The Homecoming

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1964

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Act Summaries & Analyses

Act I

Act II

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

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Themes

Erosion of Postwar Solidarity

Pinter was writing at a pivotal moment in the 20th century, in the middle of a decade that would become synonymous with social upheaval. Although The Homecoming does not deal explicitly with stereotypical tropes of swinging London, a sense of societal and generational change pervades the play, wreaking havoc on the characters and their family.

Pinter’s London is a place still pockmarked by bomb sites—as Joey says, “We took them [the police] to a bombed site” (67)—but one in which the privations of World War II are fading away. Rationing, for example, ended in the United Kingdom in 1954 after 14 long years. While that kind of progress was cause for celebration, it also marked the return to a society riven by class—by haves and have-nots. The experience of World War II, including the indiscriminate bombing of the Blitz, had created a sense of solidarity in the UK that led to advances like the National Health Service (founded in 1948). The development of a welfare state acknowledged the equal suffering of all during the war and attempted to distribute resources to everyone fairly.

The Homecoming, however, anticipates how efforts towards collective justice would shift towards a hunger for personal freedom in the late 1960s. Baby Boomers would go through their hippie phase only to become the individualistic social-climbers of the 1980s. The solidarity of the postwar years would be forgotten or at least undermined by a segment of the population more interested in itself as the collective suffering of the war faded from view.

Pinter’s family in The Homecoming is a microcosm of this society. The bonds between its members are fraying as its leader, Max, swings between pining for a more caring past and embracing a new individualistic breeze he seems ill-placed to capitalize on. His sons, Lenny and Joey, are better adapted to the forces shaping this world, the former a brutal pimp, the latter a pugilist. Max’s fate in the play—to be subjugated by his sons (and Ruth)—is a warning to stand up for the values that bind a family or community together rather than to throw in one’s lot with the cynics or the selfish.

Social Mobility in Britain Versus the US

Hand-in-hand with the social tumult that The Homecoming depicts is the reassertion of the British class system. Class in Britain is not defined simply by how much you earn; rather there is a perceived inherent quality that goes with it, making it difficult to advance in society even if one’s material conditions improve. It is no wonder, then, that Teddy feels so fortunate to have made a life in America, a land where social mobility (for white Americans at least) has been a hallmark of society, mythologized in the notion of the “American Dream.”

Opportunities in Pinter’s Britain are more limited. Although the Harold Wilson government of the time was a high watermark for social progress, with increased funding for the welfare state and the liberalization of laws on everything from abortion to gay sex to the death penalty, Pinter senses a reactionary backlash to come—or, more precisely, the immovability of some of Britain’s underlying structures. Sam’s service in the war and lifetime of work have only elevated him to the rung of chauffeur. Lenny’s business is illegal and exploitative. Joey’s best bet for advancement seems to lie in sacrificing his body for the entertainment of others rather than in his job, which barely gets a mention.

Little wonder that Teddy is so reluctant to stay at the house when he finally arrives. The longer he stays, the hollower his upward mobility feels. His family cannot understand his work, which in any case seems specialized to the point of irrelevance: He responds to Lenny’s philosophical and religious questions with answer-dodging remarks and protestations that such things aren’t in his “province.” Meanwhile, he risks being dragged back into their situation, which seems to be corrupting their behavior or at least making betterment impossible. “I won’t be lost in it” (62), Teddy says. He leaves Ruth to his family in order to make good his escape and return to a supposed land of opportunity.

The family he leaves will have to contend with the strictures of the British class system as best they can. It seems Ruth will provide comfort in her role as the family’s new matriarch (and breadwinner). However, as money is not by itself enough to ensure social mobility in Britain, Ruth’s sex work (and Lenny and Joey’s part in it) seems destined only to trap the family even deeper in its predicament.

Masculinity in Crisis

The men in The Homecoming feel compelled to compare themselves with other men. That might mean Sam’s moneyed American passenger, the fabled tough guy MacGregor, or even men who served with more distinction in World War II. The shifting of postwar society, as well as affecting the characters socioeconomically, is also challenging their beliefs about gender and what constitutes a man.

This is one reason why Lenny, for example, finds himself so confused about his treatment of women. The stories he tells Ruth in a bid to seduce her aim to paint him as gentle and kind, but both end in violence towards women—he spares a sex worker death only to beat and kick her, and he agrees to help an old woman but hits her when her mangle proves too heavy to move. Lenny’s confusion represents some ostensible shift towards a new, more compassionate masculinity, but Lenny, who still brutalizes the women in his life (not least, one suspects, his Soho sex workers), exposes how superficial that shift can be.

This crisis of masculinity extends to the men’s treatment of each other, which often devolves into insults questioning each other’s masculinity or straightness. As early as Act I, Scene 1, Max calls Lenny “…you bitch” (11). Later, Max questions Sam’s sexuality when he says, “Anyone could have you at the same time. You’d bend over for half a dollar on Blackfriars Bridge” (48). In the same tirade, Max questions Sam’s war record—“This man didn’t even fight in the bloody war!” (48)—explicitly linking Sam’s record in the war to his identity as a man.

With their gender roles in such flux, The Homecoming’s men are desperate for a woman around whom they can orient themselves. Ruth appears to fulfill this role, but although she acquiesces to their plan, it is not clear that she submits to it. Ruth confounds at least Max with her strength of will. She also defines her own terms of engagement, both as she flirts with Lenny and disappears upstairs for a seemingly chaste two hours with Joey. She even negotiates better terms for working as one of Lenny’s sex workers, demanding a bigger apartment for her trouble. Ruth bamboozles The Homecoming’s men as they struggle to grasp what masculinity means in changing times.