Glengarry Glen Ross Part 2

The play really flew by reading, so I decided to go ahead and blog on the end of the play. This section starts off quite humorously with an identity switch from Levene to help out Roma. Roma sees a client coming in the office and tells Levene, "You're a client. I just sold you five waterfront Glengarry Farms. I rub my head, throw me the cue Kenilworth" (page 78). I thought this really sums up a lot of what is used in the sales world: deception. Salesmen are always trying to wheel and deal their way to the sale, no matter what.

Roma illustrates this mentality extremely well over the next few pages. He tells Lingk that "the man next to [him], he bought his lot at forty-two," trying to show Lingk that in comparison Lingk was getting a very fair price (page 83). Roma misdirects the conversation whenever Lingk tries to back out of the sale, and Roma even tries to cheat Lingk by telling him that the three days will not be up by the time they meet again to discuss the sale.

Roma even appeals at the personal level to Lingk, telling him, "This is me...This is Ricky, Jim. Jim, anything you want, you want it, you have it. You understand? This is me" (page 91). Once again, this shows how salesmen will try to get at your personal level and appear friendly just to make a sale. Roma later tries to persuade Lingk to just come out and get a drink, where he says no business will be talked about. By getting at the personal level, Roma hopes to get in Lingk's good graces and build up a level of trust.

Roma's plan, though, falls flat on its face when Williamson tells Lingk that the check was cashed the day before. At first it seems like Williamson is the only one telling the truth, we learn soon that he also is lying to help further his personal gains. I think Williamson's deceit comes as a surprise and serves as a lesson that even the most by the book people in the business world will at some point make a move that delves in the gray area of right and wrong.

After Levene seems like the veteran of wheeling and dealing, he gets duped by Williamson, who was supposedly the goody goody in the office. This goes to show that in the cutthroat world of sales, nobody should ever really be trusted because every guy is there to get his and usually doesn't care how he gets it.