To what extent can one separate the personal from the social in discussing the anger of
Jimmy Porter is the main central character in Look Back In Anger, and as the title suggests it is a play full of anger. The play is driven by the anger that Jimmy has towards society and also the people close to him. ... The play is set in 1956 and the conservatives are in power, this is the time of Loamshire, with Jimmy being a Labour supporter it’s one of the many reasons he is angry. The play starts with a very personal opening, Jimmy throws mean accusations at Alison in front of Cliff. ... Jimmy is very sarcastic towards Cliff, he uses the words ‘welsh ruffian’ (Look Back In Anger pg 4) to describe him. On another personal note Jimmy dislikes Alison’s parents, because they are conservatives, so at every opportunity he gets he criticises Alison about this. Jimmy is also angry towards Alison due to her being passive, this has been shown when she doesn’t retaliate to his many anger outbursts. ... ’ (Look Back In Anger pg18) this shows how passive she is. ... Jimmy comes from a similar background as Alison, he is an educated man and yet he dislikes his upbringing. I believe that all his anger stems from personal experiences. You get a sense of this from Act 2 Scene 1 (Look Back In Anger pg 58). ... ’ (Look Back In Anger pg 58). He feels that he was the only one who cared for his father and the only one who loved him. ... ’ (Look Back In Anger pg 59). He thinks that he is a ‘veteran’, and that is a ‘veteran’ of his own personal war of emotions. When he speaks about his father that stage directions say that he is ‘looking out’ and so he is detached from the rest of the room. This is the first glimpse we get of the true Jimmy, the person that is really weak and that the anger is his way of coping with everything. ... Jimmy feels that society has let him down and this also stems from his fathers death. ... His father was seen as an embarrassment to the family and so no one visited just sent money to aid his mother. ... ’ (Look Back In Anger pg 102). ... All the way through this play Jimmy stages and fights his own war and that is the one with Alison. ... ’˛ Jimmy’s anger, which is his problem, does not come from the wrongs and insincerity of society but from his ‘suppressed awareness of the insoluble psychological paradox caused by his desperate’ (Casebook pg 120) need to control a woman’s love his ‘inability to get along with anyone.