How we cite our quotes: (Name of Play, Act #)
Quote #1
LOUISA: SSShh! Someone's comin' out. Let's get back here! (they crowd to the rear of the bench by the lilac clump and peer through the leaves as the front door is opened and Christine Mannon comes out to the edge of the portico to the top of the steps. […She] comes down the steps and walks off toward the flower garden, passing behind the lilac clump without having noticed Ames and the women. (Homecoming, Act 1)
In this scene, the family groundskeeper brings a bunch of his friends to look at the fancy Mannon house where he works. Right off the bat, O'Neill's stage directions let us know that this family may be rich and important in town, but they're isolated. All you can do is stare at them from a distance. Except for the groundskeeper, and Hazel and Peter, no one outside the family has any interactions with them throughout the play. They're a pretty insular bunch, wrapped up in their own dramas and pretty oblivious of anything else. The image of Christine gazing off in the distance while the townspeople gape drives that home without O'Neill having to write a word of dialogue.
Quote #2
SETH: Ain't you noticed this Brant reminds you of someone in looks?
LAVINIA: Yes. I have—ever since I first saw him—but I've never been able to place who—who do you mean?
SETH: Your Paw, ain't it, Vinnie?
LAVINIA: Father? No, it can't be. Yes! He does—something about his face—that must be why I've had that strange feeling I've known him before—why I've felt—Oh! I won't believe it! You must be mistaken, Seth! That would be too—
SETH: He ain't only like your Paw. He's like Orin, too. And all the Mannons I've known.
LAVINIA: But why—why should he—?
SETH: Most speshully he calls to mind your Grandpaw's brother David. How much do you know about David Mannon, Vinnie? I know his name's never been allowed to be spoke among Mannons since the day he left—but you've likely heard gossip, ain't you—even if it all happened before you were born. (Homecoming, Act 1)
Lavinia admitting that Brant reminds her of her father and her brother make the possibility that she might have had a crush on him extra creepy. Even though Seth's talking about looks, we're meant to think that there are other ways in which Brant's a whole lot like those scheming Mannons.
Quote #3
BRANT: […] My only shame is my dirty Mannon blood. (Homecoming, Act 1)
Brant hates his Mannon parentage because he's convinced that certain things run in that family, like being cowardly, greedy, and evil. This idea's found everywhere in the plays; if you're a Mannon, you're going to possess certain characteristics whether or not you think you do. O'Neill realized that some pretty important personal qualities could be handed down through the generations. Do you think it's our families' DNA or the examples they set for us? Maybe their DNA affects the examples they set? Anyway, Brant thinks it's impossible for a Mannon by blood to be a decent human being.
Quote #4
CHRISTINE: I know you, Vinnie! I've watched you ever since you were little, trying to do exactly what you're doing now! You've tried to become the wife of your father and the mother of Orin! You've always wanted to steal my place! (Homecoming Act 2)
And there it is, the Electra complex in a nutshell: the daughter wishing to replace her mother in daddy's affections. It's all over O'Neill's play.
Quote #5
BRANT: Does Orin by any chance resemble his father?
CHRISTINE: No! Of course not! What put that stupid idea into your head?
BRANT: It would be damned queer if you fell in love with me because I recalled Ezra Mannon to you!
CHRISTINE: No, no, I tell you! It was Orin you made me think of! It was Orin!
BRANT: I remember that night we were introduced and I heard the name Mrs. Ezra Mannon. By God, how I hated you then for being his! I thought, by God, I'll take her from him and that'll be a part of my revenge. And out of that hatred my love came! It's damned queer isn't it? (Homecoming Act 2)
So, she's with him because he looks like her son—and that's OK, as long as Brant doesn't resemble her husband? And he's with her because he hated her the first time he saw her? Their chances don't seem promising.
Quote #6
CHRISTINE: Orin is dead, isn't he?
LAVINIA: Don't say that! It isn't true, is it, Father?
MANNON: Of course it isn't. If your mother would permit me to finish instead of jumping at conclusions about her baby—! He's no baby now. I've made a man of him. He did one of the bravest things I've seen in the war. He was wounded in the head—a close shave but it turned out only a scratch […] He's alright now. He was in rundown condition, they say at the hospital […]
CHRISTINE: When will he be well enough to come home?
MANNON: Soon. The doctor advised a few more days' rest. He's still weak. He was out of his head for a long time. Acted as if he were a little boy again. Seemed to think you were with him. That is, he kept talking to "Mother."
CHRISTINE: Ah!
Just how would you read that little sound coming out of Christine? Is she worried? Is she somehow happy that all Orin can do is think about "Mommy?" This is an early indication of the bizarre relationship between Orin and Christine.
Quote #7
ORIN: But I've come back. Everything is alright now, isn't it?
CHRISTINE: Yes! I didn't mean that. It had to be.
ORIN: And I'll never leave you again now. I don't want Hazel or anyone. You're my only girl.
CHRISTINE: You're a big man now, aren't you? I can't believe it. It seems only yesterday when I used to find you in your nightshirt hiding in the hall upstairs on the chance that I'd come up and you'd get one more goodnight kiss. Do you remember?
ORIN: You bet I remember! And what a row there was when Father caught me! And do you remember how you used to let me brush your hair and how I loved to? He hated me doing that, too. You've still got the same beautiful hair, Mother. […] Oh, Mother, it's going to be wonderful from now on! We'll get Vinnie to marry Peter and there will just be you and I! (The Hunted, Act 2)
This really sexualized conversation is the most complete description of Orin's childlike attachment to his mother. It's the culmination of his Oedipal fantasy that he can get rid of Ezra and have mommy all to himself. Remember how, according to Freud, most boys finish up their Oedipal phase at about age 6 or 7 and go back to wanting to hang out with the same-sex parent? Obviously, Christine's crazy attachment to Orin resulted in a bad case of arrested development.
Quote #8
LAVINIA: How could you love that vile old woman so? But you're dead! It's ended! May God find forgiveness for your sins! May the soul of our cousin, Adam Mannon, rest in peace! (The Hunted, Act 4)
Just when you thought you were safe from any more hints of incest—Lavinia lets this drop as she stands over Brant's corpse. Why doesn't she call him "Adam Brant?" Lavinia acknowledges that he's really a member of their family, something he spent his life denying and detesting. Even so, he can't escape the family fate.
Quote #9
ORIN: I've just been in the study. I was sure she'd be waiting for me in there, where—But she wasn't! She isn't anywhere. It's only they (He points to the portraits.) They're everywhere. But she's gone forever. She'll never forgive me now!
LAVINIA: Orin! Will you be quiet!
ORIN: Well, let her go! What is she to me? I'm not her son anymore! I'm Father's! I'm a Mannon! And they'll welcome me home! (The Haunted, Act 1.ii)
Orin seems to be foreshadowing his "homecoming"—his death that will join him to the family. O'Neill seems to be hinting that maybe Orin's finally resolving his Oedipal problem—he's father's son now, not mother's—but this is too much to bear for him.
Quote #10
ORIN: Hello, Peter. You know I'm glad to see you without any polite palaver. Vinnie is the same old bossy fuss-buzzer—you remember, always trying to teach me manners.
PETER: You bet I remember! But say, hasn't she changed, though? I didn't know her, she's grown so fat! And I was just telling her how well she looked in color. Don't you agree?
ORIN: Did you ask her why she stole Mother's colors? I can't see why—yet—and I don't think she knows herself. But it will prove a strange reason, I'm certain of that, when I do discover it. […]
LAVINIA: Stop talking like a fool! You're a naughty boy, do you know it? […] Why don't you go and find Hazel? Here. Let me look at you. I want you to look your best when she sees you. Don't stand like a ramrod! You'd be so handsome if you you'd only shave off that silly beard and not carry yourself like a tin soldier!
ORIN: Not look so much like Father, eh? More like a romantic clipper captain, is that it? Don't look so frightened, Vinnie. (The Haunted, Act 1.ii)
Now we've got both Orin and Lavinia looking and acting like the parent that they each hated so much, and Lavinia treating Orin like a child. Add to all that the sexual innuendo about Adam Brant, and you can't help but feel sorry for Peter, trying to make sense of all this Oedipal and Electra complex stuff. He just thinks Lavinia looks healthy and pretty. He has no idea.