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Summary
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Homecoming, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Resentment
Meaning, Control, and Agency
Power
Sex and Gender Roles
Summary
Analysis
It’s evening. Lenny sits on the sofa reading and occasionally penciling marks in a newspaper. Lenny’s elderly father Max enters the room from the kitchen, dressed in an old cardigan and carrying a cane. Max asks what Lenny has done with the scissors—Max wants to cut an ad for flannel vests out of last Sunday’s paper. When Lenny tells Max to “shut up,” calling him a “daft prat,” Max threatens him with the cane. Eventually, Max calms down, takes a seat in his chair, and asks Lenny for a cigarette. Lenny doesn’t respond.
Readers of The Homecoming will already be aware that Max and Lenny are father and son. But to someone watching a performance of the play, who doesn’t yet know who these characters are or what their relationship is, it may come as a surprise when Lenny later refers to Max as “Dad”—indeed, the men’s treatment of each other is totally lacking in the affection or respect one might expect to see in the conventional father-son relationship. This opening scene also introduces one of the play’s key symbols: Max’s cane (called a “stick” in the stage directions). The cane, along with other phallic imagery, represents Max’s grasp on (or desire for) power.
Themes
After a pause, Max asks Lenny if he remembers MacGregor, a large Scottish man who went by Mac. Max and MacGregor were once “two of the worst hated men in the West End of London.” Again, Lenny is silent. Max continues, recounting how fond of Lenny’s mother Mac was. Max himself admits that “she wasn’t such a bad woman,” though Max himself couldn’t stand to look her. “I gave her the best bleeding years of my life, anyway,” Max admits. Lenny insults Max again and demands that he shut up. Then, he suggests that Max is “getting demented.”
Max and Mac’s similar-sounding names implicitly establishes them as a pair, though it remains unclear whether Max’s characterization of the men as partners in crime is entirely accurate. Notably, Max’s memory of how much Mac liked Lenny’s mother—Max’s late wife—subtly hints at Mac’s attraction to her, suggesting that there was rivalry or animosity between the men. Max, for his part, seems to have ambiguous feelings toward his late wife.
Themes
Lenny, gesturing to the paper, changes the subject to horse racing. Max recalls how he used to be a regular down at the racetrack. They used to call on him to calm troublesome horses before their races. He could have been a trainer—but he had family obligations. Lenny ignores Max. Addressing him as “Dad,” Lenny asks if they can change the subject. When Max is silent, Lenny suggests Max get a dog. “You think you’re cooking for a lot of dogs,” Lenny grumbles. Max, gripping his cane, tells Lenny to leave if he doesn’t like Max’s cooking. Lenny pleads with Max not to use his cane on him, insisting he hasn’t done anything wrong, though it's unclear whether Lenny’s suddenly childish tone is genuine or feigned.
Max’s talk of the long-ago days he spent down at the racetrack show an old man reminiscing about better (or at least younger) days that have passed him by. His suggestion that he could have become a trainer, were it not for his family obligations, indicates feelings of resentment for work he seems to insinuate has gone underappreciated. Max’s silence when Lenny calls him “Dad” quietly but definitively shows how distant they are with each other. Max seems to feel no affection toward Lenny, only anger and unfamiliarity.
Themes
An older man dressed in a chauffeur’s uniform enters the room—it’s Sam, Lenny’s uncle. Lenny greets Sam and asks how his day was. Sam says it was fine, just exhausting. He was at London Airport today. Max bristles at Sam’s failure to acknowledge him. Sam ignores Max and describes the Yankee he drove to the airport that day after chauffeuring the man around town. He removes a box of cigars from his pocket, explaining that the Yankee gave them to him. He takes a cigar and offers one to Max, and the two begin to smoke.
Max’s irritation at Sam reveals Max’s hypocrisy. He has no issue belittling or ignoring Lenny, but he struggles to cope when someone else shows him a similar lack of consideration or respect. But when Sam takes out the cigars—more phallic imagery, which in the play represents masculine authority—the power balance shifts again as Max and Sam assert their authority over Lenny, the younger man.
Themes
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Sam admits that the Yankee told him he was “the best chauffeur he’d ever had.” Max scoffs, but Sam defends himself. His clients like him because he doesn’t take advantage of them or try too hard to impress them. Max crudely asks if Sam is “[a]bove having a good bang on the back seat,” and Sam replies, “Yes, I leave it to others.” Max, irate now, presses Sam for details, but Sam is evasive. After a pause, Max says that when Sam finally “find[s] the right girl,” he should let his family know—Sam can even bring her here to live with them. Sam says that won’t be a problem—he’ll never have a bride like Jessie, Max’s late wife. Sam recalls chauffeuring Jessie around a couple times. He remembers her as “a charming woman” and describes those nights as among “the most delightful evenings [he’s] ever had.”
Sam’s cryptic response to Max’s crude remark about “having a good bang on the back seat” builds intrigue, inviting the audience to wonder if there is some secret Sam is hiding from Max. Has Sam witnessed someone having sex in the backseat of his cab? Sam’s subsequent recollection of chauffeuring Max’s late wife Jessie around and his gushing praise for Jessie highly suggest that Jessie was among those “others” whom Sam has witnessed engaging in sex acts in the back of his car, though he remains almost cruelly evasive to Max’s pleas for more information.
Themes
Max’s son Joey enters the room—Joey, a boxer, announces that he’s come from the gym, where he spent the night training. At this, Max turns to Sam and declares him a “bitch” for “sitting on [his] arse at London Airport” all day. Implying that Sam is a freeloader, Max suggests that Sam at least learn to cook. Lenny, addressing Max as “Dad,” interrupts to say that what they all really want is Max’s cooking. Max scoffs and demands that Lenny not call him Dad. “But I’m your son,” Lenny retorts. Max redirects his attention back to Joey. “Boxing’s a gentleman’s game,” Max affirms—then immediately begins to criticize Joey’s skills. Joey brushes off Max’s criticism, then he grabs his jacket and heads upstairs.
Max’s scathing attack on Sam’s work seems totally unprompted and unjustified. When Max calls Sam a “bitch” and suggests that all Sam does at work is “sit[] on [his] arse at London Airport” all day, Max implicitly criticizes Sam’s line of work for not being masculine enough for Max to respect it as good, honorable men’s work. This is the second time Lenny has called Max “Dad.” This time, rather than ignoring Lenny outright, Max verbally attacks him, demanding that Lenny not call him that. Whether Max is simply trying to belittle or humiliate Lenny or whether there is something deeper to Max’s distance from Lenny—is Max perhaps not Lenny’s father at all?—remains unclear for now. When Max describes Joey’s hobby of boxing as “a gentleman’s game,” he implicitly pits Joey against Sam and Lenny, suggesting that the latter two are less masculine than (and therefore inferior to) Joey, the stereotypical jock.
Themes
Sam turns to Max and returns to the subject of Jessie. He insists that he was only “taking care of her” for Max and showing Jessie around the West End. Sam is trustworthy—unlike Mac, for instance. Sam abruptly launches a tirade of insults at Max’s deceased friend Mac, calling Mac “a lousy stinking rotten loudmouth. A bastard uncouth sodding runt.” Max tells Sam that Max will kick him out the minute Sam is too old or unwell to pay his way. Sam reminds Max that this house is Sam’s too—it’s the house they grew up in. At this, Max goes off about how their father used to “look down at [Max]” and feed and bathe him. “I remember my father,” Max concludes. Then the lights cut to black.
Throughout The Homecoming, characters constantly pick fights with one another, each family member trying desperately to maintain his own hold on power while simultaneously invalidating or belittling the others. Sam’s return to the subject of Jessie is a calculated powerplay intended to get back at Max for insulting Sam’s job. If taken out of context, Sam’s words might seem reassuring, but there is a subtle irony to them that suggests Sam means to provoke rather than comfort his older brother. Sam’s abrupt tirade against Max’s late friend Mac adds to the scene’s unsettling, aggressive tone. It further highlights the dysfunction of this family and builds tension as readers are left to wonder what Mac did to deserve Sam’s ire. It’s unclear whether Max is speaking literally or figuratively when he recalls how their father used to “look down at [Max].” Taken literally, Max’s memory describes a typical interaction between a grown man and has small child. Taken figuratively, Max’s words suggest that their father treated young Max with condescension—and that perhaps Max is still resentful about that.
Themes
It’s evening now, and the household is asleep. Max’s eldest son Teddy and Teddy’s wife Ruth enter through the front door, well-dressed and carrying suitcases. Teddy smiles, pleased that his old key still works. Ruth asks if she can sit down. Teddy says yes. He gestures toward a chair in the room and explains that it’s his father’s. Then, Teddy suggests he go upstairs to check if his old room still has a bed in it. Ruth wonders if Teddy should tell his family he's arrived, but Teddy insists on waiting until morning—he doesn’t want to wake anyone up. When he suggests that Ruth sit down, Ruth says nothing.
Here the audience meets Max’s eldest son, Teddy, whose arrival the audience may surmise will only bring more uncertainty and chaos to this already dysfunctional household. Though the stage directions don’t specify which chair Ruth sits down in, many directors opt for her to sit in the chair Teddy has indicated belongs to Max. In this interpretation, Ruth’s simple act of sitting down becomes an powerful act of defiance that symbolizes the threat her presence poses to Max’s authority over the household.
Themes
Teddy goes upstairs to check on the state of his old bedroom. He returns a short while later and confirms that the bed is there, but there are no sheets. He suggests fixing Ruth a drink, but Ruth insists she doesn’t want anything. Teddy remarks on the size and quality of the house, noting the renovations they made after his mother’s death. Ruth finally sits down.
Teddy’s previous uncertainty as to whether his old bedroom would have adequate furnishings conveys how unfamiliar he is with his home. Between this and his reminiscing about the renovations the family did after his mother’s death, the audience gets the sense that Teddy doesn’t quite feel at home here.
Themes
Teddy suggests they retreat to his room to sleep, but Ruth is hesitant. She floats the idea of cutting their already brief stay short, suggesting that their children might miss them. But Teddy insists the children are fine—he and Ruth will be back home in a few days. Sensing Ruth’s unease, Teddy tells Ruth she doesn’t need to be nervous about meeting his family. “They’re not ogres,” he assures her. When he again suggests they go to bed, Ruth tells him she’d “like some air” and would rather go for a stroll. Teddy protests that it’s late, but Ruth is adamant. She asks for Teddy’s key, and he gives to her. Ruth leaves, and Teddy watches her through the window.
Ruth’s desire to cut the visit short suggests her discomfort at being in Teddy’s childhood home, though she frames it as concern for her and Teddy’s children. Her inability to communicate her discomfort openly suggests that she and Teddy aren’t all that close. Teddy’s attempt to reassure Ruth with the promise that his family members aren’t “ogres” seems either willfully ignorant or foolishly idealistic, given what the audience has seen of the family’s propensity to pick fights with one another and use crude language. Ruth’s insistence on taking a walk—alone—is further evidence that she and Teddy aren’t all that close.
Themes
Lenny, wearing a dressing gown and slippers, enters the room from upstairs and greets his older brother. Teddy is surprised: he didn’t hear Lenny’s footsteps on the stairs. Lenny lies and says he didn’t come from upstairs—he sleeps downstairs now. When Teddy asks Lenny how he’s been, Lenny admits that he’s had trouble sleeping tonight. “Some kind of tick,” he explains, theorizing that the loud clock in his room has kept him awake. Teddy suggests Lenny find some way to muffle the ticking sound.
Lenny and Teddy’s reunion is tense and uncomfortable. As with virtually every other interaction between members of the play’s central family, there is an underlying feeling sense of irritation or resentment in how they behave toward each other. Lenny’s suggestion that a “kind of tick” has been keeping him awake, for instance, reads as passive aggressive: he’s perhaps hinting that Teddy and Ruth’s late-night arrival has interrupted his sleep.
Themes
Teddy asks how their dad has been, and Lenny says Max is fine. After a pause, Teddy adds that he’s been well himself. Lenny barely acknowledges this before changing the subject to ask if Teddy is staying the night. When Teddy says yes, Lenny adds that Teddy can stay in his old room. Teddy confirms that he’s been upstairs already. Then, yawning, he tells Lenny he’s headed to bed. Lenny offers to help Teddy with the luggage, but Teddy says he can manage on his own. After letting Teddy know where to find some sheets, Lenny discloses that he sometimes lets his friends stay in Teddy’s room when they’re in town. Teddy heads upstairs as Lenny turns off the hall light.
Lenny’s refusal to reciprocate Teddy’s curiosity about their dad’s health with even the smallest show of interest in Teddy’s life is yet another instance of passive aggression—without saying so aloud, Lenny effectively communicates that he has no interest in Teddy’s life. His follow-up admission that he sometimes lets his friends stay in Teddy’s room is a show of authority: he’s letting Teddy know that in moving out, he has surrendered any say in how the house is run. Other people are in charge now.
Themes
Lenny turns on a lamp. Ruth enters through the front door just as he sits down. They introduce themselves to each other. After a pause, Lenny asks if Ruth would like a drink. He’s grateful when she says no—they don’t have anything to drink anyway. After a pause, Lenny adds that he’d of course go out and buy something if he were hosting a party. There’s another pause, and then Lenny asks if Ruth is connected to Teddy. Ruth tells Lenny that she’s Teddy’s wife. Lenny ignores this and goes off on a tangent about the noisy clock that’s been keeping him up at night.
Lenny’s question to Ruth to ask if she’d like something to drink reads as absurd, given his own admission that he doesn’t actually have anything to offer her. One interpretation is that Lenny is merely going through the motions when he asks the question, doing what a gracious host is supposed to do even if he isn’t actually capable of following through. His silence in response to Ruth’s admission that she is Teddy’s wife follows a similar pattern, in which Lenny starts out upholding a social norm, only to abandon the act midway through. This begins to develop the play’s thematic focus on the struggles one undergoes as they navigate life and try to communicate with and understand other people— and the unreliability of constructed norms (like social etiquette, for instance) to keep them reassured and in control as they navigate these challenges.
Themes
Lenny gets up and pours a glass of water, handing it to Ruth. She accepts the glass and takes a sip. Lenny comments on how “funny” it is that he’s in his pajamas while Ruth is fully dressed. When he remarks on how odd it is to see Teddy for the first time in years, Ruth explains that they’re on vacation—in fact, they just came from Venice. Lenny muses that he’d probably have visited Venice with his battalion if he’d served in the last war.
Lenny’s comment about his and Ruth’s respective levels of dress seems innocuous or absurd on the surface, but it may also have a subtly sexual connotation. His follow-up remark about the family having not seen Teddy for years gives the audience some insight into the family’s situation, indicating that Teddy is effectively estranged from his family, though it’s not clear if there is a pointed reason for his lack of communication. Lenny and Ruth’s apparent inability to talk plainly with each other, instead relying entirely on coded, cryptic language, furthers the play’s project of destabilizing the notion that life is essentially knowable or predictable.
Themes
Abruptly, Lenny asks if he can hold Ruth’s hand. “Why?” Ruth asks. Lenny stands and walks toward Ruth so that he’s standing over her. When she asks “Why?” again, Lenny pauses. “I’ll tell you why,” he says. He recalls being at the harbor one night when “a certain lady” approached him with “a certain proposal.” Lenny thought the proposal was reasonable enough, but the woman “was falling apart with the pox,” so he declined. Then, he was suddenly overcome with the impulse to kill her. He really wanted to and probably could have gotten away with it, but he ultimately decided against it, not wanting to deal with the hassle of concealing a corpse. Ruth asks how he knew the woman was ill. Lenny pauses, then he replies, “I decided she was.”
Lenny’s actions in this scene ramp up his aggressive behavior toward Ruth. Readers will note how characteristically sparse Pinter’s dialogue is in this section of the play. In place of verbal communication, characters resort to physicality and body language to communicate. When Lenny walks toward Ruth and looms over her, he’s attempting to exert dominance over her. His violent story about wanting to kill a sex worker is similarly meant to intimidate or frighten Ruth; there is clear misogyny underlying Lenny’s actions in the story and toward Ruth in this scene. Finally, Lenny’s admission that he didn’t actually know the sex worker was ill (he simply “decided she was”) reflects a subtle but important truth about his almost pathological need to feel in control and validated at all times—so much so that he is willing to bend reality to his will.
Themes
Changing the subject, Lenny confesses to Ruth that Teddy is his favorite brother. The family is so proud of him: “Doctor of Philosophy and all that…leaves quite the impression.” In fact, Lenny wishes he could be “as sensitive as [Teddy] is.” After a pause, he adds that he is sensitive in some ways—he’s “sensitive to atmosphere,” for instance, though that sensitivity tends to go away “when people make unreasonable demands on [him].”
Lenny’s words here may be interpreted as ironic. Though he claims that Teddy is his favorite brother and praises Teddy’s academic accomplishments, it seems rather out of character for this family—most of whom have shown themselves to be rough, crass men with a tendency toward violence and scathing disapproval for careers they deem not masculine enough—to suddenly switch course and take pride in Teddy’s intellectual pursuits. Indeed, Lenny’s flustered follow-up remarks about wishing he could be “as sensitive as [Teddy] is” and about being “sensitive to atmosphere” read as first passive-aggressive and then defensive. One may read this as Lenny simultaneously attempting to ridicule Teddy for his “sensitive” (coded as effeminate) character while also defending Lenny himself against lacking these qualities.
Themes
Lenny tells a long, rambling story about taking a job shoveling snow. Lenny was drinking tea in a café on his break when an old woman approached him to ask for his help moving an iron mangle. She explained that her brother-in-law had given it to her as a gift, but he’d left it in the wrong room. Lenny agreed and followed the woman to her house. Once there, though, he discovered that the mangle was far too heavy for him to lift. He left in a huff after telling the woman to “stuff this iron mangle up [her] arse.”
A “mangle,” sometimes called a “wringer,” is an old-fashioned machine used to wring water out of wet laundry. Lenny tries to frame his sudden outburst at the old woman as justified rage at her for apparently trying to trick him into performing an impossible task. It’s clear to the audience, though (and perhaps to Ruth as well) that he’s more likely humiliated at not being able to perform the manly task of moving the mangle—something the old woman’s brother-in-law was clearly capable of doing. Rather than keep his dissatisfaction to himself, he projects it onto the old woman, berating her out of his own humiliation and resentment.
Themes
Having finished his story, Lenny offers to take Ruth’s glass. Ruth says she’s not finished with her water. Lenny insists that she’s had quite enough, “in [his] own opinion.” He demands that Ruth give him the glass, but she refuses—then replies, “If you take the glass…I’ll take you.” Lenny insists that Ruth must be joking, but Ruth suggestively lifts the glass toward him. “Sit on my lap,” she demands. “Take a long cool sip.” Lenny orders Ruth to move the glass away from him. Ruth orders him to lie down on the floor and she’ll pour the water into his mouth. Lenny asks if Ruth is “making [him] some kind of proposal,” but Ruth just laughs and finishes the water herself. Then, smiling at Lenny, she puts the glass down and retreats upstairs.
Perhaps feeling a resurgence of inferiority after telling his story about the mangle, Lenny now tries to exert his authority over Ruth, ignoring her protests that she isn’t finished with her water and insisting that she is—because he knows best. Ruth turns the tables on Lenny when she boldly—and rather bizarrely—comes on to him, coyly threatening to “take” him (sexually) if he takes her glass. The mood shifts yet again as Ruth invites Lenny to sit on her lap, following her initial display of sultry dominance with a show of quasi-maternal care and affection. In the end, Ruth has the last laugh—literally—as she goes upstairs to bed, leaving Lenny confused, sputtered, and defeated.
Themes
Lenny calls after Ruth, waking Max, who angrily wanders into the room and demands to know what’s going on. Lenny lies, insisting that he was only “thinking aloud.” Max sees through Lenny’s lie and grows angrier. After some tense back and forth, Lenny suggests that if Max is so eager to have a “chat,” he might as well answer a question of Lenny’s. After a pause, Lenny crassly asks Max for details about the night Max and Jessie conceived Lenny. “You’ll drown in your own blood,” Max replies. Max stands, spitting in Lenny’s direction before heading back to bed.
It's not clear why Lenny lies and doesn’t tell Max about Ruth and Teddy’s arrival—perhaps Lenny is ashamed and resentful at having been bested by Ruth and wants to hide his sexual humiliation from his father. Lenny’s crude request for Max to describe the moment of Lenny’s conception reveals a perhaps incestuous fixation on his parents’ physical relationship. Lenny’s vague reference to his own mother in this crudely sexual context resonates with Ruth’s display of sultry, sexual dominance followed by maternal affection in the previous scene. At the same time, Lenny’s curiosity about his conception may suggest a genuine anxiety he has about his uncertain paternity—earlier, recall, Max angrily ordered Lenny to stop calling him Dad. Then, Sam offered his perhaps suspiciously effusive praise of Jessie (Lenny’s mother). Both of these moments vaguely indicate that there was infidelity in Max and Jessie’s marriage—and that perhaps Max is not Lenny’s father, after all.
Themes
It’s the following morning. Joey, fully dressed, stands in front of the mirror and does some “limbering-up exercises.” Max, also fully dressed, comes downstairs and complains to Joey about how much he hates this room. He prefers the kitchen, but he can’t take his tea in there—“Because he’s always washing up in there, scraping the plates, driving me out of the kitchen, that’s why.” Max grumbles some more, then he announces his plan to see a football game that afternoon. He asks Joey to join him and is upset when Joey says he can’t because he has to train.
Max’s hatred of the living room—a symbol of the household’s dysfunction—reflects his own unhappiness with or resentment toward his family. This scene also sheds light on Joey’s character and his place within the family. As he does exercises in front of the mirror and when he declines Max’s invitation to go to the football (soccer) game, he further establishes himself as the quintessential jock and as a conventionally masculine man: he is strong, disciplined, and dedicated to his pursuits.
Themes
Max goes into the hall and calls for Sam. Sam enters the room. Max, seemingly unprovoked, accuses Sam of making so much noise in the kitchen all the time to make a point about how much he hates having to cook breakfast for Max. He demands that Sam “get rid of these feelings of resentment” and that Sam treat him better. He reminds Sam that it was their father’s dying wish that Max look out for his brothers. Sam is doubtful. Max turns to Joey and complains about Sam’s ungratefulness. He claims that Sam sat around “doing crossword puzzles” and refused to work when their father took Sam into his butcher’s shop to show him the ropes. When they brought MacGregor in, Max insists, “he could run the place by the end of the week.” Sam ignores Max and asks if Max wants to finish tidying up the kitchen.
As far as the audience can tell, Max’s scathing tirade against Sam seems totally unprovoked and perhaps more a show of Max’s resentment about getting older and losing power and control of his household and less his voicing of a justified grievance against Sam. In other words, is Max really upset with Sam for supposedly making too much noise in the kitchen—or is he actually just resentful that Sam is fit and healthy (and young) enough to continue going to work (and providing for the household, as convention says a man ought to do)?
Themes
Just then, Teddy and Ruth come downstairs, wearing dressing gowns. Teddy apologizes sheepishly, explaining that they overslept. Max asks if Joey knew Teddy was here, and Joey says no. Teddy tries to explain that he and Ruth got in last night. Max points to Ruth and asks who she is, angrily accusing Teddy of bringing “dirty tarts” into the house. Teddy tries to explain that Ruth is his wife and that they’re on vacation, but Max ignores him and continues to hurl insults at Ruth. Turning to Joey, Max sneers and suggests they kick this “Doctor of Philosophy” and his “slut” out of the house. Joey ignores this. “You’re an old man,” he tells Max.
Teddy and Ruth’s state of dress immediately sets them apart from the rest of the family, symbolically identifying the visiting couple as decadent, lazy, and self-indulgent in the family’s eyes, while the rest of the family—all dressed and most ready for a long day of work—embodies the strife and self-sacrifice of the working class. This is perhaps why Max hotly declares Ruth a “dirty tart[]”—it’s needlessly a misogynistic and cruel remark intended to put Ruth and Teddy in their place. Max’s sneering remark that they kick Teddy—this “Doctor of Philosophy” out of the house” similarly tries to insult and diminish the couple. Though Max’s exact reasons for being so disrespectful toward Ruth aren’t clear, it’s not implausible to interpret his behavior as an expression of his resentment toward Teddy for leaving home—and, adding insult to injury, for subsequently being so successful.
Themes
Lenny enters the room wearing a dressing gown. Just then, Max turns and hits Joey in the stomach as hard as he can. Joey staggers and falls to the floor. Max collapses too, having exhausted himself. When Sam moves to help steady Max, Max hits Sam with his cane.
Max’s anger and resentment boils over, leading him to physically harm his son and brother. Max has insulted and lashed out at his family, but this is the first time he has physically accosted them. When Max strikes Sam with his cane—a decidedly phallic object and symbol of conventionally masculine power—it symbolizes how desperately he clings to his masculinity and to the power his role as patriarch of this household once granted him. Max’s act of violence represents the chaos that emerges in the wake of language’s failure to communicate stable meaning.
Themes
After a pause, Max turns to Ruth and asks if she’s a mother. Ruth says yes: she and Teddy have three children. Suddenly, Max turns to Teddy and asks if he’d like to “cuddle” his father. Teddy gives in and steps toward his father for a cuddle. “He still loves his father!” cries Max.
Max immediately softens as soon as Ruth reveals that she and Teddy are parents to three children, and he immediately invites Teddy to come toward him for a “cuddle.” Zaniness aside, Max’s sudden change of heart provides insight into how heavily convention factors into how a person gains and maintains power in this household. It seems that Max has changed his mind about Teddy and Ruth once he knows that they—unlike his other two sons—have procreated and are thus on track to carry forward the family lineage. Thus, Max’s feelings toward Teddy haven’t exactly changed—he’s simply realized that Teddy has earned his respect.
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