To what extent is Jimmy(TM)s behaviour explained by the time he lived in?

A further aspect of Jimmy’s behaviour, which can be explained by the time in which he lives, is the way he uses his education to belittle his fellow characters. Jimmy reads the paper, being ‘the only one who knows how to treat a paper’, referring to his ability to question the assumptions made in them. Jimmy uses an impressive vocabulary: ‘sycophantic’ and ‘pusillanimous’, all to the detriment of other characters in the play. Jimmy’s intellectual abilities come as a surprise to the audience considering the way he appears to dislike the educated middle classes, indeed, Cliff stands as someone who comes from a similar working class background to Jimmy yet is inferior to him in terms of education. Can context help to explain this discrepancy? The Education Act of 1944 brought new redbrick universities and state grammar schools to the working classes, something that Jimmy obviously benefited from. However, the legislation did not stop people from discriminating against those of working class, perhaps explaining Jimmy’s anger towards the establishment and the elite ruling class. Through Jimmy’s unconstructive use of his abilities, Osborne conveys the uselessness of these new opportunities for those who really needed to benefit from them. It seems a grave injustice that someone of Jimmy’s intelligence should have to work on a sweet stall.

On the other hand, it is important for the reader of ‘Look Back in Anger’ not only to rely on references to the 1950s in seeking explanations. The play is just as the title suggests a critical look into the past. Jimmy is haunted by many past occurrences, which could also explain his behaviour, and often convey details about the post-war era. For example: Jimmy’s monologue about his father who died when he was a child, reveals him to be a scarred character; by the end of the ordeal “[Jimmy] was a Veteran”. The nature of his father’s death, the fact his mother seemed to care more for her having ‘allied herself with someone on the wrong side of things’ than his fathers well being, can reveal a great deal about the issue of trust between Alison and Jimmy in the play. Jimmy searches Alison’s bag when it is left unattended, almost as if he is expecting to find something that will prove her to be just like his mother. Then, perhaps, Jimmy hurts Alison because he fears she is hurting him (adultery perhaps), or will do so in the future. This, then, helps to communicate the promiscuity of the time as contraceptives became much more widespread within society.

In addition, Jimmy takes a lot of pleasure in past things, describing the great composer Vaughan Williams as ‘something strong, something simple, something English’, Alison even describes Jimmy as a ‘man born out of his time’. However, at the same time Jimmy cannot stand for some aspects of the past. Such contradictions are very important in further understanding the equivocal nature of the period and the fact that it lacked societal unity, both in thought and action. Therefore, the references to the past become just as important as the time, in which Jimmy was living, in conveying to the audience why it is that Jimmy behaves the way he does.

To conclude, Jimmy’s behaviour can definitely be explained by the time he was living in. Jimmy’s hatred of the lethargy of characters in the play reflects the stagnation of the 1950s, which presented Jimmy with the problem of there not being “[Any] brave causes left”. The failure of education reforms to end class discrimination is shown through Jimmy’s intelligent but cold words, which help to demonstrate the uselessness of education in post-war Britain. However, it is important for readers to understand the significance of references to the past made throughout the play in accounting for Jimmy’s puzzling behaviour. It is only through a whole view of the issues affecting Jimmy, past, present and of course the seeming lack of a positive future that the audience can learn how the tarnished image of the ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ came about.