Mammet

Mammet American culture in the twentieth century changed from family values and hard workers of previous generations to greed and status by the nineteen eighties. In the nineteen eighties college students were more interested in getting rich quick and the status they could achieve rather than working hard to live moderately (Whitley 8). It was during this time that phrases such as ‘If you got it, flaunt it’ and ‘Shop til you drop’ were coined (Whitley 1). Literature and theater of this time also took on these ideas. One of the playwrights of this time was David Mamet, which is known for his distressed characters and his use of emphasis on risqué language (Speace 1). One of his works, Glengarry Glen Ross, is a well know play that was made into a movie. In Glengarry Glen Ross, Mamet used his character’s strong language and actions to demonstrate the myth that succeeding in American business proves one’s masculinity. He received a Pulitzer Prize in 1984 for this work. Mamet has a particular style of writing that has been termed ‘Mametspeak’ because of its uniqueness (Liu 1). Similar to other writers of the eighties, office, masculinity, leads, levene, deal, tries, moss, williamson, play, mamet, business, aaronow, roma, man, glengarry, sales, one, shows, salesman, men, new, good, american, time, salesmen, ross, lingk, just, glen, close, steal, says, out, job, game