JOHN, OSBORNE: Look Back in Anger
Comment on Alison's reactions to Jimmy's attacks on her family.
Alison Porter, Jimmy's wife. A woman of upper-middle-class background, she is perceptive enough to understand that her husband resents everything in her that reminds him of the social differences between them. After three years of marriage, she is miserable. The only way that she can survive Jimmy's constant verbal attacks on her and on her family is to conceal her feelings and remain silent. Although she says that Jimmy is the only man she has ever loved, Alison so yearns for peace that, with the encouragement of her friend Helena, she finally leaves him without telling him that she is pregnant. After losing the baby, she returns to Jimmy, begs his forgiveness for betraying him, and promises that because she has experienced suffering, she can now be the kind of wife he wants and needs.
Alison is aware of the fact that Jimmy is trying to make her angry. She knows that if she give any reaction to his attacks he will be triumphant. Alison's submissive and silent manner against Jimmy's assaults is also a way of expressing aggression because of the fact that she reach passive aggressively.
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