Dialectical Journal Entry 1

Act 1 Journals
“Moss: To say “I’m going on my own.” ‘Cause What you do, George, let me tell you do: you find
yourself in thrall to someone else. And we enslave ourselves. To please. To win some fucking toaster …’”
(Mamet, 35)
Through the dialogues between the real estate salesmen in the Chinese restaurant, Mamet
conveys the cutthroat dynamic engendered by capitalism and its thralls. Moss, in particular,
shows his displeasure with his position in the working class, using hyperbole to liken his
relationships with his work superiors to that between slave and master for an emphatic effect.
Additionally, Moss points out the comical relationship between effort and reward when he says
“To win some fucking toaster.” Mamet utilizes powerful diction, such as enslave, thrall, and an
exorbitant amount of swear words to exemplify the emotional state of the salesmen and the
intensity of their work life.

Act 1, Scene 3, pages 47-50

Much like previous scenes Act 1, Scene 3 begins in media res, where the reader is abruptly
thrust into yobbish, lengthy, one-sided dialogue between Roma, a real estate salesman, and
Lingk. Roma befuddles Lingk, who is seated at the booth next to him, with a seemingly
spontaneous rant containing philosophical ideas of determinism embedded into copious
helpings of vulgar, outlandish diction. He then transitions into a contemplative, obscure
monologue with even more philosophical ideas and loutish verbiage. Seceding the monologue,
Roma introduces himself to Lingk, pointing out the hilarity of the situation in which such
winded, off-putting rambling occurred before the two had even introduced themselves.
Mamet adeptly introduces Roma to the reader as an eccentric, uncouth salesman with the
utilization of multiple authorial techniques. For one, it is stated before the chapter starts that
Roma is sitting alone in his booth and talking to the person in the booth adjacent. The visual
this creates purposefully portrays Roma as irregular, further exemplified in his dialogue and
monologue. Second, the bizarreness of the dialogue is exacerbated by starting the scene in
media res. Furthermore, the use of monologue as opposed to soliloquy further emphasizes the
hilarity of the situation because Roma is talking so long-windedly to another person instead of
to the audience. Lastly, the analogies and diction used by Roma help to exude his uncanny
personality, such as his blunt mention of various sensitive topics like pedophilia,
homosexuality, and sex.