49 pages • 1-hour read
The Humans
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Themes
The Stress of Economic Instability
At the heart of The Humans is the anxiety generated by the family’s money problems. The three generations of Blakes at Thanksgiving represent the path of the American middle class during the 20th century. There is Momo, who escaped poverty and horrible conditions in New York, and her son Erik, who worked for many years at a school and made just enough money to support his children as they pursued advanced degrees and careers. The youngest generation of the family, Brigid and Aimee, now faces more precarious careers despite their qualifications. Throughout the play, the family’s conversations reveal the stress of economic instability.
Erik is deeply insecure about the family’s finances, thinking that he would have been in a better position at this point in his life: “I’ll tell you, Rich, save your money now…I thought I’d be settled by my age, you know, but man, it never ends…mortgage, car payments, internet, our dishwasher just gave out […] don’tcha think it should cost less to be alive?” (40). Erik reflects on the stress of providing for his family and leading the life they expect. The bills grow while he and Deirdre struggle to pay them, their wages not increasing alongside their cost of living. This stress is constantly with Erik and the other characters and is often at the root of the tension between them. The weight of this burden makes it impossible for any of the characters to think of their lives outside of the restrictions caused by their finances, leaving them with little optimism for the future.
The tension that builds throughout the play surrounding the financial stress of the Blakes comes to a breaking point at the revelation of Richard’s trust fund. Richard’s own stability more clearly puts the Blakes’ struggles into focus. Erik and Deirdre, accustomed to middle-class life, feel themselves slipping further and further away from their dreams and try to rationalize their predicament: “One thing I learned, Rich—and the older I get I see this—it’s that having too much money—it can be just as bad for you as, you know, not having enough, you know? Gotta be careful” (101). Deirdre’s assertion that wealth can be as harmful as poverty reflects her own insecurity about her family’s finances. Amid their struggles, she seeks moral clarity in their position, believing that their struggles help humanize her family. She understands the detriments of poverty but also sees wealth as a corrupting force, believing that it can change a person’s outlook on the world and others.
The Blake family’s precarious finances thus speak to the fading of the American dream for the middle class, as hard work and individual merit no longer guarantee social mobility or financial security. The family thus embodies the middle class more generally, speaking to a general sense of economic malaise and socioeconomic anxiety in 21st-century America.
The Volatility of Familial Relationships
The Humans explores the intimate nature of familial relationships over the course of one tension-filled Thanksgiving dinner. As the Blake family reunites, the strength of their relationships is often tested. Their familiarity and care with each other result in them often swinging between light, supportive conversations and defensive standoffs. In examining the tensions between them, the play explores the volatility of familial relationships.
This sense of volatility is most apparent in the relationship between Brigid and Erik. Erik cares about his daughter, but his constant worrying and judgment fray Brigid’s nerves, leaving her feeling vulnerable and judged. When he expresses concern for her, Brigid pushes back: “ERIK. Chinatown flooded during the last hurricane—it flooded— / BRIGID. Yeah, that’s why I can afford to live here—it’s not like you have me any money to help me out” (26). As Erik continues to express concern, Brigid reminds him that she is trying to make her own way in life, especially since she cannot depend on her family’s finances to support her lifestyle, as Richard can with his trust fund. Brigid’s behavior when she is away from her family, such as her private moment in the kitchen, shows her visibly trying to center and calm herself, which speaks to how being with her family makes her more nervous than she outwardly lets on.
Like Erik, Deirdre struggles to understand her daughters and the decisions they make, especially in matters of religious faith. She pesters Brigid to consider marriage and even brings her a statue of the Virgin Mary, trying to reestablish her connection to faith as a means of navigating difficult times. Though Erik is not as open or adamant about his faith with their daughters, he does see a connection between it and how Erik and Deirdre face the challenges ahead of them, arguing, “[I]t’s not perfect but you take for granted what a, a, a kinda natural antidepressant it is” (105). He and Deirdre believe that Aimee and Brigid may benefit from faith as they each face the mounting stressors in their lives, while Brigid and Aimee regard this religious proselytizing as another form of criticism about their lives and choices. The religious divide therefore reflects how the values between the younger and older generations differ, leading to misunderstandings.
The play’s characters thus struggle to balance their love and commitment to one another with the tensions and competing values that threaten to drive them apart. While the play does not offer a tidy resolution, the family’s plan to leave the apartment together at the end of dinner suggests that, despite the volatility of their dynamics, the family is doing their best to stay united.
The Persistence of Generational Fear
While the members of the Blake family experience similar types of financial hardship, they are also alike in experiencing anxieties and fears for one another’s well-being. Since both the older and younger generations are in a period of instability, there is no one individual family member or generation who can offer a consistent, stable center. In tracing the fears of both the parents and the daughters, the play reveals the persistence of generational fear.
Erik and Deirdre’s fears often center on the safety of their daughters and their growing geographical distance from the rest of the family. Erik disapproves of Aimee and Brigid living in major cities, seeing it as antithetical to the lives that he, Deirdre, and Momo built for them in Pennsylvania. He sees their attachment to big-city living as a rejection of the middle-class life he tried to provide for them while they were growing up. His fear therefore stems not only from his concerns for her safety but also from insecurity that they are becoming detached from the family and their history. In a similar vein, Deirdre speaks of the difficulties that she and Erik have in caring for Momo, as they cannot afford to hire help. Since both Brigid and Aimee live far away, their daughters cannot help them out with Momo’s care in the way Deirdre helps Momo and other elderly family members who live in their town. Erik and Deirdre’s fears thus speak to how they both fear for their daughters while also—more subtly—fearing for their own vulnerability with their daughters living at such a distance.
The younger generation of the family also has fears for the older generation. When they are alone, Brigid and Aimee speak candidly to one another about the declining health and tension they have picked up on between their parents: “AIMEE. I’m more worried about—did you notice Mom’s knees?…Going down the stairs… / BRIGID. I saw, yeah…I’m afraid to ask how her arthritis is…or Dad’s back…I don’t wanna know” (83). While both daughters realize that their parents are aging and becoming weaker, Brigid’s admittance of “I don’t wanna know” speaks to the difficulties in reconciling the daughters’ need for independence and a city that offers them career opportunities with their parents’ growing needs for care. When they learn about Erik’s affair and job loss, their fears for their parents increase, as they realize that their parents face both significant financial problems and the potential end of their marriage.
The Humans thus draws attention to how fear can be transgenerational, manifesting in both the older and younger generations of a family in different ways. While the parents worry about the safety of their daughters and the validity of their life choices, the daughters worry about the changing needs of their aging parents. The play thus implies that each generation struggles with its own kind of fear within the family.
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