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Sam is Max’s brother and Teddy, Lenny, and Joey’s uncle. He works as a cab driver, a profession Max mocks for its relatively lacking physical demands (Max was once a butcher, a profession he self-importantly considers to be more masculine). Sam is arguably the least flawed and self-destructive member of his dysfunctional family: he’s the only one among them who doesn’t attempt to degrade or hit on Teddy’s wife Ruth, and the only one who seems genuinely happy to see Teddy. Despite or perhaps because of his relative self-confidence and stability, Sam suffers greatly at the hands of his resentful family members. Max repeatedly berates Sam. He even cruelly strikes Sam with his cane when Sam sees Max falter and tries to steady him, perhaps feeling humiliated and resentful about needing Sam’s help. Ultimately, Sam delivers a worse blow to Max in the play’s final sequence when he makes the shocking admission that Max’s late wife Jessie cheated on Max with an old mutual friend named MacGregor—in the backseat of Sam’s cab as Sam chauffeured them around. Sam collapses and seemingly dies after making this admission. Though the others soon confirm that Sam is still breathing, he remains immobile and unresponsive.
Sam Quotes in The Homecoming
The The Homecoming quotes below are all either spoken by Sam or refer to Sam. 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
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. 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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Act 2 Quotes
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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Sam Character Timeline in The Homecoming
The timeline below shows where the character Sam appears in The Homecoming. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 1
An older man dressed in a chauffeur’s uniform enters the room—it’s Sam, Lenny’s uncle. Lenny greets Sam and asks how his day was. Sam says it was...
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Sam admits that the Yankee told him he was “the best chauffeur he’d ever had.” Max...
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...come from the gym, where he spent the night training. At this, Max turns to Sam and declares him a “bitch” for “sitting on [his] arse at London Airport” all day....
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Sam turns to Max and returns to the subject of Jessie. He insists that he was...
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Max goes into the hall and calls for Sam. Sam enters the room. Max, seemingly unprovoked, accuses Sam of making so much noise in...
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...can. Joey staggers and falls to the floor. Max collapses too, having exhausted himself. When Sam moves to help steady Max, Max hits Sam with his cane.
(full context)
Act 2
It’s afternoon. Max, Teddy, Lenny, and Sam are sitting in the main room smoking cigars. Joey walks in with a coffee tray....
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Max turns to Sam and asks when he’s leaving for work—Sam has a job this afternoon, and he’ll be...
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It’s nighttime now, and Sam has returned. He asks Teddy if he remembers MacGregor. Teddy says yes, adding that he...
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Max and Sam enter the room, and Max demands to know where “the whore” is. Lenny tells him...
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Sam steps forward just then and declares, “MacGregor had Jessie in the back of my cab...
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Teddy stands awkwardly to the side. He planned to ask Sam for a ride to the airport, but he supposes he can just take the Underground....
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