Look Back in Anger by John Osborne

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Recommended: Critical overview of looking back in anger

RAPID CHANGING WORLD!

Britain was bankrupt after the Second World War and it had a negative impact on Britain and its society. The British Empire decreased drastically resulting in many soldiers, generals and civilians returning but Britain was very different after the war due to its cities being severely bombed. This added to the feeling of depression and nostalgia which weighed heavily on people.

The play Look Back in Anger by John Osborne is seen as one of the most important plays in modern Britain as it was the first well recognised example of kitchen sick drama. The play explores many themes such as class, alienation, nostalgia and relationships. While, The Millstone by Margaret Drabble also explored the theme of class, relationships, nostalgia, alienation, education, maternity and the role of women. According to The Guardian book club review of The Millstone, it is a first-person narrative which was inspired by her discovering that her friend’s newly written novel was essentially her life story “with a few minor alterations” and “false assumptions” about her motives. She then write this novel to justify her decisions and actions to have the baby and be one of those women Bernard Shaw refers to as ‘women who want children but no husband’. This shocked everyone she knew because women’s role in society is not to be a single parent and birth out of wedlock was stigmatised, further emphasising the theme of alienation. The poem ‘Whitsun Weddings’ by Philip Larkin, similarly explores the theme of class, relationships, isolation and alienation because Philip Larkin viewed marriage as a ‘revolting institution’ and in this poem and quite often in his other poetry. He is presented as an outsider looking in with a satirical eye o...

... middle of paper ...

...my wanted a woman whose "curiosity about things and people was staggering. It wasn't just a naive nosiness" suggests that there is some change in the mentality of a few which could consequently result to some change in the behaviour of people and the environment.

Bibliography

1 & 2. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/larkin-in-love-part-two-of-the-authorised-biography-of-philip-larkin-he-was-known-as-the-hermit-of-hull-a-loner-terrified-by-sex-marriage-and-children-but-philip-larkin-had-several-deep-and-lasting-relationships-with-women-his-affair-with-ruth-bowman-to-whom-he-proposed-marriage-typifies-the-emotional-entanglements-he-would-experience-throughout-his-life-1499015.html

3. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/mar/12/millstone-margaret-drabble-book-club

4. http://voices.yahoo.com/poetry-anlaysis-philip-larkins-toads-11950791.html

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