Act 1 Scene 1: Jo and Helen

Jo and Helen see the flat in the same way literally, however their attitudes towards it are quite different. Helen sees it as a very minor problem, and seems to just take it in her stride as she is used to moving around to places like this. She says 'Anyway it'll do for us,' knowing her limits. On the other hand, Jo suggests that she would much rather stay in the same place for a while longer when she tells the audience 'That's all we do, live out of a travelling-bag.'

The first page insinuates that Helen and Jo have a lack of understanding of each other in their relationship. At the end of the page, Jo says 'Why should I run around after you?,' which suggests that Helen expects her daughter to do favours for her but Jo seems to be fed up with it.

Helen is quite sarcastic and careless throughout the first few pages, for example she says 'you know I can't bear to be parted from you' in reply to Jo's mentioning of the two having to share a bed. This phrase is used by Helen to lighten the mood and add some light humour to the conversation but Jo isn't phased by it. Jo is shown as the more serious character, as she states things that may be problematic, such as 'God! It's freezing!'; 'I don't like the smell of it'; 'The roof's leaking!'; and 'I bet it'll smells.'

Helen tells Jo that she drinks as a way of 'passing time while I'm waiting for something to turn up.' This suggests that she's not very eager to find a job and that she'll wait for a job to be offered to her, rather than searching for one. Jo has an extremely negative attitude towards her mother drinking. She shows this by repeating the word 'drink' to emphasise just how much Helen does drink, and further shows her negativity when she says 'You make me sick.' She also shows her refusal to even try alcohol by replying bluntly to Helen's questions. She says 'You know I don't like it,' although she then admits to Helen that she has never tried it. Jo then finds the excuse 'I don't like the smell of it.' I think Jo has learnt from her mother's mistakes and it also seems to me that Jo refuses to be anything like Helen.

I think Jo puts a scarf around the light bulb not just to shade it (as she proclaims that 'I do hate to see an unshaded electric light bulb... like that') but also to dimmen the light so that she doesn't have to view the 'comfortless' flat in such a bright light. 

I find that Helen's cold is useful to the author, as it helps to reveal her character in the way that her biggest worry is that of herself and her cold. It also suggests that she worries about the wrong things (as her and her daughter are now living in a run-down flat and she is focusing on her cold) and that she repeats things and may exaggerate if Jo isn't paying attention to what she's saying. Firstly, she exclaims that, due to her 'shocking cold,' her hanky is 'wringing wet.' She then complains about her 'poor old nose' that is 'running like a tap.' Then she claims that 'Every time I turn my head my eyeballs hurt' and uses it as an excuse to drop the subject of the flat when she says 'Can't we have a bit of peace for five minutes?' She tells us that she feels 'rotten,' states that she's 'got it in my throat now too' and adds 'It hurts when I swallow.' She stops complaining about this cold once she's asked 'Have we got any aspirins left, Jo?'

From the passage on page 10, we learn that Jo isn't as interested in men as Helen appears to be after describing someone as a 'Handsome, long-legged creature - just the way I like 'em.' The last part of this sentence implies that Helen has enough experience with men to have preferences set in her mind, which is confirmed by the first stage directions informing us of her position as a 'semi-whore.' Helen gives us a sense of Jo's love life with the rhetorical question 'Jo; you've never had a boy friend, have you?' to which Jo quickly confirms with 'No.' It is then insinuated that Jo is quite a hopeless romantic when they start talking about one of Helen's 'fancy men' and how Jo 'thought I was in love with him' until 'he ran off with that landlady's daughter.' Jo admitting that 'I cried myself to sleep for weeks' suggests that this could be the reason why she isn't well accompanied with men and may be avoiding relationships in case of something similar happening to her again.

Motherhood is an important theme in the play. From Helen's reaction when she learns that Jo has stolen the bulbs, we find out that Helen, as a mother, either encourages stealing in order for Jo to get what she wants or that she is being sarcastic and she really dissaproves when she says 'That's the way to do things. If you see something you want, take it.' but has resigned to attempting to tell Jo what to do. In my opinion, both of these responses are as bad as each other. 
Secondly, when Jo announces that she is to leave school, Helen simply responds by telling her that she's 'wasting' herself and doesn't even attempt to convince her otherwise. This suggests that she is only doing her motherly duty when offering to pay for Jo to attend a 'proper art school' and that she isn't truly phased either way. 
Furthermore, Helen's comments about Jo's future (which include telling the audience that 'we all have funny ideas at that age, don't we - makes no difference though, we all end up the same way sooner or later') suggest that she has very low aspirations and expects little from her daughter in the future, probably referring to how well it went for herself. She also changes the subject by asking Jo to 'tell me about this dream you had', dismissing the thought as though the topic of Jo's future doesn't interest her. 
Lastly, Helen's reactions to Jo's drawings secures my previous point about having low aspirations for Jo's future as Helen seems extremely surprised to see that her daughter has such talent. She says 'I thought you said you weren't good at anything,' which also implies that Jo doesn't share many things with Helen. 

I personally believe Jo's many criticisms of her mother from what I see of Helen's character in this first section of the play.