This question is based on John Osborne's Look Back in Anger Bullying in the play is revenge tactics on

Analyze the question: The question asks what Jimmy Porter's bullying in Look Back in Anger is a form of revenge on. The wording is a bit awkward ("revenge tactics on"), but it is asking what the bullying targets or reacts against.

Concept: Look Back in Anger (1956) is the classic "angry young men" play. Jimmy Porter is an educated, working-class man married to Alison, who comes from an upper-middle-class family. Her father is a retired Colonel, and her mother and brother Nigel represent the establishment.

Working through it:

• Jimmy verbally abuses Alison constantly. He mocks her family, calls her mother a "bad-tempered Mussolini" and her brother Nigel a "straight-backed, chinless wonder", and ridicules her "sycophantic" background.
• He attacks her passivity and her privileged upbringing, and he wants to provoke a reaction from her.
• His bullying is not random. It comes from resentment of the class system that he feels shut him out and looks down on him. Alison becomes the easy target for his anger at the upper classes and the Establishment.

Checking the options:

• A. Rejection: Jimmy does feel rejected, but rejection is not the main target of his revenge.
• B. Social class: The bullying is revenge against the class privilege and snobbery that Alison and her family represent.
• C. Assault: The abuse is mainly verbal, and assault is not a theme the question is pointing to.
• D. Acceptance: This does not fit, because Jimmy resists the social order rather than seeking its acceptance.

Answer: B. Social class.

Tip: For Look Back in Anger, connect Jimmy's anger to class resentment (working class versus upper class and the Establishment). Most thematic questions on the play, including those about bullying, cruelty and Alison's family, trace back to this.