Harold Pinter’s Microscopic View on the Late 1950’s
The 1950’s were a far cry from the 40’s and a shimmering light for what the future had in store for Great Britain as well as the rest of the world. From the Tobacco Industry Research Committee’s announcement on the relationship between cigarettes and lung cancer to the eerie post WWII feeling that infringed on the minds of civilians, we can see how the time period of the play, The Dumb Waiter by Harold Pinter may have had an effect on the characters themselves. The play is also a reflection of the setting that Ben and Gus are put in as their personalities are satirically described through their interactions with one another. Straight from the get go, it is obvious that one character in smarter than the other and uses that to control the lesser-minded. Ben is the alpha male, the leader and the brains of the operation while Gus is the weak one with nothing to do but smoke cigarettes and ask questions. This is made apparent in the beginning of the play when Ben orders him to make tea while he just continued to read his newspaper as if he were entitled to Gus’ servitude. Through this interaction between these two malefactors, a dynamic relationship is constructed thus birthing a plot even though the play takes place in just one tiny room. It is genius, yet impossible without the social and cultural exploits taking place during this time period.
In January of 1954, just three years before this play took place, the TIRC made an announcement that according to studies, it had recently been discovered that there may be a link between cigarette smoke and lung cancer (www.tobacco.org). It was entitled, “A Frank Statement to Cigarette Smokers.” The humor of this sudden cause for concern lies within Gus’ addiction to cigarettes and its relationship to the general trend of cigarette sales since then. It was obviously not a big