In his groundbreaking work, Look Back in Anger (1956), John Osborne uses the bear and squirrel game scene to explore the ups and downs seen in any marriage. Despite its adolescent nature, the game is highly symbolic and serves an important dramatic purpose. The players of the game are Jimmy Porter and Alison Porter, to whom this game is not only an escape from the harsh realities of life but also from their loveless conjugal life. To be precise, the game is simply a device for distraction or a gateway into the fantasy.
The subject couple could not form true feelings for each other in material life because of their discrete social gradation. Jimmy hails from a working class family while Alison from a middle class. Such class divergence creates a social barrier between the duos which always keeps them divided. However, the bear and squirrel game provides them the opportunity to overcome this class conflict since during the game they act like animal, whose only concern are food, shelter and sex. Therefore, the game helps them to forget the marital agony, for it enables them to disregard their misunderstanding, and their maladjustment. In this way they momentarily transform into a romantic couple whereas they have fierce enmity in actual life.
The objects of the game, i.e., the stuffed teddy bear and the squirrel toys are kept on their dressing table or in the chest of drawers. In the bear and squirrel game Jimmy assumes the role of the bear while Alison of the squirrel. The large and ragged teddy bear which signifies the strength and arrogance of a real wild bear represents Jimmy's haughtiness. Contrariwise, the soft wooly small squirrel represents the feminine softness of Alison. The importance of the subject toys is first highlighted in Act II where Alison tells Helena about her bad experience after her marriage to Jimmy. Alison shares that she married Jimmy against her parents' consent as there was a huge gulf between their social statuses. She had subsequently found herself leading a very unsatisfactory life owing to Jimmy's unemployment, poverty, and above all his fiery temper. Jimmy always mocks about Alison's family and very rude to her. In short, the marriage, according to Alison's account, has come to nothing. The conjugal relationship between Alison and Jimmy is so unpleasant that Alison doesn't reveal her pregnancy to him. Alison then shows Helena the toy bear and the toy squirrel and explains the meaning of the game. She goes on to say that this game was the only way in which she and Jimmy could escape from everything.
The couple is seen playing this game in Act I when Cliff goes out. Jimmy affectionately calls Alison a "beautiful, great-eyed squirrel", a "Hoarding nut-munching squirrel", "With highly polished, gleaming fur, and an ostrich feather of a tail", etc. And this quasi-poetic description is so appealing to Alison that she produces the sound of a squirrel and calls Jimmy a "jolly super bear, too", "A really marvelous bear". She jumps up and down in a state of excitement, making little "paw gestures". They are both very happy at this time and they lovingly embrace each other. Alison thinks that everything just seems to be all right suddenly. Then, in that state of extreme bliss, she is about to tell Jimmy about her pregnancy when Cliff suddenly enters, and the dreamy world of the pair shatters.
Although Jimmy and Alison have played the game on certain occasions to have solace, now even that game seems to have lost its purpose. In Jimmy's case the disillusionment stems from Alison's refusal to visit London to see dying Mrs. Tanner. Alison turned Jimmy down when he needed her most. Her callousness shocked him so much that he suddenly feels solitary and forsaken. When Alison leaves with Helena for the church Jimmy picks up the teddy bear gently, looks at it, and then throws it on the floor realizing that it can't pacify him anymore. Contrariwise, being fed up with Jimmy’s rudeness Alison too is disillusioned from the fantasy world of animals. She decides to leave him for her parents' home. When Alison is packing up her things to go with her father, she picks up the toy squirrel from the chest of drawers and is about to put it in her suitcase when she changes her mind and puts it back. She realizes that now with a change in her relationship with Jimmy whom she has decided to leave the squirrel can have no meaning.
Towards the end of the play, however, Jimmy and Alison reunite. Their misunderstanding ends with a touching and romantic scene. Alison crawls and grovels at the feet of Jimmy. For a moment Jimmy stands rigid; then he bends and takes her trembling body in his embrace. He asks her not to cry, and tells her that he cannot bear see her in that condition. Jimmy also feels that he is not alone. He has somebody to cling to, somebody to lean on amidst the endless trials and tribulations of life. He then reminds her of the bear and squirrel game which they used to play, and says that they will again be the bear and the squirrel which they had previously imagined themselves to be. Like a bear and a squirrel they will live on honey and nuts; they will sing songs about themselves, about warm trees and cozy caves, and about sunlight. She will keep her big eyes on his fur, and she will keep his claws in proper order because he is a careless kind of bear. And he will see that she, the squirrel, keeps her soft and bushy tail shining as brightly as it should, because she is a very beautiful squirrel. At the same time, he points out that they have to be very careful because there will be cruel steel-traps lying about everywhere, just wanting to catch timid little animals. He then asks Alison if he is right, and she nods in agreement. He says in a pitying voice: "Poor squirrels!" At this she laughs a little, and looks at him very tenderly.
In fine, although initially the bear and squirrel game seems a trivial escape from the complexities found in any marriage, at the end of the play the game becomes a statement of the nature of human love to share the pain and the pleasure of physical relationship.
The subject couple could not form true feelings for each other in material life because of their discrete social gradation. Jimmy hails from a working class family while Alison from a middle class. Such class divergence creates a social barrier between the duos which always keeps them divided. However, the bear and squirrel game provides them the opportunity to overcome this class conflict since during the game they act like animal, whose only concern are food, shelter and sex. Therefore, the game helps them to forget the marital agony, for it enables them to disregard their misunderstanding, and their maladjustment. In this way they momentarily transform into a romantic couple whereas they have fierce enmity in actual life.
The objects of the game, i.e., the stuffed teddy bear and the squirrel toys are kept on their dressing table or in the chest of drawers. In the bear and squirrel game Jimmy assumes the role of the bear while Alison of the squirrel. The large and ragged teddy bear which signifies the strength and arrogance of a real wild bear represents Jimmy's haughtiness. Contrariwise, the soft wooly small squirrel represents the feminine softness of Alison. The importance of the subject toys is first highlighted in Act II where Alison tells Helena about her bad experience after her marriage to Jimmy. Alison shares that she married Jimmy against her parents' consent as there was a huge gulf between their social statuses. She had subsequently found herself leading a very unsatisfactory life owing to Jimmy's unemployment, poverty, and above all his fiery temper. Jimmy always mocks about Alison's family and very rude to her. In short, the marriage, according to Alison's account, has come to nothing. The conjugal relationship between Alison and Jimmy is so unpleasant that Alison doesn't reveal her pregnancy to him. Alison then shows Helena the toy bear and the toy squirrel and explains the meaning of the game. She goes on to say that this game was the only way in which she and Jimmy could escape from everything.
The couple is seen playing this game in Act I when Cliff goes out. Jimmy affectionately calls Alison a "beautiful, great-eyed squirrel", a "Hoarding nut-munching squirrel", "With highly polished, gleaming fur, and an ostrich feather of a tail", etc. And this quasi-poetic description is so appealing to Alison that she produces the sound of a squirrel and calls Jimmy a "jolly super bear, too", "A really marvelous bear". She jumps up and down in a state of excitement, making little "paw gestures". They are both very happy at this time and they lovingly embrace each other. Alison thinks that everything just seems to be all right suddenly. Then, in that state of extreme bliss, she is about to tell Jimmy about her pregnancy when Cliff suddenly enters, and the dreamy world of the pair shatters.
Although Jimmy and Alison have played the game on certain occasions to have solace, now even that game seems to have lost its purpose. In Jimmy's case the disillusionment stems from Alison's refusal to visit London to see dying Mrs. Tanner. Alison turned Jimmy down when he needed her most. Her callousness shocked him so much that he suddenly feels solitary and forsaken. When Alison leaves with Helena for the church Jimmy picks up the teddy bear gently, looks at it, and then throws it on the floor realizing that it can't pacify him anymore. Contrariwise, being fed up with Jimmy’s rudeness Alison too is disillusioned from the fantasy world of animals. She decides to leave him for her parents' home. When Alison is packing up her things to go with her father, she picks up the toy squirrel from the chest of drawers and is about to put it in her suitcase when she changes her mind and puts it back. She realizes that now with a change in her relationship with Jimmy whom she has decided to leave the squirrel can have no meaning.
Towards the end of the play, however, Jimmy and Alison reunite. Their misunderstanding ends with a touching and romantic scene. Alison crawls and grovels at the feet of Jimmy. For a moment Jimmy stands rigid; then he bends and takes her trembling body in his embrace. He asks her not to cry, and tells her that he cannot bear see her in that condition. Jimmy also feels that he is not alone. He has somebody to cling to, somebody to lean on amidst the endless trials and tribulations of life. He then reminds her of the bear and squirrel game which they used to play, and says that they will again be the bear and the squirrel which they had previously imagined themselves to be. Like a bear and a squirrel they will live on honey and nuts; they will sing songs about themselves, about warm trees and cozy caves, and about sunlight. She will keep her big eyes on his fur, and she will keep his claws in proper order because he is a careless kind of bear. And he will see that she, the squirrel, keeps her soft and bushy tail shining as brightly as it should, because she is a very beautiful squirrel. At the same time, he points out that they have to be very careful because there will be cruel steel-traps lying about everywhere, just wanting to catch timid little animals. He then asks Alison if he is right, and she nods in agreement. He says in a pitying voice: "Poor squirrels!" At this she laughs a little, and looks at him very tenderly.
In fine, although initially the bear and squirrel game seems a trivial escape from the complexities found in any marriage, at the end of the play the game becomes a statement of the nature of human love to share the pain and the pleasure of physical relationship.
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bear and squirrel game in look back in anger
john osborne
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