Look Back in Anger Group

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ballgamer7
ballgamer7
Student
College - Senior

How does Jimmy Porter represent the "angry young man" of 1950s in Look Back in Anger?

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Posted by ballgamer7 on Tuesday September 8, 2009 at 10:25 PM and tagged with character, look back in anger.

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  1. kc4u Teacher
    College - Senior

    eNotes Editor

    Born in the early years of the most turbulent 1930s and having lived through the Second Great War, Osborne's protagonist in Look Back In Anger, Jimmy Porter, represents the 'angry young men' of the post-War era in England. Jimmy is angry with almost everything and everybody in the world around him. His angry tirades are directed against his upper-class wife, Alison, his business-partner & friend, Cliff who shares with Jimmy & Alison their small flat at Midlands, against Alison's parents & brother, against the Church, the Press, the women, the general lack of enthusiasm, the general tendency of escaping the hard realities of life.

    Jimmy considers himself a member of the working class, and opposes the hypocritical social-moral attitudes and practices of the upper class people:their religious faith, moral scruples, sexual prejudices, political opportunism. A young man, anguished and volatile, rebellious and often self-contradicting, Jimmy represents the disillusionment of the younger generation in the 1950s.

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    Posted by kc4u on Wednesday September 9, 2009 at 4:43 AM