A Study on Shelagh Delaney's A Taste Of Honey

        It was when she was just eighteen years old Shelagh Delaney wrote the drama A Taste of Honey. It was a tremendous feat at that time, if we consider what we general lot did when we were eighteen years old ! After its successful production, she was called by The Guardian newspaper as the Angry Young Woman. It's interesting to note what prompted her to write this drama. Initially she wanted A Taste of Honey as a novel but after watching Terrance Rattigan's play Variation on a Theme , she felt she could do better job than that and hence A Taste of Honey drama was born. It was a play that handled a wide variety of themes like race, class, gender and sexual orientation. Rattigan's play had posh settings and portrayed problems of the upper  class , it wasn't something Delaney could relate to. (Something that we feel after watching a present day Bollywood movie). She wanted something controversial and hence she created a female protagonist Jo who has a homosexual friend and an interracial relationship.

               What catches one's attention is the play's title. A Taste of Honey comes from Book of Samuel in the Bible where Jonathan says to Saul, "I did but taste a little honey with the end of the rod that was in mine hand, and lo I must die." This clearly depicts the actions of our characters as well. Each character of this play seize what momentary sweetness life offers them (taste of honey) but later suffers the consequences that follows. This happens in the relationship between Jo and her boyfriend, Helen and Peter, Jo and Geof and Helen and Jo's father.

               When we analyse the women of the play, we must deal with Jo first since she is the protagonist. For Jo, Helen is a bad mother but she believes that it was because of such a bad influence, she turned out to be independent in nature. Jo is insecure for most of the time. She very well knows that at each step of the life she has no one to rely on; her mother, boyfriend, Geof or her stepdad Peter. She is portrayed as a confident, young and talented woman but her life that gets reflected through her paintings has, as Geof says "no rhythm, design or purpose"(p. 48). She is never optimistic and is never hopeful about relationships. She didn't care whether her boyfriend was coming back or not. In fact even Jimmy says " You're the first girl I've met who really didn't care." (p. 23) She enjoys the momentary comfort what Jimmy and Geof offers her. Her hatred for motherhood is clearly evident from the conversation she has with Geof when she is pregnant. Due to the clear influence of Helen, Jo feels motherhood as a hindrance to her freedom. It was the "lack of freedom" that must have also prompted her to refuse to get into a relationship with Jimmy or Geof . The only relief is how her other part shows a bit of kindness and doesn't opt to abort the baby. At the end of the drama Jo turns from a girl to a woman through her experiences.

               Delaney depicts Jo as a person who is afraid of the dark. It's interesting to note that Jo is only afraid of the darkness inside her house not of the outside world. A trap where she can get stuck in the flat is what drives her to fear. Jo clearly knows that the outside world can never be predicted and hence she is more curious to explore it. Whenever Helen blames Jo for her daftness, Jo believes that its the fault of her retarded father. She is a person who blames parents for a child's imperfection.  She does the same when she sees the filthy children around her flat. The major insecurity Jo feels is because of her mother. Helen's beauty, charm and dominating persona constantly puts Jo is tough positions. Jo asks to Peter and Geof whether she and Helen has any resemblance. Though she appears to be relieved that there was no similarity, it disturbs her when she realises both of them speaks rudely and started their careers at a pub. At times Jo is possessive about her mother as well. For Jo, Helen is more of a woman and hence Jo consciously tries to avoid feminine traits. It is clearly depicted with the domination she has over Geof.

               Next character is Helen. How should I define her? She's a bully and drunkard who shows a lot of  prejudice (remind us of Peter too !). Moreover, she is a failed mother, a good time girl, immoral, homophobic, racist, disorganised, poor, aggressive and changeable character. Her honesty usually hurts others and she was a person who never fought for her marriage or relationships. She cannot be called a prostitute; maybe a semi- whore. She enjoys her life and has no concern about anybody else. She is inattentive and misplaces things more often. Her lack of concern is evident with examples like the affair she had with Jo's father, the flat she chose presently to live, and her marriage with Peter. She acts without thinking about its ultimate result. At one moment she turns out to be a concerned mother who advises Jo and the very next moment she gets into a marriage with Peter. The reason for her motherly concerns can be a different one. When she learned that Jo is engaged and later pregnant at a very young age, she must have seen a younger version of herself in Jo. She never claimed to be a perfect mother. Her annoying questions to Jo whether she has a boyfriend or whether she is afraid of the dark shows how little she knows about her daughter. At the same time she offers to pay for Jo's education is art school. In such a way, Helen is a complicated figure. Her lack of concern for Jo must have stemmed out the reasons, that it was Jo's birth that lead to the divorce of Helen and her puritan husband and further hindered Helen's freedom. Maybe that's why she gets defensive about her relationship with Peter in front of Jo. Helen doesn't want Jo to intervene in her happiness to drink and enjoy her married life.

               When we compare both the characters, one thing is evident. Though Jo has little ambitions and temper like Helen, she has a higher standard of morality that Helen. Jo is more affectionate, talented and less prejudiced. When Jimmy shows an innocence in his nature; something that Helen lacked, Jo willingly put her guard down and gave him her affection. The relationship between Jo and Helen is more complicated that an ordinary mother- daughter relationship. Each of them want to escape from one another but they both have trapped each other in their lives. Like Harry Potter prophecy "Neither can live while the other survives"; here, neither can escape while the other suffers. The character of complicated mother figure was also portrayed in works like Bond's Saved, Caryl Churchill's Vinegar Tom and Top Girls, Hare's Bay at Nice and Rebecca Prichard's  Essex Girls. It was a notable feature in the British dramas of the fifties.

               Male characters of this play helps readers to understand the relationship of Jo and Helen better. While Peter shows how charming Helen is; Jimmy shows how affectionate Jo is. While Peter is shown as a rude car salesman who manipulate people, his marriage with Helen makes his life lose control. His disillusionment with Helen's charm prompts him to hate her. This in turn brings a new chapter to Helen and Jo's relationship. The character of Jimmy was not well developed. May it was because he was one character who didn't have much inner demons. He can't be portrayed as a cheater because Jo very well knew a relationship with a black sailor can be temporary and would infuriate Helen. the fact that Jimmy bothered to buy a ring, though a cheap one, shows his concern for Jo. Jo on the other hand must have got into a relationship with Jimmy because it won't stand long. There is only a passing remark about Jo's father. He is depicted as daft and retarded.

                The most prominent male character is Geof. He shows qualities of a mother and a sister. His bond and attraction to Jo that is non sexual prompts Jo to trust him back. Due to his homosexual tendencies, Jo is relieved that he would never take advantage of their relationship and won't create a hindrance in her life. She is thankful that "it is not marrying love between them"(p. 76). The rhymes and games Jo and Geof shares shows the love of a mother Jo missed. Her relationship with Geof is an escape route for her. Geof's submissive nature allows Jo a space to breath as well.  Through all these characters Delaney could explore the themes of love, marriage, responsibility, hunt for happiness, failed parenthood, loneliness and that of growing up. She shows us that a dysfunctional family can produce a dysfunctional kid.

               An analysis of A Taste of Honey wouldn't be complete if some symbols were not addressed. The milk is used as a symbol of motherhood by Delaney. Jo hates to drink milk and refuses to drink it even when Jimmy and Geof persuade her to. The relationship of Helen and Peter is defined in terms of Oedipus Complex by Delaney. The "little miss" in Jo's rhyme is poor yet independent like her. Birth which is a symbol of hope in many plays like John Osborne's Look Back in Anger; is not given a higher value here. In fact drama ends before the birth of Jo's baby. Dark and blackness foreshadows death and break in relationships. For example: Her Flat near cemetery and slaughterhouse, death of her flower, death of her father, black boyfriend, black eye patch of Peter and black shirt of Geof.  Even pregnancy must have evoked fear of death in Jo.

               If we try to define the names used in this drama, it comes up with interesting facts. Geof- for Geoffrey means peaceful. Helen was a popular name ever since Helen of Troy. Peter for Petra stands for stone, which says something about his existence. Jo, Josephine was a popular name back then. Jimmy means a sub planter, that replaces one thing by something else. It is to be noted how he replaced Helen on a Christmas night and tried to feed Jo milk. Why Shelagh Delaney was able to make this drama successful was because of her witty, sarcastic and funny dialogues. Helen's mixed dialogues shines a light on how ordinary people speak by jumping from one subject to another constantly.

               Delaney was also successful in portraying the social background of the Britain in fifties which just recovered from a war. It was the time of fresh employment and rise in wages. It was the beginning of the era of affluence. The people who still didn't gain from it, was depicted by Delaney in this drama. The lack of proper housing after bombing was reflected by the shabby flat Helen chose to live in. At the same time there was a rise in importance for teenagers. It was the time of freedom, Rock and Roll, coffee bars, long hair and new style of dressing. Youngsters ruled literary circles and more and more youngsters became financially independent from their elders. This era of affluence also provoked Angry Young Men. Theatre then replaced plots that portrayed upper class characters as perfect and working class as comical. This was the time where working class gained their voice.

               Since it was also the period of cold war, Delaney purposefully inserted situations in her drama were Jo tries to shock Helen by saying "We are communists too" (p. 62) and where Geof asks to Jo "What frightened you? Have you been reading the newspaper?" (p. 71) It was the time of atom bomb and hydrogen bomb too.  The end of the drama also shows the separation of characters from each other, like an aftermath of war: Geof from Jo, Jimmy from Jo, Helen from peter and Helen from Jo (hopefully temporarily) . What the play does, is to ask us a question. Does our happiness depends on others or can we create our own happiness? Now that's something to think about !

             

Works Cited

Delaney, Shelagh. A Taste of Honey: Methuen Student Edition. London: Methuen Publishing Ltd.1982. Print.