Discuss the image of the angry young man in Look Back in Anger.

In Look Back in Anger, Jimmy porter is the image of the "angry young man.' This image has its foundation in the social and political upheavals in England following the end of World War II. In short, England was demanding equality between the classes and an end to the class system that reserved opportunity for the upper classes. England's imperial holdings were shrinking as colonial countries were demanding and gaining their independence.

In the light of these two flames, the working and lower class people of England, particularly the young men, were enraged over the ironic injustice that even though African and Indian and other colonial holdings were gaining independence, they were still smothered under class rule and governance there at home on English soil. John Osborne gives voice to this angry young man through his characterization of Jimmy Porter as having lost his father to the ideal of equality and democracy, as college educated, as the owner of a candy shop, as enraged against the unfeeling souls of upper class people, especially religious people, and especially his own religious upper class wife Alison.

Explain the "Angry Young Man Movement" in "Look Back in Anger."

Sure!  After World War II, there was a new phrase that appeared that was originally coined by Leslie Allen Paul:  "angry young men."  Basically, these were English men (usually of the working classes) who wrote for a living; however, their writing had quite a few common traits:  anger, protest, and rebellion of some sort.

Usually disillusioned with British society, Jimmy of Look Back in Anger by John Osborne fits the description of an "angry young man" perfectly.  In fact, anger is the main theme, of course.  Jimmy is continually described as being both "helpless" and "angry."  Jimmy always blames his friends and his society for his own failures.  He feels that, due to his college education, he should have more going for him, but Jimmy doesn't and blames it on everyone but himself.

You see I learnt at an early age what it was to be angry - angry and helpless. And I can never forget it. I knew more about - love... betrayal... and death, when I was ten years old than you will probably ever know in your life.

As a result of his own failures, Jimmy is angry as he sells inexpensive candy at the market.  Another way that Jimmy fits into the "angry young man" category is his hatred of Alison's relatives.  Alison, of course, has upper-class roots.  Anyone in the "angry young man" movement, due to their low social class, would be "required" to dislike anyone of upper-class heritage.

In conclusion, it's important to note that it is class conflict that defines the "Angry Young Man" movement.  Jimmy helps exemplify that movement, therefore, the story Look Back in Anger by John Osborne fits the bill perfectly.

Explain the "Angry Young Man Movement" in "Look Back in Anger."

The movement referred to as the "Angry Young Men" was an important part of the British literary scene immediately following World War II, and generally refers to playwrights and fiction; it overlaps with two poetic movements known as "The Movement" and "The Group."

The "Angries", as they were sometimes called, were often from lower middle class or working class families, and often through the medium of grammar schools had managed to attain places in universities which were dominated by social elites. The works of this movement are often characterized by class conflict, with the protagonists no longer fitting in with the environment from which they originated but also not being accepted by the middle and upper classes where they fit educationally. On a literary level, these post-war writers tended to avoid the high modernism and internationalism of the first half of the century and the apocalyptic and dramatic tone of the war poets, and instead write technically conservative realistic portraits of characters experiencing some form of displacement in social class.

Look Back in Anger by John Osborne fits all these generic characteristics, in terms of bother literary technique and theme, especially the protagonist, Jimmy, who is too educated, clever, and creative to be happy with working in a shop, but cannot find work suited to his abilities.

Explain the "Angry Young Man Movement" in "Look Back in Anger."

It is difficult not to see Osborne's work as a pioneering venture in bringing the characterization of "the Angry Young Man" to a wider audience.  When it was first seen on stage, critics might have vented their own anger towards the work, but few could deny that Jimmy was the embodiment of the "angry young man" that was present throughout England.  The drama showed the realistic state of being where resentment at the Status Quo and frustration percolated with every breath in such a stark manner.  This became one of the reasons why the critics understood how drama would become so associated with the "Angry Young Man" archetype:

I agree that Look Back in Anger is likely to remain a minority taste. What matters, however, is the size of the minority. I estimate it at roughly 6,733,000, which is the number of people in this country between the ages of twenty and thirty. And this figure will doubtless be swelled by refugees from other age-groups who are curious to know precisely what the contemporary young pup is thinking and feeling.

The drama was instrumental in bringing this archetype from the subterranean into the open.  

People were forced to recognize Jimmy was representative of a chunk of the world that they inhabited.  He could not be seen as an anomaly or something that failed to exist. Jimmy's condition of anger became an experience that many recognized either existed in their lives or in their world:  "You see, I learnt at an early age what it was to be angry—angry and helpless. And I can never forget it.'' The condition of helplessness and anger, frustration at being told that power exists when it actually is absent, is where the drama is where it reveals the archetype in the most illuminating of terms. Osborne's work has to be seen as a pioneering venture because of this.  It does not relent in seeking to capture what reality is, depicting it in a manner that force one to look at what is there.  

What was the "angry young men" movement, and how does Look Back in Anger exemplify it?

The so-called "angry young men" movement grew in the wake of World War II. Young British men in the postwar world were growing restless with lingering social inequalities and injustices. Privileges the upper classes had over the working classes and the hypocrisies of middle-class morality systems frustrated them. From the working and middle classes sprung up a group of writers who explored these feelings. Among them was John Osbourne, the writer of Look Back in Anger.

Look Back in Anger is perhaps the quintessential "angry young man" work of art. Its protagonist, the sardonic and frustrated Jimmy Porter, exists in a perpetual state of rage at the world he lives in. Despite his intelligence and drive, he is trapped working at a confectionary stand due to class-based limitations. He feels that society's push for people to accept the status quo and live conventional lives prevents individuals from realizing their true potential or really experiencing life. He takes out his frustrations on his long-suffering wife Alison, who in Jimmy's eyes represents the repressed, impassive middle-class morality Jimmy openly loathes.

Despite his tirade against long-standing systems of class inequality, Jimmy romanticizes certain elements of prewar culture. Especially magnetic to him was the existence of the British Empire. He longs for a time when a man could join the army and go out into the wider world with the goal of expanding the empire. The modern world lacks that same sense of purpose, or so Jimmy feels. He says that there "aren't any good, brave causes left." Overall, the play is a snapshot of the alienation and frustration felt by postwar British youth. The movement foreshadows the even more radical youth culture to come in the 1960s.