Faulkner is a professional writer with aBA.in English. In this essay he discusses the ways in which Odets infuses his play with traditionally "American " values and imagery, effectively combating the negative stereotypes regarding communism.

If you approached Clifford Odets in 1935 and told him that his celebrated play Waiting for Lefty was a work of communist propaganda, he would not likely have been insulted or alarmed. He would probably consider it an accurate description of his drama, exactly what he had intended to create. A few years later, however, the same phrase could only be taken as a vicious accusation, equivalent to being called traitor: the propagandist was no less than an enemy to his own country, preaching an evil gospel that threatened all our cherished American ideals. The infamous work of the House Un-American Activities Committee to root out "communist infiltrators" during the 1950s helped solidify...