The business world is known for being stressful and the epitome of masculine characteristics and behavior. In David Mamet’s play Glengerry Glen Ross, relative absence of feminine characters highlights the idea that women are unwelcome in the workplace because they are seen as inferior. Therefore, men in the company fight to prove themselves because effeminate men are immensely looked down upon. The four salesmen in the play regard the business world as a “man’s place” and, therefore, believe they must prove their masculinity by winning the company’s competition. The company’s bosses, Mitch and Murray, decide this month that the salesman who sells the most will win a Cadillac, the second best salesman will win a pair of steak knives, and the bottom two men will be fired. In an attempt to win this competition, the men resort to manipulation and deceit due to the stress and high pressure placed on them. From this we see that these men, Aaranow, Moss, Roma, and Levene, are willing to gain success at the expense of someone else. Mamet’s lack of feminine characters and his use of dramatic, exaggerated language are used as tools to support the idea that these men believe the word “man” signifies more than just gender. Rather to them, this three letter word means having control over one’s own fate and fortune. They, therefore, believe to have a successful life, one must work hard even if it is unscrupulous and in this case illegal. As a reader, we do not see any onstage female
In an article by Kristina Groover entitled “Reconstructing the Sacred: Latina Feminist Theology in Sandra Cisneros’s Woman Hollering Creek” the author alludes to that notion when she writes, “Cleofilas is endangered by her culture’s relegation of women to a passive, subservient role and its tolerance of male privilege and aggression” (qtd. in Groover). This quote represents the idea that even though there are goals that individuals wish to achieve whether in business or in relationships, that sometimes the motivations can have negative outcomes such as being in a bad marriage or in Mamet’s play stealing, etc. Men in Mamet’s play are ready to do whatever it takes to succeed that they compromise everything from dignity to relationships. In Greenbaum’s article, she writes, “This disregard for maintaining authentic relationships with male peers is also manifested by the way the salesmen manipulate those around them through the use of language as a source of seduction” (Greenbaum). This quotation is important to the discussion of language and the strength that it has in human connections. In Mamet’s play, outwardly vulgar language is used to demonstrate the masculine energy of the business world and how it is not for the faint of heart. While the language is outwardly harsh, Mamet’s use of it provides the reader with a glimpse into something that sets the tone for the
The male characters of the novel are similar versions of each other as they are all striving to be the best of the best. The male’s characters in the novel are competing against one another for social status, which in their eyes is through material possessions and wealth. Lois Tyson writes "we believe that it is natural to want to “get ahead,” to want to own a better house and wear better clothes. The key word here is better, which refers not only to “better than I had before” but also to “better than other people have.” That is, embedded within the belief in “getting ahead” is the belief in competition as a natural or necessary mode of being (Tyson, pg. 57). Bateman competes against colleagues in having the highest status through the act of consumerism. This is quite ironic as Bateman and all the other male characters in the race for social status are lost. In race for being the best, they have no individuality, becoming almost indistinguishable from each other. An example from the story which illustrates this race is through Bateman's jealousy of other people's business cards, and when his are less complimented. Furthermore, in the film, all the business cards have the same business title of Vice President which also characterizes the lack of individuality amongst the males in the race for social
To sum up, Dashiell Hammett’s story “The Maltese Falcon”, clearly and successfully depicted the negativity of masculinity as problematic toward men through the conduct, the reputation and the manliness of the main character. The main character had many trouble and difficulties because of masculinity. Sam Spade might have avoided those problems and difficulty if he did not try to be so masculine. Although, socially a man is made to act masculine, the most important are the benefits and the consequences of acting that
In a capitalistically inclined economy, the influences of wealth and social esteem are rooted deep within the ideologies of such a system. Value of an entity is prescribed by these facets, those without wealth or esteem are belittled and depreciated, while those that come to acquire said commodities are prioritized above others in societal outlets. This is such that instills a drive within those under the governance of a market economy, the desire for immense affluence, as well as incontestable social influence. Duddy Kravitz in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler, and Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller thoroughly exemplify this drive for excess wealth and power. When analyzing the characters of Duddy Kravitz and Willy Loman, it is made distinctly evident that Duddy Kravitz is successful to a greater degree, when compared to Willy Loman, in achieving the generic and superficial capitalistic views of success.
In his play Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller uses “the common man as a fit subject for tragedy in the highest sense” (Lawrence, Trudeau and Ross Vol. 1) and failure in the accomplishment of the American. The play tends to recline more in the direction of masculinity where men’s sole role is to get a job and support the family and the woman be seen and ordered which brings out the idea of traditional gender roles at its best. Though this is the case, it is very evident that women played an important role in this play. Although every character in the served and had a main purpose, women served a major role not only as subjects of submission and satisfaction who helped define who the men really were in the 1940’s but also as elements of support and wisdom.
An evaluation of Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross and Miller’s Death of a Salesman both depicts a protagonist that grapples with a moral discrepancy of ideals and disillusionment. This conflict is directly affected by a personal choice that later becomes irrevocable. Shelly from Glengarry Glen Ross and Death of a Salesman Willy, struggle to preserve their reputation. Intertwined with external pressure and family dynamics, these characters represent the quintessential elements of a tragic hero.
The piece “The Company Man” by Ellen Goodman employs many rhetoric techniques commonly used by writers today. The story revolves around Phil; a recently deceased businessman who many claim “worked himself to death”. Ellen Goodman attempts to make a statement about business men and their devotion to only their job with no true emotions. Goodman utilizes her rhetoric techniques to convey her opinion on the death of the protagonist Phil.
Throughout most of history woman have faced an imbalance within their social class opposed to the male gender. They have had fewer rights and much fewer career opportunities, the stereotype that a women’s place is in the home is due to the most socially accepted and common career of wifehood and motherhood. Through the comparison of Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and Fifth Business by Robertson Davies the contrasts between both works are explored from the feminist perspective. The status of woman in the early and mid nineteen hundreds is reflected by the lifestyles of
In “The Company Man” by Ellen Goodman, The author attacks a typical hardworking middle classmen. This piece portrays diction, imagery and tone in order to exemplify the intended theme the author wants to convey. With these attributes, the theme that those who tend to be blinded by the illusion of wealth and tend to forget those who are important in their lives are destined to die lonely and disregarded by those closest to them.
Glengarry Glen Ross and Death of a Sales man were two extraordinary plays that were released decades ago and are still the basis of many conversations and debates today. The main protagonists in these plays are Shelley Levene; a middle aged sales man who was once very successful in his line of work, and Willy Lowman; a 62-year-old salesman who has been chasing after the American Dream his whole life. These two shared a lot of similarities, the main one being that they are not tragic heroes. Many writers have debated over the past decades whether or not Shelley and Willy are meant to be tragic heroes. From the views of Aristotle and Miller, they are not tragic heroes.
Brandyn McKeen The characters in Death Of A Salesman, all have their problems which is okay, as all humans do, but after years of being dragged on by a low paying job, bad relationship with a father, or just how one was raised, certain problems can develop which are worse than others, such as womanizing. All the male characters in Death Of A Salesman have a negative relationship with woman, whether it be objectifying them, being disrespectful of them, objectifying them, none of them have a decent, honest relationship with any women in their lives One of the terrible characteristics of these characters is them objectifying the women in their lives. An example of this, is Happy saying, “but it’s like this girl you see, I hate myself for it,
Whether in the past or present, this is a country driven by two things: entertainment and capital. Women seem to be most attracted to the entertainment aspect, as demonstrated in Sandra Cisneros’s short story “Woman Hollering Creek” through the telenovelas. Men on the other hand are attracted to the business world and the capital that comes from pure competition and winning, the more the better. This is on display in David Mamet’s play Glengarry Glen Ross. Every vice has a consequence however, as Cisneros and Mamet both prove, when people are motivated in the wrong way, they are doomed to fail. In Cisneros’s story, Cleofilas is drawn to telenovelas which provide images of how life should be. She sees what she believes to be successful women, but the more she tries to emulate them the worse her life seems to be. Likewise, in Mamet’s play, the salesmen are all driven to win at any cost. This leads to betrayal, rifts in relationships, and total failure in the end because the high level capitalist nature has become unattainable for most of the men.
Glengarry Glen Ross is a film that depicts the struggle of ethical decisions in the work place. In the work place there is a constant struggle between John Williamson and his real estate salesmen. They have been informed that they will be fired unless they make the list for top salesmen. Throughout the film the workers of the office are fighting to find the next big lead to secure their positon on the board. As the film proceeds Dave Moss fabricates a plan to steal the leads. This plan puts into question the idea of making ethical decisions in the work place. While many of the firm’s workers tried to gain an upper hand the one individual who was the most ethical was John.
In David Mamet’s play, “Glengarry Glen Ross”, a group of sales representatives, Shelly Levene, Richard Roma, Dave Moss, and George Aaronow, are placed into a competition that sets all of them against each other. Their bosses challenge the four men to compete against one another in a sales competition where the winner with the most sales will receive a brand new Cadillac and the two people with the least sales will lose their job. With the ultimatum of losing their job, the men struggle to out due each other in hopes that they will come out on top (Mamet 21). Through dialogue and tone, Mamet presents the characters with a sense of desperation and determination; thus, he propels the story into countless affairs of deception and cheating, and
The play Death of a Salesman greatly portrays a specific ideology in regards to values, dreams, goals, and success in our consumer-driven society. It helps showcase the American dream that society tends to strive for even in the early 1900’s (the play is set in the 1940’s). That dream of being a successful business person or vendor. As well as the theory that image and physical attributes are most important to gaining fruition. Willy Loman plays a man in his sixties who has strived for this American dream for over 30 years but realistically has failed miserably on his goal in life – a wealthy salesman like his idol Dave Singleman (a fellow who could make a fortune selling without even leaving his hotel room). He spends his entire life in