Waiting For Lefty

Fatt is the corrupt leader of the union. He signifies the cold strongarm of capitalism. His name is allegorical, as he is both physically well fed (while the workers starve) and fundamentally greedy, determined to bleed as much wealth from the drivers’ labor as possible, regardless of the ramifications to their lives. Fatt wheedles the workers with rhetoric, offering the illusion that compliance is their choice, but threatens their lives with a gunman so they feel obligated to comply. Fatt holds them hostage both literally and metaphorically, not only with the presence of the gunman but by threatening to take away their livelihoods. In essence, Fatt tells the workers that they can either accept their impoverished wages or have nothing, and they’ll earn a bullet for defiance. These are choices that lead to death, whether of slow starvation, faster starvation, or an immediate shot. Fatt does whatever he can to make the workers doubt themselves and each other, because he knows that if they organize, they’ll be able to take him down.