SOURCE: "The Group Theatre and Clifford Odets," in A Critical Introduction to Twentieth-Century American Drama, Volume 1: 1900-1940, Cambridge University Press, 1982, pp. 159-88.

In the excerpt below, Bigsby surveys Odets' work with the Group Theatre, paying particular attention to Awake and Sing!

Odets's Berger family [of Awake and Sing!] is trapped, in a mental no less than a physical world. The limits are partly those imposed by an urban setting which itself has been shaped by a history of speculation and exploitation, and partly by a mental geography which they regard as implacable as a physical terrain. Most of the family accept as unyielding what is mutable, constructing their own prisons out of economic fiats to which they give metaphysical authority. The primary space which they surrender is the crucial territory within which the self defines its own possibilities. Dreams are mistaken for visions and vice versa. The harsh...