The Working Class [angry] Hero

From the mind of John Osborne and straight into the judgement of society, a story has been told to amuse us all, as it srikes us with a harsh representation of reality. 

Years make no distinction. Ever since there has been power, some have been left behind. The unfortunate ones, those who rise from the ashes of their own suffering to continue their never-ending struggle to gain recognition, and be considered as equals among those who rule or are wealthier. They are what has been forgotten over and over again.  

Osborne's own vision of the inequity that surrounded him was indeed captured in his famous play Look Back in Anger. But, could it be that, probably, most of the playwrights of his era did not only reflect their feelings on a story that would (hopefully) reach the stage unleashing a catharsis, but also, that they might have intended to re-enact and go back to their anger every single time the play was reproduced?. Perhaps as a way to remind themselves of their own struggle and, somehow, gain power in their field. Anyway, isn't that what all artists yearn for? 

I remember listening to John Lennon's Working class hero when I was younger, and I could not truly understand what he meant with his lyrics. I had no notion of several issues of the real world, I had not even met a person who would sit beside me -a child- and tell me all about injustice. I guess they did not want me to be disappointed. And so, when I became aware of what Lennon meant, I unfortunately met the word frustration.  

         Working Class Hero - John Lennon 

In fact, this frustration is also what I could recognize while reading Osborne's play, and it is marvelously portrayed by his main character, Jimmy. The way in which he attacks the elite to the point in which his own wife becomes the slave of his awful words, clearly demonstrates the need of the author to put his frustrated thoughts out into the world in such a rush and with so much anger, that he leaves no room for a pause or a rewind (as I did with Lennon's record). The reader, or the expectator, feels an undeniable need for knowing when will Jimmy reach a limit. In spite of the alternative reasons that Jimmy may have, such as the death of his father when he was just a child, what shines brighter is his will to express his rage towards his social and financial conditions. Circumstances that turn him into this working class hero, resentful of the world. 


Then, I also recall Jimmy's routine on Sundays, and Lennon's words crash into the scene:

"Keep you doped with religion, and sex, and T.V
And you think you're so clever and classless and free
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see"

Somehow, those lyrics evoke the moments in which, while reading the papers and commenting on them, he believes Cliff and Alison are uneducated and ignorant. Although on the inside, he must feel the same, regardless of the amount of papers he may read all day.

Apparently, both Osborne and Lennon thought of their frustration in the same way, and they both also projected it on a masterpiece that would live on, so as to remind themselves and everyone else about the battles we all fight within. And, though Jimmy may not be considered a hero by the audience, he deserves the credit for being Osborne's spokesman, and therefore, his hero.