A Taste of Honey PDF - 1958 Play by Shelagh Delaney

Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com A Taste of Honey young, working-class men disillusioned with the conventions of INTR INTRODUCTION...

Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com A Taste of Honey young, working-class men disillusioned with the conventions of INTR INTRODUCTION ODUCTION modern society, Delaney expanded its themes to focus on women and to expose complex dynamics of class, sexuality, and BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF SHELAGH DELANEY race. John Osborne’s play Look Back in Anger (1956), considered Born in 1938 in a working-class family of Irish ancestry, by many to be the first example of kitchen sink realism and the Shelagh Delaney grew up in a small suburb of the Greater “Angry Young Men” movement, portrays class conflict and the Manchester area in Northern England. Despite some difficulties of marriage through the relationship of an upper- difficulties at school, Delaney soon developed a talent in writing class woman and a working-class yet highly educated man. The and wrote her first play, A Taste of Honey, in ten days, at the age 1960s British New Wave in cinema, a movement which of eighteen. Despite Delaney’s later productions in theater, paralleled the French nouvelle vague, is considered an offshoot literature, cinema, and television, this play defined her entire of kitchen sink realism. In the U.S., notable plays related to career and remains her most critically acclaimed work. In kitchen sink realism include Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the addition to being considered an important contribution to the Sun (1959) and Frank D. Gilroy’s The Subject Was Roses (1964). 1950s working-class and feminist cultural movements, the play became one of the most influential works in the literary KEY FACTS movement of so-called “kitchen sink realism,” as it portrayed issues of race, sexuality, and class in innovative, complex ways. Full Title: A Taste of Honey In 1985, Delaney was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of When Written: 1958 Literature, an elite society aimed at rewarding and promoting Where Written: England literary talent. When Published: First performed in May 1958 Literary Period: Modernism; Kitchen sink realism HISTORICAL CONTEXT Genre: Drama After the end of the Second World War in 1945, Britain faced the task of rebuilding its entire economy. The 1956 Suez Crisis, Setting: A working-class district in mid-twentieth-century in which Britain invaded Egypt and eventually withdrew due to Manchester, England political and economic pressure, led to a humiliating Climax: Helen shows up at Jo’s apartment after splitting up recognition that the country was no longer a dominant world with Peter and forces Geof to move out power. Further changing the social climate in the country, the Antagonist: Helen 1944 Mass Education Act in Britain made secondary education free, opening the possibility of higher education to the working EXTRA CREDIT classes. This created a greater degree of social mobility in the Theater and Class. Shelagh Delaney’s debut play A Taste of post-war era than had existed before, as did the economic Honey was initially intended as a novel. Her decision to turn it boom of the 1950s. At the same time, British class structure into a play was moved by her commitment to making important remained rigid as ever, resulting in a generation of educated social issues more visible in theater. She felt that English working class children with no way of putting the educations theater at the time only represented the upper class and they had received toward well-paying jobs. The 1950s is also eschewed important themes such as working-class life, considered a dismal period for feminism. Britain’s new embrace sexuality, race, and, more generally, women’s ordinary lives. of the welfare state led to an emphasis on the traditional nuclear family, promoting a generally conservative view of Movie. The immediate success of Shelagh Delaney’ play led the women and their role in society, encouraging them to be young writer to sell the film rights only one year after the play’s mothers while discouraging them from going to work. The birth first performance. The movie, A Taste of Honey, released in control pill was introduced to Britain through the National Health Service only in 1961, and even then it was for the 1961, won four Bafta awards, including best British screenplay. exclusive use of married women. PL PLO OT SUMMARY RELATED LITERARY WORKS A Taste of Honey gave greater complexity and depth to a literary When seventeen-year-old Jo and her mother Helen carry movement that developed in England in the late 1950s called luggage into their new apartment, the two women’s “kitchen-sink realism.” While this movement often focused on conversation soon reveals that their relationship is ©2020 LitCharts LLC v.007 www.LitCharts.com Page 1  Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com characterized by frequent tension, misunderstanding, and boyfriend and interrogates her about him. Later in the underlying resentment—as well as interdependence. While Jo conversation, Helen suddenly announces that she is getting immediately criticizes the apartment’s run-down state, it married to Peter. While Jo argues that Helen is too old to get becomes apparent that her grudge has much deeper roots. She married, the young woman’s reaction seems moved by feelings attacks Helen for her excessive drinking and for their unstable of disappointment, as she feels that Helen is abandoning her lives, as they are forced to move from one apartment to the once again. Peter then walks in, bearing flowers for Helen and next according to Helen’s relationship with her “fancy men,” chocolates for Jo. Jo behaves aggressively toward Peter, lovers who give her money. More generally, Jo laments Helen’s seemingly trying to provoke him, and Helen tells her to leave lack of care. Jo feels emotionally and materially abandoned by him alone. Jo discovers that Peter has bought a house for Helen her mother, who takes little interest in her life and always and himself, which makes her feel completely abandoned. Jo follows her selfish whims without considering their effects on asks her mother why she is marrying Peter, and Helen replies her daughter. Jo concludes that all she wants is to start that she is only doing so for his money. After Helen and Peter working, so that she can gain financial independence and live leave, Jo lies down on the bed and begins to cry. Her boyfriend away from her mother. then comes in and tries to console her. While Jo invites him to Instead of taking Jo’s complaints to heart, Helen seems stay over for Christmas, she does not seem to believe his detached and indifferent to her daughter’s pain. She argues declarations of love or his promises to return. Her instinct tells that she does not believe in interfering in other people’s lives, her, instead, that she will probably never see him again. since it already takes her too much time to take care of her Helen is getting ready for her wedding. When Helen sees the own. A few minutes after they move in, however, she sees her ring that Jo is wearing around her neck and realizes that her daughter’s drawings and realizes that Jo has talent. She daughter has gotten engaged, she attacks Jo for her enthusiastically encourages her to attend art school, saying she foolishness and seems truly upset about her daughter’s would pay for it herself. Jo refuses, arguing that Helen has decision. She tries to convince her not to get married, saying always disrupted her chances of having a stable education, but that she is too young to be trapped in matrimony. However, Jo this episode still demonstrates Helen’s underlying trust in her attacks Helen in turn, saying that this situation is her fault. She daughter’s intelligence and artistic capacities—even if, most of reveals that, anyway, she is already “ruined”—a comment that the time, she is either incapable or unwilling of fostering it. only elicits more aggressive comments from Helen. Before While the two women are still arguing, Peter, one of Helen’s Helen leaves, Jo asks her about her father. Helen reveals that lovers, suddenly enters the apartment. Assertive and bold, he Jo’s father was a mentally challenged man, whom she had sex begins to flirt with Helen, who is shocked to see him. When with to compensate for her rich husband’s aversion to sex. As Peter discovers that Jo is Helen’s daughter, he realizes that Helen leaves, Jo says that she is neither glad nor sorry to see Helen is much older than he thought. As the conversation her go. evolves, Jo realizes that the motive for their recent move is that Act Two begins a few months later. Jo is living alone in the same Helen was trying to flee from Peter, for reasons that remain apartment and is, by now, visibly pregnant. She enters the unspecified. Meanwhile, despite Helen’s rejection of Peter’s apartment with her friend Geoffrey, an art student whom she advances, Helen seems flattered by the man’s brazen efforts at believes has been kicked out of his apartment for being gay. She seduction. Suddenly, Peter jokingly asks Helen to marry him. As interrogates Geof about his sexuality in a rude, mocking way, Helen refuses, his proposal becomes more serious and more which offends Geof and makes him want to leave. Realizing that insistent. Initially taken aback, Helen ultimately tells him that, if she has hurt his feelings, Jo apologizes and asks him to stay he proposes one more time, she is likely to accept. with her, adding that he can sleep on the couch. Geof then In the second scene of Act One, Jo is walking home from school interrogates Jo about her pregnancy, showing concern and a with her boyfriend, Jimmie, a black sailor who is about to leave true interest in her problems, as well as a willingness to take with the Navy in a few weeks. While Jimmie assumes that Jo care of her. The two of them thus begin to live together, must be ashamed to be seen with him in the street because of developing a close friendship over the course of the next the interracial nature of their relationship, Jo sees no reason to months. hide and her sincerity impresses him. While their relationship is While Jo trusts that her relationship with Geof is entirely non- lighthearted and playful, Jimmie suddenly asks Jo to marry him, sexual, providing both of them with much-needed affection and and Jo accepts. He gives her a ring, which Jo ties around her comfort, on one occasion Geof grabs her and forces her to kiss neck, trying to tuck it in so that her mother will not see it. While him. He asks her to marry him, but Jo says she does not like him Jo does not believe that Helen would be bothered by Jimmie’s in that way, adding that she does not want to marry anyone. skin color, she does not want Helen to laugh at her for getting Helen then suddenly enters the apartment. Geof, who believed engaged. that Jo’s mother should know about her pregnancy, had When Jo enters her apartment, Helen discovers that Jo has a contacted Helen so that she would come to take care of her ©2020 LitCharts LLC v.007 www.LitCharts.com Page 2  Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com daughter. However, Jo is angry at Geof for going behind her feels emotionally and materially abandoned by her mother. This back, and Helen’s visit soon evolves into an explosive fight, in troubled relationship leads Jo to yearn for economic which Helen attacks Jo for getting pregnant and declares that independence from Helen, but also reveals her deep longing for she has no responsibility toward her child and grandchild. her mother’s love and, more generally, her desire for her While Geof attempts to intervene, Helen and Jo both attack mother to be more present in her life. Jo’s artistic sensibility him, trying to keep him out of the fight. expresses itself through her drawings, but she does not seem In the middle of this discussion, Peter enters the apartment. He optimistic enough about her talent to want to develop it in any is drunk and begins to mock everyone, making fun of Jo’s structured way. Throughout the play, she alternates between pregnancy, Geof’s effeminacy, and Helen’s dependence on him. youthful optimism and feelings of despair, as she attempts to Showing no concern for Jo’s difficult situation, he keeps Helen cope with her pregnancy and the daunting prospect of from giving Jo money or offering her a home. When he finally motherhood. Abandoned not only by her mother but by leaves, Helen initially refuses to leave with him, asserting that Jimmie, the father of her child, her cohabitation with Geof she is going to stay with Jo, but finally gives in and follows him reveals her need for a stable emotional presence in her life. She out. is grateful to Geof for making her feel loved and taken care of. Jo’s relationships with Geof and Jimmie also reveal her open- A few months later, Jo is in the final stage of her pregnancy. mindedness, as she proves herself disinclined to judge others Despite her occasional anger and disgust with the idea of based on their skin color or sexual orientation. motherhood, she now seems happy in her domestic partnership with Geof. At the same time, she also mentions that she wishes Helen – At the age of forty, Helen leads an unstable life that her mother were present to accompany her through this revolves around drinking and her romantic relationships with important moment, despite their constant fighting. Helen then lovers, whom she depends on financially. Characterized by a enters the apartment, carrying luggage as in the first scene of domineering attitude and a tendency to follow only her selfish the play. While Helen pretends that she has returned to take whims without considering the effects of her actions on others, care of Jo, her daughter soon learns that Peter has left her for Helen has an ambivalent relationship with her daughter Jo. another woman and that she is thus forced to return to Jo’s While she occasionally demonstrates heartfelt concern for Jo’s apartment. Helen shows a strong dislike toward Geof and, troubles, she seems incapable of making decisions that will through hostile comments and an aggressive attitude, succeeds actually serve Jo’s interests or make her daughter feel loved in making him leave the apartment for good. Geof justifies his and supported. Likewise, she seems to have an ambivalent decision to leave by saying that Jo cannot handle the two of relationship to money; she looks down on poverty even though them in the same apartment. Before leaving, he asks Helen not she herself is incapable of providing for herself or her daughter. to frighten Jo unnecessarily about the dangers of childbirth, She therefore abandons her daughter midway through the play but Helen simply tells Jeff not to tell her what to do in to live with Peter, her new lover; despite seeming to have a response. vague distaste for him, she needs his money. Her insensitive attitude toward Geof, and, later, toward the information that The play ends as Jo is beginning to feel labor pains. Hiding the Jo’s child is the product of an interracial relationship, fact that she has just forced Geof to leave, Helen comforts Jo in demonstrates her inability to accept behaviors that deviate the bedroom until Jo announces that her baby is probably from what she considers to be acceptable social behavior. going to be dark-skinned; Helen is appalled, interpreting this While her intolerance and aggressiveness often prove harmful piece of information as yet another social disgrace. Instead of to others, she rarely seems concerned with anyone’s feelings keeping Jo company during this crucial time, she decides that but her own. she needs to go out for a drink. Jo thus finds herself alone in the apartment again. Unaware of Geof’s departure, she smiles as Peter Smith – A boldly assertive, often vulgar young man, Peter she recalls a nursery rhyme that he once sang to her. She softly is a car salesman who follows Helen to her new home and sings it to herself, seemingly drawing comfort from the playful convinces her to marry him. He shows little sensitivity to the tune. subtleties of Helen and Jo’s relationship, believing that Jo hates her mother and is a capricious, intolerable young woman. More generally, he shows little understanding of irony and wit, as he CHARA CHARACTERS CTERS proves unable to bear Jo’s ironic attacks. Similarly to Helen, he seems concerned exclusively with his own pleasure, refusing to Jo – Seventeen-year-old Jo is a witty, sensitive character whose help Jo financially during her time living alone in the apartment rebellious impulses can be seen as the direct result of her and her pregnancy, while spending his money indiscriminately feelings of abandonment. She shares a strong bond with her on presents for Helen and on their drunken outings. His mother Helen—the two women’s vicious fighting often alcoholic tendencies lead him to behave aggressively and insult demonstrates their profound knowledge of each other—but Jo the people around him, showing little concern for others and ©2020 LitCharts LLC v.007 www.LitCharts.com Page 3  Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com treating them with disrespect. serious questions about whether Helen will be able to change Geoffre Geoffreyy Ingr Ingram am – Jo’s friend and roommate, Geoffrey is seen her ways. At the end of the play, it remains ambiguous whether by others primarily through the lens of his homosexuality and Helen is truly ready to invest in her family, or if she will, once what others consider to be his effeminate demeanor. Apart again, follow her selfish whims and leave her daughter to fend from his “pansified” appearance, which sets him apart from the for herself. The very uncertainty of this ending confirms Helen’s norms of masculinity, Geoffrey proves a devoted friend who volatility, emphasizing that, for Jo to accept her mother’s cares for Jo’s emotional and material well-being. His devotion presence in her life without feeling constantly hurt or to her often leads him to endure her aggressive attacks and disappointed, she will have to accept her as an inherently bouts of bad temper. However, despite his affectionate unstable person—one who has not changed and who, perhaps, attitude, his behavior toward Jo is ambiguous at times: he never will. sometimes demonstrates affection toward her in a purely non- The relationship between Helen and Jo is marked by tension sexual way, and sometimes seems to want a romantic and misunderstanding. While Jo feels excluded from her relationship with her, behaving in a rude, forceful manner to mother’s life and deprived of motherly love, Helen makes little make her accept his advances. In the end, his gentleness and effort to gain her daughter’s trust or affection. On various meekness keeps him from standing up to Helen’s domineering occasions, Helen shows that she has little knowledge about—or attitude, and ultimately forces him to leave Jo, whom he had interest in—her daughter’s life. The two of them constantly wanted to accompany through her pregnancy and childbirth. fight about Helen’s lovers, her excessive drinking, and her Although it’s unclear what the play’s title refers to exactly, it’s neglect of her daughter. Helen often makes decisions without possible that it refers to the sweet but fleeting taste of genuine, considering the effect they will have on Jo. Indeed, it is only selfless love that Jo receives from Geof. after the two of them move to a new district that she begins to Jimmie (“The Bo Boy”) y”) – Jo’s boyfriend, a black sailor who is about wonder how her daughter will get to school, now that they live to leave for a six-month trip with the Navy, is an affectionate so far away from it. With utter lack of concern, she mentions but unreliable character. While he declares his love to Jo, asks the “shocking journey” her daughter will have, but does nothing her to marry him, and promises her to return, he fails to deliver to help solve this problem. Her matter-of-fact attitude reveals on his promises, thus leaving Jo to cope with the consequences her detachment from her daughter’s life. of their relationship (e.g., her pregnancy) on her own. Despite This lack of care is material as well as emotional. Before leaving his generally self-confident attitude, he expects Jo to feel Jo to move in with Peter, Helen responds to Jo’s complaints shame at being seen in the street with him because of his skin about not having food at home by saying that she has never color, and is surprised to realize that Jo is truly indifferent to claimed to be a “proper mother” and that Jo, instead of the interracial nature of their relationship. complaining, should either cook for herself or decide not to eat at all. Helen insists that her daughter should manage the details of her life on her own, arguing that it is a waste of time to try to THEMES influence other people’s lives. Because of Helen’s cynical attitude, Jo regularly finds herself alone, without the guidance In LitCharts literature guides, each theme gets its own color- of a responsible adult. At the same time, Helen demands that coded icon. These icons make it easy to track where the themes her daughter respond to her personal needs. She complains occur most prominently throughout the work. If you don't have that Jo never gives her respect and that she is selfish. However, a color printer, you can still use the icons to track themes in it soon becomes obvious that Jo is not actually selfish, but that black and white. she simply resents her mother’s lack of care. Helen’s tone is ironic and detached, but Jo’s is visibly hurt and exasperated CARE AND RESPONSIBILITY when she responds: “Why should I do anything for you? You A Taste of Honey centers around the relationship never do anything for me.” While it is easy for Helen to adopt a between Jo and her mother Helen. Characterized carefree attitude toward her daughter, Jo clearly longs for love by frequent fighting and animosity, their and attention that she is not receiving. interactions subvert expectations about how an adult should However, despite sharing a relationship of tension and care for her child. Indeed, although Jo longs for her mother’s frustration, Helen and Jo occasionally find ways of expressing love and care, Helen seems incapable of being a reliable their concern for each other. When Helen discovers her presence in her daughter’s life. Instead, Helen neglects Jo daughter’s drawings, she realizes, with shock, that her daughter emotionally and materially. After leaving Jo alone to go live with has talent—thus demonstrating, once again, that she knows Peter, her new romantic partner, Helen finally returns to her very little about her daughter’s dreams and personality. Yet this pregnant daughter and promises to accompany her through time, instead of ignoring Jo, she tries to encourage her to childbirth. However, this seemingly fortuitous reunion raises develop her talents by going to art school. “I’ll pay. You’re not ©2020 LitCharts LLC v.007 www.LitCharts.com Page 4  Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com stupid. You’ll soon learn,” she says, revealing her trust in her In the end, after Peter leaves Helen, Helen returns to her daughter’s intelligence and talent. “You’re wasting yourself,” she daughter. While it is obvious that Helen has returned not concludes when Jo rejects her offer. Her words suggest that because of moral qualms and a sense of commitment to Jo but, she is aware that her daughter deserves a better life and a rather, out of pure necessity, she still tries to prove that she will better future—two things that she has until now seemed take care of her grandchild. She talks about cleaning the incapable of providing for her. apartment and getting everything ready for the baby. These Helen also demonstrates motherly concern on another decisive actions signal a desire to help her daughter as much as they occasion. When she discovers that Jo has gotten engaged, she reveal her tendency to dominate the household. For example, tries to keep her daughter from making what she sees as a bad instead of thanking Geof for being such a committed friend to decision. “Oh Jo, you’re only a kid. Why don’t you learn from my her daughter, she indirectly forces him to leave the apartment mistakes?” she says, showing that she is truly distraught by the for good, thereby depriving Jo of the only strong and reliable prospect of Jo wasting precious years of her life, since Helen presence in her life. Finally, when she discovers that Jo’s baby has learned herself that marriage is not always the best choice might be black, she decides to go out for a drink, leaving her in life. This is one of the few moments in which Helen is clearly daughter alone in her room even though she is about to give upset about Jo’s situation and wants to have a positive birth. These various actions demonstrate that Helen is more influence on her. Nevertheless, Helen’s commitment is short- interested in imposing her authority and following selfish lived. She soon proves willing to run off with Peter and leave whims than in doing what makes her daughter happy. Although her daughter alone for an indefinite period of time. Before the two women are finally reunited, it remains ambiguous leaving, after she asks Jo if she is sad to see her go, Jo says: “I’m whether Helen will truly support her daughter in difficult times not sorry and I’m not glad.” Jo’s seeming indifference conceals or, instead, will follow her egocentric inclinations. the more complex feelings that she has toward her mother: Paradoxically, this uncertainty brings Jo neither hope nor resentment and vexation, but also love and affection—and, despair. Instead, it merely confirms what Jo has always known: overall, the desire for her mother to be more present in her life. that her mother is an unstable presence in her life. Jo’s light- These oscillations between aggressiveness and tenderness hearted singing, the play’s final words, allows the play to end on seem to find a resolution in the play’s ending. Indeed, after a soft note. It suggests that Jo’s only solution to her mother’s Helen abandons Jo for a few months, she finally returns to her absence is to adopt a similar detachment that Helen displays pregnant daughter, seemingly willing to accompany Jo through toward her. By lowering her expectations about her mother’s the final stage of her pregnancy. However, Helen’s motives behavior and choosing to enjoy life regardless of what her remain ambiguous. It remains unclear whether Jo can finally mother does, Jo might finally be able to accept her mother’s count on her mother, or whether Helen will run off once again, presence in her life without enduring emotional pain and leaving Jo to handle her problems alone. In the end, it depends disappointment. on Jo to accept or reject her mother’s presence in all of its inherent unreliability. LOVE, SEX, AND FRIENDSHIP Geoffrey, a friend of Jo’s who has been living with her and As Helen’s life is characterized by sexual supporting her through her various ordeals, contacts Helen to promiscuity and her cynical attitude toward love, tell her about Jo’s pregnancy. Helen comes to the apartment to Jo often feels alienated from her mother’s try to help her daughter, but Jo is skeptical of her mother’s affection. As a result, she finds herself forced to search motives. “What do you think you’re running? A ‘Back to Mother’ elsewhere for the intimacy and affection that is so blatantly movement?” she asks Geof angrily, implying that her mother lacking in her home. She initially believes she has found love in has already deserted her. She denounces the lack of her relationship with a young sailor, but soon becomes spontaneity or sincerity of her mother’s return by calling it “the disappointed with the experience. As time goes on and she famous mother-love act.” Her ironic attitude reveals that she is becomes pregnant, she is forced to face the practical not only angry at her mother’s absence, but also deeply hurt, consequences of her relationship. However, instead of and that she essentially considers herself to be motherless. A enduring this ordeal alone, she finds comfort in the presence of few months after this episode, Jo tells Geof: “You know, I wish her friend Geoffrey, who moves in with her and takes care of she were here all the same.” Geof is surprised by this comment, the practical details of her life. Soon, she realizes that the love since he notes that the two women fight whenever they are of a committed friend can be infinitely more valuable and together. Even so, Jo feels that Helen should be with her, given reliable than romantic or familial love. that she knows that Jo’s due date is approaching. Her desire for Sex and seduction are prominent parts of Helen’s life. her mother’s presence does not necessarily reflect the Described as a “semi-whore” in the stage directions, Helen pleasantness of their relationship, but does express a deep depends financially on “fancy men”—that is, lovers who give her longing for her parent to accompany her through difficult times. money. Helen’s promiscuous lifestyle sets her and her daughter ©2020 LitCharts LLC v.007 www.LitCharts.com Page 5  Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com apart from the traditional, sexually conservative norms of disappointed understanding of the tricky nature of love and society. When Peter asks Helen to marry him, Jo asks: “You’re commitment. “I don’t know much about love,” Jo reflects. “I’ve not going to marry her, are you? She’s a devil with the men.” Her never been too familiar with it. I suppose I must have loved him. comment suggests that Helen has no interest in committing to They say love creates. And I’m certainly creating at the a serious relationship. It soon becomes evident that Helen is moment. I’m going to have a baby.” Jo’s definition of love has interested in men not only for sexual pleasure, but even more become practical instead of spiritual or emotional, as she now importantly because of the money they give her. This leads Jo defines love purely in terms of its effect on her body: her to consider her mother’s earnings “immoral.” pregnancy. She has given up on the idea that love can create Despite Jo’s negative opinion of her mother’s interest in sex anything beyond the purely physical. over love, Jo, too, has sex with men without building committed Yet this experience does not keep Jo from experiencing love in relationships. Helen worries about leaving her daughter in the other forms. Instead of finding trust and reliability in romantic house alone, knowing that she would probably invite her love, Jo discovers that the love of her friend Geoffrey is boyfriend Jimmie to the apartment. When Helen worries aloud infinitely more reliable and fulfilling than any love she has that Jo might “ruin [herself] for good,” Jo replies: “I’m already experienced to date. During Jo’s pregnancy, when Geof asks Jo ruined.” Both women thus see themselves and each other as if she wishes her boyfriend were here, she responds that she disreputable because of their sexual behavior—which does not doesn’t—and that, anyway, she is sick of love. She tells Geof that conform to the double standards held by society for women. the main reason she enjoys having him by her side is because After Jo’s boyfriend, a sailor, leaves for the Navy, Jo discovers she knows he will not try to start a romantic relationship with that she is pregnant. When Helen and Peter learn of Jo’s her. Her intense hatred of love can be understood as an pregnancy, Peter calls Jo “a bloody slut” and Helen tells her expression of disappointment in the two people—her mother daughter that everyone is calling her “a silly little whore.” and her boyfriend—who were supposed to provide for her and Instead of feeling shame, Jo provocatively replies: “Well they take care of her. Her experiences in life have forced her to give know where I’m getting it from, too.” Because she is pregnant at up on both romantic and familial love and, instead, invest her a young age and single, it begins to seem that Jo is going to end energy in her friendship with Geof. up living a life of emotional and financial insecurity just like her She realizes that Geof’s presence makes her feel secure. She mother. calls him a “big sister,” an affectionate term that emphasizes Jo’s cynical attitude toward sex does not preclude her from their closeness as well as the asexual nature of their seeking the joys of love. Yet after her boyfriend abandons her, relationship. Jo appreciates the effort Geof puts into taking she becomes disillusioned and decides that romantic love only care of the house and making sure she is well. “[Y]ou make brings trouble. When Jo meets her boyfriend in the street, the everything work. The stove goes, now we eat. You’ve reformed scene offers a refreshing glimpse into the innocence of me, some of the time at any rate.” The seemingly transformative adolescent love, in stark contrast to the relationship between effect that Geof has had on Jo’s life demonstrates that simply Helen and Peter, which is motivated by the desire for money being present and accompanying her through the emotional and sex. When her boyfriend mentions a sexual experience, Jo and practical concerns of everyday life is an act of love that can says ironically that “[t]his is the sort of conversation that can be much more powerful than a family tie, and stronger too than colour a young girl’s mind.” Given her knowledge of her elevated but ultimately false promises of romantic mother’s sexual life, it is unlikely that she is sincerely outraged commitment. In this way, Jo realizes that the forms of love that at the mention of sex. Instead, her words can be taken as a are most widely celebrated and recognized as legitimate may joking comment about the innocence and chastity that society not necessarily be the most abiding. assumes young women should display. At the same time, Jo also harbors a sincere longing for the GENDER, CLASS, AND RACE intimacy of a loving relationship. This desire is visible in the Shelagh Delaney’s play depicts characters who live simplicity and honesty with which she tells her boyfriend that at the margins of 1950s English society. Because of she loves him: “I don’t know why I love you but I do.” When he Helen and Jo’s social class, Geoffrey’s tells her he loves her and will come back, however, Jo reacts homosexuality, and Jo’s boyfriend Jimmie’s skin color, these with skepticism. Their dialogue reveals that, while Jo might be characters all experience social marginalization in different able to give her love freely, she is skeptical of others’ intentions, ways. Their nonconformity highlights the generational shift since she has never benefited from the support and that is beginning to take place, as English social life and culture commitment that love can bring. This time, her distrust is not undergoes a transformation, becoming more mixed and more proven wrong, since it soon becomes clear that her boyfriend diverse. Although Helen tends to categorize people according has no real intention of coming back and taking care of her. This to what constitutes socially acceptable behavior, Jo defends period of youthful elation thus gives way to a cynical, the opposite point of view, according to which social ©2020 LitCharts LLC v.007 www.LitCharts.com Page 6  Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com differences can be met with love and respect. Among all the people’s independence of thought and behavior. While Jo has characters in the play, Jo proves the most capable at accepting found peace and joy in her cohabitation with Geof, Helen is others’ differences without judging or belittling them, instead unable to treat Jo’s friend with respect. Instead, she attacks giving people the freedom to be themselves. Through Jo’s him for being too feminine and considers his attitude character, the play reveals the potential for a diverse group of unacceptable. She derogatorily calls him a “nursemaid” and a people to live together in harmony through openness and “pansified little freak,” telling Jo that she could have found mutual respect. herself “something more like a man.” Helen’s lack of compassion Throughout the play, Jo is confronted to characters whom toward Geof reveals an entrenched prejudice toward society has marginalized in different ways, because of their homosexuals and, more generally, a rigid understanding of how race, gender, or sexual orientation. Instead of seeing these women and men should behave according to society’s differences as a source of shame, Jo accepts them and expectations of them. embraces the diversity of the people around her. In this way, In addition, while Jo initially believed that her mother would she proves that social diversity can be a motor for love and not mind knowing that her boyfriend was black, Helen reacts compassion. Jo first subverts societal norms by engaging in a with shock at the news, realizing that walking around with a relationship with a black boy. When Jimmie kisses her in the black baby is even more shameful than being called a slut or a street, he notes with surprise that Jo is not afraid to be seen whore—the names that her daughter has already been labeled. with him. Rather, she is the first person he has known who does Instead of supporting her daughter, she shows fear and decides not actually mind his skin color. His surprise highlights the that she needs to go have a drink to process this piece of news, conservative attitude that English society had at the time thus demonstrating that she is more concerned about her toward interracial relationships, as well as Jo’s unique qualities social reputation than her daughter’s happiness or well-being. of tolerance and respect. Helen’s rejection of people who do not conform to society’s In addition to racial diversity, Jo also embraces sexual diversity. norms extends to her very self. Despite having very limited Her friend Geoffrey is constantly criticized for his feminine financial means and leading an economically unstable life, qualities and his homosexuality. Jo herself initially asks him Helen looks down on poverty, therefore refusing to accept that provocative questions about his sexual life, hypothesizing that she is poor herself. Not only does she ultimately call the district his landlady threw him out of his previous apartment after she has chosen “rotten” and unfit to live in, but she also mocks seeing him with a man. She expresses her curiosity about Jo’s ragged appearance, telling Peter to buy a needle and “people like [him],” thus immediately categorizing Geof as a cotton for Jo since “every article of clothing on her back is held member of a taboo demographic. When Geof reacts with anger, together by a safety pin or a knot. If she had an accident in the Jo realizes that she was rude and disrespectful, and apologizes street I’d be ashamed to claim her.” The harshness of Helen’s for being so insensitive. As the two of them get to know each comment is unjustified, given that she is the only wage earner other, Jo appreciates Geoffrey for who he is, admiring his in the family and is therefore responsible for her daughter’s capacity to take care of the home and to give her emotional appearance. It indicates the shame she feels surrounding her support—two intimate activities that bring her joy and comfort, poverty, which she projects unfairly onto her daughter. but are not traditionally expected of a man. The opposition between Helen and Jo’s attitudes represents Jo herself occasionally expresses her frustration with rigid the difficulty many people face in accepting social change and gender categories. Her recurrent complaints (“I hate babies;” “I becoming more inclusive. However, through Jo’s pregnancy, the hate motherhood;” “I don’t want to be a mother;” “I don’t want play ultimately suggests that social change is on the to be a woman”) demonstrate that she associates womanhood way—however much people might resist it. with motherhood, and that she embraces neither. Geof finds By the end of the play, it remains uncertain whether any of the Jo’s attitude surprising, since he thought motherhood was characters’ status has changed. Geoffrey is kicked out of Jo’s natural in women, but Jo only replies: “It comes natural to you, house and, thus, forced to endure social isolation once again. Geoffrey Ingram. You’d make somebody a wonderful wife.” This Similarly, Helen is still leading the same unstable life that she inversion of traditional gender roles, subverting the idea that always has, at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder. Her the woman is supposed to take care of children and that the conservative attitude reveals that she has also not changed her man should not invest energy in the household, was highly mind about diversity. The selfishness of her decision to go have unusual for the time. Jo embraces the idea that family roles are a drink when her daughter is about to go into labor emphasizes not necessarily fixed, but that each person should be free to the hypocrisy of societal standards, which are more concerned take on the roles that best fit their personality and desires. with appearances (such as the shame of a white woman walking In contrast with Jo’s open-minded acceptance of diversity, with a black baby) than with deeper values such as family love Helen is often brutally judgmental, proving more concerned and support. with abiding by society’s expectations than with respecting Helen’s reaction thus highlights the conservative and ©2020 LitCharts LLC v.007 www.LitCharts.com Page 7  Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com prejudicial nature of society. However, Jo’s indifference to her future. Work or want […]. We’re all at the steering wheel of our baby’s skin color or to Geof’s homosexuality suggests that own destiny. Careering along like drunken drivers.” For Helen, generational change is already well underway, and that people life should be understood not in terms of youthful desires and can learn to handle unfamiliar social issues in a positive and idealism, but in terms of material necessities: the need to work compassionate manner. Jo’s attitude is an optimistic illustration and take economic control of one’s future, however ignorantly of the possibility for diverse people to live together in harmony one might manage one’s affairs. and solidarity, without being confined to pre-existing roles or When Helen leaves the apartment to move in with Peter, Jo others’ expectations of them. finds herself forced to live on her own. In this situation born out In addition, the fact that Jo is bringing a mixed-race baby into of necessity, she begins to suffer from loneliness. However, the world serves a concrete signal that society is indeed with a little help from Geoffrey, she ultimately finds the becoming more socially diverse, regardless of what opinions strength to live her life freely and celebrate both her youth and other people might have on the issue. Jo’s personal experience her independence. While Jo’s pregnancy could lead her to seek thus has the potential to make inter-racial relationships more her mother’s help, she insists on preserving her independence, visible in society and, perhaps, over time, to make inter-racial telling Helen that she can handle the situation on her own. This relationships seem normal and acceptable. In this way, Jo attitude gives her freedom, but is also a source of isolation and becomes a powerful promoter of the idea that social diversity loneliness. When Geof notices that Jo has little sustained does not need to involve exclusion and rejection, but that it can guidance in her life, he asks her if anyone has ever tried to take be met with love and care. her in hand. Jo mentions her boyfriend Jimmie but notes that his efforts were extremely short-lived, since he soon REBELLION AND INDEPENDENCE abandoned her. After Geof’s questions, it becomes apparent that Jo’s fierce desire for independence is also a reaction to the From the beginning of the play, it is evident that Jo lack of support she has received throughout her life. Instead of is a young woman yearning to break free from the relying on people who might disappoint her, she prefers to walls of her home. Moved by youthful rebellion, she struggle through life on her own. longs to work for herself in order to become economically and emotionally independent from her mother. When she is finally However, Jo soon realizes that independence does not forced to live on her own, she discovers that an independent necessarily mean refusing everyone’s help. Instead, she finds life also brings its share of loneliness and fear, but that she is comfort and joy in her cohabitation with Geof, which makes her capable of finding the strength within herself—and through the feel more self-confident and optimistic about the future. In a positive influence of her friend Geoffrey—to keep on thriving. moment of elation, the two of them celebrate their youthful Her independence ultimately proves limited, as she is unable to enthusiasm and energy. Jo says: “My usual self is a very unusual fully escape her mother’s grasp and the negative influence it self, Geoffrey Ingram, and don’t you forget it. I’m an has on her. Nevertheless, the strength she has acquired on her extraordinary person. There’s only one of me like there’s only own marks a positive change in her life, and speaks to a greater one of you.” She aims to acknowledge that, despite their potential for progress and change. material difficulties, they have in themselves the potential to achieve greatness. She tries not to give in to gloom but, instead, Moved by a desire for privacy and independence, Jo longs to to take pride and pleasure in who they are at this very moment escape her mother and their shared home. When Helen and Jo in time. discover their new apartment, Jo notices that she is going to have to share a bed with her mother once again. “What I This attitude contrasts starkly with Helen’s more rigid views. wouldn’t give for a room of my own!” she says. This situation of Helen does not understand how Jo and Geof’s partnership can forced physical closeness emphasizes Jo’s lack of privacy, as be based on mutual respect and trust. When Helen tells Jo that well as her economic necessity to rely on her mother. As such, she and Geof are a “funny-looking set-up,” Jo curtly replies that her idea of having a room of her own expresses not only a it is none of her mother’s business, defending her right to lead a desire for emotional independence, but also the wish to be life far from her mother’s judgment. Another time, when Helen financially self-sufficient. Jo confirms this idea by telling Helen mocks them by saying that Geof is providing for Jo, Geof that the only thing she wants is to “[g]et out of your sight as corrects her, telling her that the two of them share everything. soon as I can get a bit of money in my pocket.” These episodes highlight that, however unusual their partnership may be, Jo and Geof have laid the foundation to Helen herself emphasizes the importance of working to sustain live a free, independent life together, far from the judgment of oneself. When her daughter complains about their constant other people. relocation from one apartment to the next, Helen ironically comments that Jo will soon be an “independent working While Jo’s sense of freedom makes her believe that she can woman,” free to make her own living choices. More seriously, achieve the impossible, she still seems doomed to suffer from Helen later explains her vision of life: “There’s two w’s in your her mother’s influence. Ultimately, though, she shows ©2020 LitCharts LLC v.007 www.LitCharts.com Page 8  Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com encouraging signs about her increasing capacity to handle her instants in which they enjoy “a taste of honey,” a respite from mother’s negativity and take control of her own life. Jo wants to the heavy burdens of adulthood. separate herself and her life choices from her mother’s. For this In the face of adversity, Helen and Jo often adopt strategies of reason, Jo is happy to hear her boyfriend insist on how ironic detachment and verbal attack. While this method gives different she is from Helen. However, Geof, who knows Jo them a sense of control over their lives, it also highlights the more intimately, tells her that she has already adopted some of actual dangers and problems they face. Helen and Jo’s her mother’s traits and that she should be careful not to turn dissatisfaction with their lives often expresses itself through into a domineering, unstable person like her mother. direct verbal attack. In one instance, they criticize each other’s Jo seems capable of adopting a positive attitude that contrasts physical condition in order to ridicule the other. Jo mocks her with her mother’s. While at first Jo complains often about mother for seeming older than she actually is. “You don’t look having a baby, she ultimately proves willing to take care of the forty. You look a sort of well-preserved sixty.” In turn, Helen people in her life. After months of living with Geof, Jo insists mocks Jo’s physique and Peter declares that Jo “already looks that she is finally happy and content. “Do you know, for the first like a bad case of malnutrition.” These comments aim to insult time in my life I feel really important. I feel as though I could the other, but also indirectly highlight the actual insecurity and take care of the whole world. I even feel as though I could take danger of their lives, revealing that Helen has indeed aged care of you, too!” she tells her mother. Her attitude is at odds prematurely and that Jo looks seriously ill. Therefore, however with Helen’s, who has neglected her daughter in many ways. Jo intentionally ironic these comments might be, they still indicate inverts the mother-daughter relationship, proving that she has that there truly is danger in the way the two women are living. now become stronger than her mother in her capacity to care Helen and Jo also exaggerate the dangers in their life in a for other people. dramatic way. When the two of them first discover their new This inversion of the traditional mother-daughter relationship apartment, Jo makes bleak predictions about the future, becomes all the more evident when Helen moves in with Jo arguing that they will never survive in such an insalubrious again. In the opening scene, Helen had criticized Jo for not place. “Tomorrow? What makes you think we’re going to live knowing how to turn on the stove. Exasperated, she told her that long? The roof’s leaking!” Her mother takes this cynical daughter to turn all the buttons. “She can’t do anything for attitude one step further. As Jo keeps on complaining about the herself, that girl. Mind you don’t gas yourself.” However, by the apartment, anticipating that it will smell bad in the summer, end of the play, Jo is the one giving Helen the same Helen interjects that “this whole city smells.” Instead of instructions: “Turn on all the knobs. Mind you don’t gas reassuring her daughter, Helen thus confirms and expands her yourself.” This inversion reveals Helen’s helplessness and daughter’s worries. She is not merely pessimistic, but fully inability to be self-reliant. It also shows that Jo has acquired resigned to living in an unpleasant atmosphere—in their wisdom and practical knowledge during her time alone, and apartment, in the city as a whole, and, more generally, in their that she is strong enough to take care of her mother. Although life. Instead of using her dissatisfaction to move forward, Helen Jo’s future remains uncertain at the end of the play, the thus adopts a fatalistic attitude, aimed at accepting the strength and self-confidence the young girl has acquired set unpleasantness of reality. her apart from her earlier self, suggesting her potential to While Helen’s attitude is characterized by resignation, Jo, embrace a future path of growth and progress separate from moved by hope in the future, proves more inclined to try to her mother’s influence. change her situation. However, Jo’s efforts are often met with resistance, as Helen seems incapable of conceiving of a life ADVERSITY AND RESILIENCE defined by hope and positivity. Indeed, although Helen’s Faced with economic and emotional hardships, the honesty occasionally appears to be at the service of helping her characters in the play adopt various strategies to daughter, she usually fails to accompany her criticism with confront—or, on the contrary, to escape—the healing acts. “Look at your arms! They’re a couple of stalks!” difficulties of life. Although Helen and Jo adopt a common Helen tells Jo when she sees her pregnant daughter after many strategy of irony and cynicism to cope with their problems, months. This observation about her daughter’s ill health is Helen proves more prone to fatalistic resignation, while her meant to encourage her to accept her financial help. However, daughter generally attempts to try to change her difficult Helen never actually gives her daughter any money, thus circumstances. These differences in attitude make Helen more proving that her brutal, often cruel honesty is mostly inclined to embrace detachment and negativity, while Jo is gratuitous, as she is unable to bring any solution to the more sensitive to her environment’s changes, and oscillates problems she identifies. between youthful enthusiasm and despair. Ultimately, however, Jo is incapable of such resignation, because it makes her feel despite their essential differences, both characters prove hopeless. Unlike Helen, whenever Jo feels unable to change the capable of enjoying moments of hope and positivity, brief situation she is in, she gives in to despair. Obsessed with her ©2020 LitCharts LLC v.007 www.LitCharts.com Page 9  Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com dire material situation and her disgust at being pregnant, Jo By the end of the play, both Helen and Jo thus reveal that, while becomes so desperate that she tells her friend Geoffrey she they confront certain difficulties through irony and cynicism, wants to throw herself in the river. While Geof manages to both of them are also vulnerable in their own ways. This reassure her and it becomes apparent that Jo is not actually vulnerability reflects their underlying desire for their life to planning to kill herself, Jo’s dissatisfaction with her life thus change, even if they do not necessarily know how to achieve expresses itself as emotional vulnerability, not cynical this. As a result, every now and then, they both embrace the resignation. Instead of giving in to fatalism, Jo prefers trying to pleasure inherent in having a hopeful, carefree vision of life, far try to change her situation. from the oppression of everyday responsibilities—enjoying a However, Helen often disrupts her daughter’s efforts to make “taste of honey” in an often cruel, oppressive world. life more agreeable. For example, while Helen gives in to excessive drinking to cope with her problems, Jo refuses to drink alcohol and, throughout the play, maintains her SYMBOLS commitment to have no alcohol in her home. This represents Symbols appear in teal text throughout the Summary and her effort to separate herself from her mother’s bad habits. Yet Analysis sections of this LitChart. instead of encouraging her daughter in this healthy path, Helen mocks her and insists that she try drinking. On another occasion, Jo wants to plant bulbs to make the apartment look JO’S FLOWER BULBS livelier. Once again, instead of encouraging her daughter, Helen When Jo and her mother Helen settle into their merely asks her: “Why do you bother?” Helen crushes her new apartment, Jo unpacks flower bulbs with daughter’s optimistic, creative ideas, imposing her belief that which she wants to decorate their new home. These bulbs any effort to make life more colorful, joyous, or healthy is reveal a strong divergence in the attitudes of Jo and Helen. ridiculous and bound to fail. While Jo decides to face adversity by attempting to change her By the end of the play, this situation shifts momentarily. While situation for the better, planting bulbs to enliven their run- Jo is about to face the pains of childbirth head-on, Helen gives down apartment, Helen is hostile to any effort at improvement. in to a brief moment of emotional vulnerability. In this way, she Instead, Helen advocates resignation, believing that trying to proves that she, too, can enjoy “a taste of honey”—a brief change their condition is senseless and bound to fail. In the end, moment of joy and optimism, providing a respite from the Jo never plants her bulbs and rediscovers them, dead, months heaviness of adult life. Although Helen criticizes Jo’s idealistic later when she is living with Geoffrey and is close to giving views about the future, she admits that being young and birth. The dead plants cause her to reflect on the chaos of life, hopeful can be admirable. When Jo expresses her belief that leading her to conclude that life is a short-lived series of she can have a bright future, Helen is both mocking and unpredictable events. The bulbs thus delineate the change that fascinated. “Listen to it! Still, we all have funny ideas at that age, Jo undergoes between the beginning and the end of the play, as don’t we – makes no difference though, we all end up same way her youthful optimism transforms into a more contained, sooner or later.” Helen ultimately draws a fatalistic conclusion suspicious attitude toward life’s difficulties. While Jo does not but still admires her daughter for her “funny,” optimistic ideas reach the levels of cynicism and apathy that her mother about life. Her comment thus reveals her capacity to be embodies, the dead bulbs are a reminder—to her and to the fascinated by her daughter’s eager attitude toward life, which is audience—that even the best efforts do not always fare well in so different from her own. life, and that one is sometimes forced to face failure and At the end of the play, even Helen reveals her own potential to misfortune before moving on. think positively. As she is stroking her pregnant daughter’s hair, she recalls her own childhood. In a long speech—the longest in ENGAGEMENT RINGS the entire play—she describes the games she used to play and places she used to go as a child. She remembers how she used When Helen and Jo get engaged within a few hours to sit on a hill all day, without anyone knowing where she was. of each other, it seems that they are both about to These lengthy, nostalgic thoughts reveal Helen’s pleasure in the commit to serious, long-term relationships. However, reality idea of escaping her adult responsibilities. Like her daughter, soon shows these expectations to be ill-founded. While who finds joy in being young and free, she relishes the time engagement rings represent fidelity and stability, the non- when she could be an innocent child, without having to worry conforming, precarious nature of the two women’s about issues such as money and family—in this case, her relationships is at odds with such symbolism. When Peter daughter’s pregnancy. Her recollection of this idealized period jokingly asks Helen if she wants an engagement ring, Jo makes of life suggests that part of her still longs for such simplicity and a derisive comment about the inherently sexual nature of Peter insouciance. and Helen’s relationship, believing that it has passed the stage ©2020 LitCharts LLC v.007 www.LitCharts.com Page 10  Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com of such symbolic attachment. However, moved by youthful Act 1: Scene 1 Quotes enthusiasm, she herself gladly accepts her boyfriend Jimmie’s HELEN: When I find somewhere for us to live I have to ring, which she wears around her neck—before her mother consider something far more important than your feelings... tears it off her neck in an outburst of anger. In the end, both the rent. It’s all I can afford. women are forced to accept romantic failure. As Helen’s ring fails to materialize when Peter abandons her after a few JO: You can afford something better than this old ruin. months, Jo too finds herself both ring- and boyfriend-less at the HELEN: When you start earning you can start moaning. end of the play. In both cases, the women’s rings thus fail to JO: Can’t be soon enough for me. I’m old and my shoes let materialize the stable relationships they are supposed water... what a place... and we’re supposed to be living off her represent. Instead, these symbols of romantic stability only immoral earnings. emphasize the contrast between the two women’s desire for emotional fulfillment and the inherently insecure nature of HELEN: I’m careful. Anyway, what’s wrong with this place? their lives, and come to symbolize broken promises rather than Everything in it’s falling apart, it’s true, and we’ve no dependability and strength of commitment. heating—but there’s a lovely view of the gasworks, we share a bathroom with the community and this wallpaper’s contemporary. What more do you want? Anyway it’ll do for us. CHILDREN’S SINGING AND NURSERY RHYMES Related Characters: Jo, Helen (speaker) In the apartment, Jo, Helen, and Geof occasionally hear children singing in the street. These playful melodies serve Related Themes: as a reminder of the innocence of childhood, in stark contrast to the sordid atmosphere of the neighborhood and the Page Number: 7 frequent difficulties of the protagonists’ lives. Geoffrey’s Explanation and Analysis nursery rhymes, which he first sings to Jo and which Jo later sings on her own, add another dimension of optimism and The opening lines of A Taste of Honey show Helen and her naiveté to the play. At the same time, both instances of child- seventeen-year-old daughter Jo entering their new like singing also lead the characters to reflect seriously on apartment, which Helen has rented once again without complex issues of dependence and independence, as well as the making Jo part of the decision-making process in any way. relationship between children and parents. While Jo uses these Helen’s attitude toward the apartment is ambiguous. On moments to highlight adults’ responsibility toward their the one hand, she counters her daughter’s critiques by children and the general need for people to care for each other, defending the various advantages that the apartment Helen uses them as an opportunity to escape her own supposedly has, such as the view and the bathroom. This responsibilities and return to an ideal time of freedom and attitude of satisfaction culminates in her rhetorical carelessness. These moments of singing thus both interrupt question: “What more do you want?” which aims to discredit and reinforce some of the deeper themes in the play. They her daughter’s complaints, attacking them as unfounded force the characters to reflect on their own position within and unreasonable. On the other hand, Helen also admits webs of responsibility and interdependence, and to examine that her criteria for judging the apartment do not people’s capacity to take care of themselves and of others. necessarily reflect the apartment’s actual features, but her low financial means: “Anyway, it’ll do for us.” She seems to argue that their low budget is not only a constraint, but also QUO QUOTES TES something that should define their attitude toward life, forcing them to become more accepting of living in an Note: all page numbers for the quotes below refer to the Grove insalubrious home. Press edition of A Taste of Honey published in 1956. This is precisely the attitude that Jo rebels against. Her complaints have as much to do with the nature of this particular apartment as with their general lifestyle, which forces her to follow along with her mother’s unpredictable decisions. Jo’s mention of Helen’s “immoral earnings” is a condemnation of her mother’s lack a stable job, as she relies on her lovers to maintain her financially. Instead of accepting Helen’s resignation to living in such conditions, Jo ©2020 LitCharts LLC v.007 www.LitCharts.com Page 11  Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com JO: See yourself. I’ve got to find somewhere for my bulbs. determines to work hard to achieve her financial HELEN: See yourself! Do everything yourself. That’s what independence. happens. You bring’em up and they turn round and talk to you like that. I would never have dared talk to my mother like that when I was her age. She’d have knocked me into the middle of JO: I’m going to unpack my bulbs. I wonder where I can put next week. Oh! my head. Whenever I walk, you know how it is! them. What a journey! I never realized this city was so big. Have we HELEN: I could tell you. got any aspirins left, Jo? JO: They’re supposed to be left in a cool, dark place. HELEN: That’s where we all end up sooner or later. Still, it’s no Related Characters: Helen, Jo (speaker) use worrying, is it? Related Themes: JO: I hope they bloom. Always before when I’ve tried to fix up a window box nothing’s ever grown in it. Related Symbols: HELEN: Why do you bother? JO: It’s nice to see a few flowers, isn’t it? Page Number: 12 Explanation and Analysis Related Characters: Helen, Jo (speaker) When Helen asks Jo to go see if the water for her coffee is boiling, Jo asks her to do so herself while she takes care of Related Themes: her plants. Helen reacts with exaggerated indignation to what she considers Jo’s defiance, calling her daughter Related Symbols: selfish and ungrateful. Helen’s aggressive words iterate commonplace tropes Page Number: 11 about rebellious children who fail to respect their parents. Explanation and Analysis This is highly ironic within the context of Jo and Helen’s relationship, which is far from traditional because of the As Jo and her mother begin to unpack, Jo finds flower bulbs instability of their lives and because Helen has failed to that she wants to use to liven up the apartment. The two instill either respect or a sense of gratitude in her daughter; women’s reaction to these bulbs reveals a stark contrast on the contrary, Helen has done little to actually provide for between Helen and Jo’s attitudes toward life. Whereas Jo Jo and “bring [her] up” throughout her life. wants to make their general living conditions more pleasant and to take care of something besides herself, Helen finds Helen’s entire speech is typical of her character, as it shows such efforts senseless. She does not understand why her her switching from one topic to the next and daughter would want to engage in an enterprise that complaining—in rapid sequence and in a dramatically self- requires so much effort and has failed in the past. centered way—about her daughter’s behavior, her cold, and the difficulty of moving. In the end, it becomes apparent that This highlights Helen’s lack of interest in enjoying some she relies on her daughter for the ordinary details of simple, natural decoration and, more importantly, in making everyday life, swapping familial roles as she makes Jo search any kind of sustained effort to improve their living for medicine for her and, thus, take on a quasi-parental conditions—which are, in fact, her responsibility. On a more function. Jo’s frequent willingness to respond to her symbolic level, the care and control that is needed to make mother’s demands demonstrates the hypocrisy of Helen’s the bulbs grow is reflective of child-rearing, and highlights earlier words, as Helen herself is usually the more selfish Helen’s unwillingness to engage in any such activity. It member of this relationship. further reflects Helen’s refusal to improve either her or her daughter’s life and her resignation to living in sub-par conditions. Helen’s fatalistic, pessimistic attitude thus contrasts with Jo’s youthful enthusiasm and optimism, which makers her hopeful about the possibility of changing the world around her. ©2020 LitCharts LLC v.007 www.LitCharts.com Page 12  Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com JO: Anyway I’m not getting married like you did. HELEN: […] Have you ever thought of going to a proper art HELEN: Oh! school and getting a proper training? JO: I’m too young and beautiful for that. JO: It’s too late. HELEN: Listen to it! Still, we all have funny ideas at that age, HELEN: I’ll pay. You’re not stupid. You’ll soon learn. don’t we—makes no difference though, we all end up same way JO: I’ve had enough of school. Too many different schools and sooner or later. too many different places. HELEN: You’re wasting yourself. Related Characters: Helen, Jo (speaker) JO: So long as I don’t waste anybody else. Why are you so suddenly interested in me, anyway? You’ve never cared much Related Themes: before about what I was doing or what I was trying to do or the difference between them. Related Symbols: HELEN: I know, I’m a cruel, wicked woman. Page Number: 13 Related Characters: Helen, Jo (speaker) Explanation and Analysis After Jo and her mother discuss the possibility of Jo Related Themes: working in a bar and thus, according to Helen, potentially “ruining” her life, Jo accuse Helen of already ruining her Page Number: 15 own. She concludes that she does not want to get married Explanation and Analysis and end up like her mother. After Helen discovers Jo’s drawings and realizes that her Helen’s ironic comment about her daughter’s hopes daughter has talent, she becomes enthusiastic and offers to suggests that she herself has no hope that Jo will make the pay for her artistic education. Jo’s refusal to let her do so is right decisions in her life, or even that she is special at all. stubborn and frustrating, given that attending school could Instead, she believes that everyone ends up “the same way.” potentially give her better opportunities in life. It also This comment might indicate death, since everyone is reveals the lasting consequences that Helen’s upbringing bound to die, whatever choices they make in life. It is also has had on her daughter. indicative of Helen’s general determinism, according to which all individuals are bound to make mistakes and ruin Jo decides not to go to school because she is tired of the their lives. instability of her life, which is the result of Helen’s precarious financial decisions and of their constant moving. By contrast, Jo believes in the power of her own youth and Jo decides that she would rather achieve financial uniqueness. Aware of her mother’s mistakes and failures, independence right away and escape such turbulence she seeks to avoid following the same path. However, this rather than accept tuition money and remain under Helen’s simple trust in herself is unaccompanied by any concrete influence. action or firm plan. As such, Jo, too, later makes the mistake of getting engaged at an early age and, ultimately, becoming Nevertheless, it remains unclear what else, exactly, is pregnant, thus paving the way for her to lead a life similar to holding Jo back. In this case, Helen seems right in judging her mother’s. Although this seems to confirm Helen’s that Jo is failing to develop her talent. This represents one pessimistic prediction, the strength and self-confidence that of the few times in the play when Helen seems truly Jo still shows at the end of the play gives the spectator hope motivated to support Jo in her development. Perhaps Jo’s that she might be a more loving, responsible adult than her refusal is motivated by her belief that Helen would not own mother. actually commit to financing her studies, or perhaps she has had too little formal guidance to acquire the self-confidence necessary to trust in her own abilities. Either way, the refusal to study gives Jo immediate independence yet ultimately leaves her in a precarious situation once again, forcing her to take on multiple jobs and, later, to rely partly on Geoffrey for help. ©2020 LitCharts LLC v.007 www.LitCharts.com Page 13  Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com PETER: Is she always like this? Related Characters: Jo, Helen (speaker), Peter Smith HELEN: She’s jealous... PETER: That’s something I didn’t bargain for. Related Themes: HELEN: Can’t bear to see me being affectionate with anybody. JO: You’ve certainly never been affectionate with me. Related Symbols: PETER: Still, she’s old enough to take care of herself. Page Number: 29 Explanation and Analysis Related Characters: Helen, Jo, Peter Smith (speaker) When Jo sees an advertisement in a magazine for an Related Themes: Arabian mystic who can read people’s destinies, she mentions it to her mother. This leads Helen to give Jo a Related Symbols: speech about life, telling her that there is no point in consulting so-called mystics and that she should rely only on Page Number: 19 her own discipline. Helen’s vision of life involves a paradoxical mix of control Explanation and Analysis and ignorance. While she claims that Jo should take control When Jo first meets Peter, he is flirting with her mother and of her life and that hard work is the only means for survival, ultimately asks Helen to marry him. Despite her weak she also accepts that this appearance of control can be efforts at rejecting him, Helen visibly enjoys her lover’s entirely blind or misguided. As Helen depends on others for advances and interacts playfully with him. Jo decides to stay financial subsistence, she cannot even serve as a role model in the room and try to interrupt their conversation as often for her own philosophy. Her concluding announcement that as possible, which makes Helen conclude that she is jealous. she is getting married seemingly confirms that she is Jo’s interference in Peter and Helen’s relationship reveals managing her life in a self-consciously ignorant way, which is her desire for attention—a desire that is not egotistical and bound to lead to disaster. self-absorbed but, rather, the reflection of the very real Jo’s unenthusiastic reaction reveals her frustration with her threat that Helen might once again abandon her for one of mother’s decision. It confirms not only that Helen is her boyfriends. Jo’s jealousy reflects the fact that her behaving thoughtlessly, but also that this behavior has mother has never shown her love in the same way she has consequences that affect both herself and her daughter. with these boyfriends, as well Jo’s fear that Helen’s Helen’s speech, meant to educate Jo about the concrete departure on behalf of a man would deprive her daughter of realities of life, thus instead reaffirms her own incapacity to economic subsistence. lead a healthy, caring existence in which she can be present Peter and Helen’s lack of interest in Jo’s feelings is for the people who most need her. particularly cruel. Both are more interested in mocking and ignoring her than actually addressing her emotions and making her feel welcome in her own home. They both HELEN: There’s plenty of food in the kitchen. decide to put their romantic relationship before any of Helen’s family duties, thus effectively forcing Jo to be on her JO: You should prepare my meals like a proper mother. own—whether or not she actually is old enough to live HELEN: Have I ever laid claim to being a proper mother? If independently. you’re too idle to cook your own meals you’ll just have to cut food out of your diet altogether. That should help you lose a bit of weight, if nothing else. Act 1: Scene 2 Quotes PETER: She already looks like a bad case of malnutrition. HELEN: […] There’s two w’s in your future. Work or want, and no Arabian Knight can tell you different. We’re all at the Related Characters: Peter Smith, Jo, Helen (speaker) steering wheel of our own destiny. Careering along like drunken drivers. I’m going to get married. [The news is received Related Themes: in silence.] I said, I’m going to get married. JO: Yes, I heard you the first time. What do you want me to do, Page Number: 35 laugh and throw pennies? ©2020 LitCharts LLC v.007 www.LitCharts.com Page 14  Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com Explanation and Analysis When Helen learns that Jo has gotten engaged to her boyfriend, she reacts with anger and frustration. This is one As Helen and Peter are about to leave the apartment to go of the few moments in the play when Helen tries to reason celebrate their engagement, they both say they are hungry with Jo as best she can and sincerely expresses a desire to and, when Jo says she is too, Helen claims that she has no help her daughter make the right decision. responsibility to feed her. Despite Helen’s frequent aggression, insults, and threats of Helen’s typical way of avoiding her responsibilities is to physical violence, in this moment she also tries to impart attack her daughter. Here, to avoid being reminded that she wisdom to Jo and to reason with her. She argues that love has a duty to provide for her only child, she calls Jo idle and and long-term commitment are two separate things, and implies that it is her own fault if she does not have enough that Jo is too young to become stuck in marriage. Jo’s food. While Helen’s reactions are often crude and comment that one merely has to look at her mother to see insensitive, demonstrating a lack of interest in Jo’s an illustration of this advice does not discourage Helen. emotions, in this moment it becomes apparent that she is Instead of reacting defensively, Helen agrees with Jo and also unconcerned with Jo’s material well-being. Peter’s uses her own example to caution her daughter against comment reinforces the impression that Jo is not being making the same mistakes. For once, Helen thus discards properly cared for. her attitude of superiority in order to admit that she has Helen’s vehement rejection of motherhood is not only made serious mistakes in her life. As her mix of rage and harmful and cruel, but also contradictory: on later occasions lucid argumentation confronts Jo’s seeming indifference, it she tries to help Jo and to reaffirm her role as a mother. It appears that their roles have reversed: Helen is now the remains ambiguous why Helen behaves in such a way one trying to change a negative situation, while Jo is content toward her daughter—whether it reflects indifference or with merely enduring it. mere incompetence—but the consequences of her However, Jo’s behavior is not simply a rebellious rejection fickleness are obvious, as Jo soon loses trust in her mother’s of her mother’s advice. Since part of Jo’s desperate search words and actions. for love and care (which, here, culminates in her engagement) is the result of the absence of love in her home, her behavior can be understood as a desire to attract HELEN: You stupid little devil! What sort of a wife do you attention—specifically, to elicit from her mother the very think you’d make? You’re useless. It takes you all your time love that she has been missing throughout her life. Helen’s to look after yourself. I suppose you think you’re in love. reaction initially suggests that she might finally be able to Anybody can fall in love, do you know that? But what do you give her daughter such affection and guidance. However, know about the rest of it? when she soon abandons Jo for Peter, she proves that, JO: Ask yourself. however sincere, her concern was always bound to be