The power game in The Homecoming is chaos with all the male roles pitting the role of the family host against each other. Among them, Lenny is the cruelest and the fiercest one, breaking down the defense of others with poignant buffets on their weak points. Therefore, before Ruth comes, the power stratum in the family is almost set, no matter how unwilling Max or other members are to submit. Ruth’s showing up flares up the bellicosity in all of them. Everyone is keen to vanquish Ruth’s defense and makes her his “subject”. In other words, her appearance
intensifies the dramatic tension more, causing the effect of power re-shuffle. What’s odd is that, in the end, not much of the power order is changed but everyone, except Lenny, seems very content with the arrangement.
In the play, as a matter of fact, every male role makes effort to gain the
dominant status at home. For instance, Max, the old father who has lost supremacy due to senility, is the first one trying hard to reclaim his “authority”. He manages to get his power by holding onto the position of “Father” and by insulting others, which, in a rough sense, could be called “violent language” because in his talks, if they are not of paternal lecturing tone, they are full of acrimony, malignance, or threats. As soon as the play begins, there is conflict between Lenny and his father, Max. Having been insulted by Lenny, Max threatens him with his stick, saying "Don't you talk to me like that. I'm warning you" (15). Before long, to give out further intimidation,
Max adds, “Listen! I’ll chop your spine off, you talk to me like that! You understand”
(17)? However, nothing comes of these threats. Facing Sam, his younger brother, Max is even more scornful. He mocks and doubts Sam’s reputation as a taxi driver,
“What you been doing, banging away at your lady customers, have you?” (22) Whatever Sam answers, Max would retort with disdain, making an imposing manner to press Sam under his dominion. Max then ensues to “exert” his authority by warning Sam, “As soon as you stop paying your way here. . .I’m going to give you the boot” (27). Yet Sam in no time reminds him it is their parents’ which he has no rights to do so and in return, jabs the “power” balloon Max blows for himself. As for his manners with Joey, Max lectures with the tone of a father so as to demonstrate his authority, “I’ll tell you what you’ve got to do. What you’ve got to do is you’ve got to learn how to defend yourself, and you’ve got to learn how to attack” (25). Max talks as if he were an expert imparting professional tactics. However, his direction that asks Joey to learn “defense and attack” in boxing is next to rubbish. There is no way here to exhibit his power; instead, he exposes his ignorance, courting more contempt for him. Consequently, though Max grabs each opportunity to declare his prerogative, and also his language is rather menacing and tempestuous, in the end, because nothing ensues after his verbal threats, for the other members, Max is nothing more than a quacking dotage whose power can only be traced back in the old good times.
When it comes to Joey, he is definitely the strongest physically among them as a boxer. However, his problem lies in his non-confidence in himself though Joey is somewhat desirous of holding the dominion over the family. He always talks loudly in the beginning but turns timid afterwards. For instance, Joey gives a hint of his physical strength, “I’ve been training with Bobby Dodd. Pause. And I had a good go at the bag as well. Pause. I wasn’t in bad trim” (25). It may produce some power for
Joey when he announces his identity as a boxer but his “pauses” make known his hesitation of diffidence in himself. The rape that he and Lenny commit is another evidence of his physical strength. They "told the ... two escorts ... to go away" (75) and then they "got the girls out of the car" (75). Nevertheless, his insufficiency in brainpower and confidence fails him again. As an online reference points out, “his violence is undermined by his lack of intelligence. He cannot even tell his own story without omitting what Lenny considers to be "the best bit"
(http://www.dreamdust.co.uk/work/homecoming.html). Throughout the description of the incident, Joey speaks with great uncertainty though he clearly wants to show some of his ability. He even needs Lenny to help him utter each sentence:
Lenny. The Last bird! When we stopped the car…
Joey. Oh, that…yes…well, we were in Lenny’s car one night last week…
Lenny. The Alfa.
Joey. And er…bowling down the road…. (75)
Without delicate plotting, Joey’s physical strength is equivalent to imbecility. He is, at best, a chessman in a game, maneuvered by the players.
As for Teddy and Sam, they are different from the rest of the family. The online Dreamdust notes, “They are calmer and more passive in their ways of striving for the
man of the family” (http://www.dreamdust.co.uk/work/homecoming.html). Both of them stand for nice images of the domestic men, who are mild, helpful and
responsible in the family. They use civilized ways to talk with the family, hoping the family would listen. Yet such civility is too meek to be valued and hence their opinions are never taken seriously. To put it in another way, the nature of their characters is the detrimental to their intention, preventing them from controlling.
Neither Teddy nor Sam is able to exert much power over the other members of the family. Teddy even lacks the power to bring back his wife to America with him.
Although many of the characters try to exert power, none of them, except Lenny,
gets his purpose. Lenny has the combination of the physical power, wits and guts.
He is also good at plotting, which is part of his capability in employing language to help him produce the aura of violence. Bodily violence or impulsive nature itself only can never lead to obedience from others because such corporal force is often counter-balanced by other male characters in the play. Genuine language of violence emits a kind of verbal cruelty that petrifies the enemy in an inexpressive
psychological vibration.
Of all the characters in The Homecoming, Lenny is the only role who masters such skills of mental affliction, managing delicate equilibrium between bodily strength and acute raids of each speech. He is also charged with strong will of aggression that demands the adversaries to bow before him at once. In addition, he is deft in different ways of dealing with different personalities, which illustrates the agility of his tactics.
In the opening scene of the play, Lenny’s authoritatively indifferent manner has told the audience of his place in the family. Facing Max’s hysterical yelling, Lenny does not care to make a response. It is after a long while of Max’s whimpering
“monologue” that Lenny opens up his mouth to stop him, “Plug it, will you, you stupid sod, I’m trying to read the paper” (17). The terse swearwords of Lenny carry a sense of impatience with a disdainful tone as one would often react when he is chasing away a disturbing gnat humming around his ears. Apparently, Lenny pays little attention to his old father and even the newspaper weighs more than Max. His purposeful negligence of Max is the most merciless silent language of violence, building an impression that Max is not even qualified to be an adversary at all, which aggravates Max all the more. In addition to the silent violence, the short comment Lenny gives Max transmits some holding back of his temper and warns Max against crossing his line considering the consequences. The subtle balance of power is thus
set up between Lenny and Max, which Max himself would not dare to break.
Regarding Lenny’s relationship with Joey, he plays the role of a big brother, giving Joey a hand and showing his concern all the time. He makes an impression of intimacy and reliability by coaxing Joey, “Joey, you tell tour brother everything” (73).
As Joey is stuck in a dilemma as to the way to amaze his family, Lenny saves him from the embarrassment, “Tell him about the last bird you had, Joey” (74). In other words, Lenny provides a sense of safety and accountability for Joey, which he can hardly acquire from other members in the family. However, Lenny’s caring for Joey would rather be thought as a trick to attain his power than as an act of fraternity because, except for making the conversation easier for Joey, Lenny has little respect for Joey’s feelings or opinions. Under Lenny’s surveillance, what Joey says is corrected or supplemented. Without his approval, Joey cannot act as he wishes.
For example, although Lenny asks Joey to give a description of the rape, he keeps intervening. At last, Lenny even concludes, “You’ve missed out the best bit” (75) as censure for Joey’s ill job of elaboration. Moreover, as Joey protests repeatedly, “I don’t want to share her” (80), Lenny ignores him. It is only until Lenny goes beyond his patience that he answers back with his malicious language, “I’ve got a very
distinguished clientele, Joey. They’re more distinguished than you’ll ever be” (81).
Again, Lenny uses the same trick to deal with Joey as what he does to Max. Lenny’s short comment on Joey’s objection implies his running short of tolerance as well as his coming violence. The “more distinguished than you’ll ever be” suggests his actual feeling toward Joey—contempt, which denotes that he barely expects that Joey can accomplish anything or be some big person. The insinuation of a loser easily squashes Joey’s confidence, which is difficult to set up, and works effectively to make Joey shut up. Thereafter, Joey stops yelling and listening to Lenny’s arrangement.
In short, Lenny’s kindness is an appearance to make Joey affiliate to and obey him.
He demands “obedience”. Lenny may be, or manages to be nice when the other members are yielding. Otherwise, his violence and acridity emerge to attack. He is always all set to be merciless if his family members do not listen.
Now that Lenny is so ready in respect of his power in the family, “intruders” as Teddy and Ruth just arouse Lenny’s bellicosity to subjugate them instantly as another demonstration of his clout. Lenny encounters little difficulty in beating Teddy whose gentle nature makes him appear a weakling in the struggle of power. Teddy shrinks and panics when he senses the hostility and challenges from Lenny:
Lenny. . . .What do you teach?
Teddy. Philosophy.
Lenny. Well, I want to ask you something. Do you detect a certain logical incoherence in the central affirmations of Christian theism?
Teddy. That question doesn’t fall within my province. (59)
The question is by far an uncomplicated one that can be answered with little effort even if Teddy were not a professor since Lenny simply uses it to confront Teddy.
Therefore, any response would be better than Teddy’s cowardly elusion to say it is not his specialty. Afterwards, while Lenny pushes him to answer, Teddy merely answers,
“I’m afraid I’m the wrong person to ask” (60). His behavior is actually a form of surrender to Lenny metaphorically. As a scholar, Teddy should be petrified by a pimp’s simple question. Lenny’s aggression definitely has thwarted Teddy. To put it in another way, Teddy is, thus, not actually shocked by the casual inquiry, but by Lenny’s domineering manner. Feeling the forthcoming of Lenny’s threats, Teddy’s instant response is to take Ruth back to America as soon as possible, “Well, we were here for only a few days, weren’t we? We might as well…cut it short, I think” (62).
Yet since he lacks the guts, he loses even his wife. At last, without any slight resistance, Teddy bows before Lenny and goes back to America alone.
Although Lenny meets no problem in commanding his family, Ruth is a hard
person for him to handle. At his first sight with her, Lenny starts his barrels of attacks, trying to establish a dominant position in relation to Ruth. His first step is to debase her and shatter her self-value. Thus, Lenny arbitrarily judges Ruth’s identity as some mistress to Teddy, “You must be connected with my brother in some way”
(36). In spite of Ruth’s clarification of herself as Teddy’s wife, Lenny insists on doubting her and asking twice if Ruth happens just to “sort of live with him over there” (37). Whatever and however she justifies herself to be, Lenny hints Ruth, according to his discernment, is no better than a whore, who is easy for a pimp like him to do with. He then ensues to thwart Ruth with his inclination for cruelty such as a good kill in an army, “I’d almost certainly have gone through it with my
battalion” (38). To enhance the accountability of his violence so as to stupefy Ruth, the innocent house-wife in his first-sight opinion, Lenny gives substantial life
examples of his aggressive behaviour towards women to boast of his familiarity with an underworld of corruption and violence. In this way, again, violence and his language are intermingled, indicating his potential of destruction whenever he likes—if Ruth disobeys his will.
Lenny. Well, this lady was very insistent and started taking liberties with me down under this arch, liberties which by any criterion I couldn’t be expected to tolerate, the fact being what they were, so I clumped her one. . .It was on my mind at the time to do away with her, you know, to kill her. . .so I just gave her another belt in the nose and a couple of turns of the boot and sort of left it at that. (39)
Feeling certain Ruth must be frightened after a succession of “horror attack”, Lenny acts boldly, ready to take over his latest quarry, “Do you mind if I hold your hand?”
(38). Nevertheless, to his astonishment, not fluttered at all, Ruth composedly asks him, “Why” (38)? More shockingly to Lenny, Ruth takes action to fight back while Lenny behaves more rudely to tackle her. Ruth not only calls him the name
“Leonard” which is only used by his mother and which makes him feel like a spoilt
child, but also plays him around by pretending to seduce him, suddenly letting go of him and perplexing him a lot. Lenny’s language-of-violence strategy meets some frustration with Ruth and therefore, he maintains silence for a while, waiting for the right timing to initiate fights again. Lenny would take every chance to get back at Ruth after being insulted by her. Keeping alert, the moment he is certain of Ruth’s staying, Lenny jumps out to guide all the arrangement again. His intention is clear.
Lenny would do everything to destroy Ruth, displaying his true power in the family.
Therefore, as the family are fidgeting about the cost Ruth may cause, Lenny interrupts:
Lenny. There’s no need for us to go to all this expense. I know these women.
Once they get started they ruin your budget. I’ve got a better idea. Why don’t I take her up with me to Greek Street? (80)
In other words, Lenny proposes to sell Ruth to the hooker market, which would reverse his disadvantaged position, manipulating Ruth as one of the whores under his hand. Lenny obviously feels conceited about himself, because at the end of the play while other members gather around Ruth to get her attention, only Lenny stands and watches the whole scenario as if a vulture hovering above the sky kept an eye on his prey. Yet on the other hand, Lenny’s silence in the end is also an implication of his plotting again. He is watching Ruth and devising his next steps because, as a matter of fact, his strategy may draw somewhat a match of balance between his war and Ruth but that does not follow he wins. Though there are chances of his controlling Ruth because he arranges Ruth’s job, yet, at the end, it is Ruth who gets the final attention of the whole family. Hence, Lenny’s standing position actually opens up a world of possibilities for the play.
Observing the various performances on the male side, I induce some common traits of masculine in gender plays that tell them apart from those in early period.
For one part, they have, more or less, adjusted their state of mind since the
impendence of a new era has been inevitable and they recognize the necessity for a change. Therefore, men in gender issues discard extremity of life-death fights and absolute contempt against female ones. In facing feminine leads, Pinteresque men restrain pride as well as eruption of tempers and perform comprehensive rationality.
What’s more, male characters have learned to fight with “tactics” instead of “fists”.
The use of collective power illustrates their progress from barbarian wrestles. They have got tips of new “tricks” to survive in a new world. Thus violence here does not necessarily have to be an action but the “strategic attitude”. On the one hand, they sustain the aura of violence to force upon feminine. On the other, by ridding of the behavior, Pinteresque males try to legitimate and justify themselves as the authentic dominators. In short, their tactics may be considered the “the carrot and the stick”
operation.
Nevertheless, whereas Foucault’s “Panopticon theory” responds to the
phenomenon in the society, the use of collective ideological male dominance does not fully reign over Pinteresque female leads, though it has apparently acquired some power to counterbalance the rising female power. In addition to the female defiance, mostly the root is their unready mindset now that they have fallen from the absolute throne of dominance to an arena of a power “pull and drag” game in which they are competitors. It also explains the reason why not every one of them is practiced in employing the skills as they are still undergoing a rough transition. Under the unstable state, Pinteresque males seem to have a long way to go before they take back their “regime”.
As both sides continue battles with their innate advantages on their own, they share a tactic—“pretense”. In the next chapter, I am going to elaborate on the faked interaction.