Waiting For Lefty, Clifford Odets American Playwright

Waiting for Lefty
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WAITING FOR LEFTY
The play, Waiting for Lefty was composed by Clifford Odets an American playwright. This is play that is about taxi drivers that are planning to be involved in a labor strike (Odets, 1962). Ideally, the framing is established in such a way that, the audience are also part of the meeting between the cab drivers to take part in the strike (Odets, 1962). Showing at the New York Film Academy, this is one of the best pieces that they have on the stage with a number of themes that are quite intrinsic in the way that they connect with the society and the issues arising. Of importance in this paper are the cultural, political, social and historical (University of Washington, 2017).
Themes
Political
The political theme carries a lot of wait in the play as the taxi drivers prepare to take part in the power shifts within their ranks. The drivers are seen to take back their power to make sure that they could finally be in apposition where they could negotiate for their welfare. Working as a single unit they are seen to leverage the power of being stronger and better competitors (Kim, 2014). Without the unions the bigger businesses are seen to continually drive to the ground the prices and this tends to create a hostile environment in the industry where the smaller units suffer the losses (Odets, 1962). With a market that offers little to no compensation for the work that they put in. there is the element of powerlessness, where the various driver are working on their own (Kim, 2014). However they turn back the power, by leveraging the power of the people and the union (Odets, 1962). This is a political move that is geared towards making sure the drivers have the ability to outcompete the larger corporations. At the same time, it is power move that is directed at politically changing the dynamics of the field. Ideally, without the unions, the larger companies have a much more power bargaining within the industry (University of Washington, 2017). However the taxi drivers realize their power in the masses and they join up to bring the power shifts, where they now could have better influence in the market. The central political approach in these case is that there is strength in numbers (Jrank.org, 2017). At the same time through the unions, it was possible for the smaller taxi driver companies and those that were working as individuals now had the political might to bring about policy changes influencing the industry towards a direction that also favored them.
Historical
The historical theme carries the element of corruption in the industry, where the big companies had over the years. Historically, the industry had been marred with soulless capitalists, who were out for the gains and squeezed the life out of their workers (Odets, 1962). They had been using violence to make sure that the workers would be silenced every other time they would revolt (Baumgardner, 2017). At the same time, there was a history of spying, where the workers would be spied on as the companies tried to gain advantage over the various elements of competition. What is more is that most of the companies would hide behind patriotism.
Social
The other theme that comes out in the play is on social elements. There is a strong message that Odets is trying to pass to the audience with reference to socialism (Baumgardner, 2017). Given that he was a strong member of the socialist or rather the American communist party, there is a strong relevance of the content that is directed towards liberation. Even the main theme where the members of the taxi union get to a point where they want to join forces and liberate their abilities and for better welfare, this is a reflection of the communist elements in the society (University of Washington, 2017). There is a sense of awareness among the taxi drivers and they now want to bring about the element of equality in the industry (Odets, 1962). In the past most of the large companies have victimized their workers, however, with the socialist ideologies that most of the workers are seen to perpetuate, there is an element of equality that comes about. This can be seen as class consciousness among the workers, where they realize that they are a class below most the companies and that their power in the industry is low (Odets, 1962). ...