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LEVENE AS A VICTIM OF DARWINIAN SYSTEM: A STUDY ON DAVID MAMET’S GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

By

SB. JONY YUDYANTARA

Student Number: 034214007

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA 2008

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We are the children of Light

Coming together in the fuse affection in life

There is no envy and spite

Unity our hearts to shine

-Anonymous-

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This Undergraduate Thesis is dedicated to My beloved father in heaven My mother And Anyone who cares of me

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to give my praise to Jesus Christ, for His blessing,

grace, love, and His beautiful plans for my life. I also give thanks to Mother Mary

who always shines me with Her light so that I can finish this thesis.

My special thanks go to my parents who always give a wonderful love in

my every single day. Thanks my father who taught me to be a tough person.

Thanks to my mother for taking care of me until now. She is the reason for

struggling for my graduation.

I would like to express my gratitude and love to my families. My brother

Denny Fernantya who gives financial support to me on my study, he also gives

me motivation to do my thesis. I also thank my little sister Yoanna Francisca who

also inspires me. My special thanks go to Veronica Sari who always supports me

with her deepest love so that I can finish my study.

I give my deepest honor to Paulus Sarwoto, S.S., M.A. as my sponsor who

has spent his valuable time and energy for guiding me. I would also thank

Adventina Putranti, S.S., M.Hum. as the co-advisor, who has read and corrected

my thesis. I would also give my appreciation for the entire lecturers at English

Letters Department who have helped me during my study in this university. They

have taught me valuable lessons for my life.

I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my best friends in

English Letters, Adi, Pita, Ajeng, Frieda, Nit Not, Boim, Danang, Hardiarto, Susi,

Costmast, and Rina whom I consider as my motivators to finish this thesis. I also

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would express my gratitude to MUDIKA Santo Petrus especially Ardha, mas

Joko, Bimo, mas Bowo, mas Sri, Dodo, Antok, and Budi, who have supported me

with their prayers. Lastly, I want to give my deep appreciation to everyone who

cannot be mentioned here. May God bless our lives and His light shine our life.

Sebastianus Jony Yudyantara

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ................................................................................................. i APPROVAL PAGE ...................................................................................... ii ACCEPTANCE PAGE .................................................................................. iii LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ........................... iv MOTTO PAGE ............................................................................................... v DEDICATION PAGE .................................................................................. vi ADKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................ vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................. ix ABSTRACT .................................................................................................... xi ABSTRAK ...................................................................................................... xii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION .................................................................. 1

A. Background of the Study .................................................................. 1 B. Problem Formulation ...................................................................... 4 C. Objective of the Study ..................................................................... 4 D. Definition of Terms ......................................................................... 4

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW .................................................. 6

A. Review of the Related Studies ......................................................... 6 B. Review on Related Theories ............................................................ 8

1. Character and Characterization ................................................. .. 8 2. Darwinian Theory .................................................................... 10 3. Darwinian System inside the American Society ......................... 12 4. Theory of Marxism ................................................................... 14

C. Theoretical Framework ................................................................. 17

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ............................................................ 20

A. Object of the Study ....................................................................... 20 B. Approach of the Study .................................................................. 21 C. Method of the Study ...................................................................... 21

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ......................................................................... 23

A. Characterization of Shelly Levene ................................................. 23 B. The Darwinian World Presented in the Play .................................. 27

1. Struggle for Survival ................................................................. 29 2. Natural Selection ....................................................................... 30

C. The Ways Levene is Victimized by the Darwinian world .............. 32 1. Class Struggle ......................................................................... 32

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2. Alienation ......................................................................... 39 3. Reification ......................................................................... 41 4. Ideology .......................................................................... 43 5. Hegemony ......................................................................... 45

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ..................................................................... 48

A. Characterization of Shelly Levene ................................................. 48 B. The Darwinian World Presented in the Play .................................. 49 C. The Ways Levene is Victimized by the Darwinian world .............. 50

BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................ 53

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ABSTRACT

SEBASTIANUS JONY YUDYANTARA. Levene as a Victim of Darwinian System: A Study on David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross. Yogyakarta: Departement of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2008.

David Mamet produces Glengarry Glen Ross in the early 1980s. It is a play about a business-based society in 1984. It describes a competition of life among the Salesman in the Mitch and Murray Company. They are the working class that should struggle in the middle of Darwinian system. At the end of the play, Levene, the main character, becomes the victim of the system. Economic situation shoves him to commit a crime which finally places him into his self destruction.

The aim of this study is to reach three objectives; the first objective is to find out what kind of character Levene. The second one is to analyze how the Darwinian Theory prevails as the system of life in the play. While the second objective is reached, the writer continued the study to reach the third objective; to construct the implication how the system victimized the character of Levene. Since the study tries to reveal the victimization of the Darwinian world toward the main character, the theory of Marxism is used. This study is a library research. The source of the data is the text of Glengarry Glen Ross and the addition data are taken from some supporting books.

The main character, Levene, is figured as a person who has taken desperation in the middle of anxiety of being fired. He tries to do anything so that he can continue to work in the company. Moreover, the capitalism plays a very important role in situation where Levene works. The capital owner will play the rule of all. This situation is known as Darwinian World. Darwinism brings so many great effects toward the development of American thought and issue. The most influential ideas of Darwinism are Natural selection and struggle for survival. Those two fundamental ideas come from Charles Darwin’s research toward animal and plantation species to do instinctive struggle for keeping their life. In Darwinian World, the capitalist aspect plays the main role. This capitalism is closely related to Marxism since the theory of Marxism showing a conception against capitalist domination. From the Marxist’s perspective, the way how Levene is victimized is firstly on the process of class struggle. This situation brings the term of alienation. It means that Levene is not able to know the other part of economic process that occurs out of his job. As an alienated person, next he undergoes the phenomenon of reification. It means that levene is inhumanely threatened. This phenomenon is encouraged by the presence of ideology and hegemony as the society’s way of think. The ideologies which grow in the business based society’s mind also influence Levene’s way of thinking to work very hard. It is much influenced by the hegemony in which the social superiors (the company) set the patterns of the inferior (salesmen) thinking.

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ABSTRAK

SEBASTIANUS JONY YUDYANTARA. Levene as a Victim of Darwinian System: A Study on David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

David Mamet menciptakan Glengarry Glen Ross pada awal tahun 1980an. Glengarry Glen Ross adalah sebuah drama yang berkisah tentang masyarakat berbasis bisnis di tahun 1984. Drama ini menggambarkan persaingan yang terjadi di tengah kehidupan para salesmen di perusahaan Mitch and Murray. Para salesmen ini adalah kaum pekerja yang harus berjuang di tengah dunia Darwinisme. Pada akhir cerita, tokoh utama, Levene, benjadi korban sistem Darwinisme tersebut. Faktor ekonomi mendorongnya untuk melakukan tindak kejahatan yang akhirnya menghancurkan hidupnya sendiri.

Maksud dari studi ini adalah untuk mencapai tiga sasaran. Sasaran pertama adalah mengetahui pengkarakteran Levene. Sasaran kedua adalah untuk menganalisis bagaimana teori Darwinisme berkembang menjadi sebuah sistem kehidupan dalam drama. Sesudah sasaran kedua tercapai, penulis melanjutkan ke sasaran berikutnya yaitu menemukan implikasi bagaimana sistem tersebut dapat mnempatkan tokoh utama sebagai korban. Oleh karena studi ini dimaksudkan untuk melihat bagaimana Levene menjadi korban sistem Darwinisme, teori Marxisme sangat diperlukan. Studi ini adalah studi pustaka. Sumber utama datanya adalah teks dialog Glengary Glen Ross dan data tambahan didapatkan dari buku-buku yang mendukung.

Sang tokoh utama, Levene, digambarkan sebagai seseorang yang mengalami keputusasaan karena takut dipecat dari pekerjaannya. Dia berusaha melakukan apapun untuk tetap bisa mempertahankan pekerjaannya. Sayangnya, situasi tempat levene bekerja sangat mengunggulkan sistem kapitalis. Para pemilik modal dapat memegang peranan yang sangat penting. Situasi ini dikenal dengan sebutan Dunia Darwinian. Darwinisme membawa dampak yang hebat terhadap cara pandang masyarakat Amerika. Ide Darwinisme yang paling berpengaruh adalah Seleksi Alam dan Berjuang untuk Hidup. Dua ide penting tersebut bermula dari penelitian Charles Darwin terhadap spesies hewan dan tumbuhan dalam berjuang mempertahankan kehidupan. Dalam sistem Darwinian, kapitalisme memegang peranan penting, dan kaplatisme sangat erat dengan teori marxisme. Dalam teori marxisme, Levene menjadi korban sistem darwinisme dalam beberapa tahapan. Tahap pertama adalah melalui proses perjuangan kelas. Situasi ini kemudian memunculkan istilah alienasi. Hal ini berarti bahwa Levene tidak bisa melihat bagian lain dari proses ekonomi dalam pekerjaan yang dia miliki. Sebagai orang yang terasingkan, Levene mengalami proses reifikasi. Hal ini berarti bahwa Levene tidak diperlakukan secara manusiawi. Fenomena-fenomena diatas muncul oleh karena dorongan factor ideologi dan hegemoni. Ideologi yang tumbuh di tengah masyarakat bisnis mempengaruhi cara berpikir Levene untuk bekerja secara sangat keras. Hal ini juga sangat dipengaruhi oleh hegemoni dimana kaum superior (perusahaan) membentuk pola pikir kaum inferior (salesmen).

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

The writer presents the introduction of this study in this chapter. The

writer divides the introduction into four parts. They are Background, Problem

Formulation, Objectives of the Study, and definition of terms. The background

of the study explains the goal of this study. The problem formulation

encounters questions that will be analyzed in this thesis. Objectives of the

study give the answer of the problem formulation. The last part is the

definition of terms. This part explains some terms that are related to the study

and the analysis.

A. Background of the Study

A good literary work is a work that carries precious message and value

behind its story. Literary works can play the role as a kind of historical

document showing social realities that are artistically portrayed by the author.

Readers of literary work can learn from the certain past time, and what kind of

social condition is existed in the society.

For this study, I choose one of work of literature that can become a kind

of precious work of America. It is one of David Mamet’s plays, Glengarry

Glen Ross.

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David Mamet was born on November 30, 1947 in Flossmoor, Illinois. He

studied at Goddard College in Vermont and at the Neighborhood Playhouse

School of Theater in New York before joining into the professional world of the

Theatre. He began his career as an actor and director before achieving success in

1976 with three plays, The Duck Variations, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, and

American Buffalo. Mamet has unique language that is not so much naturalistic as it

is a poetic impression of streetwise jargon. Other characteristic of Mamet's style is

minimalism and a lack of stage directions. One of Mamet's play’s characteristics is

that it deals with the decline of morality. In 1984, he was awarded the Pulitzer

Prize for Glengarry Glen Ross, which recreated the atmosphere of a gritty Chicago

real estate office in which Levine, an aging salesman, is about to be sacked.

(www.imagi-nation.com)

The play is about a business-based society in 1984. It is a society which

only cares about how much money you make. The play begins by portraying

four Chicago salesmen who work together in the Mitch and Murray Company

selling undesirable real estate at inflated prices. The owner has organized a

sales contest in the company. For those who can clear a certain high dollar will

win a Cadillac. The runner up is going to get a set of steak knives, and the loser

will get nothing even fired. The Glengarry Glen Ross itself is a name of a

Florida real estate.

The numbers of losers in the competition immerge as an effect of a

competitive society. This situation has placed the characters into a Darwinian

world. Here, a Darwinian world is explained as societies in which the stronger

person will keep survive and the weak one will be eliminated. The harsh

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competition life pushes the situation into disaster. There are many people who

can only talk but they are not able to do any acts.

Here, Levene, one of the desperately salesmen, try to persuade the

office manager to get the best lead. Personality changing occurs in him shown

by his attitude to rob the office. Levene is a wise senior salesman, but he

undergoes a character regression so that he behaves like a criminal. It is

suspicious that Levene becomes the victim of the Darwinian system in the

American society.

This is a wonderful play in its unique language. Mamet evokes the

dialogue interestingly. There are some moments that the character uses

impolite languages. In this play, Mamet also reveals deep critics toward the

capitalism in the link of criminality in America.

This play is chosen in this study because as an interesting story, it can

arouse the reader’s curiosity to read the text until the end. The writer sees the

play from an interesting perspective, which regards Levene, the main character

as a criminal among his difficult condition. Mamet uncovers the main

character’s humanity aspect. Levene, who has reached the denomination of

“the machine” of selling, has to face a bitter reality that he gets old, and he

starts to loose on some important leads in the company. This situation forces

him to do a big crime.

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B. Problem Formulation

The writer designs analysis of the internal conflict of the character

Levene since he plays an important role in the play. There are three problems

in this thesis:

1. How is Levene characterized?

2. How is the Darwinian world prevailed in the play?

3. In what way is Levene victimized by the Darwinian world?

B. Objectives

The writer analyzes the Glengarry Glen Ross to reach three objectives. The

first objective of the analysis is to find out what kind of character Levene is. The

second one is to analyze how the Darwinian Theory prevails as the system of life

in Mamet’s Glengarry Glenn Ross. While the second objective is reached, the

writer continued the study to reach the third objective; to construct the implication

how the system victimized the character of Levene.

C. Definition of Terms

1. Darwinian World

Darwinism is the theory of evolution of species by natural selection,

purposed by the English natural historian Charles Darwin. (Hornby, 2003)

Darwinian world is a term to elude a condition in a society where there is a system

that immolates the weak for the importance of the strong.

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2. Victim

Victim is defined as a person, animal or a thing that is injured, killed or

destroyed as the result of crime, bad luck, and accident. (Hornby, 1995: 1326).

This also means anyone who is harmed, made to suffer by cruel or oppressive

treatment by another or the surrounding situation.

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CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL REVIEW

The writer describes some theories pertinent to the study in this chapter.

This chapter consists of three main parts. The first part is Review of the related

studies that discusses Brief Overview of Glengarry Glen Ross’ play. The second

part is review of the related theories. The last part is theoretical framework that

discuses the framework of the study.

A. Review of the Related Studies

In this sub chapter, the writer states several excerptions that related to the

study. Every work of literature cannot escape from the comments of the other

people. There are so many readers enjoying and paying deep attention to the

Glengarry Glen Ross’ play. Wendell Brock, at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

says:

“Glengarry Glen Ross” has made a lasting impact on the culture of venality, empowering writers of all stripes to think lean and mean. Just look at the black comedies of Neil LaBute, or the Ari Gold character on HBO’s “Entourage.” Perhaps writing dark is the best revenge. But even in the vilest of characters, we look for glimmers of truth and insight. In the Alliance production of “Glengarry,” such grace notes are few and far between.

(March 22, 2007)

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That quotation explains that Glengarry Glen Ross is drama that contains of

criticism toward the American culture in which there is no pure way of life.

Further, Glengarry Glen Ross portrays a harsh view of American business

society that not only contradicts, but also befouls the values of the American

Dream. The idealistic importance of fairness, equality, and the idea that hard work

brings success included in this dream of American society is clearly not realistic

in this play. Today people will do just about anything to get they want.

As a visible image of the situation of American society at the moment,

People are flattened as players in a game of checkers where each man can jump

any other man and become king. This concept of the society shows that there is a

competition of life in American society. The writer intends to analyze the

implication of the preceding situation toward the character changing of Levene as

the main character of the play.

Levene is the one who undergoes the foul consequences of the

competition situation in which places him into desperation. However, Levene

cannot accept the reality. His desperation is seen by his decision to rob his own

office. It is a picture that Levene has a weaker character than the other character.

The harsh life that he endures forces him to do the criminality. Starting from

levene’s attitude changing, the writer wants to connect the character changing and

the situation of the environment that victimized the character. Somehow, the

character changing of levene is forced by the social condition. The situation

forces him to compete with the other salesman but he has to face that he has got

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old. In order to eliminate the chance of being looser, Levene commits to cheat and

robs his own office to get the good lead.

Brock’s journal sees the play from the writer’s point of view as an impact

of the culture. In the other hand, this writing focuses on how Levene’s way of

working and his attitude changing that imply the condition in where he is

victimized by the surrounding situation. The study covers the characterization of

Levene, the Darwinian system that reveals as the surrounding situation and how

Levene is victimized by the system on the Marxist perspective.

B. Review on Related Theories

1. Character and Characterization

This study uses a play as the subject matter. In order to get better

understanding toward a literary work such a play, we have to know the character

of the play. Theory of character is needed in the analysis, since there will be

discussions related to the character of Levene, the main character. M.H Abrams in

A Glossary of Literary Terms defines character as:

Person presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral and dispositional qualities that are expressed in what they say-the dialogue-and what they do-the action. The grounds in a character’s temperament and moral nature for his speech and actions constitude his motivation. A character may remain essentially “stable”, or unchanged in his outlook and dispositions, from beginning to the end of a work, or he may undergo a radical change, either through a gradual development or as a result of an extreme crisis (1981:20).

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In order to support the theory of character, the theory proposed by

Murphy is deemed beneficial. According to Murphy, there are few ways the

author to attempt to make his characters understandable to, and come alive for, his

reader. (1972: 161-173).

a. Personal description.

The author can describe a person’s appearance and clothes.

b. Character as seen by another.

Instead of describing a character directly, the author can describe him

though the eyes and opinions of another. The reader gets, as it were, a

reflected image.

c. Speech.

The author can give us an insight into the character of one of the persons

in the book through what person says. Whenever a person speaks,

whenever he is in conversation with another he puts forward an opinion;

he is giving us some clue to his character.

d. Past life.

By letting the reader learn something about a person’s past life the author

can give us a clue to events that have helped to shape a person’s character.

This can be done by direct comment by the author, though the person’s

thought, though his conversation or thought the medium of another person.

e. Conversation of others.

The author can also give us clues to a person’s character through the

conversations of other people and the things they say about him. People do

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talk about other people and the things they say often gives as a clue to the

character of the person spoken about.

f. Reactions.

The author can also give us a clue to a person’s character by letting us

know how that person reacts to various situation and events.

g. Direct comments.

The author can describe or comments on a person’s character directly.

h. Thoughts.

The author can give us direct knowledge of what a person is thinking. In

this respect, he is able to do what we cannot do in real life. He can tell us

what different people are thinking. In the play, we accept this. The reader

then is in a privileged position; he has, as it were, a secret listening device

plugged into inmost thoughts of a person in a play.

i. Mannerisms.

The author can describe a person’s mannerism, habits or idiosyncrasies

which may also tell us something about his character.

Those are several ways in which the author makes the reader aware of the

personalities and character he writes.

2. Darwinian Theory

Before the writer explains the Darwinian system in America in the last

1980’s, the writer must also discuss about the basic knowledge about Darwinian

Theory.

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Charles Darwin, an English naturalist who is famous by producing

considerable evidence that species originated through evolutionary change, argues

that human population increases more quickly than food production, leaving

people competing for food and making charity useless. John L Randall, in his

Parapsychology and the Nature of Life states Charles Darwin’s law of jungle:

“The beautiful and Multitudinous adaptions of living creatures to their surroundings were attributed to the accumulation of a vast number of small, random changes over long periods of time. Only those changes which happened to increase the organism’s chance of survival were preserved; the unfit were ruthlessly eliminated before they were able to reproduce”. Evolutionary progress was thus shown to be the result of ‘blind chance’, working through the suffering and death of countless millions of creatures trapped in a relentless battle for survival”. (Randall, 1975: 10) Darwin also focuses on the evolution of human psychology and its

continuity with to the behaviors of animals. He developed his ideas that the

human mind and cultures were developed by natural and sexual selection. As he

concluded in Descent of Man, Darwin felt that despite all of humankind's "noble

qualities" and "exalted powers". Related to the Darwinian Theory, the situation of

American society in the early 1980’s is similar. There are only two choices in life,

struggling to keep survive or being eliminated in life.

Darwinism which much influences the way of American life contains as

two main ideas, struggle of life, and natural selection. Originally, those two ideas

appear as a result of Darwin’s research toward plantations and animals in the way

of defending their life. Naturally, plants and animals have a such of instinct to

defend their life.

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The idea of struggling life and natural selection carry much influences

toward the way of thinking of American. Like a duck to water they battle and

compete to defend their life among the multiple culture, race, religion, skin color,

language, economic level, social, and education. The orderliness of life is

arranged by the nature. Nature determines who will be the strong, and it means

that they who can be the strong will afford to life.

The Darwinian philosophy is proven by the lifestyle of American society.

People are forced to keep survive by dedicating their entire life for working. An

American’s most glamorous tycoon states;

“There is no typical week in my life. I wake up most mornings very early, around six, and spend the first hour or so of each day reading the morning newspaper. I usually arrive at my office by nine, and I get on the phone. There is rarely a day with fewer then fifty calls, and often, it runs to over a hundred. In between, I have at least a dozen meetings.” (Trump, 1988: 3).

The preceding quotation shows the effort of American society which have

to be strong in life if they will to survive. If not, there will be elimination by the

nature. It is just the similar as the Darwin’s survival theory. This principal later

motivates the society to be capitalists. It means that the society undergoes kinds of

process that are always related to a personal changing which tend to do criminal.

People try to compete which the other to defend. This answers to Darwin’s

description’s; On The Origin Of Species By Means of Natural Selection, Or The

Preservation of Favored Races In The Struggle For Life.

There will be some foul competitions where the powerful person can

suppress the weak. Only for those who are able to struggle who will survive in

life. By all means, the weak will be eliminated.

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3. Darwinian System Inside the American Society

Through Darwin’s Theory -- from fossil sloths to mockingbirds, primroses

to children -- the writer states that all creatures are related. Every living thing

shares an ancestry, he concluded, and the vast diversity of life on Earth results

from processes at work over millions of years and still at work today. The theory

of evolution by natural selection transformer the understanding of the living

world, much as the ideas of Galileo, Newton and Einstein revolutionized our

understanding of the physical universe.

Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection implies all modern life.

In America, on the early 80’s, there are so many unorganized urban worker

without any explicit right. It means that a worker can be fired anytime when the

work is not satisfying the boss. This condition is called attention to a beginning of

victimizing. It means that the social condition can place someone to be a victim of

the harsh life which occurs.

“There are still some millions of Americans who are without any organized expression if market power and whose standart of living and wellfare are categorical evidence of the consequences. These includes for example 2,3 million hired farm workers, the trully forgoten men in American life. They have no security or in their employment there are few that cannot be fired on a day’s noticed”. (Galbraith, 1952; 153).

The history of thought about evolution in general and paleontological

contributions specifically is often useful to the workers of America in the early

80’s. The ideas of Natural selection and struggle of life become a logical life cycle

in American society. In wilderness condition, the natural selection is the only

thing which can settle the ecosystem of life. This idea affects the American

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intellectual’s history which is famous by the name of Liberty. Here, the individual

freedom becomes the main point. The individual freedom in further can sprout up

the spirit to fight, being independent, and being optimist in life.

On the other hand, the idea of struggling life reveals in such of Darwinian

world like America. The struggle to keep the existence is automatically immerge

since the increasing number of population. Based on the nature, living things

make serious efforts to increase the number of their population. This natural

process much affects the American’s way of thinking in fighting for their life.

They have to fight each other to maintain their life. Without struggling, they will

be defeated by the others. The struggle of life does not only mean to struggle with

the other people, but also to against the nature such as animals, weather, situation,

food resources, and many more.

In general, the concept of Darwinism comes in useful for some branch of

sciences. The concept Darwinism Evolution functions as a good approach in

social and economic study. It is checked up with the idea of Adam Smith, a classic

economist who affirms that the planning in economic is determined by the market

mechanism. In America, free market competition becomes the basic of economy

which tends to capitalism.

4. Theory of Marxism

Marxism is a theory based on the perception of Carl Heinrich Marx.

Marx is a philosopher, politician, economic, from Prussia. During his life, Marx

arranges big theories related to social, economic, and politic system.

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Anthony Giddens in Capitalism and Modern Social Theory writes:

“There is a sense in which Marx’s writing span three centuries although Marx was born two decades after the opening of the nineteen century, and died well before the end of it, his writings have had their greatest influence in the twentieth century” (1971: 1)

This quotation shows that Marx’s conception has its powerful influence

in a very long period. In all over the world, Marx’s doctrine is opposed. It is

embattled by the bourgeois who regard that Marxism is a kind of an evil sect. the

bourgeois have this attitude because they claim that Marxism is a neutral social

perspective in the society in which class struggle is the basic of the movement.

While the liberal scientists plead the wage slavery, Marxism has announced a war

against the slavery.

In declaring his concept, Carl Marx is accompanied by his friend,

Friedrich Engels. Next, they write The Communist Manifesto. It is a pamphlet

that is firstly published in London in February 1848. Manifesto is written in the

middle of economical and political problem in Europe. Next, it becomes Marxist’s

political document that elaborates the basic conception of Marxist’s politic. They

attempted to provide a basis for dealing with all the questions that had been

brought up by the workers’ movement of the time. The ideas Marx developed are

still relevant today. Marx is a personage who to tries to describe what was wrong

with society. At the time he writes, he bellows the fact that industrialization brings

so many bad effects toward the social life. The social differentiation is more and

more apparent. His conception is about his supervision toward this phenomenon.

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Between some Marx’s theories, the most famed theory that appalling the

entire world is the conception of class struggle. Further, this idea will be used for

the analysis in this thesis.

Carl Marx proposes the idea of class struggle. He proposes this as his

way out for the proletariat class that seems to be the victim for many years. Henry

B. Mayo in his book Introduction to Marxist Theory flattens:

Under capitalism the class struggle is sharpening, and can end only in revolutionary victory for the proletariat, after which, in due course, there will follow the final synthesis of a communist society. (1960: 93)

This quotation can explain that class struggle is a kind of human

expression of the conflict of economic forces. When the proletariat is victimized

by the capitalist, they fight to escape from it. Basically, the proletariat agitate to

take over the power from the ruling class. It is espoused by Marx’s perception that

is asserted in his Marxism idea that regardless of man’s will there is the same

necessity in history as in nature. (Mayo, 1960: 194). Marx himself does not

mention that the class struggle is a prohibited action, but as a natural

phenomenon.

Based on Marx’s perception toward the position of human in the

nature, his outlook can be categorized into Darwinism. It can be proved by his

assertion in his Selected Works, 1942 that Darwin’s book is very important and

serves his as the basis in natural science for the class struggle history. But in

general, he refuses to view human history as merely a case of natural selection and

the survival of the fittest.

17

Besides the theory of class struggle there are several terms that are

follows it as unity. To have further understanding toward the terms, the theory

from Peter Barry is needed. In his Beginning Theory, Barry states some important

terms in Marx’s perspective. The first of all is Alienation. Alienation is acondition

in which the workers are deskilled and made to perform fragmented part of their

each job. In the condition of class struggle which is immerged by the competition

for economic, social, and political advance, there will be exploitation of one class

to another. According to Peter Barry, an exploitation which occurs among one

class toward another class in the class struggle can bring a kind of alienation.

(Barry, 2002: 157).

The alienation process further brings consequences. This consequence

occurs among the working class. Peter Barry states this consequence into a term

of reification. In this case, the workers are bereft of their full humanity and are

thought of as hands or the ‘labour force’ (Barry, 2002: 157). Reification describes

a situation of isolated workers in which the relation with the other workers is

indirect or only trough the mediation of things such as the circulation of the

company’s product.

In the Marx's conception, there is a central category for relating

expressions of human paradigm to the economic basis of social life which

condition them. This category is mentioned as Ideology. Barry states that ideology

is a paradigm which is believed by the society in the form of concept, images,

myths, or ideas that is agreed by historical role in the society. In his book, he

mentions ideology as ‘a system of representation at the heart of a given society’ to

18

give a concise definition which make culture a crucial vehicle of the values which

underpin the status quo in any society. (Barry, 2002: 157).

When we analyze the ideology on Marxism, there is a related terms that

united with it. This phenomenon is claimed with the notion of hegemony. Barry

states that hegemony is like an internalized form of social control which makes

certain views seems like ‘natural’ or invisible. It means that there is a condition in

which people reinforcing the ideology as if there is no compulsion and social

forces in fulfilling it.

C. Theoretical Framework

Some theories and reviews are needed in order to solve the problem of

the study. The reviews on related studies give some important knowledge about

comments and critics on Glengarry Glen Ross, which can give more information

in analyzing the play.

At the beginning of the study, the writer tries to make analysis on one

of the intrinsic elements, character. Here, the theory of character by Abrams and

Murphy is applied in order to support the deeper analysis toward the main

character of the play.

Starting from this point, the writer develops the studies by analyzing the

Darwinian system which occurs in the surrounding society. Definitions and

deeper information about Darwinian world is needed to give the analysis some

backgrounds that are important in understanding the social condition where the

main character occurs. Since the studies are analyzed using Marxist approach, the

19

theory of Marxism is applied. Marxist theory of class struggle is chosen to get

better understanding in analyzing about a certain social condition called

Darwinian world. In the class struggle, Darwinian system forms an exploitation of

one class to another. This situation immerges the term of alienation in which

person is alienated from the society and even from his daily life. Furthermore, the

alienated person will undergo the phenomenon of reification which will be

discussed also. These phenomenons are encouraged by the presence of ideology

and hegemony. Based on the preceding considerations, the writer makes analysis

on the Darwinian system in victimizing the main character.

20

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

This chapter provides information on the methodology and approaches to

apply the theories that have been mentioned in the previous chapter. This chapter

consists of two parts, Object of The Study, and Method of The Study, Object of

The Study, as the first part, provides information about the main sources of the

thesis. The second part explains the approach that is used in analyzing the literary

work.

A. Object of The Study

The object of the study in this thesis is Glengarry Glen Ross. This is a

play written by David Mamet in Chicago; early 1980s. People classify this work

into satire, tragic drama. The author writes the play in two acts, 114 pages. The

fist act consists of three scenes, and the second has only one scene. Most language

used in the play is not Standard English though the characters speak with heavy

slang and colloquial grammar. The play has published by Grove Press, New York

in 1984.

There are some characters in this play, but the main character is Shelly

Levene. The other characters are Ricky Roma, John Williamson, Dave Moss,

George Aaronow, James Lingk, Baylen, Mitch and Murray, Jerry Graff, Bruce

and Harriett Nyborg, and the last is Lemkin. The story is about a business based

society which only care about the amount of money they can earn. It deals with

21

harsh environment and survival of each character in selling. This situation gives

much impact toward the main character.

B. Approach of The Study

In order to give an exploration on how the main character, Shelly Levene

is victimized by the Darwinian world, the approach that is used in this study is

Marxism approach. This approach is used because Marxist theories reveal the

presentation of Darwinian System in which capitalism occurs as the cause of

conflict among different classes.

Starting from the condition of the competition society in the play of

Glengarry Glen Ross, the writer finds the phenomenon of class conflict which is

visualized as a class struggle. The struggle occurs among the salesman as the

working class to keep survives in the company. In here, the struggle is happened

against the company side. The exploitation of one class to another next immerges

the term of alienation in which the workers are not able to know the other part of

economic process that occurs out of their job so that they are isolated each other.

Furthermore, the alienated person will undergo the phenomenon of reification

which will be discussed also. This phenomenon is supported by the presence of

ideology and hegemony. (Barry, 2002: 157).

C. Method of The Study

Since this thesis is a library research, it uses so many data to make the

research understandable. The data is divided into two categories. First is the

primary data that is taken from the play itself, Glengarry Glen Ross. The second

22

data are taken from some books which concerned with Darwinism and Marxism.

The steps in doing the analysis are:

1. Reading Glengarry Glen Ross’ play. This is the basic of the other steps. This

step is purposed to find the part in the play that is going to be analyzed.

2. Studying the concept of Darwinism. By this study, the Darwinian word which

occurs in the story can be clear.

3. Starting from the preceding step, the victimization of Darwinian world toward

the main character can be seen through the Marxist’s perspective. It means

that the writer elaborates several terms on Marxism which related to the

discussion.

4. Concluding the result of this study by answering the three formulated

problems.

23

CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS

This chapter provides the answer of the questions formulated in the

previous chapter. This chapter is divided into three parts. In the first part of this

chapter, the main character in The Glengarry Glen Ross, which is presented by

Levene’s characters, will be analyzed through his characterization. In the second

part, the Darwinian world which is revealed in the play is analyzed. The last part

is about the Marxist analysis on how the major character is victimized by the

Darwinian world.

A. Characterization of Shelly Levene

This study focuses on the major character of Levene, a fifty year-old

salesman, who reaches his success years before the current time in the drama. His

good achieving in selling the leads makes him to reach the predicate “The

Machine”. In order to give deeper understanding about Levene’s character, the

writer provides a brief description of Shelly Levene’s characterization. Shelly

levene.

David Mamet does not specify how the character of Shelly Levene looks

and almost never specifies what the other characters' physical appearance.

However, Shelly Levene is introduced as a man who finds himself difficult to do a

kind of persuasive speech. The very first words of the play show this debility:

"John… John… John. Okay. John. John. Look: (Pause.)" (Page 1).

24

Here, we can see that Levene is a person that has no confidence. His

speech seems to be nervous. He finds difficulty in getting Williamson’s attention.

It shows levene’s posture of doubtfulness and unconfident. In the fist act, Shelly

Levene tries to convince Williamson, his boss, to give him the desirable sales

leads for the Glengarry Highlands development, which are the newest and best

leads in their office. It means that the lead is the most prospective which

customers likely to buy. Levene tries to convince Williamson that although he has

himself had a bad luck, he is still a master of salesman. He worries that the lead

will be given to another salesman. In order to do this, he mentions his record in

selling and furthermore, he suggests Williamson to ask Mitch and Murray, the

head of the company about the record.

LEVENE: What is this ‘you say’? A deal kicks out… I got to eat, shit, Williamson, shit. You… Moss… Roma… look at the sheets… look at the sheets. Nineteen eighty, eighty-one… eighty-two… six month of eighty-two… who’s there? Who’s up there?

WILLIAMSON: Roma. LEVENE: Under Him? WILLIAMSON: Moss. LEVENE: Bullshit. John. Bullshit. April, September

1981. It’s me. It isn’t fucking Moss. Due respect, he’s an order taker, John. He talks, he talks a good game, look at the board, and it’s me, John, it’s me…

WILLIAMSON: Not lately it isn’t. LEVENE: Lately kiss my ass lately. That isn’t how you

build an org… talk, talk to Murray. Talk to Mitch. When we were on Peterson, who paid for his fucking car? You talk to him. The Seville…? …

(Page 3)

25

The quotation above shows Levene’s panic attitude in facing the fact that

he has been defeated by the other salesmen in selling so that Williamson cannot

give Levene the Glengarry leads before the end of the month. Realizing that the

two worst performing salesmen will be fired at the end of the month, Levene

persuades Williamson to give the lead. It is a picture of Levene’s failure.

In the other way, the author gives a clue of dialogue that helps to shape a

certain character through his past story of life. Levene, is described in this way;

Shelly "The Machine" Levene is harped to be successful years ago, but recently

he faces a streak of bad luck because he cannot sell any good lead. In the case of

selling competition that is contested by the company, Levene finds his daughter is

very ill and the medical charges are enormous, and knows that he will lose his job

soon if he cannot turn things around. Next, he wants to save his career, and

everything he does instead shows his desperation.

As a person who has taken desperation in the middle of anxiety of being

fired, He tries to do anything to get the lead so that he can continue to work in the

company.

LEVENE: Wait. Alright. Fine (starts going in pocket for money) The one. Give me the lead. Give me the one lead. The best one you have

WILLIAMSON: I can’t split them (pause) LEVENE: Why? WILLIAMSON: Because I say so. LEVENE: (pause) Is that it? Is that It? You want to do

business that way…? (Williamson gets up, leaves money on the table.) You want to do business that way..? Alright. Alright. Alright. Alright. What is there on the other list…?

WILLIAMSON: You want something off the B list? LEVENE: Yeah, yeah.

26

WILLIAMSON: Is that what you’re saying? LEVENE: That’s what I’m saying. Yeah (pause) I’d like

something from the other list. Which, very least, that I’m entitled to. If I’m still working here, which for moments I guest that I am. (pause) What? I’m sorry I spoke harshly to you.

(Page 12)

From the conversation above, it can be seen that Levene strain to bribe

Williamson to give the good lead to him. This is a picture of Levene’s desperation

in facing his problem of life. This is ironical since Shelly Levene has reached a

good reputation in selling in the past. His desperation reaches a crest when Levene

commits to do a big crime, robbing the lead from his own office and sells it to

Jerry Graff for five thousand dollars. In the second act, Levene make a confession

in front of Williamson.

LEVENE: okay: I… Look: I’m going make it worth your while. I am. I turned this thing around. I close the old stuff, I can do it again. I’m the one’s going to close ‘em. I am! I am ‘Cause I turned this thing a… I can do that, I can do anyth… last night. I’m going to tell you. I was ready to do the Dutch. Moss gets me, “Do this, we’ll get well….” Why not. Big fuckin’ deal. I’m halfway hoping to get caught. To put me out of my… (pause) But it taught me something. What it taught me, that you got to get out there. Big deal. So I wasn’t cut out to be a thief. I was cut out to be salesman. And know I’m back, and get my balls back… and, you know, John, you have the advantage on me now. Whatever it takes to make it right, we’ll make it right. We’re going to make it right.

(Page 87)

This pronouncement shows that Levene does this misdoing because he

wants to get out from his bad situation for almost being fired. Actually he does not

27

want to be a thief but he is perforced to do so because he thinks that only by

selling that lead, he will out from the threatening being fired.

In general, Shelly Levine is described as a salesman who fells desperate in

facing his failure and his bad personal condition because of his daughter’s illness.

He does not ready to realize that the other salesman can bear him down in selling.

LEVENE And, and, and, I did it. And I put a kid through school. My daughter… She… and… Cold calling, fella. Door to door. But you don’t know. You don’t know. You never heard a streak. You never heard of “marshaling your sales force…” What are you, you’re a secretary, John. Fuck you. That’s my message to you. Fuck you and kiss my ass. You don’t like it, I’ll go talk to Jerry Graft. Period. Fuck you. Put me on the board. And I want three worthwhile leads today and I don’t want any bullshit about them and I want ‘em close together ‘cause I’m going to hit them all today. That’s all I have to say to you.

(Page 62)

This quotation figures Levene’s bad condition caused his daughter’s illness. In

this conversation, Levene insists Williamson to put his name on the board so that

he can get the premium lead.

Although the writer does not specify the main character’s physical

appearance, in short Shelly Levene can be described as a senior salesman who has

no longer good reputation in selling because of bad luck. He feels desperate in the

threat of loss his job. This situation is increased by the fact that the company does

not take care of his personal situation (his daughter’s illness). This insisting

condition force him to do anything to keep his job in the Mitch and Murray

Company.

28

B. The Darwinian World Presented in the Play

Darwinism brings so many great effects toward the development of

American thought and issue. The most influential ideas of Darwinism are Natural

selection and struggle for survival. Those two fundamental ideas come from

Charles Darwin’s research toward animal and plantation species to do instinctive

struggle for keeping their life.

The idea of natural selection and struggle for survival much influence

American way of thinking. They naturally struggle, compete each other to defend

their own viability. In a variety of culture, race, religion, language, and economic

level they live together to get each own dream. However, the life is organized by

the nature. By naturally, the universe determines who will be the strong that

means that only the strongest can win and going to life.

Those two ideas are a very logical cycle of life in American world as seen

in the life of salesman in the Glengarry Glen Ross. In the wilderness life of the

salesman competition life, the natural selection is the only rule that can handle the

system of life. This idea next develops into the idea of liberty. The individual

liberty is very appreciated in America because it can grow the spirit of struggling,

independent, and optimistic.

This part will discuss about two main idea, struggle for survival and

natural selection, which reveals in the play.

29

1. Struggle for Survival

Struggle for survival immerges because of the increasing number of

organic creature population. Two same animals, for example, dog, in a shortage,

can have a tight competition to get food in order to keep their life. This idea plays

an important role in forming American way of thinking in fighting for their life.

This can be seen in the competition atmosphere that happens in the salesmen’s

life, which is realized by the sales contest. In the sales contest, those who can

clear a certain high dollar will win a Cadillac. The runner up is going to get a set

of steak knives, and the loser will get nothing even fired.

The sales contest here, is a harsh portrayal of Darwinian world that forces

the salesmen to struggle and compete each other. This system of life has been

formed by the strongest one, the Mitch and Murray, the company where they

works. The condition seems to be unfair. However, the reality cannot be avoided.

Sometimes, the salesmen have to compete for the sake of the company’s

advantage, and they are threatened as the company’s robots. Here, we can see

from one of Levene’s dialogue that the sales contest is only purposed to give more

money to the company.

LEVENE: Fuck him. Fuck Murray. John? You know? You tell him I said so. What does he fucking know? He’s going to have a “sales” contest… you know what our sales contest used to be? Money. A fortune. Money laying on the ground, Murray? When the last time he went out on a sit? Sales contest? It’s laughable. It’s cold out there now, John. It’s tight. Money is tight. This ain’t sixty-five. It ain’t. It just ain’t. See? See? Now, I’m a good man—but I need a…

(Page 5)

30

This quotation shows Levene’s opinion about the sales contest which gives

advantage on the company only. On the contrary, the salesmen should do some

hard efforts.

This situation forces each salesman to make maximum effort to have

good reputation in selling. They have to struggle among their own friends.

Without struggling, they will be defeated by the other, and the worst, they can be

fired.

MOSS: The whole fucking thing… The pressure‘s just too great. You’re ab… you’re absolu… they’re too important. All of them. You go in the door. I… “I got to close this fucker, or I don’t eat lunch,” “Or I don’t win the Cadillac….” We fuckin’ work too hard. You work too hard. We all, I remember when we were at platt… huh? Glen Ross Farms… didn’t we sell a bunch of that…

(Page 15)

This quotation shows how tough the salesmen should do the effort of selling the

lead in order to get the Cadillac. The salesman are portrayed as one who have to

battle for their career if they do not want to face their ruination. They are forced to

have competition among their own friends in order to save their personal career,

and they have to struggle to prove that they are high competence salesman in the

company. This is how the struggle for survival reveals in the salesmen life.

2. Natural Selection

By the idea of natural selection, each single variety, if it is useful, will

always be survived. In his book, On the Origin of Species (1859), Charles Darwin

reveals that the species of finch bird will evolve by the natural process in the

natural selection. There will be only one who can make good adaptation who can

31

survive. This idea immerges the term of Survival of the fittest in which only the

strongest will survive to live. It is based on the universal nature of law in which

one who are not able to defend their own life will die by themselves.

The same thing prevails with human life, as figured to the characters of

salesmen in the Glengarry Glen Ross. The salesmen also go into a process of

natural selection so that no one can interfere it.

The sales contest is the real example of the natural selection that occurs in

the character’s social life. Here, the appreciation of selling only given for the one

who can reach certain amount of selling. For those who can reach the higher rate

of selling, there will be a Cadillac. On the contrary, they will be fired if they

cannot reach a certain good selling. Ironically, the good lead is only given to the

salesman who has reached good record in selling.

WILLIAMSON: Let me tell you something, Shelly. I do what I’m hired to do. I’m… wait a second. I’m hired watch the lead. I’m give… hold on, I’m given a policy. My job is to do that. What I’m told. That’s it. You, wait a second, anybody falls below a certain mark I’m not permitted to give them the premium leads.

LEVENE: Then how do they come up above that mark? With dreck…? That’s nonsense. Explain this me. ‘Cause it‘s a waste, and it’s a stupid waste . I want to tell you something…

(Page 5)

The quotation above shows that Williamson is hired to give the good lead only to

the salesman who has good record. Next, Levene tries to have a notion . It is

impossible for him to reach the good record when he never gets a change. This

situation depicts that the strong one can be stronger, and the weak will weaker. It

is collateral with the idea of survival of the fittest.

32

C. The Ways Levene is Victimized by the Darwinian world

Analyzing the Darwinian world in case of victimizing the main character

cannot be separated with the talking point of Marxism. Since the story talks about

the life of salesmen, it is indeed related to economic pressure that happens among

them. This situation forces the salesmen group to make a kind of struggle in order

to keep survive, included the struggle against the company side. The Marxist’s

conception perceives it as the phenomenon of class struggle. In the class struggle,

there is exploitation of one class to another. This situation immerges the term of

alienation. Furthermore, the alienated person will undergo the phenomenon of

reification which will be discussed also. These phenomenons are encouraged by

the presence of ideology and hegemony.

1. Class struggle

Class struggle can be started by a process of bargaining between

employer and the employee, or between the company and the workers. However,

these processes will not always going well. Sometimes, there will be

misunderstanding or even injustice treatment occurs between the company and the

workers. When it happens, the relation between them will be broken.

As seen in the play, The Mitch and Murray, the bosses of the company,

feels easy to control the salesman in order to reach the maximum profit for the

company. This quotation below shows that the number of dollars which the

salesmen reach is for the good of the company only.

WILIAMSON: You know what those lead cost?

33

LEVENE: The premium leads. Yes. I know what they cost. John. Because I, I generated the dollar revenue sufficient to buy them. Nineteen senny-nine, you know what I made? Senny-nine? Ninety-six thousand dollars. John? For Murray... For Mitch... look at the sheets...

(Page 5)

Here, Levene, as a senior salesman claims that he has earned so many dollars.

And it is intended to ameliorate his personal economic life, but it is in the

importance of work in the company. Next, the dialogue below also shows how

the salesman is totally exploited in the by the company.

MOSS: That’s what I’m saying. Why? The leads. He’s got the good lead... what are we, we’re sitting in the shit here. Why? We have to go to them to get them. Huh. Ninety percent our sale, we’re paying to the office for the leads.

(Page 20)

Here, can be seen that every in every lead that can be sold, the salesman can only

get ten percent only. The company means everything because it is the only side

that has the big capital. It is proven by the company’s policy to announce a

miserly selling contest for the salesmen. Here, the company pays the role as the

capitalist class who can role the game by announcing the cruel policy.

MOSS: To say “I’m going on my own.” ‘Cause what you do, George, let me tell you what you do: you find yourself in thrall to someone else. And we enslave ourselves. To please. To win some fucking toaster... to... to... and the guy who got there first made up those...

AARONOW: That’s right... MOSS: He made up the rules, and we’re working for

him. AARONOW: That’s the truth... MOSS: That’s the God’s truth. And it gets me

depressed. I swear that it does. At MY AGE.

34

To see a goddamn: “Somebody wins the Cadillac this month. P.S. Two guys get fucked.”

AARONOW: Huh. (Page 21)

The workers have rarely accepted their lot without fighting back. There seem like

slaves in the modern daily life in America. That is why Karl Marx began his

pamphlet The Communist Manifesto by insisting, ‘The history of all hitherto

existing societies has been the history of class struggles.’ The growth of

civilisation depends on the exploitation of one class by another, and therefore on

the struggle between them.

That is why Karl Marx used to refer to the means of production as ‘dead

labour’. When businessmen boast of the capital they possess, in reality they are

boasting that they have gained control of a vast group of the labour of previous

generations, and that does not mean the labour of their ancestors, who laboured no

more than they do now. They claim that if only the workers work harder, more

wealth will be created, and that this would make possible more investment in new

machinery. This same thing occurs in the way of thing of Mitch and Murray as the

owner of the company. The salesmen can be categorized as the labour class who

can only perform the policy and accept the worst risk, fired from the company.

The promised first prize, a Cadillac is used to tantalize the worker to compete

each other in order to reach good record in selling. It means that the number of

selling will increase and the company can scoop more profit from the workers.

Salesmen in the play are portrayed as a group of people that is always

alienated. They are regarded as a group of people who annoys the others by their

35

offer of selling. Their presence in every home will be perceived badly. On the

other hand, the group of salesman is often upstaged badly by the company they

work. Their presence is exploited by the company to scoop so much money as

they can for the company. However, their prosperity is almost forgotten. The

Darwinian world perceives them into a position where they have to struggle to

make the world appreciate to their existence. This struggle will not always happen

between the salesmen group toward the society or the company, but it also occurs

among each salesman. It means that they competes each other to prove who is the

best, and the weak will be eliminated as what always happen in the Darwinian

system.

The characters in the play are forced to do economic struggle by trying to

sell good lead as much as they can. Their success is depended on their sales rate.

This struggle can be seen in the major character, Shelly Levene. Since Levene is

the major character of the play, the analysis is now focusing on him. Basically,

Levene is the one who force himself to maintain good selling reputation that he

has reached years ago so that he feel that he is the one who should get the best

lead to sell. In the first scene, there is Levene’s dialogue that shows how to get the

right lead and the struggle in maintaining the reputation is really important.

LEVENE: John... john... John... Okay. John. John. Look: (pause) The Glengarry Highland’s leads, you’re sending Roma out. Fine. He’s a good man. We know what he is. He’s fine. All I’m saying, you look at the board, he’s trowing... wait, wait, wait, he’s trowing them away, he’s trowing the leads away. All that I’m saying, that you’re wasting the leads. I don’t want to tell you your job. All I’m saying, things get set, I know they do, you get a certain

36

mindset.... A guy gets reputation. We know how this... All I’m saying, put a closer on the job. There’s more than one man for the... Put a... wait a second, put a proven man out... and you watch, now wait a second – and you watch your dollar volumes... your start closing them for fifty stead of twenty five... you put a closer on the...

(Page 1)

As a senior salesman in the office at his forty, Levene considers himself as the one

who will always be in the highest grade of the selling record. However, Levene is

the tragic figure in the play. From the first moments of the play, there is portrayed

that Levene is a man on the edge of failure. By trying to elude that failure through

any desperate measures he can, he ends up making his troubles all the worse.

Actually "Bad luck" is not Levene's only problem, but he always use this term to

cover his failure. Because of his fear to have a deeper failure, he clings to

anything that will make him feel successful. He is often boastful of his past

accomplishments with the company.

LEVENE: Bullshit. John. Bullshit. April, Sebtember 1981. It’s me. It isn’t fucking Moss. Due respect, he’s an order taker, John. He talks, he talks a good game, look at the board, and it’s me, John, It’s me...

(Page 3)

In the middle of Darwinian world which the system is brutal and

compassionless, Levene grasps at anything that might help him appear successful.

When he makes a sale to the Nyborgs (which, disgracefully, turns out to be no

good), he instantly starts into amusing the office with his falsehood of his triumph

in the past. Moreover, Levene feels that his success gives him the upper hand on

37

Williamson, whom he barks at whenever he has the opportunity. Of course, we

sense that Levene's treatment of Williamson will end up contributing to his own

downfall. Levene may very well have been a fine salesman in his youth, though

surely not so great as he claims, but now he has grown older and the company no

longer has any use for him. Here, the Author tries to suggest that such a system

that teaches people to chase success and failure has also trained Levene to self-

destruct. It is also an image of class struggle that is done by Levene in order to

against his own group, the salesmen. The vanity of Levene’s in front of

Williamson is an effort of struggle between the workers which is underlayed by

his economic forces.

The other kind of the struggle done by the salesman is the struggle

against the company. In the Darwinian world, each individual or even group tries

to do everything to maintain their existence. The same case occurs to the salesmen

that are portrayed in the dialogue below:

MOSS: Someone should stand up and strike back. AARANOW: What do you mean? MOSS: Somebody... AARONOW: Yes...? MOSS: Should do something to them. AARONOW: What? MOSS: Something. To pay the back. (pause)

Someone, someone should hurt them. Murray and Mitch.

AARONOW: Someone should hurt them. MOSS: Yes. AARONOW: (pause). How? MOSS: How? Do something to hurt them. Where they

live. AARONOW: What? (pause) MOSS: Someone should rob the office AARONOW: Huh.

(Page 22)

38

Those two salesmen plan an action to bother the stability of the Mitch

and Murray Company. Although it is just a plan, it indicates a resistance moves by

the employee class against the company because unfair treatment that they

undergo. There is no wonder that this indication is significant to be flattened since

it will amend into another real action that is done by Shelly Levene. He commites

to do real thing to rob the office in order to get the premium lead. This is a real

resistant that is done by the salesmen against the capitalist, Mitch and Murray

company.

Levene's struggle to avoid his failure affects to the consequences of his

professional end. There is a blamelessly environment. At the play's climax,

Levene asks Williamson why Williamson is going to report him to the police, and

Williamson responds, "Because I don't like you." This response appears because

Levene's has insulted Williamson, but it is also because Levene has showed a sign

of failure from the start of the play, and Williamson, a businessman himself, has

been trained to fear and hate failure.

Clearly the phenomenon of class struggle implies the Marx’s conception

in where there is a process of bargaining between employer and the employee, or

between the company and the workers. When the process is not going well, there

will be misunderstanding or even injustice treatment occurs between the company

and the workers. When it happens, the relation between them will be broken as

seen in the relation among the salesman with the company.

39

2. Alienation

The class struggle emerges by the competition for economic, social, and

political advantage. In this condition, there will be exploitation of one class to

another. According to Peter Barry, this exploitation can bring a kind of alienation.

This result of this exploitation is alienation, which is the state which comes about when the worker is deskilled and made to perform fragmented, repetitive task in a sequence of whose nature and purpose he or she has no overall grasp. (Barry, 2002: 157)

Here, Barry states that the worked can only know a sequence of company

process that he use to do. It means that workers are not able to know the other part

of economic process that occurs out of their job. They are regarded as a poor tool

to do a certain part of work in the company. This situation positions them to be

isolated from the other workers who have another part of work. It means that they

do not know the other part outside their own job. The workers will not know the

entire economic process happens like how much profit that the company can earn,

how much the product of the company is prepared, or how the quality of the

company’s products. Since the company is owned by the other person (capitalist)

the workers are alienated from the company’s of product. The only thing that they

know is only their own work. For example, a worker who has responsibility to

deliver product will not know about how the product is made or how much the

company can earn the profit from it. It means that the workers have no control to

the process of production. This situation forms the whole workers into some parts

that is separated each other. They are considered as a part of machine that should

always move without knowing the other part’s affair. This situation forces the

workers to be alienated from their friends. The workers are also alienated from

40

themselves since their life is totally dedicated to work override their own

individual life.

Since Glengarry Glen Ross was born in the capitalist society era, it is

important to get down to the Alienation that occurs toward the main character. As

one of the salesmen in the Mitch and Murray Company, Shelly Levene portrays a

clear image of alienated person. Levene’s job is to sell the lead to the customer

and this should be done no matter what happen to him. Unfortunately, he has not

made a sale in some time. He is desperate for money, mainly because his daughter

is very ill and the medical charges are very expensive. He realizes that he will lose

his job soon if he cannot turn things around. He tries to convince office manager

John Williamson to give him the Glengarry lead which is potential for selling.

However, Williamson refuses. Levene tries first to charm Williamson, then to

threaten him, and finally to bribe him. Williamson is willing to sell some of the

prime leads, but demands cash in advance. Levene cannot come up with the cash

and must leave without any good leads to work with.

Here, we can see how Williamson as the office manager does not care

about his salesmen’s condition. The only thing that he cares is that he knows that

the salesmen will sell the lead to the customer no matter their condition. He has no

affair with Levene’s personal condition. Starting from this point, the alienation

toward these workers is clear. Levene, as a salesman is supposed only to sell the

lead, and Williamson, as the office manager is supposed to be resolute toward the

salesmen. They do not understand each other because they have been fragmented

by their own responsibilities in the company.

41

From the other point of view, Levene is clearly alienated because of the

company’s treatment toward him. In first conversation between Levene and

Williamson, Levene tells his good record in selling. It is not impossible for

Levene selling so many leads for the company. Ironically, he is not able to control

the price of the lead. As a salesman, he can only see the amount that the company

earns but only a small number of the amount is given to him as a bonus. This

situation portrays how Levene is fragmented by the system in the company.

3. Reification

In the capitalism community, alienation which occurs toward the

workers will bring another consequence. In this case, an alienated worker can

undergo a process of reification.

It concerns the way when capitalist goals and questions of profit and loss are paramount, worker are bereft of their full humanity and are thought of as hands or the ‘labour force’, so that, for instance, the effect of industrial closures are calculated in purely economic terms. People, in a word, become things. (Barry, 2002: 157)

The quotation above flattens that in the capitalist system, the alienated

workers are automatically placed as a thing to handle a certain job in the system.

They are regarded as machine that are supposed to work and work in order to

fulfill the profit’s target of the company. It means that the workers are inhumanely

threatened. They will not be given their humanity rights since the first priority of

the company’s goal is merely financial profit. In this care, the worker becomes

things. They are not regarded as subject matter of the company process, but as

42

object for exploitation so that the workers do not confront each other directly as

social beings.

This situation is clearly seen in the story of the play. The relationship

among the worker of Mitch and Murray Company is merely a relation among the

leads as their product. There is no good personal relation among the characters of

the story. Their conversation is merely about their work. While one of them talks

about his personal problem, the other will pay no attention on it. It can be seen

from the persuasion of Levene toward Williamson when he tries to convince

Williamson about her ill daughter. Here, Williamson does not take a pity on

Levene. The only thing that Williamson cares is only his job to give the lead

based on the salesmen’s rate of achievement. As the main character, Shelly

Levene figures the situation of the office in which there is no empathy at all.

Visually, the salesmen work together in the same company, but Levene senses a

relation that is bounded by a job. Out of the job affairs, there is no personal

relation at all. Starting from this point, there can be revealed that there is a

situation that Levene is put away. It is when Levene is no more productive in

selling and the junior starts to shift his selling records. This case proves how the

relation between the characters in the play is bounded as a relation among their

professional work. There is no social and moral value amending among the

relationship.

The characteristic of reification is that the aim of the capitalist

company is merely to look for the most productive worker without considering the

personal reason of the worker. The worker that is not so productive will be

43

eliminated from the system. It is clearly visible from the sales competition

process. In the sales competition, only the best salesmen will get a fair

appreciation from the company. However, the salesmen who are not in the good

position on the score board will be fired. This is the situation in which Shelly

Levene is victimized. The Mitch and Murray Company does not take attention

toward Levene’s personal condition including his ill daughter. This situation

threatens to be fired.

Although the social relation among the characters is veiled, but as a

worker of a particular job in the company, the possession sense toward their own

job compels each individual worker to participate to the process of the company

movement. It means that though each salesman does not personally care each

other, professionally they work together still in a competition atmosphere.

4. Ideology

In the framework of Marx's thought, the concept of ideology is the

central category for relating expressions of human paradigm to the economic basis

of social life which condition them. Ideology is a concept which can be variously

defined by Marxism. Barry, in his Beginning Theory states:

We can pare this as ‘a system of representation at the heart of a given society’ to give a concise definition which make culture (including literature) a crucial vehicle of the values which underpin the status quo in any society. These values and assumptions are usually implicit, often unrecognized, but suffuse all the artefacts and all the culture of a given time. (Barry, 2002: 163)

44

Starting from Barry’s definition above, it can be said that ideology is a paradigm

which is believed by the society in the form of concept, images, myths, or ideas

that is agreed by historical role in the society.

At the early eighties, the society in America is based on business

sector. It can be seen from the salesmen’s way of life which proud to be called as

businessman, as if each character wants to say “I am here to do business”. It

means that only the economic level which can determine the society. There is no

dominant model between base and superstructure. This paradigm encourages both

characters, especially Shelly Levene struggling to stick out for his job as a

salesman. Actually he realizes that the position of salesman is unpleasantness and

always be underestimated. However, he will be more underestimated by the

society if he loss his job. This conception of society makes a paradigm that to be

fired means dead loss so that everyone will do anything to maintain his job,

including Levene who finally committed to rob his own office. Here the social

status becomes the main encouragement for Levene to maintain his job.

The ideology which grow in the society’s mind also influence the way

of thinking of the salesmen. No matter how the company threats his as a thing to

sell their product, the salesmen keep trying to maintain their job. Rationally, they

realize that they are slaved, but there is no choice. This dialogue portrays how the

salesman wills to keep working even knowing that they are enslaved;

MOSS To say "I'm going on my own." 'Cause what you do, George, let me tell you what you do: you find yourself in thrall to someone else. And we enslave ourselves. To please. To win some fucking

45

toaster...to...to... and the guy who got there first made up those...

AARONOW That's right... MOSS He made up those rules, and we're

working for him. AARONOW That's the truth...

(Page 21)

In the Marxian view, the dialogue above is particularly influenced by economic

aspects, which determine the nature of law and perception of the society. The

salesmen in the play work by the virtue of maintaining their social status. There is

an ideology that if a person wants to have a social status, he has to work, and

when he is working, he has to be ready to be exploitated.

.

5. Hegemony

Analyzing ideology on Marxism is automatically related with the

notion of hegemony.

Hegemony is like an internalised form of social control which makes certain views seem like ‘natural’ or invisible so that they hardly seem like views at all, just the way things are. (Barry, 2002: 164-165)

The quotation above means that hegemony is a condition in which people

reinforcing the ideology as if there is no compulsion and social forces in fulfilling

it. Althusser give a clear image in which people are made to feel that they can

choose while really they have no choice. He claims that this phenomenon is

merely a capitalist’s trick. This trick is called by the name intetpelation. It is

The modern usage of hegemony comes from the Italian Communist,

Antonio Gramsci. He has developed theories that make a lasting contribution to

Marxism and social theory. Based on him, the political dominant class is also

46

ideologically dominant so that the dominated classes accept its moral and

intellectual leadership. Gramsci see the idea largely in terms of the Marxist

struggle against capitalism, but the notion has wider implications. Anyone who is

concerned with politics, history or social theory, sooner or later, will be related to

hegemony. In hegemony, a person undergoes a kind of consciousness of his

position. The ideas of the ruling class continue to prevail over the ideas of all

other classes. It means that the social superiors set the patterns of the inferior

thinking. However, the inferior class do not realize of it.

Related to the play, the Mitch and Murray Company is a portrayal of a

ruling class and the salesmen are the inferior class. Here, the company rule has

forms the way of the salesmen work. By the selling competition, they make the

salesmen work very hard and compete each other. However, the salesmen regard

it as their normal job. As a result they are automatically formed into hard workers

that almost do not have time to relax. The company makes a scoring board to note

the rate of the salesmen based on their selling. Subconsciously the salesmen are

challenged to compete each other.

As the main character that undergoes most of the Darwinian system,

seems that Levene endures his hard work as salesman ungrudgingly. He does the

work everyday as if there is nothing wrong with the system. He does not prefer to

look for another job when the Company does not take care of his daughter illness.

As a conscious worker, he should realize that the system in the company is totally

harming him. However, the Darwinian system that occurs in the period has

formed his conception of working. Levene do the hard work as if it is a normal

47

condition that should be happen to all workers. This situation is regarded as a

normal thing that forces him to do the best for his grade in the company. Even so,

his final decision to rob the office destroys his hope.

The discussion about how Levene is victimized is about how the

lifestyles and the way of think of people in the middle of Darwinian world affect

the chances that a Levene person will fall victim to a crime. However, all of

Levene struggle against the other characters and the Mitch and Murray Company

does not end in success. What he says is that he owes certain support because of

what he has done and because of who he is. But in the end of the play, he betrayed

himself. The Darwinian System forced him to do a crime that is impossible for

such a senior character as Levene. Somehow, his decision instead make the things

worst. His carrier must end in the jail. It is a reversal of his past condition that is

formed by the Darwinian world.

48

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

Having analyzed the Glengarry Glen Ross and considering the topic

of this thesis, the writer concludes that the main character of the play, Shelly

Levene, is victimized by the Darwinian world.

A. The Characterization of Shelly Levene

Levene is described as a senior salesman who has taken desperation in

the middle of anxiety of being fired. He is figured as a character who desperate in

facing his failure and his bad personal condition because of his daughter’s illness.

In the fist act, Shelly Levene tries to convince Williamson, his boss, to give him

the desirable sales leads for the Glengarry Highlands development, which are the

newest and best leads in their office. It means that the lead is the most prospective

which customers likely to buy. Levene tries to convince Williamson that although

he has himself had a streak of bad luck lately; he is still a master of salesman. He

worries that the lead will be given to another salesman. In order to do this, he

mentions his record in selling and furthermore, he suggests Williamson to ask

Mitch and Murray, the head of the company about the record. He does not ready

to realize that the other salesman can bear him down in selling. The desperation

and self failure that happens toward the main character immerges such a irony.

There is an ironical moment when Levene who has been called as a ‘machine’ of

49

selling commited to rob his own office because he realizes that he starts to fail in

selling. It is really ironic when mature senior salesmen like Levene commits to do

a big crime and ends in jail. It is a picture of people’s anxiety to face their failure.

The failure of Levene is sharpened by the competition situation which called

Darwinian World.

B. Darwinian World Presented in the Play

Darwinism brings so many great effects toward the development of

American thought and issue. The most influential ideas of Darwinism are Natural

selection and struggle for survival. Those two fundamental ideas come from

Charles Darwin’s research toward animal and plantation species to do instinctive

struggle for keeping their life.

The idea of natural selection and struggle for survival much influence

American way of thinking. They naturally struggle, compete each other to defend

their own viability. In a variety of culture, race, religion, language, and economic

level they live together to get each own dream. However, the life is organized by

the nature. By naturally, the universe determines who will be the strong that

means that only the strongest can win and going to life. Those two ideas are a very

logical cycle of life in American world as seen in the life of salesman in the

Glengarry Glen Ross. In the wilderness life of the salesman competition life, the

natural selection is the only rule that can handle the system of life.

50

C. The ways Levene is Victimized By the Darwinian World

In line with the topic, to analyze the Darwinian world in case of

victimizing the main character cannot be separated with Marxism. Since the story

talks about a business based society of salesmen, it is indeed related to economic

pressure that happens among them. This situation forces the salesmen group to

make a kind of struggle in order to keep their job. It does not shut the possibility

to struggle against the company side.

On Marxist’s perspective, the character of Levene can be categorized to

be victimized by the Darwinian world since he undergoes the phenomenon of

class struggle. In the Darwinian world, each individual or even group tries to do

everything to maintain their existence. Levene commits to rob the office in order

to get the premium lead. This is a real resistant that is done by the salesmen

against the capitalist, Mitch and Murray company. However, Levene's struggle to

avoid his failure affects to the consequences of his professional end.

In the class struggle, there is exploitation of one class to another. In this

case, the Mitch and Murray Company play a role as the capitalist who can role the

workers. This situation immerges the term of alienation. It means that workers are

not able to know the other part of economic process that occurs out of their job. In

here, Levene is victimized on his limited authority and freedom. As a salesman,

he has the only right to sell the lead. He does not have any right to know the

company process or to protest of the system in the company. Levene is also

51

alienated from himself since his life is totally dedicated to work override his own

individual life.

Furthermore, Levene, as an alienated person undergoes the phenomenon

of reification. It means that levene is inhumanely threatened. He is not given his

humanity rights since the first priority of the company’s goal is merely financial

profit. In this care, he becomes things. The situation of isolated workers forms a

indirect relation with the other workers or only trough the mediation of things

such as the circulation of the company’s product. In this case, the relation of

Levene with the other workers is only trough the mediation of work. The

relationship among the worker of Mitch and Murray Company is merely a relation

among the leads as their product. As a result, there is no good personal relation

among the characters of the story.

This phenomenon comes from the presence of ideology and hegemony.

The ideologies which grow in the business based society’s mind also influence

Levene’s way of thinking. No matter how the company threats him as a thing to

sell their product, he keeps trying to maintain his job. Rationally, he should realize

that he is slaved, but there is no choice.

In the middle of strong ideologies, there is a condition in which Levene

reinforcing the ideology as if there is no compulsion and social forces in fulfilling

it. The Mitch and Murray Company, as a ruling class has forms the way of Levene

should work. By the selling competition, they make him work very hard and

compete the other salesmen. However, Levene regard it as their normal job. As a

52

result, he is automatically formed into a hard worker that does not have time for

his own affair.

Levene is oppressed by the condition and the Darwinian system. His ill

daughter drives him into a corner of desperation. This how the Darwinian system

victimizes him till Levene decides to rob his office. At the play's climax,

Williamson reports him to the police.

53

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