Anger seems to be the answer

                             Are you Jimmy or Alison?

There is a strong feeling that people have shared for several years and even the greatest authors have expressed it in the most incredible pieces of their work, believe it or not, it refers to Anger. An expression of hatred against British and American culture, captured in the playwright “Look back in anger” (1956) by John Osborne and in “Howl” (1955) by Allen Ginsberg since we live in a world full of injustice and alienation because of our social class, our gender, our sexuality, our religion and countless reasons that make no sense.

Being mad at the world is one answer for those authors who criticized and express the disillusionment and frustration in the 1950’s, showing hysteria that comes from postponed dreams that are gone because of the mood of life in the postwar world. However, it seems that many things have not changed since then. We still fight to be accepted into today’s society. Considering the world is all wrong, should we express anger to make ourselves feel better? 

"Look back in Anger" (1959 Film) Directed by Tony Richardson

“Look back in anger” (Osborne, 1956) exploded a rejection of mainstream life, the play is strongly influenced by Osborne’s personal life, who was part of young and angry intellectuals, the “Angry young men” popular movement, characterized for feeling disenchantment, disappointed, confused and mostly angry across the nation, describing the social isolation, monotony; mediocrity and injustice, concepts that are encapsulated in Jimmy Porter’s figure, a working class and well-educated man.

Jimmy represents the anger itself against society; his first encounter was the loss of his father at an early age, enough reason to understand part of his frustration. Furthermore, his educational background does not fulfill his anticipations and causes Jimmy’s rage.

Moreover, Jimmy aggressively attacks everything he observes as lifeless, particularly his wife, Alison who belongs to the upper class. He considers that she has failed him in her inability to love and support him, why is he so upset with his wife? Basically, Alison represents the silence of the world, Jimmy hates her for not reacting to anything as if she was dead inside; “[...] Well, she can talk, can’t she? You can talk, can’t you? You can express an opinion […]” (Look back in anger, pp. 2)

Curiously, she cannot live with him, but at the same time she cannot live without him. This clearly exhibits how people are constantly surrounded by things that we do not need to feel a little of satisfaction. I include myself since we end up in a vicious circle, showing our vulnerability for trying to belong to the material world that we constantly criticize.

Nevertheless, everyone could be a squirrel or a bear in life, as Alison and Jimmy. It symbolizes the escape from socially and emotionally violent differences, but looking for one’s another’s constant support.

The same idea is developed in “Howl” (Ginsberg, 1955), people are naturally used to being content with what is sufficient for them yet not about what they really want:  “[...] to recreate the syntax and measure of poor human prose and stand before you speechless and intelligent and shaking with shame, rejecting yet confession out the soul to conform to the rhythm of thought in his naked and endless head [...].” (pp. 20)

That’s why Jimmy makes a mockery of human behavior, when people do not react about what is happening in the world, we prefer to ignore reality, but that does not avoid feeling mad at the toxic atmosphere: “[…]Let's pretend that we're human beings, and that we're actually alive. Just for a while. What do you say? Let's pretend we're human […]” (Osborne, 1956, pp. 5).  He ironizes about inhibited people, they hide what they feel, saying that everything is a nightmare, we are trapped under the weight of our contradictions and actions, as well as in the lines of Ginsberg’s poem: “[...] dream of life a nightmare, bodies turned to stone as heavy as the moon […]” (Howl,  pp. 19)

Besides, human beings are stucked in their thoughts, channeling their energy in times that do not exist any longer, dreaming and jumping between time and space, making us feel angry for things we do not have as well as Alison vivaciously said to his father: “[...] you’re hurt because everything is changed. Jimmy is hurt because everything is the same. And neither of you can face it [...]” That’s what impedes Jimmy or any person to move forward optimistically, he is frustrated because of having missed opportunities to take action to do something good for him and the world, it all becomes stagnant in his mind,  “[...] nothing but a hopeful little bit of hallucination […]” (Howl, pp. 19).

By and large, the play incorporates realism through natural conversations, including silences and non-verbal situations. It also shocks for its setting, a domestic scene, known as Kitchen sink drama, pictured by Alison ironing while the men read the newspapers, and considers working people as main characters.

It is incredible how the richness of language is used from funny, kind, intelligent to sarcastic, abusive, and violent.  

Why its connection to Ginsberg’s poem? “Howl” (1955) mainly represents a protest as a cry for all abuse, inhibition and domination of a nightmare world. Ginsberg states that writing should come from your mind, how you speak to address to your muse, using the same frankness because that’s what you are, it is pure, honest language.

 Ginsberg advocates important concepts, which are directly related to Osborne’s play. Firstly, hypocrisy of Modern society full of inequality in the most dominant institutions such as Government and Universities.

And secondly, what he calls Moloch, representing the destruction of all good things for the sake of profit since people sacrifices their lives to a set of false values.

All in all, anger sometimes could be a good thing, particularly when people want to fight against what they consider not fair, “[...] shock of mercy where the real war is here […].” (Howl, pp. 26). We need to shock the world and be provocative with our thoughts seeing that anger is nothing more than an outward expression of our hidden feelings. But is it correct to damage other people to fulfill our lives? 

References

Epstein, R., & Friedman, J. (Directors). (2010). Howl [Motion picture]. United States.

Ginsberg, A. (1956). Howl. San Francisco: city Light Books.

Osborne, J. (1956). Look back in anger. New York: criterion Books.