UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations 1-1-2001 "The only way to teach these people is to kill them": Pedagogy as communicative action in the major plays of David Mamet Jeffrey Otto Strasburg University of Nevada, Las Vegas Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/rtds Repository Citation Strasburg, Jeffrey Otto, ""The only way to teach these people is to kill them": Pedagogy as communicative action in the major plays of David Mamet" (2001). UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations. 2479. http://dx.doi.org/10.25669/dn6x-tkv6 This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. 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UMJ’ Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. THE ONLY WAY TO TEACH THESE PEOPLE IS TO KILL THEM' PEDAGOGY AS COMMUNICATIVE ACTION IN THE MAJOR PLAYS OF DAVID MAMET bv Jeffrey Otto Strasburg Bachelor o f Arts Millsaps College 1990 Master o f Arts University o f Nevada. Las Vegas 1995 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment o f the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree Department of English College of Liberal Arts Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas December 2001 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 3049556 Copyright 2002 by Strasburg, Jeffrey Otto All rights reserved. UMI UMI Microform 3049556 Copyright 2002 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Dissertation Approval UNW The Graduate College University ot Nevada, Las Vegas OCT. 15,_________________20 01 The Dissertation prepared by JEFFREY OTTO STRASBURG Entitled "THE ONLY WAY TO TEACH THESE PEOPLE IS TO KILL THEN" : PEDAGOGY AND COMMUNICATIVE ACTION IN THE MAJOR PLAYS OF DAVID MAMET is approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of PH.D. E.xantin.iiioii Conur.tllcc Chiur CHRISTOPHER C. HUDGINS, PH.D. Dean onlic Criuiiiatc C ollt\r PAUL W. FERGUSON, PH.D. V Examination Committiv Aicm bery^ AMES F . HAZEN, PH.D. / Examination Committti-’c M em ber DOUBLAS A. UNGER, M .F.A . - - I Æ-- N ^ Graduliti' College Facultu Refnesentative JAY A^^COUGHTRY, PH. D. PR loir-'i/i-no 11 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT ‘The Only Way to Teach These People is to Kill Them’ Pedagogy as Communicative Action in the Major Plays of David Mamet by Jeffrey Otto Strasburg Dr. Christopher C. Hudgins. Examination Committee Chair Associate Professor o f English University of Nevada. Las Vegas The mentor-student relationship is a recurring m otif in the work of playwright David Mamet. Mamet's portrayal o f this relationship demonstrates a conception o f human interaction in ways that closely parallel Jürgen Habermas's theory of "communicative action." Habermas posits his theor> as a decentered method of examining human subjects' attempts to establish intersubjective claims o f validity with other subjects through the media o f communication and argumentation. Within this concept. Habermas defines the "Ideal Speech Situation " (ISS). or rational discourse free of any relations o f domination aimed at creating an intersubjective recognition of validity between two speaking subjects: Mamet's own conception of community parallel's Habermas's ideal. The playwright's characters disrupt possibilities for ideal communication in large part through the invocation of the role o f mentor, a position understood as one o f superiority within the lifeworld of Mamet's characters. Ill Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Mamet's social context also reflects Paulo Freire's "banking concept of education"; Freire's theory provides a versatile heuristic in which to frame these "educational " relationships for Habermasian analysis. The following plays ser\ e as primai}' material for this dissertation: Sexual Perversitv in Chicaao. American Buffalo. A Life in the Theatre. Glenganw Glen Ross. Speed-the-Plow. Oleanna. and The Cryptogram. In addition, secondai}' materials such as Mamet's minor plays, sceenplays. fiction w riting and essays serve to contextualize the major works and illustrate the broad scope o f this motif. IV Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT...............................................................................................................................iii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION...................................................................................1 CHAPTER 2 "THESE GUYS GOT NO CONTROL": SEXUAL PERVERSITY IN CHICAGO ......................................................................................27 CHAPTER 3 "I'M TRYING TO TEACH YOU SOMETHING HERE": AMERICAN BUFFALO.............................................................................................. 71 CHAPTER 4 "1 WOULDN'T SAY IT IF IT WEREN'T SO": A LIFE IN THE THEATRE........................................................................................................... 122 CHAPTER 5 "LIKE YOU TAUGHT ME...": GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS.............................................................................................................................169 CHAPTER 6 "WELL. SO WE LEARN A LESSON": SPEED-THE- PLOW...........................................................................................................................215 CHAPTER 7 "1 CAME HERE TO INSTRUCT YOU": OLEANNA................254 CHAPTER 8 "THEY SAY WE LIVE AND LEARN”: THE CRYPTOGRAM ................................................................................................ 291 BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................................................................................320 VITA ............................................................................................................................. 328 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER INTRODUCTION When we deviate from first principles we communicate to the audience a lesson in cowardice. This lesson is o f as great a magnitude as our subversion of the Constitution by i. .olvement in Vietnam, in Ford's pardon o f Nixon, in the persecution o f the Rosenbergs. in the reinstatement o f the death penalty. They are all lessons in cowardice, and each begets cowardice. Alternatively, the theater affords an opportunity uniquely suited for communicating and inspiring ethical behavior: the audience is given the possibility o f seeing live people onstage carrving out an action based on first principles (these principles being the objectives o f the play's protagonists) and carry ing this action to its fu ll conclusion. (WR 26) This passage from David Mamet's essay "First Principles" provides a provocative addendum to his repeated paraphrasing o f Stanislavsky's dictum that the "purpose o f the theater.... is to bring to light