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Unit 30: Arnold Wesker—Introduction to the Author and the Text

transition from being an uneducated working-class woman obsessed with Ronnie, her unseen liberal Notes
boyfriend, to a woman who can express herself and the struggles of her time. It is written in the
country dialect of the people on which it focuses, and is considered to be one of Wesker’s Kitchen
Sink Dramas.

Elucidate that Roots is a Kitchen Sink Drama.
The story, briefly, is about Beatie Bryant, the daughter of Norfolk farm labourers who returns for a
short holiday from London, where she has fallen in love with a young, Jewish, working-class boy
(Ronnie Kahn, the son from Chicken Soup with Barley). He is due to join her to meet the family.
During the days of waiting, she regales her family with stories about Ronnie and his bewilderingly
alien east London family. Her spirit is effervescent and sunny, but her words are not hers, they’re
Ronnie’s.
Her stern but hospitable mother gathers the family to meet him. An event of great importance is
about to take place: Beatie’s lover is coming to meet the family. He has been described, imitated,
quoted, talked about, made fun of and eagerly awaited. He doesn’t turn up. Instead, the postman
brings a letter from Ronnie saying he doesn’t think the relationship will work. The effect upon
Beatie and her family is at first numbing, then humiliating. They are incensed to have been left
standing like fools. The ensuing anger with which they turn on Beatie, her self-defence, her halting,
hesitant stumble upon fluency, the discovery of her own voice deliriously reaching high C as she
uses her own words instead of Ronnie’s all take up the last 15 minutes of the play.

Self Assessment

Multiple Choice Questions:
7. Roots is the second play by Arnold Wesker
(a) in the Wesker Trilogy (b) in the Chicken tetralogy
(c) in the political trilogy (d) in the social trilogy.
8. The play Roots focuses on
(a) Norfolk farm labourers (b) Beatie Bryant
(c) Ronnie Kahn (d) an alien east London family.
Fill in the blanks:
9. Beatie Bryant makes the transition from being an uneducated working-class woman obsessed
with ......
10. The story of Roots, briefly, is about Beatie Bryant, the daughter of ......
State whether the following statements are true or false:
11. Beatie’s spirit is effervescent and sunny, but her words are not hers, they’re Ronnie’s.
12. Roots is written in the country dialect of the people on which it focuses.

30.3 Summary

• Sir Arnold Wesker was born on 24 May 1932 in Stepney, London, the son of Leah, a cook, and
Joseph Wesker, a tailor’s machinist.
• His early plays Roots, The Kitchen, and Their Very Own and Golden City were staged by The
English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre under the management of George Devine
and later William Gaskill.

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