Glengarry Glen Ross, Act 1 scenes 1-2

As mentioned in class, I had to read a few pages of the play before I could catch on to the rhythm and understand exactly what was going on. The play begins with two men, Levene and Williamson, chatting in a booth at a Chinese restaurant. It sounds to me like they are in the sales business. Levene is begging Williamson to give him the good leads. The use of the word "leads" was a little misleading for me because then I thought that they might be in journalism. Levene is desperate to make the top of the "board," and it sounds as if his job depends on it. He is very temperamental and constantly is losing his cool and then apologizing for saying certain things to Williamson. I am not positive about Williamson's role in all of this. Is he a secretary for the bosses or is he one of the bosses? He often claims he will be fired and that he must do what he is told. However, it seems that the only thing that will sway Williamson is money that Levene does not have. This already hints at the capitalistic theme in the play that was mentioned in class on Monday. The system that the company has seems to me to be a bit flawed. They tell Levene that he must get back on the board, but they only give him second rate leads that are not going to make a sale. The whole entire first scene Levene is arguing for a lead and appears to making progress if he is willing to pay some money to Williamson, but by the end of the scene he still ends up with a lead that is on the "B-list." In the second act it is Moss and Aaronow sitting at the booth in the Chinese restaurant. They start complaining about the Indians who chat it up with them making them believe that they are going to make a sale and then are not interested. Moss says, "They're lonely, something." Once again the only concern is the money and not establishing a relationship with the customer. They talk about the hierarchy that exists in the office. If you sell the most, you get a Cadillac. If you do not sell enough, you get a set of steak knives. Finally, the worst two salesmen get fired. They mention a Jerry Graff who they claim runs a better business than Mitch and Murray. Moss actually suggests that someone should rob them and take their best leads. He plays this out like it is just an idea but Aaronow comes to realize he is serious and has even talked to Jerry Graff about it. Apparently Graff is willing to pay them for stealing the leads for him. Moss reveals that it may be more money than he let on but still plans to give Aaronow the same amount he said at first. He is also making Aaronow actually perform the robbery. Once again, this emphasizes the greed and importance of money.

VOCABULARY:
Lead: the identity of a human or entity potentially interested in purchasing a product or service, and represents the first stage of a sales process
(WIKIPEDIA)