Stylistic Study: The Powerful\-less Self Discrepancy of Shelagh Delaney’s Two Protagonists in A Taste of Honey

Abstract

This study tackles the play A Taste of Honey 1958, which set in Salford in the northwest of England, written by the British screen writer and playwright Shelagh Delaney, and examines linguistically the self-discrepancy of the characters’ social status by applying Mick Short’s (1996) list of powerful and powerless speech styles that provides a linguistic guideline to determine which of the characters of the play may have the precedence in earning the credibility in speech throughout achieving the most powerful speech style, which works as a realistic mirror to the powerful social status of the characters of the play. Through which this paper aims to discover which of the two characters, Helen; "who is a single mother” and her teenage daughter; “who is called Josephine” who is considered more powerful in her general life and more reasonable when it comes to critical life issues and problems. This paper goes further, in the application section, to have a vital view about the characters and their relationship. Furthermore to see how the daughter was partially abandoned by her mother at the age of sixteenth to face the odds of life alone. According to the maternal instability, Josephine is determined to do a sexual relation with a black navy sailor and later becomes pregnant at age of sixteen, who the latter went to his navy unit, leaving Jo facing her life alone. Thus this study concludes that Josephine’s personality is regarded the powerful icon that, at the very age of her life, posits her successfully on the right direction.