Greenwich Village

Greenwich Village

In Greenwich Village, the fight for power is between the working class and the capital class constituting the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). The power play results in a conflict between the two groups. The workers representing the lower class have to deal with the police during the strikes. The police are used to suppress the workers during strikes through intimidating them by clubbing them, shooting at them, and sometimes locking them up. In the face of a fast increasingly modernizing the U.S., women come together to demand for equal rights as well as political representation, the workers also demand for better working conditions and that the capitalists become regulated to prevent them from exploiting the workers while the Bohemians are refuting the existing legalities on issues such as marriage, sexuality, and family. All the groups, however, one thing in common, chatting a new course to the modern U.S. that caters to the minority communities, equality for both men and women.

Greenwich Village is highly stratified. During the renaissance in 1913, each class has a representative and also they have their different demands or perceptions they wanted addressed as they hoped to break down the norms they had been accustomed too based on race, gender or class and possibly open up new possibilities that would encourage equality for both men and women, put in consideration of the minorities as well as addressed gaps within the family and marriage institutions as advocated for by the Bohemians. The workers meet at Poly’s tiny basement restaurant close to Washington Square, hoping to chat the way forward to the new American dream. The Suffragists, inspired by Alice Paul, also engages the Bohemians to participate in the suffrage parade down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., to demand the women’s right to vote through amending the constitution. The industrial workers also seek the Bohemians’ support to demand for abolishment of police brutality against the workers, rise in wages as well the freedom to assemble in public. Various groups have different demands depending on their social class as well as gender thus, all have different opinions and demands. Discrimination based on gender such as women not being allowed to vote and other inequalities that including the exploitation of the workers by the capitalists set the course for new strategies in terms of development and restructuring of the political perceptions as seen in the modern-day U.S. The role of the strike/ labor cannot, therefore, be downplayed as they were crucial in chatting the new way forward to a better society.

Greenwich Village embodied new ways such as having electricity, though, was used for public or municipal lighting as well as the rich who could afford it. People who could not afford to have power flooded the Coney Islands Lunar Park to view thousands of bulbs that illuminated the park. It is also evident that they had already embraced the concept of parks where people could go and relax during their free time. In 1910, the Sears and Roebuck provided for a tub, toilet, and sink hat more or less resembles the modern-day trio. In the years before, in 1899, the Scott brothers had invented toilet papers.

The various groups meeting to deliberate on the demands, especially those to do with constitutional changes signified that it was time for a change. The demand for women to vote and embracing equality were all born as a result of the social movements. Thus, we can significantly conclude that Greenwich Village can be regarded as a turning point in U.S. history.  The game is a representation of a conflicting society divided into classes. Still, with a common goal of chatting a new future for the new U.S., The game puts the students in a historical picture to help them comprehend the underlying values in the play.