MovieChat Forums > Howards End (1993) Discussion > Jacky Bast - Prostitute or Floozy?

Jacky Bast - Prostitute or Floozy?

posted 13 years ago by KatrinaW
7 replies | jump to latest

I love this movie, and have seen it many times. I've just started reading the book, so haven't gotten that far in, and I'm not sure if Jacky's story is further addressed.

Jacky doesn't have much a back story in the movie. We know that Henry met her in Cyprus when she was 16, had an affair with her, then abandoned her. We don't know from the film how Leonard met her; all we really know is that they're together now, were originally living together without being married, but that Leonard married her after he turned 21 because he promised her, and he is a man of honor in that way. Also, we know that his family has cut him off since they married. They do show a scene, when Leonard is writing a letter to Tibby to send back the check, where Jacky is pestering him to ask his family for money.

Was she a prostitute? Or just a floozy, who made his young hormones go all crazy-like, and they ended up together? I know Leonard was out looking for work, but I assume, given the time period, Jacky finding a job wasn't an option.

I'm just curious as to others' thoughts, and I love coming to the boards for any Merchant/Ivory film, because the people who love these movies are very intelligent and insightful.

[–] kaskait 13 years ago

She was neither.

Jackie was a high spirited, pretty young woman who liked to flirt. And the implication is that Henry took advantage of her and her situation.

But considering the time, the blame would have all been placed on Jackie. And it still seems the case today.

In regards to Leonard, he was a compassionate individual. He felt sorry for her and thought he could save her. But he just ended up dragging himself down in the process. The book and the film compares the relationships of Helen/Leonard with Leonard/Jackie. They are the same in many ways.

[–] thbryn 13 years ago

a high spirited"
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I never thought prostitute. Floozy: maybe if she liked you.......

[–] choatelodge 11 years ago

While I'm no Dr Henry Higgins by any means I think a lot can be devolved from the characters' dialects. The social classes of immediately post Victorian England are portrayed wonderfully in this film.
The Wilcox' are aristocrats, old money. Obviously under Henry's shrewd direction the money pot isn't getting any smaller either. The family speaks in the upper class tones, wording assembled in the manner made familiar in the recorded speeches of Winston Churchill.
The Schlegels are middle class, though the term meant a higher standing than we apply it in our familiar use. They don't 'work' (heavens!) but appear to subsist on an annuity or trust, and they have a servant. Not a lavish existence but a very comfortable one. They speak in a cultured manner too.
The Basts are different. Leonard's manner of speech is not as completely refined as the Schlegels but perfectly acceptable in their company.
Jacky Bast on the other hand, speaks (at least to my ear) Cockney. (Maybe the directors went a bit over the top on that one) She's obviously not on the same plane as her husband and though she adores him, she doesn't understand him at all. While he wants to explore the intricacies of literature she wants to frolic. When Leonard is studying the stars all she has thoughts for is to get him back inside.
Bast is an interesting study. He is cultured and intellegent and yet dwells in the working class. Was his family of higher station and fallen on harder times? Is he a 'second son' and the rules of Primogeniture left him without inheritance or a remittance?
Did he indeed find the lush young Jacky, and try to elevate her from her former place? (though she's still a Cockney at heart)
I wouldn't put too much effort into labeling Jacky. She's just trying to hold on to what she has, using the only lure she possesses.

[–] kaskait 11 years ago

The Wilcoxes aren't old money. They are new money. Why? Because all the Wilcox men are proud of working at their company offices. That is something an old money man/aristocrat would NEVER do. They speak well because they had the money to buy themselves a good education.

If any Wilcox had ties to aristocracy it would have been Ruth Wilcox. But her family had long since fallen.

The Schlegels are considerably higher on the totem poll despite having less money than the Wilcoxes. Did you notice the Aunt telling Charles that the Schlegel girls were more English than German? Also note, none of them worked...including the ever ravenous Tibby.

Leonard came from a good farming family. They probably had just enough to begin to aspire to being middle class. So of course they would have a problem with Jackie, who was very low born.

[–] MissGruntled 8 years ago

I agree with your assessments of the Wilcox and Schlegel families, but not about Leonard Bast. Leonard told the Schlegel sisters that his his people were "agricultural labourers" from Shropshire. If they had been land owners or even tenant farmers, he would have said so. Leonard was working class, 'bred and buttered'.

[–] ABBAcat 8 years ago

People weren't any different back then they are now. They have flings when they go on vacation (or live abroad for a short spell.). Jacky was a naive party girl who got seduced by a guy with money and nice things. Henry thought he was far enough from home that he could have a fling with this pretty but lower class girl then leave it all behind. Unfortunately for Henry... What happens in Cyprus doesn't stay in Cyprus.

🐾

[–] juliaz3 8 years ago

IIRC in the novel Jacky was in India with her father (perhaps a widower, maybe a soldier) and he died when she was in her teens, leaving her with little to nothing to live on. So she was stuck in India with no family or friends to help her and for support she "took up with" lonely well-to-do gentlemen like Mr. Wilcox who were out there on business.