Chair Symbol Analysis

Throughout the play, chairs represent power. The symbol first appears in the play’s opening scene between Max and Lenny, during which Max remains seated in his chair in the house’s main room. The chair in this context becomes a symbol of Max’s authority over the household—it is his throne of sorts, and when he sits in it, he reminds everyone that he is patriarch of this household and thus the highest voice of authority. It’s notable that Max is seated in the chair when Lenny enters the house, presumably having come from work. Max is too old to work, which deeply frustrates him, as it makes him feel increasingly irrelevant to the household—which, in turn, threatens his power over the household. In remaining seated as he greets Lenny, Max reminds his youngest son that Max is still in charge here—even if he’s too frail to work outside the home.

The next significant moment with the chair occurs later that evening, when Ruth and Teddy arrive at the house, where Teddy hasn’t been in years—indeed, Ruth has yet to meet Teddy’s family. Almost immediately upon arriving home, Teddy points out to Ruth a chair and explains that the chair is his father’s. Then he urges Ruth to sit down, and she does. Though the stage directions don’t specify which chair Ruth picks to sit down in, if one interprets Ruth has choosing to sit in Max’s chair, then her act symbolically foreshadows her eventual replacement of Max as head of the family, a process that develops gradually over the remainder of the play as Ruth uses her sexuality and takes advantage of the complex power dynamics that exist between among her dysfunctional in-laws to resist her efforts to subjugate her, turning the tables and exerting her authority over them instead.