Clifford Odets Golden Boy Essay

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Clifford Odets’ Golden Boy has survived the test of time, being just as empowering and impactful for its audiences today as it was over 75 years ago during the late 1930s. Being a founding member of the Group Theatre, Odets used his company to explore new territory within the theatrical industry. Odets crafted his plays to depict the unstable and unsettled lives of American citizens, bringing a fresh and new perspective to the stage. Within this paper, I will perform an in-depth analysis of the themes present within Odets’ Golden Boy, studying how it relates to the decade in which it was written, as well as how it can still impact audiences of today. Playwright Biography Clifford Odets was born on July 18, 1906, in Philadelphia. At the age of six, his family moved to the Bronx of New York City. Harold Clurman, Cheryl Crawford, and Lee Strasberg founded the Group Theatre during the summer of 1931. With the mission to depict the lives of everyday Americans, the three idealists recruited 28 actors, of which Clifford Odets was included amongst. He became a founding member of the group after …show more content…

During the summer of 1929, consumer spending continuously dropped while production output stayed consistent. In October 1929, the stock market crashed, sending Wall Street into chaos and destroying millions of investors and companies. 12.9 million shares were traded on what is called “Black Thursday”, and the next “Black Tuesday” over 16 million shares were traded . Companies began slowing down their production output and laying off their employees. Over the course of the decade, industrial output continued to decline as the unemployment rates steadily rose. Many American citizens were forced to buy their goods on credit, ending up in massive debt and the number of foreclosures and repossessions grew substantially

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