In his play "Waiting for Lefty" Clifford Odets attempts to shake up the jaded American public of the 1930s by providing examples of ordinary people who, with a little persuasion, rise above above the capitalist chaos in which they live. they have inherited and take their destinies into their own hands. In his work, Odets depicts the common man as honest, sacrificial, and exploited, while big business and government are depicted as enemies of the proletariat, anonymous corporations of rich men intent on shattering dreams. Odets makes his point: to survive in the unforgiving world of Depression-era America, one must ally with others, make the necessary sacrifices, and live for oneself, not for a paycheck or in a state of deluded fantasy. plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The centerpiece of the play, the gradual movement toward a strike for a group of taxi drivers, begins with an anti-striker, aptly named Fatt for both his physical and fiscal qualities, delivering a speech railing against the idea of a strike. Using unity as a means to force dissatisfied workers into sedation, he proclaims, "I am against the strike. Because we must stand behind the man [FDR] who stands behind us!" (5) While Fatt and a man branded by Fatt as a communist argue about the strike, Odets dives into a short episode about a taxi driver and his wife, intended to relate as much as possible to the common man in his simple, vernacular names and emotions . Joe's reluctance to strike for more money, based primarily on fear of being blacklisted, is harshly criticized by his wife Edna: "They'll push you up to three or four a week before you know it. Then you'll say, 'It's something, too!... I know: your boss makes you fools every minute." (9-10) Joe isn't convinced until Odets asks Edna to do a subtle maneuver; she threatens a hit of her own Reminding Joe of the possibility of her leaving him for an ex-boyfriend, she says, "Listen, boy, if you think I won't do it you just can't see straight... I'd leave you like lightning!" His boldness prevails when Joe takes the side of the strikers. The context of the strike within the family clarifies for the common man the power that the workers, once united, exercise over the employer business' lack of sympathy in the second episode, which features Fayette, a corrupt industrialist, and Miller, a naive and idealistic young laboratory assistant. When Miller expresses concern about the industrialist's proposal for a new poisonous gas, Fayette responds, "If big business were sentimental about human life there would be no big business of any kind!" Later, as Miller wistfully describes his brother who died in World War I, Fayette superficially condoles: "Yes, those things remain. How legible is your handwriting, Miller?" (15) The idealism of the common man wins in the end, however, after Fayette asks Miller to spy on his superiors; says an angry Miller, "Sure grudge!...Nothing suave or sophisticated about me...Enough to want to take you and all your people in my mouth!" (17) The punch he throws in Fayette is a call to workers in the United States to stand up for themselves and risk their jobs for the preservation of their values. This characteristic is repeated in the episode "Labor Spy", when a man in the crowd chooses unity over brotherly loyalty and betrays his brother, a scab: "The Clancy family tree is bearing fruit!" (25) he shouts , joyfully disgracing his name but keeping the union intact. Odets explores escape and pain in the story of.