In Glengarry Glen Ross, Alec Baldwin and the office workers have a master/slave relationship in which Baldwin’s character is nothing without the workers and the workers do not realize this. It is the office workers who make Baldwin rich, although he portrays himself as doing all the hard work.
In the room, there are more “non-rich” (office workers) individuals than “rich” (Baldwin and his associate, which Karl Marx claims takes place within capitalist societies. Baldwin’s expensive watch is a symbol of power and he is driven by his assets such as his $80,000 car and large salary. Baldwin even emphasizes that he is who he is because of his assets when he claims “I am the watch. I am the car. You are nothing.”
Baldwin portrays his authority over the workers when he doesn’t call them by their first names and talks to them as though he’s their drill sergeant. One would think that the office workers would leave their jobs because of the way Baldwin treats them, but just like in real life, decisions like these are not so easy. For example, the office workers may have a hard time finding another job quickly and which pays well if they even find one at all. Also, at least one of them has children at home who depend on his salary in order to survive. The men feel threatened most likely because they are aware that they can be easily replaced and that they themselves basically serve as commodities to the company. It seems the best choice given the circumstances is to succumb to Baldwin’s power and to stay within the company even thought they are not being treated fairly.
Unfortunately for these men, they lose a sense of importance in the job world when they are placed in this situation where someone like Baldwin benefits from their work. They lose a sense of who they are as individuals, which is illustrated by Marx when he states “One’s identity is wrapped up in labor.”
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