A Taste of Honey Themes

A Taste of Honey centers around the relationship between Jo and her mother Helen. Characterized by frequent fighting and animosity, their interactions subvert expectations about how an adult should care for her child. Indeed, although Jo longs for her mother’s love and care, Helen seems incapable of being a reliable presence in her daughter’s life. Instead, Helen neglects Jo emotionally and materially. After leaving Jo alone to go live with Peter, her new…

As Helen’s life is characterized by sexual promiscuity and her cynical attitude toward love, Jo often feels alienated from her mother’s affection. As a result, she finds herself forced to search elsewhere for the intimacy and affection that is so blatantly lacking in her home. She initially believes she has found love in her relationship with a young sailor, but soon becomes disappointed with the experience. As time goes on and she becomes pregnant…

From the beginning of the play, it is evident that Jo is a young woman yearning to break free from the walls of her home. Moved by youthful rebellion, she longs to work for herself in order to become economically and emotionally independent from her mother. When she is finally forced to live on her own, she discovers that an independent life also brings its share of loneliness and fear, but that she is capable…

Faced with economic and emotional hardships, the characters in the play adopt various strategies to confront—or, on the contrary, to escape—the difficulties of life. Although Helen and Jo adopt a common strategy of irony and cynicism to cope with their problems, Helen proves more prone to fatalistic resignation, while her daughter generally attempts to try to change her difficult circumstances. These differences in attitude make Helen more inclined to embrace detachment and negativity, while Jo…