Glengarry Glen Ross

As someone who had worked in real estate, even as just an office assistant for a short while, I have to say I was generally surprised at how true this play was to reality. The characters interactions, their mannerisms towards customers, the cut throat world of it all was spot on to the people I had once worked with. Levene was the most true to me because I once knew a man who did business just like this, making up bold lies and almost changing personalities entirely as soon as he picked up the phone. Its this closeness to realism that made me like the play so much. At parts it dragged along with the dreary life of these men, but it kept your attention with its gruff and naturalistic dialogue. The characters were also incredibly thought out and true despite your lack of knowledge about their pasts (but in reality, your past doesn't matter in this sort of business).

Now on to the question at hand. The women. What is to be said about the women, or lack thereof, in this play? Do I see this play as anti-feminist? Surprisingly, no. It never crossed my mind that this play might in any way be trying to down the feminine view. True, it challenged the level of masculinity about the characters, and the women were never physically present, but all these women never seemed negatively displayed to me. I know that seems strange coming from me, considering my last post was a feminist rant gone mad, but I simply just do not see this play in that light. Possibly because I have worked in that environment and realize that this sort of language they use might appear derogatory but actually could be just another coy to appeal to the customer. The men I worked with spoke like this to their customers and each other. It was a mans world in a way and they all constantly had to challenge each other like a pack of dogs. To their co-workers and customers faces they might say anti-feminist things, if the customer was male, but one of them explained this to me one time of appealing to the male nature.

“Men,” he said, “draw power from competition and dominance. By nature they wish to be above the woman, for what reason? Protection, importance. A man's role in the core of life is to breed and protect, its what we are fundamentally built for, so naturally we see woman as subordinate, or at least thats what we want our fellow man to think. How do you think any one of us would be treated if everyone knew the truth, that our wives actually have us by the balls? Not a one of us would survive in a male occupied work place if we all admitted what we really are, second to our wives. By nature a man would tear up another man who admitted this, even though its likely he's in the same position as the one he's accusing to be whipped. So we pretend, and we appeal to other men who also pretend, because this way we appear stronger than our female opposites, although we all know its just bull.”

So although this habit annoys me, I could see where this was coming from. Although I don't condone female suppression in any way, I can understand how the men of this job needed to display themselves that way to save their own skins. Its unfortunate, but its true.

In all, do I think this play and its role of women was anti-feminist? No. I think it is true to the realism of the play, the time, and the behaviors that arise in this sort of male dominated work place. I could be wrong, but I see all these actions in the play as being very fake and untrue, since none of the characters are really ever themselves. They all put up a front and act, trying to appeal to the world around them. In essence, I think this play brings out the worst in men more than it does in women. It shows them at their most cut throat and deceptive, neither of which to me are good qualities.