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Sam
MacGregor is an old friend of the family. Max repeatedly references MacGregor’s masculine authority and physical prowess as a contrast to Max’s brother Sam, whom Max considers effeminate and lazy. In the play’s climactic closing sequence, Sam reveals that he witnessed MacGregor having sex with Max’s late wife Jessie—and in the back of Sam’s cab, no less. Sam’s admission, if true, leaves open the possibility that MacGregor fathered at least one of Max’s children, though the play doesn’t confirm this one way or the other. MacGregor himself never appears in the play.
MacGregor Quotes in The Homecoming
The The Homecoming quotes below are all either spoken by MacGregor or refer to MacGregor. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act 1 Quotes
MAX. Before he died, Sam. Just before. They were his last words. His last sacred words, Sammy. A split second after he said those words…he was a dead man. You think I’m joking? You think when my father spoke—on his death-bed—I wouldn’t obey his words to the last letter? You hear that, Joey? He’ll stop at nothing. He’s even prepared to spit on the memory of our Dad. What kind of a son were you, you wet wick? You spent half your time doing crossword puzzles! We took you into the butcher’s shop, you couldn’t even sweep the dust off the floor. We took MacGregor into the shop, he could run the place by the end of a week. Well, I’ll tell you one thing. I respected my father not only as a man but as a number one butcher! And to prove it I followed him into the shop. I learned to carve a carcass at his knee. I commemorated his name in blood. I gave birth to three grown men! All on my own bat. What have you done?
Pause.
What have you done? You tit!
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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MacGregor Character Timeline in The Homecoming
The timeline below shows where the character MacGregor appears in The Homecoming. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 1
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...
(full context)
...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...
(full context)
...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...
(full context)
Act 2
...is doubtful—and even if it’s true, anyone could do Sam’s work. Sam tells Max that “MacGregor was a driver,” a remark that propels Max to point his cane at Sam. They...
(full context)
It’s nighttime now, and Sam has returned. He asks Teddy if he remembers MacGregor. Teddy says yes, adding that he quite liked MacGregor. Sam says that Teddy was always...
(full context)
Sam steps forward just then and declares, “MacGregor had Jessie in the back of my cab as I drove them along”—then he gasps,...
(full context)
