Everyone in The Homecoming thinks they have "the power". But who has it? Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Clearly no one in the house has “the power.” The rivalry caused by the lack of a dominant force is the only reason the "family" is able to function. Max considers himself the dominant member of the family at the beginning of the show. At the beginning of the first act he accuses Lenny of having scissors: "what have you done with the scissors?" in a very predatory and abusive way. He wears a cap and carries a cane as a sign to others in the house of his right within the family to be the physically powerful male. However Max is clearly unsure of his power as he speaks to Lenny, rather than to him, continuing the next sentence before Lenny decides to respond. He also later has to remind Lenny and himself that "I could have taken care of you, twice over. I'm still strong", strengthening himself and attempting to persuade Lenny that he is the most powerful physical force in the house. On the other hand, in this comparison Lenny thinks he is the dominant force because he believes he is powerful because his exploitative activity means he is the main breadwinner in the house. This is supported by his insistence on wearing a suit in his living room and his later stories to Ruth, where he is keen to mention that he was not "financially embarrassed". Both Max and Lenny's insistence on proving how powerful they are undermines their credibility. Max in the opening minutes almost makes the audience shudder with his exaggerated tales of "a man called McGregor" who he used to "knock with" where McGregor is clearly the one who caused the "silence" in the rooms they entered and his l The insistence that he still has "the scars" even if he doesn't show them adds to the lack of credibility in Max's stories. Lenny, later, when threatened by Ruth's assertiveness, feels the need to tell stories about women from his past. old women he punched and prostitutes he considered killing, which threatens his credibility and immediately makes the audience see that neither Max nor Lenny have "the power." However, both Max and Lenny give the impression that they have the power in the house and until the threat of Teddy and Ruth arises, Lenny and Max appear to the audience as the two who have the power in the house. power to gain overall "power" and Lenny's power gained through his business. Sam has a much more subtle, but unsuccessful, type of power to gain control of his family. His secret was that "McGregor had Jessie in the back of my cab while I dropped them off." It gives him power over Teddy, Lenny and Joey and especially Max. Max doesn't want the secret to come out, because he refuses to talk to Sam when Sam repeatedly stops during his monologue about his driver Jessie in the West End. Even when Sam states that Max "wouldn't trust Mac", Max remains submissive because he doesn't want Sam to delve into the subject. This is highlighted to a greater extent once the conversation moves away from Jessie and Sam begins to subtly comment on Max's poor judge of character by claiming that Mac, who was a "stinking rotten loudmouth" was "a good friend" of Max. Max immediately counters by calling Sam "an old grunt" proving that Sam's power over Max only lies in his knowledge of Mac and Jessie's relationship. Although it seems to the audience that Sam has some power due to his aloof nature and his "secret" throughout the play, we clearly realize that he has little power over the family once his secret is revealed.revealed. They leave Sam lying on the floor and pay little attention to him, Teddy even complains that he was going to ask Sam for a ride to the airport, and Max's indifference to the fact that Sam is dead, shown by his blas? management saying Sam "has" or "has" a "diseased imagination" demonstrates how little power Sam has over the family unit. Max wishes to assert his physical power over Sam. He makes Sam acknowledge that "I'm here too, you know" and the territorial nature of Max's attempt to gain power is shown through Max's annoyance at Sam washing the dishes. Max, even after Sam offers to let Max finish washing the dishes, calls him "tit", which is an attempt to feminize Sam in his mind and calls Sam a "worm" and a "maggot", as both they have little physique. power Max is clearly trying to highlight Sam's physical weakness and therefore dominate him physically. Lenny clearly feels threatened by Sam's "best driver" title. When Sam shows his cigars to Max, Lenny clearly feels threatened and although on the surface he appears to be having a general conversation about "colonel, or something like that in the US Air Force", he is actually trying to belittle Sam's success showing him that he "knows what kind of man you are talking about", implying that he is one of them, not a servant to them like Sam. Once again Lenny projects the image of being successful and therefore powerful in the house. Since no one severely threatens him in his position, the falsity of his stories does not appear. Teddy and Ruth clearly have a lot of potential power because they can both escape their family and live a life outside of the claustrophobic environment the audience is experiencing. As an audience member we know that they both realize their power to some extent because they both, on separate occasions, recognize that they should go home. First Ruth at the beginning of the stay and then Teddy at the end of the stay. Teddy's power lies in his intellect and his life outside of his family. He has already freed himself from the restrictions of his family and feels superior because he is outside their insular world. His lack of dialogue when the other brothers discuss turning Ruth into a whore again suggests that he wants this to happen and that his trip home was simply to get rid of Ruth. He insists that he can "observe" what others do and that they are just objects. This gives the audience the impression that events are happening on a schedule set by Teddy and almost, in the way he talks, "you're just objects", gives him a god-like status above all other family members. The fact that he is not bound by their world also accentuates this feeling. Furthermore, he acknowledges his own intellectual superiority, "you wouldn't understand my plays, you wouldn't have a clue what they're about" and clearly treats Lenny like a child in their conversation at the beginning of the second act. When Lenny questions him over a table and tries to engage him in a philosophical discussion, Teddy simply sees it as a trivial conversation and chooses to give Lenny the simplest answers, "Yet Teddy doesn't have the power in the house." Because he does not allow himself to be confined to the home, he cannot take control of it and therefore does not achieve the status he deserves in the home. On the other hand he has "power" over himself and all other family members in the outside world and he knows it, so he doesn't want "power" in the house and chooses not to try to get "power". This is evidenced by his submissiveness towards Ruth when Joey tries to sleep with her and his lack of dialogue when discussing how to finance Ruth as a prostitute. Unlike Teddy, Ruth is eager to attempt to assert her position as'