Duty and Responsibility

The major theme of Glengarry Glen Ross is business and, by extension, capitalism. Mamet never discusses, neither to praise nor to condemn, the workings of business; he shows the quintessential paradigm of business, the salesman, striving to survive by his wits in the system and how it damages and drains his better humanity. In the published play, Mamet includes a quote of the "Practical Sales Maxim: 'Always Be Closing."' Everything is business, even personal relationships.

American Dream

The American dream that we can "get ahead" through honest hard work is undermined by the fact that, for these salesmen at least, the only measure of success is material and the only way to succeed is to sell. They are selling land probably worthless land to people who dream that buying that land will somehow provide the big score, the chance to make large profits when they...