Betrayal and friendship: David Mamet’s American Buffalo

Roudane, Matthew

doi:10.1017/ccol0521815576.003

Cited by 4 publications

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“…As the play comes near the end, Teach successively asks Don as if he is mad at him and in helplessness pleas for Don's forgiveness although he stills fears to expose his feelings explicitly since the exposure of what one really feels might make one vulnerable to others. Matthew Roudane (2004) explains that "this a play that begins with men assuring themselves that they are not 'mad' at each other and ends with men voicing similar assurances. The fragility of friendship acknowledged, however awkwardly and without full comprehension of the reasons for such awareness, Teach, Don, and Bob reconnect with each other" (p. 71).…”

Section: Business Versus Friendshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To clarify it, Teach's conviction that one must fight for survival, his devotion to the American Dream's ideal that the avenue towards success is open to everybody and that business practices are free from any obligations including moral duty, are clearly indicated in his frequently quoted definition of free enterprise: It is exactly Teach's devotion to the ideal of free enterprise that gives him the license to equate the robbery with business transaction. To quote Roudane (2004), "in Teach's Macbethean world, where 'fair is foul and foul is fair'", crime is justified as an honorable act of business (p. 61). In fact, the corruptive effects of ragged individualism removes the difference between the notions of right and wrong and transforms the freedom of the individual into self-interest and consequently crime.…”

Section: Individualism and Free Enterprisementioning

confidence: 99%

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Decay of Ethics in David Mamet’s American Buffalo

Dehghani

Sepehrmanesh

2013

IJALEL

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The American Dream is a recurrent theme in American literature. In this response, this paper is an attempt to expose the destructive effects of the dream on human spirits and relations and how it is contradicted in different ways through the analysis of his brilliant play, American Buffalo by David Mamet. Beneath the seeming simple surface of the play lies a deep current of meanings that reflect the calamities of modern American life, and in a broader sense, the modern world. This article indicates how capitalism inculcates ideologies in the mind of individuals in order to facilitate the exploiting process and unquestioning subordination. Ragged individualism, as one of these ideologies, disrupts all communal bonds and even exceeds to the disintegration of friendship and family life. On the other hand, this individualism, as an ideology, is sustained by other capitalist ideologies such as advertising, consumerism and emulation. It will also be discussed that monetary interests are all one seeks in a highly competitive atmosphere and nothing is privileged over business ethics. In brief, this reading of the play tries to illuminate that we live in a dream-like world of ideologies that block logical thinking and forge our relationship with our real existence through less suspected ways.

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Section: Business Versus Friendshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Individualism and Free Enterprisementioning

confidence: 99%

Decay of Ethics in David Mamet’s American Buffalo

Dehghani

Sepehrmanesh

2013

IJALEL

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Mamet, David: American Buffalo

Groß¹,

Kelleter²

2020

Kindlers Literatur Lexikon (KLL)

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Anomie in American Business System as an Aftermath of the American Dream: David Mamet’s “American Buffalo” and “Glengarry Glen Ross”

Koçsoy¹,

Güzelçiçek²

2021

Motif Akademi Halk Bilimi Dergisi

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In this article, the concept of 'anomie' in David Mamet's (1947-) "American Buffalo" (1976) and "Glengarry Glen Ross" (1984) is analysed in the context of the economic and socio-cultural evolution of America and 'The American Dream of Success'. It is shown how virtues and values with the mentality of the system and with the name of 'business' transform into exploitable commodifications in the plays, which are designed as the microcosms of American capitalist business system. The anomic characters who behave under the pressures of the material success based American dream and with the malpractices of the American business system transgress the ethic conceptions and norms in the course of their struggle of survival; they keep pace with this order, legalize and normalize it. Moreover, they commit crimes for the sake of material gain and in the name of business, individually and collectively. The unbalance between the characters' right and ordinary aim of existence/being successful and the unethical means they employ to reach it forms the state of anomie and gives way to their inclination to behavioral deviation and violence. In the study, the negative results of the lack of ethics on individuals and society are presented referring to the anomie theories of Emile Durkheim, Robert Merton, Steven F. Messner and Richard Rosenfeld. The disruptive influences of American business system's norms, which disregard ethics and the individual and social conflicts they generate are exhibited.

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Betrayal and friendship: David Mamet’s American Buffalo

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Decay of Ethics in David Mamet’s American Buffalo

Decay of Ethics in David Mamet’s American Buffalo

Mamet, David: American Buffalo

Anomie in American Business System as an Aftermath of the American Dream: David Mamet’s “American Buffalo” and “Glengarry Glen Ross”

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