I thought I'd look into what sort of jobs the characters in the play have.
Jeanann says she works at Finast. Finast was a supermarket brand (the name originates from an acronym for First National Stores Inc.) that was absorbed into the Edwards brand in the mid-90's.
Bernice works as a dispatcher for the Fifty-Fifty cab company, which simply means that she contacts cabs by radio to tell them where to go to pick up a customer. Beginning in the 1950's a two-way radio system was developed where frequencies were licensed in pairs by cab companies, one frequency for the dispatcher to talk to the cabs, and another for the cabs to talk back to the dispatcher. This system is still widely used.
Jack talks a lot about being close to losing his job; a big merger is mentioned a couple times and it's implied that he's been working for the same company for a while (Bernice mentions that Jack has seniority). I've been having trouble finding exactly what his job is, but he's clearly a member of a union; a union that one might assume is declining in influence since Jack seems disillusioned with its ability to protect him. This may be because by the 1990's union demographics had shifted radically in the demographics they represented. To quote the Economic History Association, "By then, the most unionized workers were no longer the white male skilled craftsmen of old. Instead, they were nurses, parole officers, government clerks, and most of all, school teachers." Jack probably fits the description of 'white male skilled craftsman,' in which case his concern over his career is probably justified.
(Link: http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/friedman.unions.us)
I agree with you that Jack is probably some sort of craftsman, but I wonder if he is a supervisor or a laborer? It seems like a choice the actor would make that could have different implications for who Jack is:
ReplyDeleteSupervisor: He works over people, and probably is the head of his unit or group. During the day people have to take the orders from him and he calls the shots. This could naturally transition over into his home life, where he orders his family around (ie Jeanne being his "slave")
Laborer: He has arthritis so his work might be hard for him. He is probably less productive, but still expected to keep up with his younger co-workers. He may not take well to the authority figures in his work and feel under appreciated and bitter. This could also transfer over into his home life and partly explain why he always needs to one up people (ie when Jason is telling everyone where he went and Jack does the same)
the last comment was me, Andrea.
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