Look Back in Anger Summary and Analysis of Act II -

Scene II
Summary
The second scene of Act Two opens on the following evening. Alison is at her dressing table,
packing a suitcase. Her father, Colonel Redfern, sits in a chair on the other side of the
room. The Colonel is a handsome man in his late sixties. He is slightly withdrawn. He was a
dedicated and strict soldier for forty years but now he has an air of kindness and gentleness to
him. He feels disturbed and bewildered by everything that is happening to his daughter.
The Colonel asks where Jimmy has gone and Alison tells him that he’s gone to visit Mrs.
Tanner in London. She explains how Mrs. Tanner set Jimmy up with the sweet stall and how
he has remained fond of her through the years. The Colonel asks why Jimmy, an educated
young man, decided to work a sweet stall and Alison tells him that he tried many things,
“journalism, advertising, even vacuum cleaners for a few weeks. He seems to have been as
happy doing this as anything else.”

Alison and her father begin to discuss her life with Jimmy. She tells him of
how Jimmy hates all of them and how he believes it is “high treason” for
Alison to be in touch with her family. The Colonel admits to Alison that he
believes her mother went too far in castigating Jimmy. He tells her about
how her mother hated Jimmy and believed that he was a criminal. He
admits that “All those inquiries, the private detectives -- the accusations. I
hated every moment of it.” Alison says that she believes her mother was
only trying to protect her and the Colonel says that he wishes they had
never interfered with their daughter’s life.
The Colonel proffers the idea that perhaps he and Alison are to blame for
everything that has happened. Alison is shocked at this, but the Colonel
explains to her that she is like him. He tells her that she likes “to sit on the
fence because it’s comfortable and more peaceful.” She reminds him that
he had threatened her, but that she was the one that married him anyway.

Old plant
Alison tells the Colonel what Jimmy said about him and her mother. She
tells the Colonel that Jimmy called her mother an “overprivileged old
bitch” and called the Colonel a plant left over “from the Edwardian
Wilderness that can’t understand why the sun isn’t shining any more.” The
Colonel asks her why he married her if he felt like this. Alison answers
that this is “the famous American question -- you know, the sixty-four
dollar one!” She says that he perhaps married her for revenge. Perhaps, she
thinks, Jimmy
Who understand revenge? Adults
thought that “he should have been another Shelley, and can’t understand
now why I’m not another Mary, and you’re not William Godwin.” She
says that when she met Jimmy he threw down a gauntlet for her; a
challenge that she felt compelled to rise up and meet. The Colonel only
answers that he doesn’t understand why young people cannot simply
marry for love.
DID COLONEL HAPPY AFTER RETAIN ?
The Colonel concedes to Alison that, perhaps, Jimmy is right in calling
him an old Edwardian. He tells her the story of how he left England in
1914 to command the Maharajah’s army in India. He loved India and did
not return to Britain until 1947. He discovered that, by then, the England
he had left was no longer there. He remembers how happy he was in India
and remembers the “last day the sun shone was when that dirty little train
steamed out of that crowded, suffocating Indian station...I knew in my
heart it was all over then.” Alison hears the story and cannot help but
compare the two men in her life: “You’re hurt because everything is
changed. Jimmy is hurt because everything is the same. And neither of you
can face it.”
Alison picks up the squirrel from the dresser and begins to put it in her
suitcase, then she stops and puts it back. For a moment, “she seems to be
standing on the edge of choice.” She makes a choice and goes to her
father, leans against him and weeps. The Colonel tells her she’s taking a
big step in deciding to leave with him. Alison finishes packing her bag.
Helena enters and Alison and the Colonel prepare to leave. The Colonel
asks if Helena is coming with them, and she tells him that she is not and
that she has a job interview the next day in Birmingham and will stay one
more night. Cliff enters and Alison introduces the two men. The Colonel
takes Alison’s bag and exits.
Why helina did not go with them ? opportunity
Cliff asks Alison if she wants to stay and tell Jimmy about her departure.
She hands Cliff a letter, an action that Cliff calls “conventional,” and she
leaves. Cliff and Helena are alone in the apartment. Cliff tells Helena that
the apartment is going to be “really cock-eyed” now. Helena wonders if
Jimmy will look up one of his old girlfriends, Madeline, but Cliff doesn’t
think so. Cliff loses his sense of good humor for the first time and he snaps
at Helena. Helena tells him that “I’ve never seen so many souls stripped to
the waist” because of Jimmy. Cliff decides to meet Jimmy at the train
station and he says that he might have a few drinks or even pick up a
prostitute and bring her back to the apartment. He throws Alison’s letter at
Helena and tells her to give it to Jimmy