The Ethics of Embracing in Sarah Ruhl’s The Oldest Boy

This study explores the process by which Ruhl’s character, Mother, recognizes what true motherhood is, chooses right mothering, and accomplishes the ethics of embracing in The Oldest Boy. Mother, an American woman who has a three-year-old son, feels shattered at the realization that he is a reincarnated lama and she has to decide whether or not to let him go to India. However, Mother’s spiritual journey ends up with accepting the idea that the purpose of a lama’s returning to earth is to lead all people toward peace and salvation. She sacrifices her own happiness in pursuit of her child’s wellbeing and for the benefit of the world. Mothering, as Ruhl’s play suggests, is responses to the needs of the other. Ruhl’s main character becomes the bridge between different cultures and values as an active mother with agency, a student of a lama, and a translater. By presenting the concepts of karma and reincarnation, Ruhl helps us understand our current relationships and accept connections to others. Besides, by depicting the birth of a daughter after the son’s enthronement, Ruhl suggests the possibility of a new future opened by the ethics of motherhood. Ruhl’s stage is the place where human relationships are recreated and a new future is envisioned. Ruhl makes her audience recognize the power to create and nurture a life, and the potential to embrace the other through maternal, ethical practices.