ANGER AND SILENCE AS MODES OF RESISTANCE IN JOHN OSBORNE’S LOOK BACK IN ANGER

Authors : Zeynep Şentürk

Pages : 38-46

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Publication Date : 2025-10-17

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :This article explores John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger (1956) as both a landmark of post-war British theatre and a social critique of mid-twentieth-century Britain. The analysis situates Jimmy Porter’s anger and Alison’s silence within a critical discussion of alienation and resistance. Jimmy’s anger is not read as uncontrolled hostility but as a response to social inequalities, cultural exclusion, and the frustrations of a generation rendered marginal by reforms such as the 1944 Education Act. Alison’s silence, often dismissed as passivity, is reinterpreted as a deliberate stance that reflects the distance of privilege and the persistence of class division. By presenting the domestic space of the attic flat as a microcosm of national tensions, the article shows how the disintegration of personal intimacy parallels the erosion of Britain’s authority and the uncertainty of its social order. The strength of the study lies in connecting individual conflict with political and cultural decline, although the emphasis on Osborne’s biography at times risks limiting the structural dimension of the critique. The article demonstrates how anger and silence serve as forms of resistance, revealing the play’s dual status as an intimate marital drama and a reflection of Britain’s post-war crisis.
Keywords : Savaş Sonrası İngiliz Tiyatrosu, Öfkeli Genç Adamlar, Öfke ve Sessizlik, Sınıfsal Çatışma

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