Look Back in Anger : Quotations

Quotations

 Quotes

Jimmy Porter – Act I

“Let’s pretend that we’re human beings, and that we’re actually alive.”

Explanation: Sarcasm aimed at the lifelessness he feels around him. Shows Jimmy’s frustration with the dullness of middle-class life.

 Jimmy Porter – Act III

“We’ll be together in our bear’s cave, or our squirrel’s drey.”

Explanation: Their “Bear and Squirrel” game symbolizes an escape from real-life pain into a private, safe world.  

Alison Porter – Act I

“Some people do actually marry for revenge.”

Explanation: Alison admits their marriage was rooted partly in class conflict, not just love.

Jimmy says In Act I:

“I suppose people like me aren’t supposed to be very patriotic.”  In Act I

Explanation: This shows his loss of purpose. Both Osborne and Jimmy long for noble causes but feel trapped in a dull, directionless age.

Jimmy Porter – Act I

“For twelve months, I watched my father dying—when I was ten years old.”

Explanation: Reveals Jimmy’s trauma and why he feels others can’t understand real suffering.

 Jimmy Porter – Act I

“If you could have a child, and it would die… if only I could watch you face that.”

Explanation: Jimmy’s most cruel statement to Alison, born from bitterness and his own loss. It foreshadows her later miscarriage. 

Jimmy Porter: 

“I don’t care if she is going to have a baby.” (Act 2, Scene 2)

Explanation: Jimmy Porter expresses his anger that he doesn’t care if Alison is pregnant or not. After Alison has left Jimmy, Helena Charles informs Jimmy that Alison is going to have a baby. A frustrated Jimmy Porter is angry with everything in this play.

Jimmy Porter – Act I 

“It’s pretty dreary living in the American Age—unless you’re American of course.”

Explanation: This line reflects his frustration with England’s decline. It shows the stark disparity between the rich and the poor.

In the game, Act 2, Scene 1, Alison recalls,

“We could become little furry creatures with little furry brains. Full of dumb, uncomplicated affection for each other.”

Here, they can express simple, childlike affection that is missing in their daily lives. 

Alison says to Jimmy – Act II, Scene II

“You’re hurt because everything is changed. Jimmy is hurt because everything is the same.”

Explanation: Here, Alison Porter addresses her father, Colonel Redfern. She explains that Colonel Redfern is hurt because everything has changed, while Jimmy Porter is hurt because the world remains the same.      

Minor quotes
Alison says to Cliff: Act-I

ALISON: “You think I should tell him about the baby?”

CLIFF: “It’ll be all right—you see. Tell him.”

Helena tells Alison in Act II:

 But you can’t go on living in this way any longer. (To her.) ALISON: I’m so tired. 

Explanation: This shows Alison feels tired and hopeless. She leaves Jimmy under Helena’s influence. 

Helen expresses her love to Jimmy in ACT- III:

HEI.ENA:  I love you. 

JIMMY: I think perhaps you do. Yes, I think perhaps you do. 

 Helene left the house: 

“Very well. I’m going downstairs to pack my things. If I hurry, I shall just catch the 7.15 to London.” ACT- III

Alison says to Helena: 

You saw me, and I had to tell you what had happened. I lost the child. ACT- III

ACT- III  Scene – 2, Alison cries in misery . She says to Jimmy:

“I want to be a lost cause. I want to be corrupt and futile!”

Alison Porter Act 2, Scene 1:

“And now, even they are dead, poor little silly animals. They were all love and no brains.”

Explanation: Here, Alison tells her friend Helena about the toy bear and squirrel. The Bear and Squirrel Game is a metaphor for Jimmy and Alison’s relationship. It symbolizes their escape from social and class conflicts. By acting like simple animals, they forget pain and feel a pure, childlike love.

Alison says  to her parents: 

“Jimmy went into battle with his axe swinging round his head” (Act II).

Jimmy Porter – Act I 

 “Always the same ritual. Reading the papers, drinking tea, ironing…”

Jimmy Porter

 “Oh, hell! Now the bloody bells have started.”

Act I, Cliff mocks a church leader and says:

“…appeal to all Christians to do all they can to assist in the manufacture of the H-Bomb.”

In Act 3, Jimmy says to Helena: 

“Should I go in for this moral weight lifting and get myself some overdeveloped muscle?”

Explanation: Jimmy Porter compares faith to bodybuilding ads. To him, religion is just another show.