his identity dependent upon Williamson’s mood. He is already as low as a man can go when Williamson lambastes him for his recent performance. Instead of standing up for himself, Levine becomes servile and blames his performance on luck alone, “Levine: Bad luck. That’s all it is. I pray in your life you will never find it runs in streaks. That’s what it does, that’s all it’s doing. Streaks. I pray it misses you. That’s all I want to say” (Mamet 4).
Of course, Levine is being hypocritical and merely adopting whatever identity and response he thinks will most please Williamson in order to keep in his favor and keep his job. As we see a little later, Levine has a great deal to say about the injustices that go on in such an environment that pits a man’s soul against his fellow beings in the name of profitability. When Williamson tells him it is his job to marshal leads, Levine becomes angry and reckless considering he is in jeopardy of losing his position, “Marshal the leads? What the fuck, what bus did you get off of, we’re here to fucking sell. Fuck marshalling the leads. What the fuck talk is that? What the fuck talks is that? Where did you learn that? In school…? That’s ‘talk’ my friend, that’s ‘talk.’ Our job is to sell. I’m the man to sell. I’m getting garbage. You’re giving it to me, and what I’m saying is it’s fucked” (Mamet 5).
Everyone is this office has their own brand of anxiety which manifests itself mainly from the inhuman environment in which they make a living. Aaronow is filled with anxiety also, but he would never be as reckless in his disclosures as Levine. In fact, he sublimates his own identity to that of Moss’s who succeeds in manipulating Aaronow like
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