it took England's Sex Pistols' album Never
possessing "qualities one had despaired of ever seeing on the Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols (1977) to make it an
stage." international front-page story. The Sex Pistols' song "God Save
the Queen" rails against the monarchy and Britain's depressed
The language, the attitude, and the disdain for so much of economy. Its lyrics included "no future for you," a rallying cry
England and its culture in Osborne's play in a sense for British youth at the time. As punk began to fade at the end
revolutionized British theater. Other like-minded of the decade, a new crop of "angry young men" from England
writers—collectively referred to as the "Angry Young began to make waves: British singer Graham Parker, British
Men"—gained the spotlight as well: Kingsley Amis (Lucky Jim, singer-songwriter Elvis Costello, and British musician and
1954), Alan Sillitoe (Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, 1958), singer-songwriter Joe Jackson. They shunned the punk label,
and Arnold Wesker (Chicken Soup with Barley, 1958) being a opting for more melodic and lyrical yet prickly music. But they
few such artists. These writers shared a kindred spirit with the continued in the vein of Jimmy Porter, spitting out songs
nonconformist Beat poets, who wrote stream of dealing with personal identity (or lack thereof) and cultural
consciousness–style poetry inspired by the rhythms of jazz politics. Costello's debut album My Aim Is True (1977) features
music, and writers in America in the 1950s. Those young men the track "Welcome to the Working Week." Its lyrics are
were also shrugging off the constraints and mores of reminiscent of Osborne's character: "Welcome to the working
conservative culture and rewriting the language and limitations week / You got to do it till you're through it."
of what their novels, plays, and poetry could explore. American
writer Jack Kerouac (1922–69) may not have created an "angry
young man" like Osborne's Jimmy, but both writers were Post–World War II England
paving the way for new voices and ideas to disturb the
oppressive status quo. When World War II ended, Britain was devastated. London had
been bombed by Germany so many times that large areas of
the city were reduced to rubble. Other areas of the country
The Angry Young Man needed immense repair as well. The country had been on a war
footing and now needed to shift back to a peacetime economy.
John Osborne's play—and the character Jimmy Porter A great amount of money was needed to rebuild England's
specifically—is often cited as the start of the "angry young infrastructure and turn the economy around. But the country
man" phenomenon. However, this sentiment did not end with was essentially bankrupt. National work programs were
Osborne's revolutionary play. The concept of the angry young introduced, and social welfare legislation was passed to help
man became a reliable conceit for interpretation and the British citizenry, such as the National Health Service and
reinvention over the ensuing decades. The sociopolitical education programs for all citizens, all at great cost. Loans
frustration Jimmy experiences, as well as the identity dilemma from other countries like the United States were necessary.
of not knowing who you are or where you belong as the world England began pulling out of countries it had controlled at the
around you keeps changing, has been rich fodder for British height of the British Empire, such as India. It was apparent to
musicians. The Who's 1973 album Quadrophenia deals almost England and the world that the United States instead was
exclusively with a young man's search for identity in England of asserting itself as the premier world power. The Americans'
the early 1960s (not long after Osborne's play debuted). It's Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after the war was a testament
unclear whether British songwriter Pete Townshend, born right to America's financial and military power.
after World War II in 1945, is directly channeling Osborne's
main character for his own. Like Osborne's, Townshend's main In this economically unstable environment, people like the
character is a young, working-class stiff named Jimmy with a character Jimmy Porter grew up to be young men. Their once
mindless job who lashes out at people as he struggles to find great nation weathered severe damage during the war—which
they were too young to have fought in—and was now fading as
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Look Back in Anger Study Guide Author Biography 3
a dominant world power. The majority of British people on his marriage to Lane while they lived with a friend in London.
struggled to make a living. While programs like national health The play was rejected at first by the theaters Osborne sent it
care and accessible education helped considerably, the future to, but it was finally picked up by the London Royal Court
was not bright for educated lower-class and working-class Theatre and directed by English film and theater director Tony
youths. Osborne's play, which was first performed when he Richardson. The play quickly gathered an audience—despite
was 27, in 1956, was in part a reaction to the socioeconomic the unenthusiastic critical reviews. It became by all measures a
conditions he'd lived through. His character Jimmy is angry at hit, and it was unlike any play London had ever seen. Osborne
his country, his wife, his dead-end job, and his seemingly followed Look Back in Anger with The Entertainer (1957), a look
hopeless future. It is a life he was not led to expect as a child at England's decline after World War II (1939–45) in the guise
growing up before the war started. of a sleazy former music hall comedian. Renowned actor
Laurence Olivier, who commissioned the work, played the lead
and gave one of his finest performances on either stage or
a Author Biography film. Osborne wrote many other plays over the next decade,
which brought him great success, both financially and in
proving himself an important voice in British culture. He also
started a film company with director Tony Richardson.
Early Life Osborne won an Academy Award in 1964 for Tom Jones, his
adaptation of the classic novel by English novelist and
John James Osborne was born into a lower-middle-class playwright Henry Fielding (1707–54).
London family on December 12, 1929. His father was a
commercial artist and a copywriter and his mother was a The outspoken playwright who created the outspoken angry
barmaid. His parents had been separated since Osborne's young man Jimmy Porter remained true to his acerbic view of
birth, and his father passed away when he was barely a life through much of his career. His controversial remarks were
teenager. Osborne grew to despise his mother. He once wrote often quoted in British papers; Osborne never shied from
that to her, hospitality was as unknown as friendship. giving his opinion, and he usually made good copy. His work
Osborne's childhood was difficult, as his sister died when John covered a wide and evocative array of subjects: satire of
was two and the family moved often. "Disappointment was British royalty (The Blood of the Bambergs, 1962),
oxygen" to his family, he wrote later in life. homosexuality and the decline of empires (A Patriot for Me,
1965), and the collapse of an adulterous marriage (Watch It
He attended Belmont College in Devon, England, which he Come Down, 1975). In 1992 in his last play he returned to
didn't like. After striking the headmaster, he promptly left Jimmy Porter as a middle-aged man living comfortably in the
college and returned to London and his mother's home. He country in Déjàvu. It is still the same Jimmy, only now he
tried his hand at journalism and eventually joined a theatrical pontificates about antismoking campaigns, gay rights
touring company. He began acting, and he also served as protesters, and self-obsessed celebrities.
manager for a series of small repertory, or theater production,
companies outside of London. He wrote his first play, The Devil
Inside Him, in 1950 at age 21. A year later Osborne married his Later Years and Legacy
first wife, Pamela Lane, a fellow actor.
Osborne lived with the same ferocity and passion as his most
famous character. The playwright was married five times and
Success as a Playwright was a dedicated drinker and smoker. He died on December 24,
1994, at age 65. Earlier that year, a collection of his prose titled
During a touring company stay in Morecambe on the northwest Damn You, England was published and was well received. In an
coast of England along the Irish Sea, Osborne wrote the play interview before his death, the diabetic Osborne told the
that would change the English theatrical world. It would also reporter his health was failing. According to the playwright, in
establish him as one of the country's most influential modern regard to his declining health, "Who wants to live to 110 anyway
playwrights. Written in 17 days, Look Back in Anger was based if it means not smoking or drinking?"

Look Back in Anger Study Guide Characters 4
With his play Look Back in Anger, Osborne birthed a writers'

movement called the Angry Young Men. This group scorned Cliff Lewis
elitism and the higher classes and railed against the state of
post–World War II England. The play transformed British Cliff Lewis is Welsh, an old friend of Jimmy Porter's, and he
theater and paved the way for other writers, such as John frequently endures his friend's malicious wrath. He shares a
Braine (1922–87), who wrote the novel Room at the Top (1957), similar background to Jimmy as well as his disillusionment with
and Alan Sillitoe (1928–2010), who wrote the novel Saturday modern England. But while he often agrees with Jimmy, he also
Night and Sunday Morning (1958). sets himself apart from his friend with his laid-back, genuine
character and more hopeful view of life. Cliff is particularly
fond of Alison Porter and often serves as a protector or buffer
h Characters
between her and Jimmy. Cliff and Alison are remarkably
affectionate toward each other, to Jimmy's amusement and
annoyance. Cliff helps Jimmy with the sweets stall. He spends
much of his leisure time in the Porters' one-room apartment
Jimmy Porter even though he apparently has a room of his own in the same
building.
Jimmy Porter is an educated young man in post–World War II
England. He is disillusioned with life in general—his own life, his
wife and marriage, and his country. He is a relentless critic of Helena Charles
everything around him, sometimes acerbic and hurtful,
sometimes playful and vulgar. His wife, Alison, is his primary Helena Charles is an actress and one of Alison Porter's oldest
target, though his good friend Cliff is also subject to Jimmy's friends. She is aware of the negative marriage situation Alison
invective. His claims of honesty can be purposely cruel and is in, and she is not a fan of Jimmy Porter. Helena comes to
equally sincere. Bred of lower-class roots, Jimmy harbors stay in the same building with the Porters while passing
severe resentment toward England's middle and upper through with a touring show. She urges Alison to leave and
classes—from which his wife was bred. While he is capable of return to her parents. Jimmy does not like or trust Helena.
occasional tenderness and sensitivity, Jimmy makes life Their interactions are often vitriolic, with both threatening
difficult and antagonistic for everyone around him. physical violence. Though offended by Jimmy, Helena is also
somewhat fascinated by such a prideful loudmouth, and she
eventually acts on her desires.
Alison Porter
Alison is a young, educated woman stuck in a difficult marriage
with a difficult man. Bred of upper-class stock, she shunned
her parents' admonitions against marrying Jimmy—especially
her mother's angry and somewhat vindictive threats. Alison
simply tries to survive the heated and antagonistic environment
she lives in. She takes solace in the occasional letter from her
parents, Cliff Lewis's affection and kindness, and the
occasional sparks of genuine care and tenderness her
husband shows. She feels she and Jimmy have a unique
connection, though she doubts this alone is enough to sustain
their marriage.

Look Back in Anger Study Guide Characters 5
Character Map
Alison Porter
Young woman; trapped in
a difficult marriage
Friends
Friends
Spouses
Adversaries
and
lovers Cliff Lewis
Helena Charles Jimmy Porter
Friend, neighbor, buffer,
Touring actress Intelligent, angry young man Friends protector
Father-in-law
Colonel Redfern Father

Retired military commander;
often confused
Main Character
Other Major Character
Minor Character

Look Back in Anger Study Guide Plot Summary 6
Full Character List Mrs. Tanner, who does not appear on

stage, is Hugh Tanner's mother and the
person who set Jimmy Porter up with
Mrs. Tanner
the sweets stall. Jimmy is very fond of
Character Description
her, and he stays with her when she is
dying.
Jimmy Porter is a 25-year-old educated
man who runs a sweets stall. He is
Jimmy Porter Webster, who is mentioned in the course
married to Alison Porter and is best
of the play, is a friend of Alison Porter's.
friends with Cliff Lewis.
Webster Jimmy Porter believes Webster is gay
and so must understand suffering, as
Alison Porter is an unhappy young Jimmy does.
woman married to Jimmy Porter. She is
Alison Porter
estranged from her upper-class family
because she married Jimmy.
k Plot Summary
Cliff Lewis is Jimmy and Alison Porter's
neighbor and friend. He helps Jimmy
Cliff Lewis
with the sweets stall and has a
protective fondness for Alison.
Act 1
Helena Charles is an old friend of Alison
Helena Look Back in Anger takes place over three acts and
and her family. Helena is a touring
Charles
actress. approximately four months. The setting is Jimmy and Alison
Porter's small attic apartment. The play opens with Jimmy and
Alison Porter's mother is fiercely his friend Cliff Lewis sitting in leather armchairs reading papers
protective of her daughter and had tried and magazines on a Sunday night. Alison is in the room too,
Alison's in the past to keep Alison from marrying
doing some ironing. Jimmy is the driving force of the play. He is
mother Jimmy Porter. Because of this, Jimmy
despises her. She is only mentioned in a young man frustrated with his life, and he takes his
the play. frustrations and anger out on everyone around him. At times
charming and sensitive, he is often aggressive and demanding,
Madeline is an old flame of Jimmy full of opinions about the world and his wife and friends. Cliff
Porter's, who is 10 years older than he is.
sometimes acts as a buffer between Jimmy and Alison, though
Madeline Though Madeline does not appear on
stage, Jimmy contrasts her enthusiastic with limited effect. Alison comes from a privileged background,
nature with Alison's passiveness. and Jimmy is educated but works selling sweets from a street
stall. Alison's life with Jimmy is not what she hoped for when
Nigel is Alison Porter's brother. He is a she turned away from her family to marry him.
politician, and Jimmy derides him for
Nigel
being "vague." Nigel does not appear in As Jimmy and Cliff read their papers, Jimmy opines on a
the play.
myriad of topics—the actions of a local bishop, how Cliff
doesn't fold the papers correctly, dying British culture, how
Colonel Redfern is a retired military
Colonel slothful and empty his wife can be. He laments they are all too
officer and Alison's father. He rarely
Redfern passive and says they need to do something in the world
sees his daughter.
rather than just sitting around. Jimmy rants about how horrible
Hugh Tanner is an old friend of Jimmy Alison's mother is, how tied to the past her father is, and what
Porter's. He and Alison Porter do not get a vacuous political aspirant her brother is. He antagonizes
Hugh Tanner
along. Tanner is referenced in the play Alison with the word pusillanimous (which means timid or
but does not appear in the action.
cowardly), which he's recently learned, claiming it is the perfect
word to describe her. Cliff and Jimmy begin playfully wrestling
around the apartment, and Jimmy pushes Cliff into the ironing
board. The iron burns Alison's arm. She yells at Jimmy to leave

the apartment. Jimmy asks Helena if she has ever watched someone die. She
replies she hasn't. He then tells them about watching his
While Cliff attends to Alison's injury, she tells him she's soldier father die slowly when he was only 10. He relates how
pregnant—but she hasn't told Jimmy yet. Cliff urges her to tell confusing it was and how angry and helpless he felt. Helena
Jimmy, but she is afraid of how he'll react. When Jimmy returns, exits to prepare for church. Jimmy accuses Alison of being an
Cliff leaves to get them more cigarettes. Jimmy apologizes for unfaithful Judas, but Alison says all she wants is "a little peace."
hurting her arm but admits he did it on purpose. He says he still
can't stop wanting her after four years of marriage. They Helena returns and tells Jimmy he has a phone call. When he
playfully pretend to be like the stuffed teddy bear (Jimmy) and leaves, she also tells Alison she has wired her father to come
squirrel (Alison) they keep on their dresser. It is a childish game pick her up the following day. Alison agrees she will leave.
they share as a refuge from the cruelties of the world outside. When Jimmy returns, he is upset. The mother of a good friend
Cliff returns and tells Alison she has a phone call from her has had a stroke and is dying. He has to leave for London
friend Helena Charles. Jimmy roots through Alison's purse immediately. He expects Alison to go with him, but she silently
while she is taking the call, telling Cliff marriage has made him walks to the door and leaves with Helena for church.
"predatory and suspicious." Alison returns and tells them
Helena will be staying in the building while she's in town for a
traveling show she is in. Jimmy does not like Helena, and he Act 2, Scene 2
argues with Alison. He says Alison is far too naive and
innocent, and he wishes something would happen to her to The following day, Alison's father, Colonel Redfern, is watching
wake her from her privileged "beauty sleep." Jimmy even his daughter pack up her things to leave. They discuss Jimmy,
suggests she could have a child and it could die. Maybe then and the colonel confesses he always thought Jimmy was
she would feel something, like suffering or anguish. He exits, clever in his own way. Alison tells her father about how he
leaving Alison and Cliff stunned. expects allegiance from the people around him. The colonel
admits he feels they went too far in trying to stop the marriage
between Jimmy and Alison. He says he was horrified by some
Act 2, Scene 1 of the things his wife did, like hiring detectives to investigate
Jimmy. He suggests he and Alison might have been most to
Two weeks later Alison and Helena are preparing Sunday blame for how bad things got because they are both fence
afternoon tea. Jimmy is playing trumpet in a room down the sitters who prefer to avoid conflicts. Alison doesn't agree. Her
hall. Alison tries to explain to Helena about how difficult their father acknowledges he doesn't understand modern England.
marriage has become. She is cut off from her family and It is so different than when he left it as a young man to serve in
doesn't really have any friends but Cliff and Helena, who is India. He's baffled by young people like his daughter and
always traveling. Helena has seen enough of the way Jimmy Jimmy.
treats Alison, and she urges her friend to leave him for the
sake of the baby. Helena doesn't understand why Alison Helena arrives to help Alison pack her things. The colonel
married someone like Jimmy. Alison tells her about how they thanks her for letting them know about what has been
met and fell in love. Her parents were vehemently opposed to happening between Alison and Jimmy. Cliff arrives to say
the marriage, but Jimmy acted like a "knight in shining armor" goodbye to Alison. She gives him an envelope to give to Jimmy
to win and keep her. Nevertheless Helena says Alison has to when he returns. Alison and her father leave. Cliff doesn't want
fight Jimmy and leave. to be around when Jimmy arrives, so he gives the envelope to
Helena and departs. Jimmy comes into the apartment agitated.
Cliff and Jimmy arrive for tea, and Jimmy immediately starts He tells Helena his father-in-law nearly ran him over with his
deriding Alison in front of her friend. Helena is angered and car and Cliff practically ignored him as he entered the building.
offended by the things Jimmy says about Alison and Alison's Helena gives him the envelope. He reads it aloud and begins
mother, and she challenges him, threatening to slap his face. deriding the sentimentality of it. He says Alison didn't even
Jimmy threatens to hit her back. When Alison says she is going have the courage to say she hates him and hopes he rots. The
to church with Helena this evening, Jimmy mocks both of them letter was phonier than he could have imagined.
and religion. He accuses Helena of trying to win her over.

Helena tells Jimmy that Alison is pregnant and she had to get
away from him. Jimmy is taken aback at the news, but then Act 3, Scene 2
quickly dismisses it, saying he doesn't care. He has spent the
past day sitting beside his friend's mother as she died, and Helena and Alison have tea and discuss what has happened
Alison wouldn't go with him. He doesn't care about a "cruel, between them and Jimmy. Jimmy's trumpet playing can be
stupid girl" having a baby. Helena slaps him viciously. He covers heard from down the hall. Alison tells her she lost the baby.
his face. Helena pulls his hand away and kisses him She has tried to come to the apartment a number of times but
passionately as they lie down on the bed together. could never make the trip all the way. She wanted to come
back to convince herself what happened here really did
happen. Helena apologizes for moving in with Jimmy; Alison
Act 3, Scene 1 says she has no reason to apologize. But Helena says she still
believes in right and wrong, and what she did was wrong, even
evil. She feels Alison's miscarriage was a judgment against all
It's several months later. Another Sunday night: Jimmy and Cliff
of them.
are reading their papers and Helena is behind them ironing.
The two men bicker about what they read, as they usually do, Helena says she has figured out what's wrong with Jimmy: he
with Jimmy declaring his opinions on the news of the past was born into the wrong time. They muse he should've been
week. He jokes about an evil orgy in a nearby town where there born during the French Revolution (1787–99)—when the
is a sacrifice and people drink blood. Jimmy and Helena joke French citizens overthrew the monarchy and established a
about performing their own sacrifice—perhaps using Cliff. It's republic—or the Victorian era of the mid-1800s—the time
the usual Sunday activity, only now Jimmy is a little less hostile. period in England characterized by polite manners and social
He does chide Helena about her faith and going to church, as conformity. This is why he's so futile, says Helena, and why
he finds religion to be outdated and doesn't understand her "he'll never amount to anything." Helena is going to leave
interest in it. He makes fun of the church by comparing faith to Jimmy—not to step aside for Alison, but because Helena feels
the bodybuilder ads in the magazines he reads that promise what she has done is morally wrong. She hopes Alison doesn't
weaklings a muscular body. Helena asks him to stop; he return to Jimmy. Alison says maybe they're both wrong for him.
changes the subject. He and Cliff fall into a familiar skit about a He'd prefer a cross between a mother and a prostitute. Helena
man looking for "nobody." Then they break into song about a can no longer stand the trumpet playing, and she yells down
man who marries a woman from a higher class (which could be the hall for Jimmy to stop.
referencing Alison and Helena).
Jimmy enters. He notices Alison looks "ghastly." He says he
When Helena leaves to wash Cliff's dirty shirt, Cliff tells Jimmy knows what happened—it was his child too—but it wasn't his
he's going to move somewhere else for a change of pace. first loss. Helena tells him she is leaving immediately. She
Jimmy says he'll miss his friend but understands why he wants explains it's her decision and Alison had nothing to do with it.
to make his own way. Jimmy confesses he knows Helena can't Helena says she can't be happy doing something so wrong. As
give him what he needs or wants. He wonders why men let she leaves, Jimmy tells Helena everyone wants "to escape
women bleed them to death. He suggests their generation has from the pain of being alive" and love can be a very messy
no good causes to fight for like their parents' generation thing. If she can't bear the idea of getting messy, she should be
did—in a sense they can only be butchered by women. Cliff a saint instead. Helena leaves.
leaves, and Jimmy tells Helena he thinks they are worthy
opponents. Helena says she loves him. Jimmy suggests they Jimmy tells Alison that he believes the strongest creatures are
leave town and make a new start somewhere else together. the loneliest. He reminds Alison of the first night they met and
Helena agrees. As they are leaving to go celebrate, the door how relaxed she seemed to him, and how much strength he
opens and Alison enters. She looks frazzled and very sickly. thought she had. But he learned while they were married she
didn't really have strength—she'd never had an ounce of
distress in her life. He says he may be a "lost cause," but he
thought her love could help him. Alison says she wants to be a
lost cause—she doesn't want to be a saint. When she lost the

baby, she wanted to die. She had never felt anything so painful
in her life. She realized it was the kind of suffering Jimmy
wanted her to have to become stronger and more human. She
collapses at his feet and he picks her up, holding her. Jimmy
says they can be together in their pretend bear cave and look
out for each other. They can protect each other from all the
world's traps lying in wait.

Plot Diagram
Climax
7
10 Falling Action
Rising Action
6
11
5
4 12
3 Resolution
2
1
Introduction
Introduction Climax
1. Jimmy and Alison Porter are in an antagonistic relationship. 9. As Jimmy's new girlfriend, Helena takes Alison's place.
Rising Action Falling Action
2. Cliff Lewis seems better suited for Alison Porter. 10. Alison returns, revealing she has had a miscarriage.
3. While Jimmy is out, Alison tells Cliff she is pregnant. 11. Helena tells Jimmy she is leaving him.
4. Cliff urges her to tell Jimmy, but Alison is afraid.
5. Helena Charles comes to stay in the same building.

Resolution
6. Jimmy and Helena argue, causing romantic sparks.
12. Jimmy and Alison realize they need each other for solace.
7. Helena convinces Alison to move to her parents' house.
8. Helena tells Jimmy Alison is pregnant, but he doesn't care.

Timeline of Events
April 1956
On a typical Sunday evening, Jimmy and Cliff argue over

the papers while Alison irons.
The same night
Jimmy pushes Cliff into the ironing board and Alison's

arm is burned.
Later the same night
Alison tells Cliff she's pregnant and Jimmy doesn't know

yet.
Alison receives a phone call that her friend Helena is

coming to stay.
Two weeks later
Jimmy, Alison, Cliff, and Helena have tea; Jimmy and

Helena fight.
The same night
Jimmy tells all of them about caring for his dying father
when he was a child.
Helena urges Alison to leave Jimmy for the health of her

baby.
A few minutes later
Jimmy wants Alison to go to London with him; Alison and

Helena go to church instead.
The following evening
Alison's father, Colonel Redfern, comes to pick her up

and bring her home.
Later that evening

Jimmy learns Alison is gone; Helena tells him Alison is

pregnant; Jimmy and Helena embrace.
Several months later
On a typical Sunday evening, Jimmy and Cliff discuss the

papers and joke while Helena irons.
The same night
Cliff tells Jimmy he's going to move somewhere else to

strike out on his own.
A few minutes later
Jimmy suggests he and Helena start a new life together

in another city.
Immediately after
Alison returns to the apartment, having lost the baby.
A few minutes later
Alison and Helena talk about Jimmy and the situation

between all of them.
Shortly after
Helena tells Jimmy she is leaving him.
A few minutes later
Jimmy and Alison decide they are broken and need each
other for solace.

Look Back in Anger Study Guide Scene Summaries 13
noticed her. Neither Cliff nor Alison reacts to Jimmy's story.

c Scene Summaries Jimmy declares he hates their Sunday ritual—"a few more
hours, and another week gone. Our youth is slipping away." He
rants that "no one can raise themselves out of their delicious
Act 1 sloth," and he longs for "a little ordinary human enthusiasm."
Bored, Jimmy tries to find something on the radio. There's a

Vaughan Williams (a contemporary English composer) concert
Summary on—"something strong, something simple, something English."
Jimmy laments how international life in England has become.
The play is set in a large town in the Midlands, England, in April. He suggests Alison's father may have been right when he
The stage directions describe the Porters' one-room attic returned from his 30-year post in India: England has changed.
apartment. It has slanted walls and low windows. Its simple, old Though he thinks his father-in-law's sunny memory of England
furniture includes a bed, bookshelf, dining table with three before leaving for India is completely phony, Jimmy admits he
chairs, and two shabby leather armchairs downstage center. agrees a little bit. "It's pretty dreary living in the American Age,"
Jimmy Porter is described as a combination of "sincerity and he says.
cheerful malice, of tenderness and freebooting cruelty;
restless, importunate, full of pride." Some consider him Jimmy asks if Alison's friend Webster is coming to visit. Alison
oversensitive; others think him a "loudmouth." Cliff Lewis is and Jimmy know Webster doesn't like Jimmy, even though
described as rumpled looking, "easy and relaxed, almost to Jimmy thinks they're alike. Webster, who is likely gay, has an
lethargy," and a "soothing, natural counterpoint to Jimmy." "edge" to him, which Jimmy likes because it exhilarates him.
Alison Porter has "the most elusive personality" of the three. Alison compares him to Jimmy's old girlfriend, who was 10
She has "a well-bred malaise" and "a surprising reservation years older than Jimmy. "He owes just about everything to
about her eyes." Madeline," Alison adds with her own edge. Jimmy says
Madeline "had more animation in her little finger" than Alison
It is another Sunday evening, and Jimmy and Cliff are sitting in and Cliff combined. Webster is the only friend of Alison's worth
the armchairs reading through the papers. Alison is behind anything, says Jimmy. Cliff again tries to placate Jimmy.
them, ironing clothes. Jimmy complains about the papers
making people feel ignorant and suggests Cliff is ignorant. He Jimmy turns to the topic of Alison's brother, Nigel, a local
begins to insult Alison—"she hasn't had a thought for politician. He asked Jimmy to "step outside" once when he said
years!"—and Cliff comes to her defense. Jimmy says he's Alison and Nigel's mother was "evil minded." Jimmy rants about
hungry, and Cliff accuses him of always being hungry, "like a how Nigel is vague about everything, like a true politician. He's
sexual maniac" but with food. He jokingly envisions Jimmy almost invisible, says Jimmy, and without conscience, playing
being arrested for untoward hunger deeds with a cabbage and on people's stupidity. When Alison becomes visibly agitated,
tins of beans. Jimmy says people like him don't get fat, Jimmy smells blood and declares Nigel represents "the little
suggesting Cliff, who is larger, does gain weight. They continue woman's family." He says Nigel and Alison are pusillanimous
to bicker over the papers and magazines and about who gets (timid or lacking courage), even though their parents will "kick
to read which. you in the groin while you're handing your hat to the maid." Cliff
tries to change the subject, but Jimmy won't be stopped.
Cliff flirts overtly with Alison, which Jimmy dismisses. Jimmy
relates a letter in the paper about a local bishop who is Jimmy says he's been married to a "monument to non-
accused of supporting the rich over the poor. Neither Cliff nor attachment" and only recently discovered there was a word to
Alison is paying attention. He asks Alison if the person who describe her. Mercilessly, he continues his rant, saying "Lady
wrote the letter could be her father, but she doesn't Pusillanimous" sounds like a "fleshy Roman matron" who was
understand. Jimmy then tells them about an American "promised a brighter easier world" than her husband can offer.
preacher who came to London recently and preached to a Alison can't remain silent—she says she'll go out of her mind if
large crowd. A woman who went to "declare herself" was he doesn't stop. But Jimmy doesn't stop, reading the definition
trampled by the zealous crowd and broke four ribs. No one of pusillanimous from the dictionary to Alison. She steels

herself and continues ironing. drink. Jimmy flirtatiously says he'd like to do something else.
Alison kisses him. She says he has to wait until later—Cliff will
Cliff and Alison begin talking, and Alison continues ironing be back any minute. Jimmy asks Alison if she's fond of Cliff,
while Jimmy is trying to listen to the radio. He is annoyed and and she says she is. "He's the only friend I seem to have left
asks them to be quiet. He then wonders why women have to now," Jimmy admits. He used to have many friends when he
make so much noise in everything they do, suggesting Alison is was at school. He mentions Mrs. Tanner, his friend Hugh
insensitive and clumsy to make as much noise as she does. Tanner's mom, who is selling Jimmy the sweets stall he runs.
Then the nearby church bells begin to ring loudly. Jimmy He can't understand why Alison is so distant with her. Alison
shouts for them to stop because "there's somebody going can feel Jimmy's mood turning; she asks him not to start on
crazy in here!" Cliff offers to take them out for a drink. When this subject again.
this doesn't work, he suggests they dance, and he begins
pushing Jimmy around the floor. As Jimmy pulls away, he and He says Alison is beautiful, like a "great-eyed squirrel." She
Cliff tumble to the floor and they begin grappling. As they says Jimmy is a "jolly super bear." Alison playfully mimes being
stand, Jimmy pushes Cliff into the ironing board and Alison. a squirrel; they embrace again. Alison says she has something
They fall in a heap, and the iron burns Alison's arm. Jimmy to tell Jimmy, but just then Cliff enters the apartment. He says
apologizes, and Alison yells at him to get out. Jimmy leaves. someone is on the phone for Alison—Helena Charles. Alison
leaves to get the phone call. Jimmy tells Cliff that Helena is an
Cliff helps Alison attend to the burn on her arm. He consoles old friend of Alison's and one of his "natural enemies." He
her, massaging her neck and then kissing her on top of her wonders what Helena wants, suspecting nothing good. While
head. Alison says she doesn't think she wants "anything more he roots through Alison's purse, Jimmy begins rambling about
to do with love"—she can't take it anymore. She says she can't his sexual frustration with women and suggests maybe
remember what it felt like to be young. She admits she homosexuals are to be envied. It must be difficult for them,
pretends not to hear Jimmy because she knows it hurts him: Jimmy says, but at least they have a cause to be enthusiastic
"It's those easy things that seem to be so impossible with us." about. He mentions Alison's friend Webster again—"he's like a
Cliff wonders how long he can continue watching the two of man with a strawberry mark," marginalized by society. Jimmy
them tear each other apart. Alison tells him she's frightened. says he has his own mark, only his is his economic status.
She's pregnant, though she hasn't told Jimmy yet. Cliff asks if When Cliff suggests it's an invasion of Alison's privacy to look
it's "too late to avert the situation"—end the pregnancy—and through her purse, Jimmy agrees. He explains living day and
Alison says she's not sure. Cliff urges her to tell Jimmy night with someone has made him "predatory and suspicious."
now—"after all, he does love you." But Alison worries he'll He admits he goes through all of her stuff when she's out of
suspect her reasons for getting pregnant. Cliff says she should the apartment. He wants to know if he's being betrayed—or if
tell him and things will be all right. He kisses Alison again. there's any kind of reference to him in Alison's life.
Jimmy returns and eyes them suspiciously, then takes his seat Jimmy pulls a letter out of Alison's purse—a letter from her
again in the armchair. He perfunctorily asks Alison how her arm mother. Alison enters the apartment and sees him with the
is. He says the two of them should just go to bed together and letter. Jimmy is undaunted. He complains that she writes long
get it over with and they look "silly slobbering over each other." letters to her mother and never mentions him at all, as if his
Cliff continues teasing Jimmy, pulling on his foot and dragging name is a dirty word. He wants to know what Helena wants.
him off the chair. Alison is relieved Jimmy is in a more playful Alison says she's at the train station and is coming to stay in an
mood. She says they're out of cigarettes, and they send Cliff available room in the building because she is in a touring
out to get more. production in town for a week. Jimmy sarcastically asks why
she didn't invite Helena to stay with them. He asks Alison if she
Jimmy sits next to Alison and apologizes sweetly for hurting
told her to bring her armor, "because she's going to need it!"
her arm. He then admits he did it on purpose. He says
Alison tells him to shut up. Jimmy, angered, starts in on Alison,
sometimes he's "got to hit out somehow." He says even after
wishing something would happen to her to wake her from her
four years of living in the same room with her, he still finds
"beauty sleep." He even suggests maybe she could have a
himself watching and wanting her, even when she's ironing.
baby and it could die. If this happens, he says, she "might even
They hold each other. Alison asks if he wants to go out for a
become a recognizable human being," but he doubts it. Alison

walks away from him, stunned. He makes a few more cutting Alison's father, who served in the military for 30 years in India,
remarks about Alison's lack of passion—"she has the passion for romanticizing sunny England in the early 20th century.
of a python"—and how she is burying him alive. He leaves the However, he also longs for certainties of his childhood that
apartment. Alison stands open-mouthed and trembling as Cliff have now passed though he knows they were likely phony. Cliff
stands silently nearby. shares some of Jimmy's ideas and feelings, but Cliff is happier
to roll with the changing tides. By contrast, Jimmy wants some
control over them; he wants to make a dent in the world. His
Analysis lower-middle-class status doesn't allow him much influence on
the world, and this also fuels his anger. So he takes it out on
The play is set in April—a reference to American-English poet the people around him, specifically his wife, Alison.
T.S. Eliot's poem The Waste Land, which opens with the line
"April is the cruelest month." It is a well-chosen line because Jimmy and Cliff are from similar lower-middle-class
Jimmy is often cruel to his wife Alison and friend Cliff (and backgrounds, although Jimmy wears his resentments toward
everyone else in the play). April also represents the change England's upper and middle classes proudly on his sleeve.
from spring (youth) to summer (maturity), the "season" of life Alison comes from a higher-class family where she wanted for
the main characters in the play are living. The detailed stage nothing. To Jimmy, she represents her class even though she
directions describe the Porters' attic apartment—small, lacking is living with him very modestly in their small, attic apartment.
good light, and with older, worn-down furniture. This gives the Many of his severe attacks at her stem from this class
reader a sense of the claustrophobic space and suggests a difference. Jimmy harps on the idea of Alison being incapable
couple of very modest means. Osborne provides detailed of feeling anything (like he does) because she was so
descriptions of the characters, both their physical cloistered and protected growing up. Alison's aloofness at
appearances and their demeanors. The contrasts between the times seems to be a defense mechanism against her
three characters are set up before the dialogue even begins. husband's personal attacks. But Jimmy interprets it as many
The laid-back Cliff is a foil to Jimmy, with his edgy, mercurial things—ignorance and innocence, feelings of superiority
nature, and both stand in contrast to the more ethereal toward him, and the inability to relate to and experience "real"
description of Alison. people and life.
Jimmy opens the play questioning why he does the same thing Osborne uses an exchange between Alison and Cliff to up the
every Sunday. The audience quickly understands he will be the emotional stakes of the play: Alison tells Cliff she's pregnant,
primary force in the play. He questions himself, Alison, and Cliff and Jimmy doesn't know yet. Alison's fear that Jimmy will be
about everything: the state of the newspapers, religion, the suspicious of her getting pregnant is well founded, as he is
economy, and British society. Jimmy sways between legitimate suspicious of her and everyone else in his life. The audience
questions about class and England's new role in the world and then gets a glimpse of a more vulnerable and considerate side
aggressive interrogations of Alison and Cliff about their of Jimmy when he apologizes to Alison for causing the burn on
behavior, thoughts, or ideas. He appears to be a caged animal purpose. As they talk, the audience sees they both still care for
striking out at the world and the people in his life and then each other, perhaps hinting at the origins of their relationship.
retreating to the safety of his worn armchair and his rehearsed The surprisingly cute interaction they have about the stuffed
diatribes. teddy bear (Jimmy) and squirrel (Alison) sitting on their dresser
is a reprieve from the antagonistic tone of most of the first act.
Jimmy may be taken to represent many young men in England
after World War II (1939–45): educated, living during peacetime But Jimmy quickly returns to form when Alison gets a call from
but following the long hardships of the war, and still lacking her friend Helena saying she will be staying in the same
clear direction. He looks to a future dominated by American building for a week. Jimmy dislikes Helena and is immediately
culture and military dominance. At the same time, he longs for suspicious of her visit. When Alison stands up to him and tells
a past when men like him had a cause. In the past he would him to shut up, Jimmy angrily wishes something would happen
have been able to support imperial Britain around the world, to Alison to snap her into the real world. He suggests if she has
fight world wars, and have a clear sense of the character of a baby and it dies it would make her a "recognizable human
English culture. He is a complex character: he makes fun of being." In closing Act 1 with Jimmy berating his wife with such a

vile and hurtful statement (even though he doesn't realize how Alison admits she knew she was taking on more than she could
hurtful), Osborne both shocks his audience and reveals the handle. When her parents did everything they could to stop
depth of Jimmy Porter's anger. The strongly ironic them marrying, Jimmy performed like "the knight in shining
foreshadowing effect of his comment makes for a sense of armor—except that his armor didn't really shine very much."
looming explosiveness in the rest of the play as it will move Helena says Alison needs to decide what she's going to do
toward a climax. with the baby on the way. Alison must tell Jimmy, says Helena,
and if he won't change his behavior, Alison needs to get out of
the situation. Alison points out the stuffed animals. When they
Act 2, Scene 1 play at being a bear and a squirrel, fuzzy brained and simple,
they can escape from everything and live with sheer affection.
"And now," says Alison, "even they are dead, poor little silly
Summary animals." Helena urges Alison to fight or get out before Jimmy
kills her.
The scene is two weeks later on another Sunday night. The

Cliff Lewis enters for tea; Jimmy follows, finally putting down
stage directions describe Alison Porter preparing tea and
his trumpet. All but Alison sit for tea, Jimmy and Helena trading
setting a table for four people. Jimmy Porter can be heard
benign barbs and comments. Jimmy sings a new song he's
playing his trumpet in a room across the hall. Helena Charles
come up with, touching on the same subject of his wife's lack
enters. She is expensively dressed, and she carries with her a
of sexual passion. He sings of an empty bed, being tiring of
middle-class, intimidating "matriarchal authority."
whoring, and avoiding the "python coil" for "celibate oil." Helena
asks Jimmy why he tries "so hard to be unpleasant" and says
Alison and Helena discuss how easily Helena has settled in
she finds him "tiresome." Jimmy mocks Helena as faux royalty.
since her arrival. Helena has been doing much of the meal
He notices Alison preparing to go out and wants to know
preparation, and Alison is thankful. She feels better and not so
where; Helena tells him they're going to church. Jimmy is
alone with Helena around. Jimmy's trumpet playing annoys
stunned. He accuses Helena of trying to "win" Alison and
both of them. Helena prods Alison for details of her
reminds his wife of everything he did to get her out of her
relationship with Cliff Lewis. Alison says it's nothing; they are
family. Alison sarcastically says she'd "still be rotting away at
fond of each other, comfortable, "like being warm in bed."
home" if Jimmy hadn't rescued her from the "clutches" of her
Alison explains Jimmy doesn't mind because for him it's "a
family and friends. Jimmy recounts his fight against Alison's
question of allegiances," and he expects people in his life to be
mother. He says she was determined to stop her daughter
loyal to him. She then describes the first months of their
from going with a man with no money or status. He describes
marriage when they had no money. Her parents resented
his mother-in-law "as rough as a night in a Bombay brothel,"
Jimmy and cut her out of their lives, and the two of them had to
and as tough as a sailor's arm. She hired detectives to watch
live with Jimmy's friend Hugh Tanner. Alison and Hugh didn't
him. "That old bitch should be dead!" he announces. Cliff tries
care for each other, which frustrated Jimmy, and Alison felt
to calm Jimmy; Helena accuses him of being a bully. Jimmy
completely alone for the first time in her life. The situation
can't believe Alison has no reaction to what he said. He pushes
became nightmarish for Alison as Hugh began to join Jimmy in
further by suggesting the worms will get sick when they eat his
making fun of her. They used her connections to wealthy
mother-in-law's corpse.
families to crash parties, acting like barbarians at each event.
When Hugh decided to travel abroad, he wanted Jimmy and
Jimmy learns from Helena that Alison asked her to stay well
Alison to go with him, but Jimmy refused. Alison thought she
after her touring show ended. Jimmy again accosts Alison
could finally escape, and she and Jimmy moved to their current
about going to church—the last time she was in one was for
apartment.
their wedding. He can't believe she is being "taken in by this
saint in Dior's clothing." He rants about Helena and her belief in
Helena still doesn't understand why Alison married Jimmy.
the old ways, economic and social. He claims she'd prefer the
Alison describes how they met (at a party) and how infatuated
Dark Ages to the ugly problems of the 20th century. Jimmy
she was with him, and he with her. "Everything about him
then moves closer to Helena's face, and she warns him she'll
seemed to burn ... he looked so young and frail," she says.
slap him. He suggests she does because he's not so old-

fashioned that he wouldn't hit a woman. He asks Helena if

she's ever watched a person die (she hasn't). He then
Analysis
describes watching his father slowly die after he returned from
In this scene Osborne introduces Helena Charles, who will play
war in Spain. He was 10 years old, and he claims he was the
a key role in the rest of the play's action. Helena draws a
only one in his family who cared about his father. While his
contrast to Alison. Though they are both well bred, Helena still
mother provided care, Jimmy spent hours listening to his
possesses the air of her upbringing, while Alison is notably
fading father, and he "learnt at an early age what it was to be
worn down. Alison's retelling of her and Jimmy's tumultuous
angry—angry and helpless." He tells all of them he knew more
courtship and early months of marriage reveal what she's
about love and betrayal when he was 10 than they would their
endured and helps to explain why she is with Jimmy. Like him,
entire lives.
she was looking for something other than the restrained life
Helena quietly leaves the room. Jimmy accuses Alison of being she knew. The cost has been her family and a comfortable life.
Judas: "She's taking you with her and you're so bloody feeble, And now, with a child on the way, she is unsure if she can
you'll let her do it!" Alison slams her teacup to the floor. She survive the antagonistic, threadbare life she and Jimmy live.
puts on her dress and softly says, "All I want is a little peace." She explains to Helena that Cliff, who shares the same passive
As Cliff sinks into the armchair and buries his head in the approach to life as Alison, has become a solace for her under
paper, Jimmy calmly says his wife can twist his arm off with her Jimmy's barrage. Helena suggests the entire situation between
silence. "One of us is mean and stupid and crazy," he says. the three of them is strange by any standards. The audience
"Which is it?" Jimmy tells Alison he'll wait for the day she wants hears Jimmy playing trumpet throughout the scene, much to
to come back so he can watch her grovel. Helena enters and both women's consternation, as he doesn't play very well.
says Jimmy has a phone call downstairs. He leaves. Helena Osborne seems to suggest this is a spiritual (and certainly
worries to Alison about what will happen when the baby wordless) expression of Jimmy's emotions. Even when he's not
comes—Jimmy angers her so much she wants to "claw his hair in the room, he's in it somehow.
out." Helena turns on Cliff, asking why he says nothing to
In Alison's telling of their story, Jimmy was like a knight in not-
Jimmy. Cliff defends himself by saying the apartment has
so-shining armor taking her away from her controlling mother.
always been a battleground. He feels he's been a "no-man's
Osborne reminds the audience of Jimmy's longing for the day
land" for Jimmy and Alison, keeping it from becoming even
when English men had a cause to fight for. Alison's description
worse. Most days, Cliff says, "it's simply a very narrow strip of
of what the stuffed teddy bear and squirrel mean to her and
plain hell."
Jimmy's relationship hints at the youth both have lost. It also
Helena then tells Alison she sent her father a wire so he can appears, to Helena, a bleak state of marriage when two people
come and get her tomorrow. She wants to know whether must hide from reality and pretend to be unthinking animals to
Alison will go home with her father; Alison says she will. As the find any solace in each other. Helena's primary concern is her
two are about to leave, Jimmy returns. His friend Hugh's mom friend's well-being, and despite Alison's narrative, she still
has had a stroke and is in bad shape. He needs to go to doesn't understand why her old friend is with Jimmy. She feels
London on a train that night. He tells Alison the first time he Alison must get out of this situation.
showed Hugh's mother a picture of Alison, she'd thought she
When Cliff and Jimmy return for tea, Osborne immediately pits
was lovely. Jimmy assumes Alison is going with him to London
Jimmy against Helena as she is a new target for his rage.
and says he needs her to come with him. Alison doesn't
Jimmy declares anyone who doesn't like real jazz doesn't
answer. The church bells begin ringing. Alison leaves with
understand music or people—and Helena immediately
Helena. Jimmy is upset. He grabs the stuffed teddy bear and
challenges his opinion. The dance between Jimmy and Helena
throws it to the floor. Jimmy falls onto the bed, burying his
starts strained but pleasant enough over tea but soon
head in the covers.
escalates. Jimmy sings them a new song he's written about
whoring and boozing—very male pursuits in the play—and an
unwanted state of celibacy. He learns Alison is going to church
with Helena, which stuns him since he is so militantly
antireligion. He then gives his version of how he saved Alison

from her family, only now Alison seems to object to the idea free from blame with the way everything happened with Jimmy
that Jimmy "rescued" her. Helena challenges Jimmy throughout and Alison's marriage. He says he tried to calm his wife at the
the scene, which feeds his enthusiasm because at least it's time but to no avail. He didn't approve of Jimmy, but the
something different. Despite his avowed dislike for Helena, she lengths his wife went to try to prevent the marriage is "rather
fuels him in a way Alison doesn't. horrifying" to him. They shouldn't have interfered—it would
have been the "more dignified" approach. He thinks he and
Even Helena reaches the end of her patience after Jimmy Alison may have been the most to blame. They prefer to "sit on
insults Alison's mother. She threatens to slap him, and Jimmy the fence because it's comfortable and more peaceful." Alison
threatens to hit her back. There is nothing pusillanimous about reminds her father he told her she was letting them down by
Helena, even when he directly insults her. She stands her marrying Jimmy.
ground with Jimmy and tries to defend her friend from him.
When Jimmy tells them about watching his father die, which The colonel confesses he's a little confused by all of this. He
taught him anger and helplessness, it's a candid confession wonders why she married Jimmy at all. Alison explains Jimmy
from the usually blustering Jimmy. Even Helena can't insult thinks he has a "genius for love and friendship" according to his
Jimmy when he's done talking; she is refined, even if she's able own rules. She lived a "happy, uncomplicated life" for 20 years
to fight back against a bully like Jimmy. When Helena tells before this "spiritual barbarian" found her, and she accepted
Alison she's wired her father, Osborne again contrasts the challenge of being with him. She suggests people like
Helena's ability to act with Alison's lack of motivation. At the Jimmy can marry for revenge against a social class. Her father
end of the scene, Jimmy, in a rare vulnerable state, admits he thought people married for love, and he's baffled by young
needs Alison to come with him to London. Alison, buoyed by people today who talk about "challenges and revenge" in
Helena, leaves the apartment to attend church with her friend. marriage. He admits Jimmy may be right—he may be from the
Jimmy's wish has come true—his "slothful" wife has finally "Edwardian Wilderness" and he can't understand why the sun
acted, and he is left alone. The dynamic of the play has no longer shines on Britain. He recounts his happy life in India
changed in the relation of the characters, and it seems more serving the British Empire. Alison suggests he's hurt because
movement will take place as the storm of their emotions keeps everything has changed, and Jimmy's hurt because everything
building. has stayed the same. She picks up the stuffed squirrel to pack
it, then decides against it. She goes to her father and weeps
softly against him. He asks whether leaving Jimmy is what she
Act 2, Scene 2 really wants.
Helena Charles enters to help Alison pack. She tells the

colonel she hopes she didn't upset him and Alison's mother
Summary with her telegram; he says they were thankful for her concern.
Helena tells Alison she won't be leaving with her because she
The scene is the following evening. Alison is packing her things
has an appointment the next day regarding a big play
and her father, Colonel Redfern, is sitting in an armchair
production. Cliff Lewis arrives and briefly meets Alison's father.
surveying the space. Her father is described as a handsome
The colonel leaves with Alison's suitcase. Cliff asks Alison if
man in his 60s. Retired from the military after decades of
she's really leaving—and who's going to tell Jimmy. Alison gives
service in India, he is rather quiet. He understands in the civilian
him an envelope to give Jimmy. They hug. Alison looks around
world he no longer commands the respect he did in uniform.
the place one more time and leaves. Helena and Cliff discuss
He is uncomfortable in the current situation.
what Jimmy will do when he returns and finds Alison is gone.
Cliff decides to leave before Jimmy returns, and he gives
Alison explains Jimmy is in London visiting Mrs. Tanner, Hugh's
Helena the envelope from Alison. He says he's had a hard day
mom, who got him started with the sweets stall. The colonel
and doesn't want to see anyone hurt before he's eaten and has
muses about Jimmy doing such a low job with his education
had something to drink. As he leaves he tells Helena he hopes
level. He asks if Jimmy really does hate him and her mother.
Jimmy rams the envelope up her nostrils.
Alison confirms he does, though not so much him as her
mother. Her father admits he thinks he and her mother aren't
Helena, alone in the apartment, looks around the place. She

picks up the teddy bear and lies down on the bed holding it. down in his own time.
Jimmy comes crashing in; he is alive with anger. He says the
colonel nearly ran him over with his car as he drove away with Alison feels safe with her father. He is the kind of thoughtful,
Alison, and Cliff basically ignored him when they met at the calm man she grew up with. Even when she relays some of the
front door. Helena hands Jimmy the letter, and he reads it. He hateful things Jimmy has said about her parents, especially her
begins mocking the genuine sentiment—"I shall always have a mother, the colonel doesn't overreact. When he tells his
deep, loving need of you." He claims he didn't think she was so daughter about how happy he was serving England for 30
phony. Why couldn't she simply say she hates his guts and is years in India, it is plain he dearly misses the simplicity and
leaving? Helena interrupts to tell him Alison is pregnant. Taken clarity of purpose he had. Though he doesn't like or understand
aback momentarily, Jimmy asks if Helena thought he'd get his daughter's messy marriage, he is a dutiful father coming to
emotional and weak at the news. He says he doesn't care. He take her away from the problem. Alison is ready to make a
teases Helena, telling her to slap his face if he disgusts her. He break and to take some kind of action, but the audience may
is angry that Alison couldn't even send the dying woman sense a lingering uncertainty. Osborne provides a physical
flowers when he spent 11 hours sitting by her bedside so she symbol of this when Alison picks up the stuffed squirrel,
wouldn't be alone. He won't be overcome by the fact that a considers taking it with her, and then leaves it next to the bear.
"cruel, stupid girl is going to have a baby." He tells Helena to

When Jimmy returns from London, he reads Alison's letter and
leave, but she slaps him hard. Jimmy is shocked. He covers his
immediately mocks the familiar sentimentality of it. Though her
head with his hand, but Helena pulls it away and kisses him
leaving hurts him greatly, his answer to such pain is to lash out
passionately as she draws him down onto the bed.
in anger at her. This is made worse by the fact that he has
spent the last day sitting with Hugh's mother watching her
die—a charitable and sympathetic act for Jimmy. When Helena
Analysis tells him Alison is pregnant, Jimmy, raising his tough exterior
again, announces he doesn't care. He asks Helena if she
In this scene the audience meets Alison's father, the retired
thought he would be "overcome with awe because that cruel,
colonel. He is a very sympathetic character—not at all the evil
stupid girl is going to have a baby." He speaks about his wife as
parent caricature Jimmy described earlier in the play. The
one might about a stranger, putting a huge distance between
colonel is of a different era, and he admits he is confused by
them. But the news is too much even for Jimmy. When he
modern England and its changing attitudes and social mores.
covers his head and we hear a muffled cry of despair, it is a
The colonel's admission that he and his wife may share the
rare crack in his acerbic armor. Osborne closes the scene with
blame for Alison's current situation because of how they
Helena kissing Jimmy passionately, which advances the action
reacted to the idea of her marriage to Jimmy is a sober
and sets up the emotional tumult of the final two scenes of the
assessment. Even Jimmy might agree with it. The colonel also
play.
tells Alison he thinks they are both fence sitters because it's
safer and less complicated, which Jimmy would certainly agree
with in Alison's case. This characterization of his daughter by
the colonel gives the audience a different view of the dynamic
Act 3, Scene 1
between Jimmy and Alison and Alison's nature in general.
Jimmy Porter is someone who would enjoy knocking down
anyone sitting on a fence, and the colonel sees it as inherent in Summary
his nature. This highlights a major standpoint in the play, which
is the revelation that people can be representational of bigger It is several months later, another Sunday evening. Jimmy
ideas, such as their social class, even in intimate relationships. Porter and Cliff Lewis are in their usual spots reading through
the papers and weeklies. Helena Charles is behind them
Osborne uses Alison's father as a representation of Edwardian ironing. She wears one of Jimmy's old shirts, as Alison did
England (the early 1900s) when British culture wielded previously. The same old arguments ensue. Jimmy's pipe
influence worldwide and the British Empire was still strong. smoking bothers Cliff, though Helena likes it. They exchange
Jimmy feels trapped by such old ideas yet doesn't have a clear stories from the paper they are reading, and Jimmy, as usual,
sense of what the future holds for him in a world turned upside

insults Cliff's intelligence. Jimmy describes a strange orgy in a Jimmy tells him. He knows there's no way Helena is capable of
town in the Midlands where there was a sacrifice and the giving him what he wants. Jimmy asks, "Why do we let these
drinking of blood. He says he's sure Alison's mother has been women bleed us to death?" He suggests it's because their
doing voodoo on him all along, sticking pins in his effigy to generation doesn't have any good causes to die for. Their
cause him pain. Helena jokingly suggests he try the same, and parents did all of this for them in the 1930s and '40s. There's
Jimmy says they could use Cliff to make a wax voodoo doll. nothing left, says Jimmy, "but to let yourself be butchered by
They could use his blood for the ritual and make invocations to the women."
the fertility goddess. Cliff smartly suggests Jimmy doesn't
really need any help from a goddess for fertility purposes. Helena returns with Cliff's shirt and tells him to dry it over the
gas heat in his room. Cliff leaves. Jimmy wants Helena to get
They discuss an American professor who has a theory that "glammed up" so they can "hit the town." When she looks
Shakespeare changed his sex while writing The Tempest. unsure, Jimmy says she looks like a magistrate (a judge). She
Helena laughs, and when Jimmy asks why, she says she's asks how she should look. "As if your heart stirred a little when
starting to understand when he's being funny and not serious. you looked at me," says Jimmy. Helena says it does. They
Cliff tells her if she's in doubt, consider it an insult. Jimmy discuss Cliff leaving; Cliff told her about it the day before. She's
begins to chide Helena about her going to church, asking if she sorry he's leaving. Jimmy assures her Cliff will be all right—"he's
feels "very sinful" living with him. Helena is unsure how to react, a sloppy, irritating bastard, but he's got a big heart."
which is exactly what Jimmy wants as he regains control of the
conversation. He continues pressing her about church, asking Jimmy calls her over to the armchair. She strokes his neck and
if she thinks he should start going. He pitches the idea like a runs her hand through his hair. Jimmy says that from the
magazine ad promising weaklings a muscular body if they beginning she has reached out to him and didn't care what
follow the company's regimen. Helena asks him for one day happened. He suggests he found a worthy opponent in her.
without religious or political arguments. She confesses her love to Jimmy. "Perhaps it means
something to lie with your victorious general in your arms,"
Jimmy changes the subject to a new idea for a song. He Jimmy tells her. "Especially, when he's heartily sick of the
suggests they work it into their "act." Cliff picks up on this, and whole campaign." They kiss. Jimmy says, "Either you're with me
the two fall into a vaudevillian skit they know about looking for or against me," and Helena tells him she's always wanted him.
"nobody." Helena joins in with the right line—"I'm nobody"—to Jimmy thinks they make a good team. He suggests he close up
end the skit. Jimmy and Cliff then break into a song by the the sweets stall and go somewhere else and start from
British comedy act Flanagan and Allen, who were popular scratch. Helena likes the idea. They kiss again, and Jimmy says
during World War II. The song is about wanting to sleep with they should go out and celebrate. As he turns to the door to
and marry an upper-class girl. As they step around the get Cliff, the door opens: it's Alison, looking sickly and
apartment performing, Cliff kicks Jimmy's ankle and he pushes disheveled. Jimmy turns to Helena and says, "Friend of yours to
Cliff away. Cliff pushes back and they hit the ground, wrestling see you," and he leaves quickly.
and bickering again. Eventually they stop and Cliff's shirt is
filthy. Helena offers to wash it for him. She leaves the
apartment to use the shared bathroom to clean the shirt. Analysis
Jimmy says he doesn't think Cliff cares for Helena; Cliff admits
it's not the same as before with Alison. "Today's meal is always Act 3 opens like Act 1, and much of the action is repeated:
different from yesterday's," says Jimmy. Jimmy and Cliff sitting in armchairs reading the papers. Now
Helena is ironing behind them instead of Alison. Despite the
Cliff tells Jimmy he is going to move away somewhere. He tumultuous developments of the second act, nothing much has
wants to try something different. Plus, he thinks the two of changed in the apartment. Jimmy is a little less antagonistic
them are too much for Helena—"I ought to find some girl who'll toward Helena; she is more capable adversary than Alison was.
just look after me." Jimmy says he seems to spend his life The story from the paper Jimmy talks about involves a ritual
"saying goodbye." But he assures Cliff, who has been a loyal sacrifice and drinking blood. This blood theme will appear
and good friend, that he is fine with him going away to make throughout the scene. Jimmy discusses voodoo for comic
something of his own. Cliff is "worth a half a dozen Helenas," effect at first, suggesting his mother-in-law used a wax doll to

cause him pain. He jokes with Helena about using Cliff as a like Osborne, a vision of the future written 20 years before by a
sacrifice, though he wouldn't want to drink his friend's dark red middle-aged novelist represents the past.
blood—he'd prefer Helena's privileged "Cambridge blue" blood.
But Jimmy then turns to Helena's churchgoing, drawing a Near the end of the scene, we see Jimmy and Helena kissing
connection between the ridiculousness of voodoo and the and thinking of their own future. Jimmy is a bit more open and
church's message of faith. He doesn't understand why Helena direct about his emotions with Helena than he was with Alison.
goes to church. To Jimmy, it represents outdated thinking. He Helena confesses she has always loved him, and Jimmy
presses her on whether she feels sinful living with him, a demands she be either for or against him. This is the same
married man. He even parodies the promises of the church by unique form of allegiance Alison described in Act 2. In a rare
comparing it to the bodybuilder ads that were prevalent in the moment of optimism and even naiveté, Jimmy suggests they
1950s. move away and start over from scratch. Helena agrees. But the
blood and destruction theme returns as the scene ends: Alison
When Helena asks him to stop talking about religion, Jimmy appears at the door looking ill and disheveled. It is apparent to
changes course and talks about a new song idea as he the other characters that she has miscarried.
continues his attack on the whole range of contemporary
British culture, high to low. He and Cliff begin performing a
familiar skit about someone looking for "nobody" (a reference Act 3, Scene 2
to the comedy duo Abbott and Costello's classic late 1930s
"Who's on First" routine). They eventually finish with a song
about a man in love with an upper-class woman by Flanagan
Summary
and Allen, a popular radio duo during World War II. Osborne
uses this performance for a few key purposes. It shows the
The play's final scene picks up only a few minutes later. The
genuine friendship between Jimmy and Cliff. It provides the
sound of Jimmy Porter's trumpet can be heard from down the
audience a glimpse of a different, more lighthearted Jimmy.
hall. Alison Porter sits in one of the armchairs as Helena
And it shows that these two young men remain nostalgic for a
Charles prepares tea. Alison apologizes for showing up. Helena
more innocent past and their less encumbered youth, which
thinks she has no need to apologize. Alison explains she's tried
can give only a momentary dose of pleasure to Jimmy as he is
to come to the apartment before but stopped herself. She
now.
wants to remember that everything that happened there was
real. She doesn't want to interfere with Helena and Jimmy.
When Helena is out of the apartment, the two men seem to
Helena tells Alison she has more right to be here than she does
acknowledge they are trying to recreate what they had with
because Alison and Jimmy are married. Helena is ashamed of
Alison. Cliff isn't as fond of Helena, and he decides he will move
what she's done. "I still believe in right and wrong," she says.
on somewhere else and try to make a life of his own. It is one
Even though she wrote to Alison after she left to say she loved
of the few healthy personal decisions any of the characters in
Jimmy, Helena knows what she has done "is wrong and evil."
the play makes. Like a knight from a story they may have read
as boys, Jimmy admits he'll miss Cliff but wishes him good
Helena knows what's wrong with Jimmy: he was born at the
tidings on his personal journey. Jimmy confides in Cliff that he
wrong time. They agree he is better suited for an older
knows things won't work out between him and Helena. The
age—the French Revolution (1789–99) or Victorian England of
blood theme returns when he asks Cliff why men let women
the mid-1800s. Helena says there is no place for him in modern
bleed them to death. In one of the most revealing passages in
England, which is why "he's so futile" and "he'll never amount to
the play, Jimmy suggests it's because their generation has no
anything." Helena says it's over between her and Jimmy.
good, noble causes to die for like their parents' generation did.
However, she's not stepping aside for Alison to return. In fact,
The "Brave-New-nothing" of the future seems as pointless to
she thinks her friend would be a fool to come back to Jimmy.
Jimmy as killing oneself. Jimmy is in a no-man's land, still
Helena says Alison losing the baby was like a judgment on
clinging to and revering some notions of the past yet not
them. Alison says there is no blame for the miscarriage; it
convinced of the potential the future holds. Osborne's direct
simply happened. She urges Helena to stay with Jimmy. She
reference to Aldous Huxley's future-looking novel Brave New
admits neither of them is probably right for him, suggesting
World, published in 1932, is purposeful. To a young playwright

Jimmy needs a woman who is a cross between "a mother and with the two of them looking into each other's eyes. "Poor
a Greek courtesan" (prostitute). squirrels!" says Jimmy. "Poor, poor bears!" replies Alison.
Helena can no longer stand the sound of Jimmy's trumpet; she

yells out the door for him to stop. Jimmy enters, asking if Alison Analysis
should sit down because "she looks a bit ghastly." Jimmy says
he understands what happened—"It was my child too, you The closing scene of the play reveals Alison has had a
know"—but he shrugs it off, saying, "It isn't my first loss." miscarriage. She tells Helena she only wanted to return to the
Helena tells Jimmy she's leaving tonight. She can't go on doing apartment to remember what she'd been through before she
something she knows is wrong. She tells him she will never left. However, it becomes clear at the end of the scene she
love anyone like she loved him. As she leaves, Jimmy calmly wants Jimmy to know she has suffered a terrible loss. Both
tells her everyone wants "to escape from the pain of being women agree on a central idea in the play: Jimmy is meant for
alive," and he knew she would leave when things got an older age and is ill suited to the modern world changing
complicated. He hands her some of her dressing table items around them. Jimmy's trumpet playing is heard in the
and says love will dirty somone's hands—"it takes muscle and background of the scene, keeping him present as the two
guts." Perhaps she should become a saint because she'll women talk.
"never make it as a human being." Helena leaves.
When Jimmy stops playing his trumpet and returns to the
The church bells sound again. Alison moves to leave the apartment, Helena tells him she is leaving. This makes her
apartment, but Jimmy stops her. He derides her for not another person in Jimmy's life choosing to leave him. Even
sending flowers for Hugh's mother's funeral. He says it is though Helena loves Jimmy like no one else she's ever loved,
unjust that the wrong people go hungry, the wrong people are she "can't take part—in all this suffering." Helena has suffered a
loved, and the wrong people die. The strongest creatures in crisis of faith and conscience; Alison has suffered a loss of
the world are the loneliest, he tells Alison, like the bear, which love and an unborn child. Jimmy has been at the core of both
has no warm herd or pack to comfort it. He reminds Alison of women's anguish. Before she leaves, Jimmy tells her love
the party where they first met, and of how infatuated he was dirties someone's hands and demands "muscle and guts," one
with her even though she didn't seem to notice him. He says of the most clear-headed proclamations he makes in the play.
what he wanted most was her "relaxation of spirit," and one In suggesting Helena's "nice, clean soul" isn't capable of love
has to be extremely "brawny to have that kind of strength." It and should instead focus on sainthood, Jimmy gets in one
was only after they were married that she lost her strength in more derisive jab at Helena's "purity" and faith. The dichotomy
his eyes. She'd barely had a "hair out of place, or a bead of of being a saint or being in the real world of love for another
sweat" in her life. He may be a lost cause, but he thought it person as expressed by Osborne echoes the famous essay by
wouldn't matter so long as she loved him. English writer George Orwell (1903–50) on Mahatma Gandhi
(1869–1948), "Reflections on Gandhi," in which Orwell
Alison begins to weep. "I was wrong!" she announces. "I want
considers Gandhi's virtues as well as the innate shrewdness
to be a lost cause ... corrupt and futile!" She tells Jimmy she
and perhaps vanity that enabled him to become a saint.
thought their baby was safe and secure and couldn't be
Mahatma Gandhi is a well-known social activist who led his
harmed. After losing their baby, she wanted to die. She hadn't
people against British colonization and exploitation in India.
known what this kind of pain could feel like. All she could think
Orwell specifically discusses Gandhi's perception that love and
of was him and that this was the kind of ugly pain he wanted
friendship can be dangerous because friends can lead each
her to feel. "Don't you see!" she asks him. "I'm in the mud at
other astray. It is contradictory to follow God and love
last! I'm groveling!" She collapses at his feet.
humanity at large and also give favor to someone on an
Jimmy lifts up Alison and holds her, trying to calm her. He tells intimate level. Helena embodies this idea by being led astray
her they will live together in their bear's cave and sing songs in and then choosing to follow a higher ideal.
the sun. She will help him keep his claws in order. He will make
Osborne marks Helena's departure with the church bells
sure her sleek tail remains as beautiful as it should. He will
ringing again. The church bells ring in each act of the play, and
protect her from the world's "cruel steel traps." The play ends
Osborne uses the church bells as an antagonistic sound to

Look Back in Anger Study Guide Quotes 23
Jimmy, who curses them every time they ring, showing how sentimental, outdated, and futile viewpoint, yet he longs to
Jimmy feels about religion. It is something he despises and have a purpose like those who lived in the past had.
believes is outdated. There is some situational irony (in which
what happens is opposite of what is expected to happen) in
this since Helena's and Alison's characters, as mouthpieces of "Let's pretend that we're human
the playwright, reveal to the audience that Jimmy is the one
who is anachronistic, a person out of place in the time in which beings, and that we're actually
he is living in.
alive."
Only Alison and Jimmy remain in the apartment, and he tells
her the strongest creatures in the world are the loneliest—like — Jimmy Porter, Act 1
bears. Jimmy admits he is a lost cause, and he thought her love
would make it better. Through these statements, Osborne Jimmy Porter accuses Alison Porter of being like an empty
reveals Jimmy has been more self-aware than previously vessel, noncommittal and therefore not actually living in the
thought. His "angry young man" platitudes and aggression are world. The way the play ends hearkens back to this idea, which
self-defense for such personal lacking. Alison has suffered one is presented very early in the play. To be real means to
of life's most horrible and painful losses in her miscarriage, and experience sorrow and pain, yet as demonstrated by Jimmy
she tells Jimmy she is now a lost cause too, "corrupt and futile." and Alison agreeing to be like a squirrel and a teddy bear in
This contrasts with the faith Helena professes, and it also their private cave at the end, human beings must pretend to
allows her to identify with Jimmy's man-out-of-time futility. She some degree—if they want to have intimate relationships.
wanted to die after losing the baby. She felt depths of
emotional and spiritual pain unlike any in her life—the type of
suffering Jimmy always wanted her to experience. As the play
ends, Jimmy and Alison now realize how much they need one
"It's pretty dreary living in the
another. Like the "scruffy" bear and "beautiful" squirrel, they American Age—unless you're
need to watch out for each other and take refuge in their
private cave—free of the larger societal constructs that
American of course."
previously placed them at cross purposes with each other.
— Jimmy Porter, Act 1
g Quotes Jimmy Porter laments England's fallen position in the world. It's
no longer the imperial power it once was, and after World War
II ended in 1945, America became the most influential nation in
"A few more hours, and another the world.
week gone. Our youth is slipping

away." "Common as dirt, that's me."
— Jimmy Porter, Act 1 — Cliff Lewis, Act 1
Jimmy Porter is complaining to his wife, Alison Porter, and his Cliff Lewis tells Alison Porter, who comes from an upper-class
friend Cliff Lewis that they don't do anything. They while away family, that he and Jimmy Porter understand each other
hours passively, and they're not getting any younger. This because they both come from working-class people. They're
situational irony (what is expected to happen is the opposite of commoners, like most people, and they experience the world
what does happen) is at the heart of Jimmy's internal conflict. much differently than Alison does. In Look Back in Anger
He believes that looking to the past for wisdom is a phony, characters represent the socioeconomic class they come

Look Back in Anger Study Guide Quotes 24
from. Alison Porter tells Helena Charles the stuffed teddy bear and
squirrel in the apartment are a game she and Jimmy Porter
have played since they were first married. They pretend to be
"If only ... something would happen cute, furry animals escaping from the cruelties of the world in
their little cave. The stuffed animals symbolize the
to ... wake you out of your beauty unobservable, intimate part of a relationship, the part that is
just between two people and cannot be understood or
sleep!"
experienced by someone outside of the relationship.
— Jimmy Porter, Act 1
"I learnt at an early age what it was

Jimmy Porter viciously attacks Alison Porter's naiveté about
the world and having lived such a carefree life. He wants to be angry—angry and helpless."
something to happen to her to really devastate her. He
suggests she could have a baby and it could die so she could — Jimmy Porter, Act 2, Scene 1
experience true suffering. However, this is an example of
situational irony (when what happens is the opposite of what is
Jimmy Porter tells Helena Charles about watching his soldier
expected to happen) because Jimmy is supplying the constant
father dying when he was only 10 years old. He cared so much
friction that could potentially open Alison's eyes to life's
for his father but was too young to understand death or how
cruelties. When she loses her baby and her eyes are opened,
he could help him. It's the kind of suffering he feels Alison
so to speak, she stays with him, suggesting that
Porter and Helena have never experienced in their lives. This
whether—figuratively—awake or asleep, people still need each
moment in the play exposes Jimmy's vulnerabilities and what is
other.
perhaps the true source of his rage.
"Jimmy went into battle with his "You're hurt because everything is
axe swinging round his head." changed. Jimmy is hurt because
— Alison Porter, Act 2, Scene 1 everything is the same."
— Alison Porter, Act 2, Scene 2

Alison Porter is explaining to her friend Helena Charles how
Jimmy Porter reacted when Alison's parents tried to stop them
from getting married. This description of Jimmy—which likens Alison Porter thinks her father, Colonel Redfern, is confused
him to a knight—gives insight into his character. Jimmy needs a about modern England and young people like her and Jimmy
fight or a cause to give him purpose and direction. Osborne Porter because the world isn't like he remembers it. Her
seems to suggest through Jimmy that without a cause to fight husband, by contrast, is angry and frustrated because the
for, human beings may resort to fighting everything and world hasn't changed enough.
everyone, turning malignant in a way.
"I don't care if she is going to have

"Poor little silly animals. They were
a baby."
all love, and no brains."
— Jimmy Porter, Act 2, Scene 2

Look Back in Anger Study Guide Symbols 25
After Alison Porter has left him, Jimmy Porter learns from
without dirtying up your hands."
Helena Charles that Alison is pregnant with their child. He is
angry Alison has left him, and he lashes out by claiming he
doesn't care about the baby or Alison. Consistent with Jimmy's
character, feeling vulnerable fills him with rage.
After Helena Charles tells Jimmy Porter she's leaving because
what they have done is morally wrong, Jimmy tells her love is a
"Should I go in for this moral messy experience. If she can't deal with getting dirty, perhaps
she should consider being a saint. Helena's character
weight lifting and get myself some represents the institution of religion in the play, which is
over-developed muscle?" considered by the main character to be something "other," not
relevant to real life.
"I want to be a lost cause. I want to

Jimmy Porter is mocking Helena Charles's faith and
churchgoing by comparing religion to the bodybuilding ads in be corrupt and futile!"
the magazines he reads.
"I suppose people of our Alison Porter tells Jimmy Porter losing the baby was a
generation aren't able to die for suffering she never knew she could experience, and she
wanted to die. Now she understands what Jimmy meant about
good causes any longer." life—and she wants to share the pain with him. The ending of
the play suggests that to have any depth, whether as
— Jimmy Porter, Act 3, Scene 1 individuals or in relationships, people must be willing to share
each other's pain.
Jimmy Porter tells Cliff Lewis there are no longer any good
causes for people like them to fight for like previous
generations had. This is a central dilemma for Jimmy and the
play—a lack of purpose.
l Symbols
"He was born out of his time." Teddy Bear and Squirrel
— Helena Charles, Act 3, Scene 2
The stuffed teddy bear and squirrel in Jimmy and Alison's
apartment serve as a metaphor for their relationship. Jimmy is
Helena Charles tells Alison Porter she has figured out what's
the bear, a large, strong, and dangerous animal, and Alison is
wrong with Jimmy Porter: he is a man out of time. His ideas
the squirrel, a small, nervous, and easily scared animal. They
about the world belong in the past, and Helena thinks this
both refer to the stuffed animals at a few points, and they play
makes him a futile person.
a little game as the two animals, but only when they are alone
and no one can see them. The two animals are "full of dumb,
uncomplicated affection for each other," Alison explains to her
"You can't fall into it like a soft job, friend Helena. The bear and squirrel are a safe place for Jimmy
and Alison's tumultuous relationship. It is the one place where

Look Back in Anger Study Guide Themes 26
they can both open up to each other and freely express their far more than the others. Perhaps to show Jimmy's sometimes
fears and hopes. Like their apartment, the stuffed animals are confused and youthfully inconsistent thinking, Osborne
a solace and escape from an unrelenting and changing world. specifies Jimmy plays jazz, a uniquely American cultural
According to Jimmy, the bear can protect the squirrel, and the invention that spread across Europe quickly in the early 1900s.
squirrel can help the bear keep its claws in order. By including Early in Act 1, Jimmy denounces living in the "American Age,"
the stuffed animals, Osborne also shows that both Jimmy and which he says has been replacing English culture since the end
Alison are still very young and a bit naive to the complexities of of World War II in 1945.
adult society.
m Themes
Newspapers
"Real" Life and "Real" Pain

The papers are a potent symbol of the emptiness of
contemporary society as Osborne saw it. They continue to
report on "news" at a time when England's dominant role is as
stale as last week's paper. But Jimmy continues his addiction Osborne explores the legitimacy of experience—specifically,
to keeping up with events to feed his need for disgust at the experiencing "real" life. In the stage directions that open the
state of the world. They are his prop in the drama he stages in play, Osborne says Jimmy's "blistering honesty, or apparent
his home, but they are far from new at all, being symbols of honesty ... makes few friends." Early in the play, Jimmy gripes
past British culture. that Alison and Cliff don't do anything. He suggests they play a
game: "Let's pretend that we're human beings, and that we're
actually alive. Just for a while." In Jimmy's view, he has had the
most genuine and "real" experience between the three of them.
Trumpet Later in the play, he describes watching his soldier father die
slowly when he was only 10 years old. He claims he learned to
be angry and helpless at a young age. He goes to visit his
friend's mother who is dying and spends the day watching her
A few times in the play, Jimmy plays the trumpet in another
pass—another "real" experience, in Jimmy's view. Jimmy
room down the hall. He was once in a jazz band, and Alison
accuses his wife, Alison, throughout the play of never having
suspects he would prefer to do this than sell sweets at a street
had any legitimate experiences in life. He wishes something
stall. Music can be used to symbolize many things, but
would happen to her to wake her up. He even suggests she
Osborne appears to use the trumpet as an expression of
could have a child and the child could die. Then she would have
freedom for Jimmy. It is also an emotional outlet for his
a real experience of suffering, and she "might even become a
frustrations, as he is usually heard playing it after he
recognizable human being." When he learns Alison has lost
encounters a distressing situation (like Alison's return to the
their baby to a miscarriage, his reaction is indifferent—it isn't
apartment at the end of Act 3). Osborne also uses the trumpet
his first loss, he says. Alison tells Jimmy the miscarriage was
to keep Jimmy the dominant force in the play even when he is
the worst suffering she has ever experienced, and now she,
not onstage—he can be heard if not seen. When he is offstage,
like him, understands "real" pain. In Jimmy's view, pain and
the trumpet symbolizes his emotional reach, the powerful hold
anger appear to be the only "real" experiences someone can
he has on the other characters, especially the passive Alison
have.
and Cliff, as he "plays" them emotionally—or tries to at least.
In Act 2, Scene 1 Jimmy announces to Alison, Helena, and Cliff

that "anyone who doesn't like real jazz, hasn't any feeling either
for music or people." In this regard Jimmy's music playing
symbolizes his belief that he understands music and humanity

Look Back in Anger Study Guide Themes 27
childhoods, when the world was less indifferent. It's the only
Class place in their marriage where they can truly feel safe and
intimate. Alison says to Cliff at one point that she "can't think
what it was to feel young, really young." Alison becoming
Osborne himself was from lower-middle-class roots, and he pregnant, deciding she has to leave her marriage to survive,
explores class throughout Look Back in Anger—from a and then losing the baby to a miscarriage are all hard turns in
decidedly lower-class point of view. Jimmy and Cliff share a her otherwise unfettered and carefree life. She can no longer
lower-class upbringing, whereas Alison and Helena are more regain the innocence of her youth.
from England's upper class. Though they are all educated
Jimmy's struggles with his youth are more entwined with
(Jimmy and Cliff at less prestigious colleges), Jimmy seems
nostalgia for the past, which he claims to abhor. He makes fun
unable to get beyond the stigma of his upbringing. His
of his father-in-law, Colonel Redfern, who served England for
education gives him access to the middle class, yet he works
30 years in India, because the colonel longs for the sunnier
operating a sweets stall and has no apparent drive to climb the
past of Edwardian England. Jimmy also rebukes religion and
economic ladder. He resents Alison and her family, and the
faith as outdated ideas. For all his dismissive comments about
whole of the British upper class. He says Alison's parents are
the past, Jimmy is not so comfortable about the present and
"arrogant and full of malice." Her parents vehemently opposed
future, despite his posturing. He laments the fading of
her marriage to Jimmy, which he sees as another example of
England's once dominant role as a world power, as the
the clash between upper- and lower-class England. He calls
post–World War II years are the "American Age," as he
Alison "Lady Pusillanimous" (which means timid and cowardly)
describes it. He bristles at how international England has
and suggests she "has been promised a brighter easier world"
become in its food and culture. He has a longing for the
than Jimmy could afford to give her. When Alison's old friend
strength of Britain in days past while at the same time
Helena stays in their building, Jimmy makes similar class-based
proclaiming how enlightened he is. Helena and Alison, the two
accusations against her. At one point he refers to Helena as
women who know Jimmy best, convey Osborne's main point
"Lady Bracknell," a reference to a character in Irish writer and
about Jimmy: he "was born out of his time," says Helena.
playwright Oscar Wilde's 1895 play The Importance of Being
"There's no place for people like that any longer—in sex, or
Earnest. The character represents the old, stodgy ways of
politics, or anything." She thinks he's better suited to the
Victorian England, which is considered to be a prim, prudish,
French Revolution; Alison suggests Victorian England. Earlier in
and emotionally repressed era. It's impossible to say how
the play, Alison even compared Jimmy to a knight in not-so-
closely Jimmy reflects Osborne's personal feelings about
shining armor when he rescued her from her upper-class
class—he did go on to achieve great monetary success as a
family. "He'll never do anything, and he'll never amount to
playwright and screenwriter. However, he is certainly reflecting
anything," Helena concludes. As Osborne suggests, Jimmy is
the feelings of many lower-class young men in England after
left with his own anger at his changing world.
World War II. These young men did not see an economic future
for themselves that would allow them to move up in the class
system.
Fading Youth and the Past
Osborne examines issues of the past and fading youth

throughout the play, sometimes intertwining the themes. The
main characters are all in their mid-20s: no longer children, but
not experienced enough to have gained needed wisdom about
the world. The stuffed teddy bear and squirrel are used as a
way to connect Jimmy and Alison to their more innocent
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Look Back in Anger

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Look Back in Anger

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derision. He expresses outrage over the political and social

j Book Basics ................................................................................................. 1

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With his play Look Back in Anger, Osborne birthed a writers'

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Colonel Redfern Father

Other Major Character

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Full Character List Mrs. Tanner, who does not appear on

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Rising Action Falling Action

4. Cliff urges her to tell Jimmy, but Alison is afraid.

5. Helena Charles comes to stay in the same building.

8. Helena tells Jimmy Alison is pregnant, but he doesn't care.

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On a typical Sunday evening, Jimmy and Cliff argue over

The same night

Jimmy pushes Cliff into the ironing board and Alison's

Later the same night

Alison tells Cliff she's pregnant and Jimmy doesn't know

Later the same night

Alison receives a phone call that her friend Helena is

Two weeks later

Jimmy, Alison, Cliff, and Helena have tea; Jimmy and

The same night

Later the same night

Helena urges Alison to leave Jimmy for the health of her

A few minutes later

Jimmy wants Alison to go to London with him; Alison and

The following evening

Alison's father, Colonel Redfern, comes to pick her up

Later that evening

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Jimmy learns Alison is gone; Helena tells him Alison is

Several months later

On a typical Sunday evening, Jimmy and Cliff discuss the

The same night

Cliff tells Jimmy he's going to move somewhere else to

A few minutes later

Jimmy suggests he and Helena start a new life together

Alison returns to the apartment, having lost the baby.

A few minutes later

Alison and Helena talk about Jimmy and the situation

Helena tells Jimmy she is leaving him.

A few minutes later

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noticed her. Neither Cliff nor Alison reacts to Jimmy's story.

Bored, Jimmy tries to find something on the radio. There's a

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The scene is two weeks later on another Sunday night. The

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fashioned that he wouldn't hit a woman. He asks Helena if

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Helena Charles enters to help Alison pack. She tells the

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"cruel, stupid girl is going to have a baby." He tells Helena to