Structure and Summary (Leave Taking)

This section explains the structure and provides a summary of the play Leave Taking by Winsome Pinnock. Understanding the structure and summary of the play is essential for grasping how Pinnock develops the themes and the characters’ journeys. The play’s structure reflects the fragmented and conflicting experiences of the characters, which are central to the narrative.

Structure of the Play

Leave Taking is structured as a naturalistic, two-act play, focusing on the interactions between a small group of characters in an intimate domestic setting. The structure is linear, with the events unfolding in chronological order, but Pinnock skilfully uses language, tension, and dialogue to create emotional depth and complexity.

Key Features of the Play’s Structure:

Two-Act Structure:

The play is divided into two acts, with each act building upon the family dynamics and the emotional conflict.

Act One introduces the characters, their relationships, and the central conflicts, particularly the generational divide between Enid and her daughters, Del and Viv.

Act Two intensifies the emotional tension and deepens the exploration of identity and cultural displacement. It culminates in the spiritual intervention by Mai, the healer, and the resolution of some of the characters’ struggles, though not in a traditional, clear-cut way.

Naturalistic Setting:

The action of the play takes place in a domestic environment (Enid’s living room), which adds to the realism and intimacy of the story. The naturalistic setting allows the audience to focus on the emotional and psychological struggles of the characters, particularly their sense of displacement and alienation.

Focus on Dialogue:

Pinnock’s play is heavily reliant on dialogue rather than action. The characters’ conversations drive the narrative forward, revealing their internal conflicts and deep emotional struggles. The dialogue is key to exploring the themes of belonging, identity, and cultural heritage, especially through the conversations between the older and younger generations.

Thematic Structure:

The play’s structure also mirrors its thematic concerns. The fragmented relationships within the family, particularly the tension between Enid and Del, are reflected in the fragmented conversations and the characters’ emotional isolation. As the characters search for resolution, the play moves towards the possibility of healing, both emotionally and spiritually.

Spiritual and Emotional Climax:

The play builds towards a spiritual climax when Enid turns to Mai, the healer, for guidance. This moment of spiritual healing becomes a pivotal point in the play, symbolising Enid’s desire to reconnect with her Jamaican roots and to help her daughters navigate their struggles with identity.

The climax of the play is emotional rather than physical, with the characters reaching a tentative understanding of themselves and each other by the end of the second act.

Summary of the Play

Act One:

The play begins with the introduction of Enid, a Caribbean immigrant and single mother, who is raising her two British-born daughters, Del and Viv, in London. Enid, having migrated from Jamaica to Britain in search of a better life, is determined to give her daughters the opportunities she didn’t have. She works hard as a cleaner to support them, but her relationship with Del is strained.

Del, the older daughter, is rebellious and feels alienated both from her mother and from British society. She has recently been expelled from school, and this has created a rift between her and Enid. Del is frustrated by her mother’s strict upbringing and her insistence on holding on to Caribbean traditions, which Del feels no connection to.

Viv, the younger daughter, is more dutiful and academically inclined. She wants to succeed in school and make her mother proud, but she also feels the pressure of her mother’s high expectations and struggles with her sense of identity.

Enid, worried about her daughters, decides to seek help from Mai, a spiritual healer from the Caribbean. Mai’s role is to perform a spiritual ceremony to help guide the family, particularly Del, through their emotional turmoil. Enid believes that spiritual healing is the key to solving the problems that her family faces, but Del is sceptical of Mai and dismisses her as a fraud.

The tensions within the family are clear from the beginning. Enid is struggling to reconcile her Caribbean heritage with her life in Britain, while Del is angry at the limitations placed on her by both her mother and British society. The characters’ conversations highlight the cultural and generational divide between Enid and her daughters, as well as the broader struggles of immigrant families in Britain.

Act Two:

In the second act, the family’s emotional tensions come to a head. Enid becomes more desperate to find a solution to Del’s rebellious behaviour, and Del’s resentment towards her mother deepens. Viv tries to mediate between the two, but she, too, is struggling with her own sense of identity and belonging.

The arrival of Mai brings a new dynamic to the play. She conducts a spiritual ceremony in the family home, calling on the spirits to help guide Del and bring healing to the family. Mai’s presence represents the Caribbean cultural traditions that Enid holds on to, but which her daughters find increasingly irrelevant to their lives in Britain.

Del’s scepticism of Mai and her rejection of Caribbean spirituality highlight the cultural conflict she feels. She is caught between two worlds: her mother’s Caribbean past and the British society she is growing up in, neither of which she fully connects with.

Despite the spiritual intervention, the play does not offer a simple resolution. The characters remain in emotional conflict, but there is a sense of tentative understanding and hope by the end of the play. Enid, Del, and Viv begin to acknowledge their individual struggles, and while the healing is not complete, the play suggests that there is potential for reconciliation and growth.

The play’s linear structure, intimate setting, and focus on dialogue make it an intense and immersive examination of the challenges faced by Caribbean immigrant families in Britain, particularly in the context of cultural displacement and the search for belonging.