Glengarry Glen Ross Literary Elements

Glengarry Glen Ross Literary Elements

Genre

Drama

Language

English

Setting and Context

A Chinese Restaurant and a sales office in Chicago 1983

Narrator and Point of View

POV is that of Roma, Levene primarily

Tone and Mood

Serious, Dramatic

Protagonist and Antagonist

Protagonist if Levene. Antagonist is Williamson

Major Conflict

Sales leads are stolen from Williamson's office and a Detective has been called in to interrogate everyone in the office.

Climax

Levene reveals unwittingly that he is the thief. He goes into meet with the Detective after Roma attempts to make a pact with him to help him sell real estate.

Foreshadowing

Moss and Aaronow's discussing stealing the leads at the opening of the play foreshadows that the leads will be taken later in the play.

Understatement

Levene's daughter's difficult situation is understated.

Allusions

The play is an allusion to the desperate means by which we operate in order to have success, identity and a place in the world. That we work and grub for money, rather than earning it.

Imagery

The imagery of the sets, including a Chinese restaurant and the sales office, shows the limited world that these men exist in. It narrows their lives in that we don't see their families nor their personal existence, which points to the nature of how salesmen actually exist.

Paradox

Moss and Aaronow are the obvious thieves who stole the leads as we hear them plot early in the play. Paradoxically, it is Levene who gets to them before they do.

Parallelism

Roma attempting to bring Levene under his wing by selling himself as partners, that he's going to do good with him parallels Roma selling Lingk earlier in the play.

Personification

Roma is the personification of manipulation of the highest degree. He creates an emotional connection with clients in order to make them believe they are doing this great thing by buying, when in truth he is playing on their weaknesses in order to get what he wants, the money.

Use of Dramatic Devices

Roma's monologue to Lingk shows the slick and penetrating nature of a salesman: someone who could make you believe anything and cause you to act out of your own nature.

Update this section!

You can help us out by revising, improving and updating this section.

Update this section

After you claim a section you’ll have 24 hours to send in a draft. An editor will review the submission and either publish your submission or provide feedback.

Cite this page