In The Homecoming, how does Harold Pinter present family relationships in crisis?

The play The Homecomingby Harold
Pinter presents to us an all-male family unit living together under the same roof, but
living in as much isolation from each other as they possibly can. Harold Pinter
describes the relationship between the father, Max, and his three sons Lenny, Joey, and
Teddy as one in which the two main elements are anger and resentment. The family is
obviously dysfunctional: They break every boundary of etiquette and mutual respect, they
disrespectfully call each other by names, and there is not one member of that particular
unit that can be considered "normal".

We first have Max. At
his seventy years of age he is far from being a man who has learned from his past
mistakes and has redeemed himself from them. Contrarily,  he is bitter, sour, mean, and
abusive both physically and mentally. He takes pride on all his past mistakes and one
could almost think that he is willing to go back in time to make the same mistakes
again. He takes his anger out on his children and his brother, Sam. He seems still to
have a soft spot for the memory of his wife, and he obviously pushes down internal
demons closely related to his marriage, and his role within
it.

Max's children are emasculated and demeaned. This is
evident in that none of them lives normally. Teddy may be a professor with a PhD, but he
is still unable to control his wife, Ruth. He even lets his family persuade him to ask
Ruth whether she would work as a call girl for them in exchange of free rent in their
flat. He seems to have huge problems with asserting himself and, in the end, Ruth
chooses his family over him- even with that awkward
proposal.

Joey, the youngest, is immature, clueless, and
disrespectful. He, as well as the other brother, Lenny, tries to become intimate with
Ruth regardless of the fact that she is his brother's wife and the mother of his
children. He has stupid aspirations in life, works menial jobs, and in the end ends up
being more of a child to Ruth than a former lover.

Finally,
you have Lenny who works as a pimp, takes pride in beating up women, and is who tries to
get Ruth to become an escort. As he tells his stories, he seems more and more weak in
the eyes of Ruth, who represents the Alpha female- the woman who dominates. This, along
with Ruth's agreement of going with their silly plan, leads Lenny to realize how little
power he really has over Ruth and how Ruth seems to have the cards to win any game. He,
as well as Max, end up under the spell of Ruth.

In all, the
way in which Pinter presents a family in crisis is by showing us how the break in
boundaries, the abundance of disrespect, and the lack of solidarity can create a huge
black hole that can swallow a family hole. This family was already in a black hole that
Ruth seems to come to redeem.