A Taste of Honey Essay Example for Free

A Taste of Honey Essay In a normal mother-daughter relationship a mothers part is to provide love and affection all the time. A mother should provide this love and affection even more when the daughter is feeling depressed and down in the dumps. A normal mother should care for her daughter when she is ill and nurse her back to full health. She should give her daughter advice when problems come up and her get through the problem by helping to come up with a solution. A mother should guide her daughter through life and prepare her for its challenges. A mother should learn from her mistakes and ensure that her daughter doesnt make the same mistakes. A mother should provide stability for her daughter. She should do this by giving her a good home in one place, by providing food and doing things like washing clothes for her. A mother should ensure that her daughter gets a good standard of education. She should encourage her daughter in everything she does and push her so that she achieves it to the highest standard. A mother should teach her daughter the differences between right and wrong so that it will give her a chance to build up her own set of principles in life. The most important thing a mother should do is give her daughter unconditional love and sacrifice her pleasure for the sake of her child. The daughters part in a normal mother-daughter relationship is to have respect for her mother and to not do things like calling her by her first name. A daughter should not take her mother for granted and should help her with the housework as much as possible. A daughter should take care of her mother when she is ill. At the start of the play Helen and Jo have just moved into a new flat. Immediately we see that Jo has a lack of respect for her mother, Helen. I know this because Jo calls her by her by her first name. JO: Can I have that chair, Helen? We see that Helen doesnt care about Jos well being and whether shes hurt or not. I know this because Jo wants to put a scarf around an unshaded light bulb and Helen just sits by and watches her burn her hand. JO: Can I have that chair, Helen? (Jo takes chair from Helen, stands on it and wraps her scarf round light bulb burning herself in the process) There are many examples of Helen not caring including the time when Jo wants to turn on the gas stove but she is afraid she will cause a gas explosion. Helen doesnt come and help her like a normal mother would but just gives her a stupid piece of advice. JO: Which knob do I turn? HELEN: Turn them all. Youre bound to find the right one in the end. In the play we also see that Helen is not teaching Jo the basic rights and wrongs of life. For example when Jo tells Helen that she has stolen some bulbs she doesnt tell her off like any normal mother would but she condones it. HELEN: Where did you get those bulbs? JO: the Park. The gardener had just planted about two hundred. I didnt think hed miss half a dozen. HELEN: Thats the way to do things. Helen doesnt care what Jo does with her life and whether she gets proper education or not. For example when Jo tells Helen she is going to leave school, Helen just tells her to do what she likes. HELEN: its your life. Ruin it your own way. A normal mother would have tried to persuade her daughter to finish school and get good qualifications. When Helen recognises Jos talent as an artist she just gives her daughter a backhanded compliment, whereas a normal mother would praise her and push her to go to art school. HELEN: I didnt know I had such a talented daughter. Look at that, its good isnt it? JO: Im not just talented. Im geniused HELEN: I think Ill hang this on the wall somewhere. Now where will it be least noticeable The above quote gives me the impression that Helen maybe wants to encourage her but doesnt know how to. Helen has provided no stability in Jos life. Jo was always moving houses and schools. JO: Too many schools and too many different places. This was because Helen was always running away from one of her fancy men. JO: Why did we have to come here anyway? We were all right at the other place. HELEN: I was fed up with the other place JO: You mean you were running away from somebody Helen is a bad influence on Jo and does not act appropriately in front of her. When Peter arrives she allows him to make sexual advances towards her and doesnt really do anything to stop it. PETER: Arent you wearing your girdle? HELEN: Now Peter PETER: Whoops! HELEN: Well you certainly liberate something in me and it definitely aint maternal instincts. A normal mother would do this sort of thing in private without the presence of her daughter. Another example of Helen being a bad influence on Jo is when she encourages Jo to drink. When Jo refuses Helen almost tries to force it down her. HELEN: have some of this if youre cold JO: You know I dont like it HELEN: have you tried it? JO: No HELEN: Then get it down you A normal mother wouldnt force her 15-year-old daughter to drink. Helen doesnt sacrifice her pleasure for Jo. For example she always throws Jo out of bed, every time one of her fancy men comes. JO: You should have asked him to stay. It wouldnt be the first time Ive been thrown out of bed to make room for one of your A normal mother would go somewhere else. Another example of this is when Helen decides to go to Blackpool with Peter for the weekend. She just leaves Jo to fend for herself with only a quid to live on. HELEN: Can you give us a quid, Peter? Id better leave her some money. We might decide to make a weekend of it and she cant just live on grass and fresh air. Jo is very insecure and is afraid of the dark. JO: Im not frightened of the darkness outside. Its the darkness inside houses I dont like This is probably because Helen left her alone a lot of times since she was a child. Jo is very possessive about her mother. JO: You leave me alone. And leave my mother alone too. This also shows she is insecure. As I said at the start of the essay about Jo not having any respect for Helen, Helen also doesnt have any respect for her daughter as she calls her names like a whore. HELEN: You know what theyve been calling you round here? A silly little whore Jo craves her mothers love and affection throughout the play and for most of the time she doesnt get it. Helen directs her love and affection to her fancy men and not to Jo, leaving her jealous. HELEN: Cant bear to see me being affectionate with anybody JO: Youve certainly never been affectionate with me. You have seen in the above examples about how Helen is not a good mother but Jo is not completely innocent. There are examples of Jo often trying to spite her mother deliberately and annoying her. One example is when she makes her mothers coffee as weak as she can, as she knows she likes it strong. PETER: What sort of coffee is this anyway? It an hardly squeeze itself through the spout HELEN: She always does that. Makes it as weak as she can as she knows I like it strong Between Helen and Jo there are sometimes fleeting moments of affection shared. An example of Helen caring is when Jo tells her mother that she is getting married at her age. Helen tells Jo that she should learn from her mistakes and not ruin her life by getting married. HELEN: Oh Jo, youre only a kid. Why dont you learn from my mistakes? It takes half your life to learn from your own. This is one of the few moments in the play where Helen is acting like a proper mother and giving the advice that she should give. When Helen and Jo are having this conversation they are at the point of having a heart to heart when they suddenly start having the normal banter that they do. This has happened often in the play and it gives me the impression that they cant communicate with each other properly and cant talk about their feelings openly. Throughout the play Helen often refers to Jo as she as if there is a third person in the room. Helen most often does this when she is frustrated with Jo. At a point in the play when Helen is arguing with Jo and is really fed up with her, she says HELEN: Youre asking for a bloody good hiding, lady. Just be careful. Oh shed drive you out of your mind A normal mother would talk to her daughter directly. Helen and Jo often have conversations a normal mother and daughter wouldnt talk about. They talk about things like sex. For example JO: He was thin, weak-chinned, with a funny turned up nose. HELEN: It wasnt the nose I was interested in. When Helen and Jo are in the same room together the atmosphere is always fraught and the pair are always making sarcastic comments to each other. For example HELEN: Do I look all right? Pass me my fur. Oh my fur, do you like it? JO I bet somebodys missing their cat. Helen has never given a second thought to Jo. As soon as a better offer comes along she would take off and leave Jo alone. This comes true when she gets married to Peter as she just leaves to go to live with Peter leaving Jo with no money and no support. Jo is all alone. In the time that Helen is away Jo becomes pregnant. The boy is gone and she needs someone to look after her properly. She finds that someone when she meets Geoff. He is a homosexual boy and he looks after Jo throughout most of her pregnancy. In other words he became a mother figure to Jo. He did all the things Helen should have done like the cooking, cleaning and teaching her things about the pregnancy. When Helen comes back she gets rid of Geoff. So as always a really good thing in Jos life has been short-lived and she is right back to where she started. Helen comes back because Peter has chucked her out. She has nowhere to go. This gives me the impression that Helen only sees Jo as a convenience. In conclusion this assignment proves that Helen and Jo have an abnormal mother-daughter relationship. There is a lack of respect between the pair and they cant communicate properly. They cant express their feelings towards each other even though deep down they do love each other. The assignment proves that that Helen is not a good mother and doesnt know any parenting skills. It also proves that Jo is a neglected daughter who craves her mothers love and affection. Having said that, Helen is not a completely bad mother and has given her daughter worthwhile advice sometimes and Jo has done some bad things to her mother sometimes. The title of the play is A TASTE OF HONEY and it means a little bit of sweetness in life. In the play Helen and Jo have A TASTE OF HONEY in their life. Helen got it from Peter. Jo got it from the boy and Geoff. It was short-lived and they ended up right back to where they started. I thought that A TASTE OF HONEY an interesting play and was quite sad reading about a daughter who was rejected for most of her life and a mother who didnt know how to be a good parent.