Summary
Helen arrives. Geoffrey lets her in, and, speaking quietly to Helen, says, “Don’t tell her I came for you” (i.e. that Geoffrey sought out Helen to pay a visit to Jo). Helen agrees. She comments on how the place hasn’t changed much and is still “the same old miserable hole.”
Helen gets Jo out of bed. Jo demands to know who told Helen about her being pregnant. Helen asks if it matters. Jo realizes it must have been Geoffrey who contacted Helen and reprimands him. Geoffrey says Helen has a right to know. Helen says the whole district knows what’s going on with Jo. Helen resents it when Geoffrey says Helen bears some responsibility for her daughter and granddaughter. Helen calls him the nursemaid and implies that their situation looks odd. Jo says it’s none of her business.
Helen says Jo would be better off working than living off Geoffrey “like a little bloodsucker.” Jo tells Helen to go back to her fancy man. Helen chases her and threatens her. Helen reprimands her daughter for not being able to wait and throwing herself at the first man she met. Helen says people around here are calling her a “silly little whore.” Jo says she’s like Helen. Helen says she should have got rid of her before she was born. Jo says she did it with plenty of other babies. Helen threatens to kill Jo. Geoffrey pleads with them to stop fighting. Geoffrey tells them to stop yelling. Helen says, “We enjoy it.”
Jo makes Geoffrey go make some tea. Helen says she didn’t come to argue: she brought money. Helen says she’ll send money in the mail every week from now on. Jo is resentful and disbelieving. Jo says she left with Peter and forgot all about her. Helen asks why she didn’t tell her. Jo says she should have known.
Peter enters. Helen says she told him to stay outside. Peter sees Geoffrey and says, “What’s this, the father? Oh Christ, no!” Peter mocks Jo. Helen tells him to leave her alone. Peter makes fun of Geoffrey, calling him Mary and Lily. Helen tells Peter to get out of there. Peter finally leaves to use the washroom down the hall, Geoffrey accompanying him to show the way.
Helen asks what Geoffrey does. Jo says he’s an art student. Helen tells Jo to come stay with her, saying there’s plenty of food. In front of Geoffrey, Helen calls him a “pansified little freak.” Geoffrey says Jo always said Helen was a rotten woman; he’d assumed she was exaggerating. Helen tells Jo she is offering her a decent home.
Peter returns. Helen repeats her offer. Jo says the time to take care of her was years ago. Peter says, “I’m not having that bloody slut at our place … and don’t bring that little fruitcake parcel either!” Peter checks the time and says the pubs are open. He insults the district and the people living in it. Geoffrey says people in this district aren’t rotten. Peter tells Helen that he’s dragged her out of the gutter once and it’s all the same to him if she wants to go back. When he asks if she is coming, Helen says she isn’t. He tells her off and leaves.
Helen asks Jo if she wants her to stay. Jo says no. Helen says she’ll send money. Peter calls for her to come with him. Before leaving, Helen tells Geoffrey to make sure Jo visits a doctor regularly and gets enough to eat. When Peter and Helen are gone, Geoffrey remarks that at least Helen left her some money. Jo says that Peter took it back, but Jo got Geoffrey a cigarette from them. Geoffrey says, “Oh, smashing! I was out.” The lights fade out as they dance together.
Analysis
Delaney returns to the theme of resentment with Helen’s unexpected arrival at the flat. In an instance of dramatic irony, Jo cannot hear Geoffrey and Helen conspiring at the threshold to not tell Jo that Geoffrey sent for Helen. However, Jo quickly determines that Geoffrey betrayed her wishes by getting Helen involved. Normally allied with Geoffrey, Jo now has a reason to resent him. Though he was only trying to be helpful, she sees him as a persecutor and herself as the victim.
Geoffrey soon understands why Jo was reluctant to contact Helen, as Helen verbally abuses both of them. Delaney builds on the theme of shame when Helen scolds Jo for tarnishing both of their reputations by getting pregnant out of wedlock—a subject that apparently the whole neighborhood has been gossiping about. Helen also shames Geoffrey for appearing to be gay, taunting him with belittling nicknames. Geoffrey and Jo endure the same mistreatment when Peter turns up and calls Geoffrey a “fruitcake” and Jo a “slut.”
The theme of abandonment also arises with Helen’s assertion that a woman bears no responsibility for her child after it has been born. In an instance of situational irony, Helen makes a claim that cuts against the dominant viewpoint that parents have an inherent duty to care for the beings they bring into the world. Helen absolves herself from any responsibility, which speaks to how she has consistently rejected her daughter’s emotional and physical needs throughout Jo’s life.
Delaney also touches on the theme of codependency as Jo and Helen’s fighting escalates to the point of death threats. Geoffrey, unused to such intimately abusive language, pleads with the women to calm down. But in an instance of situational irony, Helen insists that they enjoy tearing each other down. The highly conflictual tone immediately changes as Helen offers financial support. With this dysfunctional shift in attitude, Helen acts as if she didn’t just say she should have had Jo aborted when she had the chance.
The themes of resentment and dignity return when Jo rejects Helen’s offer of support on the grounds that Helen completely abandoned her when she moved in with Peter. Both women’s sense of pride in themselves is on display as they suggest that the other should have been the one to reach out. Rather than showing deference by being the first to pick up the phone, both Helen and Jo stubbornly had been waiting for the other to humble herself.
