Characters in Look Back In Anger
ANALYSIS OF ALL CHARACTERS IN LOOK BACK IN ANGER
The Character of Jimmy Porter
Role of Jimmy Porter
Jimmy Porter is a loud, obnoxious man, rude and verbally abusive. He is born working class but highly educated, like his friend and roommate Cliff, but has an ambivalent relationship with his educated status, seeing himself mostly as a working class man and yet frustrated that his education can do nothing to affect his class status. "He is a disconcerting mixture of sincerity and cheerful malice, of tenderness and freebooting cruelty." He is usually found spouting tirades against the complacency of the British upper classes, and especially against his wife Alison and then his lover Helena. Jimmy is married to a pretty girl, Alison, whom he feels he almost had to steal away from her family, the kind of family whose strength and graces were grounded on England's 1914 Empire. Jimmy not only resents his wife's family and all the institutions that bred them because they led to nothing but the dust and ashes of 1945; he also berates her for having lost the stamina presumed to be characteristic of her background, without having it replaced with any new values of her own, even romantically negative ones like his. Jimmy Porter is an aggressive young man. He is angry at almost every British institution such as the Church, the Monarchy, the government and he rants against 'posh' Sunday papers, although he buys them every weekend. But most of all, he is against any form of upper-class manners. However, he married a girl from the class which he hates. As a result of his class hatred Jimmy attacks Alison both verbally and physically throughout the play since his wife reminds him of everything he despises in terms of class distinctions. He berates Alison for being too reserved and unfeeling. Jimmy expresses physical aggression towards Alison by pushing Cliff on the ironing board and Cliff falls against Alison and she burns her arm on the iron. At first, Jimmy tells Alison that he did not mean to hurt her but then he apologizes for doing it deliberately: "I'm sorry... I mean it... I did it on purpose" (p. 26). Jimmy is frail and dependent on Alison. Although Jimmy has graduated from a university, albeit one with no prestige, he works with Cliff as owner/proprietor of a candy stall in an outdoor market. In spite of his tendency to sortimes cruelly insult Cliff, Jimmy genuinely likes him. Cliff lives with Jimmy and Alison and he's close friends with both.
Significance of the OF JIMMY PORTER
Jimmy Porter is the play's main character. He is the "Angry Young Man” who expresses his frustration for the lack of feelings in his placid domestic life. Jimmy can be unders ood as both a hero for his unfiltered expressions of emotion and frustration in a culture that propagated unemotional resignation. He is restless, importunate, full of pride, a combination which alienates the sensitive and insensitive alike; a man of decency and charity who is one of life's beau. losers"; "a lovable monster with the gift of the gab and a talent for resentment." He can also be considered a villain for the ways in which his anger proves to be destructive. to those in his life. Jimmy "alienates the sensitive and insensitive alike," and his "blistering honesty, or apparent honesty... makes few friends." Jimmy is a frustrated character, railing against his feelings of alienation and uselessness in post-war England. He is a character of immense psychological complexity and interest. He dominates the play through the power of his anger and language. He unleashes his invective on what he calls the Establishment (those "born" to power and privilege), the church as part of the Establishment, and his loved ones. Jimmy, "risen" from the working class, is now provided with an intellect which only shows him that everything that might have justified pride in the old England - its opportunity, adventure, material wellbeing, have disappeared without being replaced by anything but a lacklustre security. He has been promoted into a moral and social vacuum. He fumes, rages, nags at a world which promised much and has led to a dreary plain where there is no fibre or substance, but only fear of scientific destruction and the minor comforts of “American" mechanics. His wife comments to the effect that "my father is sad because everything has changed, Jimmy is sad because nothing has." In the meantime, Jimmy seeks solace and blows defiance through the symbolic jazz of his trumpet, while his working-class pal, though he adores Jimmy and his wife, wisely leaves the emotionally messy premises. In bullying Alison, Jimmy is certainly getting an easy revenge on the class he detests. His assaults on Alison are nasty and sometimes savage. He seems to be trying to force her to have a genuine response, something coming from her that is not coloured by her class and upbringing. He says she is not real because she has not suffered real pain and degradation. By redirecting his class hatred towards Alison, Jimmy makes use of one of the ego defense mechanisms, that is "displacement. Because he directs his anger and hatred for the middle-class towards Alison, the weaker object that is less able to react to any hostility. Alison becomes the main target of Jimmy and is made to suffer both psychologically and physically. Jimmy bullies, taunts, and humiliates Alison and her middle-class parents, friends, and manners as the play develops. Jimmy hates Helena for the same reasons he hates Alison, namely her social class and proper" upbringing. While Jimmy apparently hates Alison's mother, he seems to like Colonel Redfern, her father, because he can feel sorry for him. Jimmy's aggression can also be seen as a defence mechanism that creates a vicious circle. The more he hurts Alison, the more he feels vulnerable and insecure. It appears that by hurting others Jimmy actually hurts himself. His biting sarcasms are in a sense really directed inwardly against self. It is not the love he had envisioned; it is self-laceration.
Jimmy is vulnerable and he hates his own vulnerability and dependency. It can be claimed that Jimmy cannot cope with the reality that he is frail and vulnerable; therefore he prefers to deny it. He frequently accuses Alison of being weak and frail. That is to say, he projects the unacceptable aspects of his character onto Alison. He frequently attacks Alison's timidity and weakness. Jimmy adopts just the opposite behaviour by verbally attacking Alison because of the reality that he is dependent on her which causes anxiety in him. He makes use of one of the ego defence mechanisms called 'reaction formation', that is, he expresses anger and aggressive behaviour in order to hide his vulnerability and dependency. Jimmy is frail because as he says he was exposed to death, loneliness and pain at a very early age. He watched his father's death when he was ten. He claims that he knows what it is like to lose someone. However, he thinks that Alison does not know anything about loss or the feeling of helplessness. Therefore, he tells her that she should have had a child and had lost it so that she could have experienced the feeling of loss. Another reason why Jimmy is so frail can be the fact that he feels insecure due to being married to a woman above his social status. Because of his insecurity he suspects Alison's devotion, and he attacks her submissive behaviour against his assaults. He displays his doubts about Alison's loyalty when he tells Cliff how he goes through her things in her absence. His insecurity is felt as he tells Cliff about his sexual life with Alison. At the end of the play, when Alison returns having lost her baby, Jimmy does not seem to feel sorry for the baby. Instead, he tells her that he is hurt since Alison did not send any flowers to Hugh's mother's funeral.
Their bear and squirrel game can be considered as Jimmy's Oedipal need for Alison in addition to an escape from the harsh reality as Jimmy tells Alison: "We'll be together in our bear's cave, and our squirrel's drey, and... we'll sing songs about ourselves - about warm trees and snug caves, and lying in the sun" (p. 77). The images of 'caves' and 'lying in the sun' somewhat indicate the return to the womb-world of mother once again. Consequently, it may be stated that Jimmy expresses anger and aggressive behaviour due to several reasons and he directly expresses his angry feelings both verbally and physically by assaulting Alison, whereas Alison either suppresses her anger or aggresses passively by giving no reaction against her husband's aggressive attacks.
The Character of Alison Porter
Role of Alison Porter
Alison Porter, Jimmy’s wife. A woman of upper-middle-class background, she is perceptive enough to understand that her husband resents everything in her that reminds him of the social differences between them. After three years of marriage, she is miserable. The only way that she can survive Jimmy’s constant verbal attacks on her and on her family is to conceal her feelings and remain silent. Although she says that Jimmy is the only man she has ever loved, Alison so yearns for peace that, with the encouragement of her friend Helena, she finally leaves him without telling him that she is pregnant. After losing the baby, she returns to Jimmy, begs his forgiveness for betraying him, and promises that because she has experienced suffering, she can now be the kind of wife he wants and needs.
SIGNIFICANCE OF ALISON'S CHARACTER
Alison is drawn to Jimmy's energy, but also exhausted by their constant fighting. Jimmy accuses her of being too complacent and lacking "enthusiasm," and her own father, Colonel Redfern, agrees that she has a tendency towards too much neutrality. Alison is aware of the fact that Jimmy is trying to make her angry. She knows that if she give any reaction to his attacks he will be triumphant. Alison's submissive and silent manner against Jimmy's assaults is also a way of expressing aggression because of the fact that she reach passive aggressively. It can be claimed that passively aggressive behaviour, or in other term silent aggression, is much preferred by women in particular due to the fact that this type aggressive behaviour does not invite retaliation since the opponent cannot decide whether there is an aggression or not. Therefore, the submissive behaviour of Alison functions as a disguise form of aggressive behaviour which she uses to protect herself against her husband's attacks Alison's silence and seeming ignorance can also be considered as a weapon in order to go herself from Jimmy's assaults. It seems as if she is not listening to Jimmy when he shouts at to say something The way Jimmy describes Alison's friends reveals his aggressive attitudes towards them: "The all sit around feeling very spiritual, with their mental hands on each other's knees, discussing sex as if it were the Art of Fugue." Upon these words both Alison and Helena give no reaction against Jimmy but the stage direction says; "the silent hostility of the two women has set Jimmy off the scent..."
As a result, it can be said that both Jimmy and Alison provoke each other. Cliff who witnesses the aggressive interaction between the couple says to Alison: "I'm wondering how much longer can go on watching you two tearing the insides out of each other. It looks pretty ugly sometimes Alison is drawn back to Jimmy at the end after she has suffered the pain and loss brought by the miscarriage of her child. This suffering changes her, and causes her to commit more fully to the intense emotion inherent in Jimmy's world.
Even though Alison feels stuck between her upper class upbringing and the working class work of her husband, she finds more internal peace with Jimmy and his ways. She returns to reconcile with the ways of the working class and enrich her humanity.
The Character of Cliff Lewis
Role of Cliff Lewis
Cliff Lewis, a friend of Jimmy, also from the working classes. A gentle person, he does not have Jimmy’s fire or his wit, but he also lacks his cruelty. Cliff is genuinely fond of Alison. He shows his appreciation for her housekeeping efforts, and he tries to defend her from Jimmy’s verbal abuse. It is he, not Jimmy, who bandages Alison’s arm after she burns it. Of all the characters in the play, Cliff seems to understand best what other people are feeling. Even when Helena thinks that she hates Jimmy, Cliff guesses that she really desires him, and he alone sees through her attempts to break up the marriage. Because he so dislikes Helena, Cliff moves out when he senses that she is moving in.
Significance
Cliff is warm, loving, and humorous. He genuinely loves Alison but adjusts when she leaves and Helena moves in. Cliff's first allegiance is to Jimmy. Cliff believes that Jimmy keeps him as friend because of his little education. Living with the couple creates an avenue for him to help keep them together. Cliff is "easy and relaxed, almost to lethargy, with the rather sad, natural intelligence of the self-taught." He and Alison have an affectionate relationship that borders on a sexual one, but both of them are content with comfortable fondness rather than burning passion. Cliff eventually decides to leave to pursue his own life, rather than staying in Jimmy's apartment.
The Character of Helena Charles
Role of Helena Charles
Helena Charles, a beautiful, elegant actress, a friend of Alison and a member of her social circle. Helena comes to spend a few days with the Porters, but, finding herself increasingly attracted to Jimmy, she stays on, intent on driving a wedge between Jimmy and Alison. As Alison’s confidant, Helena urges her to face up to Jimmy or to leave him; meanwhile, she increases the pressure by wiring Alison’s father to come for her. When Alison walks out, Helena remains, becoming Jimmy’s mistress and his housekeeper. By the time Alison comes back, Helena has realized that the affair is finished, and with her usual dignity she goes on her way.
Significance
Helena represents that middle class which obstinately holds on to its customary traditions. Even though she seems genuinely concerned about Alison's constant altercation with her husband, it also appears she schemes her out of the scene. She is described as having a "sense of matriarchal authority" that "makes most men who meet her anxious.” Helena has a strong code of middle class morals that eventually force her to leavebJimmy. Her sense of morality leads her to leave. She can be considered the play's moral compass.
The Character of Colonel Redfern
Role of Colonel Redfern
Colonel Redfern 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 is Alison's father and a former colonel in the British army stationed in the English colony of India (back before 1947, when India still was a colony of England). He is "gentle” and “kindly," but also "brought up to command respect.” After leaving his post in India, "he is often slightly withdrawn and uneasy" because he lives "in a world where his authority has lately become less and less unquestionable." He does not approve of Jimmy, but he does find things to admire in him and even agrees with Jimmy in some instances.
Jimmy expresses this resignation later in the play when he tells Cliff that there are no great causes to fight for anymore. The Colonel's generation, he says, was the last generation to believe unquestionably in an absolute right. Now, the Colonel is confused by the world around him. He does not understand the new British generations. When the Colonel comes to help Alison pack to leave Jimmy, he shows himself to be self. aware and incisive, commenting that both he and Alison like to stay neutral and avoid showing emotion, to their detriment,
Significance
The Colonel symbolizes the softening of the British character. Just as the Colonel is resigned and withdrawn, Osborne is suggesting that British culture and character is resigned and withdrawn in this new American age. He represents Britain's great Edwardian past. He was a military leader in India for many years before returning with his family to England. He is critical of Jimmy and Alison's relationship, but accepts that he is to blame for many of their problems because of his meddling in their affairs. His world ended with the independence of India. He is a reasonable man somewhat bemused by the post-World War II England,
Jimmy says that the Colonel is stuck in a past version of England, and the Colonel himself agrees with this. Osborne argues that this attitude mirrors the collective British conscience which cannot understand the angry young men populating its working classes. Colonel represents the values and beliefs of another period, a time of British Empire. His values are those of duty, honour, and loyalty to one's country and one's class. He feels disturbed and bewildered by everything that is happening to his daughter. He does not hesitate to help Alison and does not attempt to control her. He is bewildered and impotent in an England he no longer recognizes.
The Character of MINOR Characters
Hugh Tanner
Jimmy's friend, who took Alison and Jimmy into his apartment in the first months of their marriage. He was Jimmy's partner when they went on "raids” against Alison's upper class friends at fancy parties, and Jimmy saw him as a co-conspirator in the class struggle. Then Hugh decided to leave for China to write a novel, and Jimmy felt betrayed. This reveals Jimmy's deep traditional values (he was angry that Hugh abandoned his mother, Mrs Tanner) and his sense of patriotism.
MRS TANNER
The mother of Hugh Tanner, called "Hugh's mum" by Jimmy, she helped set Jimmy up with his sweet stall. Jimmy loves her, and Alison thinks this is just because she is lower class and "ignorant." In the middle of the play, Jimmy learns that Hugh's mum has had a stroke, and Jimmy goes to visit her in the hospital. In one of his few expressions of true vulnerability, he asks Alison to come with him. She refuses, and leaves him shortly thereafter. Jimmy is offended that Alison seems to see Hugh's mum only in terms of her class, and not as a person. He thinks that society in general ignores the humanity of working class people, and that Alison's and others' treatment of Hugh's mum is a prime example.
WEBSTER
The only one of Alison's friends that Jimmy thinks has any value. Webster plays the banjo and is able to talk in Jimmy's “dialect." Jimmy believes that Webster is gay.
MADELINE
Jimmy's first love, a woman ten years older than he is. He sees her as an example of the "enthusiasm" that Alison lacks.
Nigel
Alison's brother, a politician. Jimmy considers him “just about as vague as you can get without actually being invisible." Alison wishes that she could have reached out to Nigel during the difficult first months of her marriage, because he would have been affectionate and loving to her.
Alison's mother
Alison's mother strongly disapproved of Jimmy and Alison's marriage, and went to great lengths to prevent it. She did this out of a protective love for Alison. However, Colonel Redfern says that he thinks his wife went too far in her actions.
Miss Drury
The couple's landlord. Alison is worried that she'll evict them for being too rowdy and noisy with the trumpet, while Jimmy considers her a thief, reflecting his negative view of people with financial power.