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Max is the family’s elderly patriarch. He lives with his sons Lenny and Joey and his brother Sam in their family home in North London. A cantankerous old man, Max hides his insecurities and his anxieties about aging behind aggressive displays of dominance. He belittles his sons with petty insults and peppers his speech with crude or misogynistic rhetoric. A former butcher, Max makes frequent reference to the violent physicality of the job, ostensibly to assert his masculinity in moments when he registers the degree to which his failing health and old age threaten the authority he once held over the household. He also threatens physical violence, and at one point he viciously attacks Sam with his cane. Ultimately, Max’s desperate attempts to preserve his power prove futile when Sam reveals that MacGregor (an old mutual acquaintance) had an affair with Max’s late wife Jessie (and perhaps fathered at least one of Max’s sons), destroying Max’s already faltering claim to his position as the family’s patriarch. Max tries to dismiss Sam’s claim as ludicrous fantasy, but his pathetic cries to Ruth (the wife of Max’s eldest son, Teddy) that he is “not an old man” only reinforce Max’s lost virility and new powerlessness.
Max Quotes in The Homecoming
The The Homecoming quotes below are all either spoken by Max or refer to Max. 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:
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Act 1 Quotes
I think I’ll have a fag. Give me a fag.
Pause.
I just asked you to give me a cigarette.
Pause.
Look what I’m lumbered with.
He takes a crumpled cigarette from his pocket.
I’m getting old, my word of honour.
He lights it.
You think I wasn’t a tearaway? I could have taken care of you, twice over. I’m still strong. You ask your Uncle Sam what I was. But at the same time I always had a kind heart. Always.
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LENNY. What did you say?
MAX. I said shove off out of it, that’s what I said.
LENNY. You’ll go before me, Dad, if you talk to me in that tone of voice.
MAX. Will I, you bitch?
Max grips his stick.
LENNY. Oh, Daddy you’re not going to use your stick on me, are you? Eh? Don’t use your stick on me, Daddy. No, please. It wasn’t my fault, it was one of the others. I haven’t done anything wrong, Dad, honest. Don’t clout me with that stick, Dad.
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SAM. After all, I’m experienced. I was driving a dust cart at the age of nineteen. Then I was in long-distance haulage. I had ten years as a tax-driver and I’ve had five as a private chauffeur.
MAX. It’s funny you never got married, isn’t it? A man with all your gifts.
Pause.
Isn’t it? A man like you?
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MAX. Boxing’s a gentleman’s game.
Pause.
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. That’s your only trouble as a boxer. You don’t know how to defend yourself, and you don’t know how to attack.
Pause.
Once you’ve mastered those arts you can go straight to the top.
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LENNY. I’ll tell you what, Dad, since you’re in the mood for a bit of a…chat, I’ll ask you a question. It’s a question I’ve been meaning to ask you for some time. That night…you know…the night you got me…that night with Mum, what was it like? Eh? When I was just a glint in your eye. What was it like? What was the background to it? I mean, I want to know the real facts about my background. I mean, for instance, is it a fact that you had me in mind all the time, or is it a fact that I was the last thing you had in mind?
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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!
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MAX. Who’s this?
TEDDY. I was just going to introduce you.
MAX. Who asked you to bring tarts in here?
TEDDY. Tarts?
MAX. Who asked you to bring dirty tarts into this house?
TEDDY. Listen, don’t be silly—
MAX. You been here all night?
TEDDY. Yes, we arrived from Venice—
MAX. We’ve had a smelly scrubber in my house all night. We’ve had a stinking pox-ridden slut in my house all night.
TEDDY. Stop it! What are you talking about?
MAX. I haven’t seen the bitch for six years, he comes home without a word, he brings a filthy scrubber off the street, he shacks up in my house!
TEDDY. She’s my wife! We’re married!
Pause.
MAX. I’ve never had a whore under this roof before. Ever since your mother died. My word of honour. […]
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MAX. You a mother?
RUTH. Yes.
MAX. How many you got?
RUTH. Three.
He turns to TEDDY.
MAX. All yours, Ted?
Pause.
Teddy, why don’t we have a nice cuddle and kiss, eh? Like the old days? What about a nice cuddle and kiss, eh?
TEDDY. Come on, then.
[…]
MAX. You still love your old Dad, eh?
They face each other.
TEDDY. Come on, Dad. I’m ready for the cuddle.
MAX begins to chuckle, gurgling. He turns to the family and addresses them.
MAX. He still loves his father!
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Act 2 Quotes
MAX. But you’re my own flesh and blood. You’re my first born. I’d have dropped everything. Sam would have driven you to the reception in the Snipe, Lenny would have been your best man, and then we’d have all seen you off on the boat. […] Anyway, what’s the difference, you did it, you made a wonderful choice, you’ve got a wonderful family, a marvellous career…so why don’t we let bygones be bygones?
Pause.
You know what I’m saying? I want you both to know that you have my blessing.
TEDDY. Thank you.
MAX. Don’t mention it. How many other houses in the district have got a Doctor of Philosophy sitting down drinking a cup of coffee?
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TEDDY. You wouldn’t understand my works. You wouldn’t have the faintest idea of what they were about. You wouldn’t appreciate the points of reference. You’re way behind. All of you. There’s no point in sending you my works. You’d be lost. It’s nothing to do with the question of intelligence. It’s a way of being able to look at the world. It’s a question of how far you can operate on things and not in things. I mean it’s a question of your capacity to ally the two, to relate the two, to balance the two. To see, to be able to see! I’m the one who can see. That’s why I can write my critical works. Might do you good…have a look at them…see how certain people can view…things…how certain people can maintain…intellectual equilibrium. Intellectual equilibrium. You’re just objects. You just…move about. I can observe it. I can see what you do. It’s the same as I do. But you’re lost in it. You won’t get me being…I won’t be lost in it.
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MAX. […] I don’t think she got it clear.
Pause. You understand what I mean? Listen, I’ve got a funny idea she’ll do the dirty on us, you want to bet? She’ll use us, she’ll make use of us, I can tell you! I can smell it! You want to bet?
Pause.
She won’t…be adaptable!
He falls to his knees, whimpers, begins to moan and sob. He stops sobbing, crawls past SAM’s body round her chair, to the other side of her.
I’m not an old man.
He looks up at her.
Do you hear me?
He raises his face to her.
Kiss me.
She continues to touch Joey’s head, lightly. LENNY stands, watching.
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Max Character Timeline in The Homecoming
The timeline below shows where the character Max appears in The Homecoming. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 1
...sits on the sofa reading and occasionally penciling marks in a newspaper. Lenny’s elderly father Max enters the room from the kitchen, dressed in an old cardigan and carrying a cane....
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After a pause, Max asks Lenny if he remembers MacGregor, a large Scottish man who went by Mac. Max...
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Lenny, gesturing to the paper, changes the subject to horse racing. Max recalls how he used to be a regular down at the racetrack. They used to...
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...day was. Sam says it was fine, just exhausting. He was at London Airport today. Max bristles at Sam’s failure to acknowledge him. Sam ignores Max and describes the Yankee he...
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Sam admits that the Yankee told him he was “the best chauffeur he’d ever had.” Max scoffs, but Sam defends himself. His clients like him because he doesn’t take advantage of...
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Max’s son Joey enters the room—Joey, a boxer, announces that he’s come from the gym, where...
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Sam turns to Max and returns to the subject of Jessie. He insists that he was only “taking care...
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It’s evening now, and the household is asleep. Max’s eldest son Teddy and Teddy’s wife Ruth enter through the front door, well-dressed and carrying...
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Teddy asks how their dad has been, and Lenny says Max is fine. After a pause, Teddy adds that he’s been well himself. Lenny barely acknowledges...
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Lenny calls after Ruth, waking Max, who angrily wanders into the room and demands to know what’s going on. Lenny lies,...
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...morning. Joey, fully dressed, stands in front of the mirror and does some “limbering-up exercises.” Max, also fully dressed, comes downstairs and complains to Joey about how much he hates this...
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Max goes into the hall and calls for Sam. Sam enters the room. Max, seemingly unprovoked,...
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Lenny enters the room wearing a dressing gown. Just then, Max turns and hits Joey in the stomach as hard as he can. Joey staggers and...
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After a pause, Max turns to Ruth and asks if she’s a mother. Ruth says yes: she and Teddy...
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Act 2
It’s afternoon. Max, Teddy, Lenny, and Sam are sitting in the main room smoking cigars. Joey walks in...
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After a pause, Max remarks on how long it’s been since the whole family has been together like this....
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Max turns to Sam and asks when he’s leaving for work—Sam has a job this afternoon,...
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Max directs his attention toward Teddy now, insisting how great it is to have him home....
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...has everything they want. After a pause, he adds, “We have three boys, you know.” Max is delighted, and he happily suggests that Joey can teach his three nephews boxing. Joey...
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...wear…underwear…which moves with me…it…captures your attention. Perhaps you misinterpret.” No one responds. Teddy stands, then Max does, too. Max tells Joey it’s time to leave for the gym. Lenny says he’ll...
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...he offers it, and the two of them start to dance slowly, their bodies close. Max and Joey enter the room just as Lenny leans in close and kisses Ruth. “Christ,...
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Max sees the suitcases and asks Teddy if he’s leaving already. When Teddy doesn’t respond, Max...
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Max and Sam enter the room, and Max demands to know where “the whore” is. Lenny...
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After a pause, Max wonders aloud whether it might actually be a good idea to have a woman in...
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...much—just four hours a night. Lenny is even willing to “share her” with Joey and Max, too. Teddy can help attract clientele, passing along Lenny’s business card to colleagues of his...
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...very “nice” and “sweet” of them, though she worries it will be too much trouble. Max assures her it’s no trouble at all—it’s been ages since they’ve had a woman in...
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...back of my cab as I drove them along”—then he gasps, collapsing onto the floor. Max asks if Sam is dead, and Lenny confirms it. Appalled, Max demands that someone remove...
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...he supposes he can just take the Underground. He bids his father and brothers goodbye. Max tells Teddy it’s been great to see him. Then he opens his wallet, removes a...
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Max, Joey, and Lenny stand around Ruth, who remains seated in a chair. Joey approaches Ruth...
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