Though a minor character, Mom's entrance into the degenerated kitchen in Scene Nine serves as one of the great comic entrances. Unfortunately for Mom, she is completely powerless over her boys, even when she is on the scene. The old man, though out in the desert and never appearing in the play, exerts a much more profound influence over the brothers than Mom does even when she is present in the destroyed kitchen. Mom is also the only absurd character in an otherwise highly stylized and mostly realistic play. She thinks that Picasso is coming to town and that she and the boys should go to see him. She has come back from Alaska because she missed her houseplants. She retreats to a motel, unable to cope with the family situation unfolding in front of her.