Reader Response to The Rake

The round kitchen table in the essay, The Rake: A Few Scenes from My Childhood by David Mamet, was made of wrought iron and had a glass surface. The author and his sister often associated this table with blood because of their violent and abusive step-father that often shattered the glass due to outrages of anger. The reason the glass and blood were associated with each other is because whenever Mamet’s step-father would break the glass, it seemed that he would also cut some part of himself from the impact and because when he or their mother would pick up the pieces, they would cut their hands on shards of glass thus resulting in it being the fault of the children for the whole incident. It is also mentioned that the glass was shattered by Mamet’s step-father multiple times due to his outbursts and angry nature. Therefore, in the minds of Mamet and his sister, that round, glass kitchen table created many violent scenes and resulted in replacing the top of it several times. Throughout the essay, the author refers back to yet another incident at that table. Not only were there the numerous incidents with his step-father shattering the table, but he points out another particular occasion when his sister was to be the lead in the school play. That night his sister sat down at the table for dinner and for whatever reason, she wasn’t hungry. This resulted in their mother pressing her for reasons as to why she wasn’t hungry and didn’t want to eat. It’s explained as nervousness and excitement from the events of the evening to come. Unfortunately for her, their
mother’s strict demeanor resulted in her calling the drama teacher and telling her that her daughter would not be attending the play that night and that it wasn’t because of illness and that she understood that the teachers and students had worked very hard on the play, but still gave no explanation as to why she wouldn’t be performing that night. All because she was excited about her part in the play and couldn’t contain her excitement which resulted in a lost appetite and a very stubborn mother. Although Mamet wasn’t present during this incident, he was aware of it. The glass table in the nook of the family’s kitchen isn’t considered as a good place for memories and happiness in their home, but rather a place of unfortunate and violent events.