Glengarry Glen Ross

Let me first start by saying, “WOW!” I have worked in retail for 6 years and for a little over 2 years, I worked in commissioned sales. It was not high dollar real estate sales, like the book, but it was indeed competitive and shady. I could truly relate to Levene , but not because I was like him while working. In fact, I was the opposite of everything he represented. I did, however, work with a character just like him. She was just that, a character. Her career was sales and that is all she knows. I literally had a flashback while watching the movie on Wednesday of her talking to her clients (on the phone). She was/is so full of bullshit and shenanigans I could hardly stand to work with her. She would lie to customers and deceive them just to “make the sale.” Her motto was/is, “Don’t give them time to think about it. Put it in their hand and get them out of the door!”
Levene’s character was somewhat justifiable in his actions and ways of selling. I understand completely where he was coming from by trying to have sufficient funds to pay for his daughter’s ever growing hospital bills. Though his actions are shady, he is trying to look out for his own best interest as well as his daughters’. Additionally, I think that Levene’s daughter was placed by Mamet for the sympathy factor. Levene’s daughter makes his part of the story line a little more appealing and somewhat justifiable of his actions, even though they are wrong. Actually, the lady I worked with played the sympathy card often as a justification for her actions. She knew she was full of shit; additionally, she knew that we (her coworkers) all knew she was full of it too. The reason that she was always getting away with it (including “stealing” client cards, like Levene, as well as actual clients from us), was because she was “divorced, with medical bills and this was her only source of income.”
I feel that even though women aren’t directly represented in this play, the indirect representation is just as fitting. Lingk’s nagging wife who spoils the deal is similarly represented by the husbands who would tell their wives they spent too much money on face creams and makeup and ask/tell them to return it. It seems to me that in the past, men had the role of being the money handlers and in the 80’s is when it started to change. Women began to work more and handle more of the household responsibilities. I think Lingk’s wife is adequately represented for the time period. Mrs. Lingk seems to have a grasp on the changing times and is familiar with the process of reporting Roma’s shenanigans to the authorities. Most women in the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s would not have known where to begin with that course of action, the “man” would handle it. Honestly, even though Mrs. Lingk’s character was not fully developed, I liked her. I liked that she was calling bullshit on Roma and sent her husband to cancel the deal.
Overall, I liked this play. The style was hard for me to read, but because it was so interesting I got through it.