You know they aren’t close, as Jo calls her mother by her Christian name not ‘mum’. This could signify that she doesn’t see her as a mother figure to respect and learn from. Helen may not allow her to call her mum and that could be her way of denying she has motherly duties and responsibilities. Helen did not want to have a child when Jo was born, they act as if they have been forced together and now are both dealing with the consequences.
From the start of the play it is made very clear that they do not have a loving or close relationship, Helen is not a good mother and she is aware of this, “Have I ever laid claim to being a proper mother?”
Amy Collins
It seems Helen is more concentrated on herself and the men she is seeing, she 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 in front of Jo, “Well you certainly liberate something in me and it definitely ain’t maternal instincts”.
A ‘normal’ mother would do this sort of thing in private without the presence of her daughter.
When Peter enters he is presented as a “ brash car salesman, cigar in mouth”, and from his dialogue we find he is a very selfish self-centred man. He doesn’t care about anyone’s feelings when he says, “Why don’t you go home to your father? . . . Too bad”. The fact that her mothers ‘fancy men’ are rude to her just makes her angrier and jealous, this is why she is rude and sarcastic back.
Jo is more withdrawn and interested in getting a job and being independent, maybe so she doesn’t have to rely on Helen anymore.
In a typical family their roles would be reversed. Jo thinks Helen acts too young for her age and not enough like a mother. She doesn’t believe Helen cares for her like a mother should. Jo says, “I’m sick of you. You’ve made my life a misery.” Her dislike and contempt for life, instantly recognisable, is possibly due to her loneliness and a lack of a motherly figure.
When Helen leaves Jo seems to be angry with her for leaving “You’ve certainly never been affectionate with me.” this suggests that maybe she does care for her a little or at least needs her. On the other hand she loves the idea of being independent and gets herself a job and a house.
A sign that Jo misses Helen is that she asks Jeff to move in, possibly trying to replace Helen with another mother figure; Jeff does take control and care for her like a mother might do.
When Helen comes back after she hears about Jo’s pregnancy, they argue the same as ever but occasionally in the arguments examples that they are slightly fonder of each other appear. For example they are arguing and Jeff asks them to stop and Helen replies, “oh we enjoy it”. This suggests that acting like this is just standard for them and there’s no nasty agenda behind it, maybe just some regrets from both sides. I get the impression from Helen that she did want to be a good mother, but regrets that she didn’t commit to it like she should have and now doesn’t know how to change.
When Helen returns for good it is at a point where she and Jo had left on bad terms, but she comes back as Peter asks her to leave, she assumes Jo will let her stay in her house anyway so this must mean that she has some trust in her. Eventually Jo is relieved that she has returned as she realises she needs another woman’s support, they seem to get on better than they did before she left so maybe they did miss each other.
For example Helen finds some pictures Jo has drawn, “I didn’t know I had such a talented daughter. Look at that, it’s good isn’t it?” In this moment Helen feels proud of Jo, but soon after feels the need to go back to her standard practice of being sarcastic and unkind “I think I’ll hang this on the wall somewhere. Now where will it be least noticeable”. This proves that Helen is just not used to being motherly and
Amy Collins
maybe is scared that if she acts like a mother she may loose her freedom to do as she pleases.
Jo is now relying on Helen for support, as a daughter would do throughout her pregnancy, at the same time Helen relies on Jo for somewhere to live. They both need each other and Jo appreciates Helen and little more than she used to and their relationship reaches a more friendly level.
But Helen still doesn’t seem to respect Jo’s wishes as she asks Jeff to leave even though Jo states that she wants him to stay, this could be a sign that Helen felt jealous or ashamed that Jeff was a closer friend or, a better mother to Jo then she was and she wanted him to leave so she could prove herself as a good mother.
If I were directing scenes between Helen and Jo I would have them make a lot of eye contact to show that they do have some good feelings for each other, even it is just purely the fact that they are mother and daughter and have lived together for their lives. Although they make a lot of eye contact I wouldn’t let them make any physical contact, maybe the opposite and have them back away from each other and wary of each others position on stage. This will show how sometimes they both feel intimidated of the other.
As Jo is quite a feisty character it may be Helen keeping her distance from her rather than the other way around. She also may do this because she has such doubt in herself as a mother she doesn’t want to let herself hurt Jo mentally or physically, because she is scared Jo may turn out like her if she is too close to her, “Why don’t you learn from my mistakes?” Again proving that Helen regrets the way she has lived her life and brought up Jo.
I would choose people to play Jo and Helen that had quite different appearances as people normally assume that if a mum and daughter look similar they have a closer relationship because they look up to each other. Where as if you didn’t like some one you would try to look as different from them as possible to prove there’s no link between you and you have nothing in common.
I would have Helen dress glamorously to show she goes out a lot and takes pride in her appearance. Jo, I would make dress more plainly, maybe a bit tomboyish and plain and quite the opposite of Helen and she is quite moody, anti social and appearance conscious.
I find Jo and Helen’s relationship very confusing, as I have never experienced anything like it before so it seems quite unreal and hard to understand, they don’t have a traditional mother-daughter relationship. Sometimes it’s Helen acting like a child staying out late and not being responsible and it’s more like Jo is the mother. But then sometimes Jo is just as irresponsible as Helen, and so finds herself in exactly the same position as Helen was once in, due to be a single mother. Maybe this is why, in the end they stay together as they began because Jo experiences parts of Helen’s life and begins to understand that it must have been difficult, as Jo at some points has mixed feelings about keeping her baby “I’ll bash its brains out! I’ll kill it! I don’t want to be a mother,”, Helen can now sympathise with Jo as she has been though the same thing.
Amy Collins
Helen is now showing her devotion to Jo by supporting her even when she finds out Jo’s child will be coloured as well as illegitimate, this would have been very much looked down no in the racist 1950’s society but Helen was prepared to deal with that for Jo’s sake. Now she is acting more like a mother than ever.
Even though Helen and Jo don’t get on perfectly, deep down they do need each other, that is why they end up staying together despite all their problems.
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 her sailor and Jeff. It was short-lived and they ended up right back to where they started, together.
