A Scene form "The Rake"

The image that stood out in ”The Rake” was the mention of the Family joke. Mamet writes that he and his family would go out to dinner occasionally and when it was time to leave his stepfather and mother would retrieve the car and come pick up he and his sister at the front door. But when they would attempt to climb in his stepfather would drive off a little ways and this would continue for some time, all the while his mother would be laughing at the hilarity of this “family joke.” But Mamet details the cruel, abusive behavior of his stepfather and mother before this scene, so this “joke” isn’t very funny at all. Their family itself is a kind of sick joke. They live in a “model home” with a well-kempt yard, but behind that perfect façade lurks the dark and sinister reality that their family is plagued by abuse and pain. There is no love or joy or any of the things we think of as being part of a “normal” family, only deep dysfunction.