Play Report On A Look Back In Anger Essay Example For Students

Play Report On A Look Back In Anger Essay The play, A Look Back in Anger, by John Osborne brings the notion of the angry man gone mad to the surface. But what does this play teach us? Or, does this play teach us anything? At the end of this paper it will be evident that this play does teach us something, and that is how some people, as individuals, have their own ways of thinking, and reacting, which are considerably different from the social norms. Of course the character we will be analyzing is Jimmy. There are 3 stimuli that correspond to radical reactions by Jimmy. The first stimulus is love; Jimmy has ways of expressing his love to the women of his life that are different than the rest of societys. The second stimulus is the natural aggression towards threats, and most of these threats are small, that Jimmy expresses with Cliff, and also in Allisons mother, in particular. The final trigger to Jimmys radical way of reacting is that of death. It seems to be an image that haunts him throughout the play and he only brings i t to the surface after the halfway point. This, last, stimuli can be regarded as an explanation to his radical ways, that give him the image of the angry man. However, there is one over-ruling thesis that covers all three stimuli that is the basis of Jimmys radical behavior, and that is of women in general; Jimmy, as will be demonstrated in each section, is very insecure with the opposite sex, whether it is will girlfriends, wives, or landlords. On the topic of love, Jimmy has demonstrated his difficulty to conform to the social norms, in terms of being a gentleman towards women, especially his own wife, Allison. The first major indication of this problem was when Allison and him were showing their first mutual signs of affection, but they were required to result to role playing to fulfill their show of love. Jimmy: Youre very beautiful. A beautiful, great-eyed squirrelHow I envy you. Allison: Well, youre a jolly super bear, too. A really soooooooooooper, marvelous bear. Jimmy: Bears and Squirrels are marvelous Jimmy and Allison have proven that they must put on disguises to show their affection. Allison as a Squirrels, and Jimmy as a bear also demonstrates the way their perceive each other. A squirrel is small, weak, and helpless, as is contrary to a bear, that has the image of a vicious and barbaric animal. In this point of view, Osborne is showing us an analogy of how he perceives their relationship. Bears and squirrels dont really get along, mainly because they compete for the same food. In the play we see how Allison and Jimmy are incompatible, and when they speak of how bears and squirrels are marvelous, it just proves to show that they are blind to the fact that they dont belong together. However, it must be made clear that this is not due to Allison that they lock horns often, but it at Jimmys fault; he is seen as the instigator to every conflict in this play. Not only in terms of love, but also in regarding women altogether, Jimmy sees women as the enemy. Jimmy has attacked every woman in this play, physically or verbally, except for one, and that was Hughs mother who has dying. (this issue will be addressed in the last portion of this essay). First, we will look at the situation with Helena; as first it is evident that they hate each other, but then they kiss and become lovers. This is not only unusual, but shows the instability and unpredictability of Jimmys actions. The issue is that he sees Helena as an enemy that is trying to convince Allison to leave him; and Jimmy seems correct, because in fact, that is what happens in the end, but its quite unpredictable. Jimmy shows his disgust towards Helena when he says to her: What are you plotting? This is implying that Helena is out to mess his life up, this then leads to a confrontation that almost gets violent. To Build a Fire - Significance of the Words Dying EssayThe second person we can look at is Cliff; this is a different type of aggression that arises. Primarily because this is the only other male character that Jimmy comes in contact with in the play, and they have never stopped arguing throughout the play. A few times they even resulted in wrestling, in once case injuring Allison. This key in this situation is the communication problem, they ask one question to each other, and it is not answered until a dozen other questions are asked. The shocking portion of this relationship between them both is that Jimmy actually trusts Cliff. In countless scenes, it seems as if Cliff is actually Allisons husband, and Jimmy only reacts in a very minor fashion; and again, this just fortifies the notion that Jimmy is insecure when women are regarded, because the only person he trusts is Cliff. The Third and final stimuli is that of the notion of death, in many of Jimmys dialogs, he speaks of death and its implications. He is obviously emotionally scarred by his fathers death, from when Jimmy was only ten years old. He testifies that nobody else cared for his father but him; his mother didnt do much but tend to his physical needs. I learnt at an early age what it was to be angry-angry and helpless. And I can never forget it. It seems as though the anger was towards his mother, and women in general this thought in his mind is a recurrent in his speech and we see that he blames everyone for not caring for the dying. Later on Jimmys friend, Hughs mother, is in a hospital dying, and again we get the same events happen again. This is special, not only because it involves death, that really triggers Jimmys emotions, but because this lady is the only one who he shows any direct affection for. He declares that hes the only one who loves Hughs mother, and hell be the only one walkin g behind the coffin on the day of the funeral. The main significance that must be surfaced from this idea is that when it comes to death, gender does not matter to Jimmy. The reaction of his fathers death, and Hughs mothers death are parallel in every single aspect. Therefore, it can be said that Jimmys only vehicle to bring him in terms with women is death, and after the death of Hughs mother, we see a different Jimmy. He returns to the home, where Helena tells him that Allison left, and tries to remain the old self by threatening Helena, but he breaks down; she kisses him and they fall for each other. At this point in the novel we have hope for Jimmy that he has seen the light, but this is not the case. We can see that the author has easily illustrated this out for us by recreating the same scene as the beginning with Helena at Allisons initial place. Jimmy and Cliff argue over the same issues, and Helena is still at the ironing board. This goes to show that people like Jimmy do not change their ways of thinking overnight, this will take a long time before Jimmy accepts the social rules. By the end of the play we dont see any difference because when he returns with Allison, they still resolve to bears and squirrels to show their affection. In conclusion, the three stimuli have shown spark anger and passion from within Jimmy. However, the overruling trigger that sparks anger in Jimmy is the idea of women in general. He is obviously threatened by womens advancement in society and this is the main problem that he must overcome in order to become an acceptable person to society as a whole. English Essays