Summary
Scene Two opens with Jo and her boyfriend, Jimmie, a Black man who is a sailor in the navy, walking on the street outside Jo’s and Helen’s flat. They discuss how he surprised her by picking her up from school and walking her home. Jimmie kisses her before they say goodbye. She tells him to stop, saying she likes it, just not all the time. He asks if she is embarrassed. She says she isn’t. He says she’s the first girl he’s been with who truly isn’t embarrassed to be seen with him. He proposes to her. Jo accepts the proposal, and they say they love each other.
Jimmie asks if Jo’s mother cares who she marries. Jo says it’s got nothing to do with her. Jo says she isn’t prejudiced against color. They say they’ll get married in six months, on his next leave from the Navy. Jo says it’ll give them an opportunity to save some money. The ring he gives her is too big, so Jo asks for string so she can tie it around her neck. She realizes she can use her hair ribbon. Jo says that she’ll leave school next week and start a part-time job in a bar. As soon as she gets a full-time job, she’ll leave her mother and get her own room. Jimmie says he wished he weren’t in the Navy, because they won’t have much time together. They joke about who corrupted who when they had sex somewhere private near a football pitch (soccer field).
Jo asks if his ancestors came from Africa. He says they came from Cardiff, Wales. She says she doesn’t care where he was born because he still has “a bit of jungle” in him somewhere. She says she is hungry and needs to go inside to eat. He tells her they’re saving money now, so she can’t eat, wear makeup, or buy clothes. They make plans to get together the next day because one of Jimmie’s friends is going out for birthday drinks.
Inside, Helen comments on Jo being home late from school. She says she met up with a friend. Helen immediately knows it was a boy because of the happy mood Jo is in. Jo admits he’s a sailor with brown eyes and curly hair. She says he’s 22 and is doing his national service, but was a male nurse before that. Jo asks what’s playing at the cinema tomorrow. Helen checks the paper but says none of it sounds any good to her. Jo asks about her father. The two make jokes about how Helen was married to a man who divorced her when he discovered she’d gotten pregnant with another man’s child. Jo says she’d have thrown Helen out too.
Helen tells Jo she’s getting married. Jo has no reaction at first, then confirms she’s marrying Peter Smith. Jo says she’s centuries older than him. Helen says only a decade. Peter enters with a box of chocolates and a bouquet. Jo jokingly calls him “daddy.” Peter tells Helen to get ready for their dinner reservation—he thought she’d be ready to go. Peter gives Jo the chocolates, saying they’re for her. She begins eating them and he tells her not to eat them all right away. She tells him not to boss her around, then, half-joking and half-crying, starts attacking him. Helen comes back and tells Jo to leave Peter alone. Peter says tonight’s supposed to be a celebration because he’s found a house. Helen tells him to show her a photo of the place. Jo notices he has other photos in his wallet and she demands to see them. He pretends they are just of his brother’s family. Jo says, “They’re all women, aren’t they? I bet you’ve had thousands of girlfriends.” He lets her look through the photos of women; she comments on which ones she finds most attractive.
Jo asks about his eye patch. He says he lost an eye during the war as a private. She asks to see the hole; he says there is nothing to see. Jo asks if he finds her attractive. He says, “Not yet.” Jo says he prefers older women, and Peter says Helen isn’t old. Jo asks if he is married; he says he’s still available. Helen enters, ready to go. Peter comments on how good she looks. Jo asks if she can come with them. Peter insists she can’t. Helen talks about the potential of them going on a honeymoon and needing to leave some money for Jo while they’re away.
When Helen and Peter exit, Jo lies down and cries. Jimmie arrives, calling for her. She lies about having been crying, saying she’s sick. He says he’s going to fix her a cold cure by putting a pill in milk. She says she doesn’t like milk. Jimmie asks who the “fancy bit” and “Pirate King” he saw stepping out earlier were. Jo says that’s her mother and the man she’s marrying. Jo asks Jimmie if he thinks Helen is beautiful. He says she is. Jo asks if they’re alike. He says they’re nothing alike. Jo says that’s good.
Jimmie tells Jo to wear her ring now that her mother isn’t there to make fun of her. Jo asks how much he spent on it. He says that he got it from the Woolworths department store. She says she doesn’t mind; it’s the thought that counts. Jo tells him not to kiss her because she likes it too much. He makes a reference to Shakespeare’s Othello, saying, “Do you object to the ‘gross clasps of the lascivious Moor’?” She asks if he’ll stay for Christmas. She says she’ll probably never see him again. He says he will come back because he loves her. She says it’s daft (stupid) to be talking about him coming back before he’s even left.
The lights fade out and wedding bells can be heard. Helen dances onto the stage with fancy boxes containing her wedding clothes. Helen calls for Jo to give her a hand. Jo is very sick and is wearing pajamas. Helen says she’s excited and feels like she is 21 again. She reprimands Jo for getting a cold on Helen’s wedding day. Helen notices Jo’s ring on the ribbon. Helen rips it from her and demands to know who gave it to her. Helen calls her a “silly little bitch” when she learns that Jo plans to marry her boyfriend. Helen says Jo is still just a kid, and she should learn from her mother’s mistakes. When Jo asks for water, Helen offers whiskey. Jo says Helen will be “an old down-and-out boozer” if she isn’t careful. Helen says Peter is at the house, opening windows to let the air into the place. Helen asks what Jo thought of the picture. Jo says it isn’t her kind of thing. Helen says it’s too new, but she’ll get used to it herself.
Jo asks what her father was like. Helen says he wasn’t horrible, just stupid and “a bit … retarded.” Jo asks how she could do that. Helen says she didn’t know Jo would “materialize out of a little love affair that lasted five minutes.” Helen says he’s dead now. Jo says madness is hereditary. Helen tells her not to be silly; she isn’t “daft.” Jo asks why Helen didn’t make up a story. Helen says Jo wanted the truth. Helen says she’d married a Puritan, and Jo’s biological father showed her an actually good time in bed. Helen asks for a kiss before she goes. Jo says Helen should save it for her husband. Helen says, “I don’t suppose you’re sorry to see me go.” Jo replies, “I'm not sorry and I’m not glad.” Jo wishes her mother luck as she leaves.
Analysis
While the play’s opening scene depicts Jo and Helen’s dysfunctional, emotionally abusive relationship, Scene Two marks a contrast with that depiction by showing Jo’s caring and intimate relationship with Jimmie. In a mirror to the previous scene, Jo emulates her mother’s evasiveness with Peter when she rejects Jimmie’s overt sexuality before she admits she likes it and then accepts his affection. The parallel continues with Jimmie’s sudden proposal. However, unlike Helen, Jo quickly accepts the proposal and expresses her love for Jimmie.
The theme of shame arises when Jimmie admits his concern over what Jo’s mother might say or think when she learns that her white daughter is engaged to a Black man. Jo reassures Jimmie by claiming that Helen isn’t prejudiced against skin color. However, in the subsequent scene, Jo conspicuously leaves out the fact of Jimmie’s race when describing him. It is also worth noting that Jo wears her engagement ring on a ribbon around her neck. While she claims this is so she doesn’t lose the oversized ring, it is also likely that she is ashamed to show her mother because she suspects Helen won’t approve.
The theme of abandonment reemerges when Jo suddenly asks her mother about the man she was married to when Helen got pregnant with Jo. It turns out that Helen cheated on her husband with another man, leading her husband to kick her out of the house. Rather than sympathize with her mother over this rejection, Jo sympathizes with the ex-husband and says she would have done the same.
Resentment also arises when Helen breaks the news that she has agreed to marry Peter. Rather than congratulate her mother, Jo resentfully dismisses the union as inappropriate given the age difference. Jo also shows her resentment toward Peter when she spontaneously attacks him, antagonizing him for daring to take away the undependable mother with whom Jo is emotionally enmeshed. When they leave, Jo drops her tough, condescending façade and begins weeping, having perceived Helen’s engagement as her mother choosing Peter over her. Feeling abandoned by her mother, Jo seeks comfort from Jimmie, who stays with her over Christmas.
Delaney continues building on the themes of resentment and shame with Helen’s wedding-day scene. Before she leaves to marry Peter, Helen spots the engagement ring and violently yanks it off her daughter’s neck. Rather than take interest in her daughter’s decision, Helen lambasts her for getting herself hitched to a man at her age. In this way, Helen admits to her own sense of shame by shaming Jo for repeating the mistake she herself made when young.
The conversation transforms into a discussion about Jo’s biological father—apparently Helen has never said much about him. Helen’s resentment for her daughter is on full display as she casually describes Jo’s father as “retarded,” implying that he was extremely mentally impaired. This information concerns Jo and impacts her sense of self-respect as she worries whether her father’s genetic deficiency might yet show up in her. The conflictual first act ends with Helen leaving Jo on her own at the flat as she sets off on her new life with Peter. Delaney emphasizes Jo’s codependent attachment to her mother when Jo says she is neither happy nor sad to see Helen go—a statement that attests to Jo’s continued desire for her mother’s affection and Jo’s palpable resentment.
