Six characters in search of a mother: Re-reading the homecoming
Author(s): Soumyarup Bhattacharjee
Abstract: This essay presents a very brief critical reflection on The Homecoming, arguably one of the most provocative and polarizing plays of Harold Pinter. Focusing predominantly on the figure and the function of the Mother in the play and, more specifically, how the specter of the absent mother holds an uncanny influence over the various characters and the events, this essay attempts to locate how the Mother acts as the central unifying axis in the plot. To this end, I examine how the six characters who appear onstage approach, engage and negotiate with the figure of the Mother at different points in the play. I also foreground how the play challenges fixed categories being imposed on its female characters and simultaneously disrupts the normative sexual roles assigned to them within a patriarchal family.
Soumyarup Bhattacharjee. Six characters in search of a mother: Re-reading the homecoming. Int J Multidiscip Trends 2025;7(1):19-22. DOI: 10.22271/multi.2025.v7.i1a.564
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