Let's feel that Anger!

Look Back in Anger is one of the most famous Osborne’s plays in which he explores the theme of the "Angry Young Man" through the main character, Jimmy Porter. As stated by Clurman (1968), this term describes a generation of post-World War working class men who generally ascribed to leftist and sometimes anarchist. 

Therefore, Jimmy Porter is often considered to be the perfect example of the Angry Young Men.  Jimmy is angry at all the social and political structures that he believes has impeded him to achieve his dreams and aspirations. Throughout the entire play, Jimmy expresses his discontent towards a discriminatory society that only benefits those belonging to the upper-class.  In Jimmy’s view, the upper-class members symbolize the fake aristocratic society which is incapable of having genuine feelings for any human being.

Jimmy tries to live the day-to-day in a world of dead ideas that is destroying him and the ones he loves. His impetuous, violent language that is full of rage is Jimmy’s beast weapon in his attempt to awaken people’s feelings and expose this abusive society. The anger expressed through his language is just a reflection of the discontent and rejection he felt for society.

At first, when I started reading the play the first thing that came to mi mind was ‘What a sad man, he does nothing but complain about everything’. However, the more you get involved with the play, the more you can feel identified with him and understand part of his anger. And honestly, I think I do. And I’m not saying that I agree in everything with Jimmy (because I don’t, especially in his way of acting), but I truly understand him.

However, Osborne is not the only one who has tried to venture in this topic related to social nonconformity, discontent and anger. Allen Ginsberg's Howl is one of the most famous poem to come out of the Beat Generation. His poetry depicts the overall freedom the Beat poets strived for, which in certain way is related to what Jimmy aspirates in life.

Jimmy attributes all of the injustice to the sociopolitical entities, which are represented in Ginsberg’s poem as “Moloch”. For Ginsberg, all of the American destruction caused by greed, war or blind patriotism is represented by Moloch. Through his poem, Ginsberg captures an entire generation that sacrifices its soul, freedom to a set of false values.

Nevertheless, this is not the only aspect that these works have common.  For both, Jimmy and Ginsberg, language was the weapon they used to fight. It just like the only recourse left to let all the anger out was words. And let me tell you, words are powerful, no doubt about it! But do I think it’s the only way? No.  For my perspective, Jimmy Porter’s anger could have been used for so much more than just cursing.

Before starting debating about if it is ok or not to be mad at everything (or anything), let’s talk about the definition of this famous word “Anger”.  As you may find in Cambridge Dictionary (or whatever dictionary you are reading), anger is defined as “a strong feeling that makes you want to hurt someone or be unpleasant because of something unfair or unkind that has happened”.  Wait, did you know that? Right, of course. That may be because all of us has felt angry before (and I’m pretty sure that more than just once).

So if you thought that the only angry people who seemed to reject society where those Chilean students that try to fight against the “Reforma a la Educación Superior”, let me tell you that you are so wrong my friend. Well, let’s say that anger and disconformity are like universal feelings and that they don’t belong only to those who want everything for free. On the contrary, it seems like somehow people have the physiological need to criticize, judge and complain about things in general. But, is it wrong? If you look at it from Jimmy’s point of view, anger is what makes us feel alive, what makes us human; otherwise we would be just like Allison. For him, acquiescence is merely a synonym for mediocrity.

However, anger is a double-edged sword.  Personally, I believe that there is nothing more harmless that just one resentful man, and at the same time there is nothing more powerful than a bunch of angry people. Union is what really makes force. If you don’t complain about anything, how people are supposed to know that things aren’t going well?

Here is when it comes my criticism. What called my attention is that Jimmy doesn’t do anything about his anger. It seems that violence is the solution, when it is actually not. And that’s the thing! Jimmy is still surrounded by the things he hates. He keeps stuck in the same place and the only thing he does is insulting the people whom he has decided to live with. Violence does not lead him to anywhere and it doesn’t open people’s eyes. Words alone are not going to change the world, but actions! Jimmy should try to look for a more productive solution instead of sinking into his anger. So my advice is: meet with people that feel frustrated at the same things you do and try to do something about it. Start a Revolution! That’s when anger becomes positive. 

That’s the wonder of human emotions: happy isn’t always good and angry isn’t always bad. We need reminding that even scary and dangerous emotions have their upsides, as long as they are used for the correct purpose. So, if conducted the right way, anger can be movement, progress and lead you to happiness.

Bibliography

Afolayan, B. (2012) Poetics of Anger in Jonh Osborne’s Look Back in Anger and Femi Osofisan’s The Chattering and The Song. British Journal of Arts and Social Sciences, 5(1), 123-141. Retrieved from http://www.bjournal.co.uk/paper/bjass_5_1/bjass_05_01_13.pdf

Clurman, H. (1968). John Osborne: Look Back in Anger: A Collection of Critical Essays. 

John Russell Taylor (ed.), London: Macmillan

Ginsberg, A. (2006). Howl. Spain: Anagrama.

Haque, S. (2013) “The role of Colonel Redfern in Osborne’s Look Back in Anger: A critical analysis”. Researchers World, 4 (1), 33-39. Retrieved from http://www.researchersworld.com/vol4/vol4_issue1_1/Paper_04.pdf

Osborne, J. (1957). Look back in anger, a play in three acts. New York: Criterion Books.

Worth, Katherine J., (1963). ‘The Angry Young Man’ in Experimental Drama. London: G.Bells and Sons Ltd