American Buffalo

“Don’t be sorry. I’m not mad at you”

Donny betrays his soft spot for Bobby. These brief lines are important as they contribute to Donny’s characterization. Mamet paints Donny as a well-intentioned mentor rather than a stern taskmaster who is out for personal gain alone. As such, Mamet invites the audience to empathize with Donny from the play’s outset.

“You take him and you put him down in some strange town with just a nickel in his pocket, and by nightfall he’ll have the town by the balls. This is not talk, Bob, this is action.”

Here, Donny speaks to his protégé about the importance of being assertive. The irony of these lines lies in the fact that Donny is perhaps the play’s least assertive character. A secondary irony is that Fletcher never appears onstage to demonstrate his mettle, and ends up in a hospital with a broken jaw.

“Everything that I or Fletcher know we picked up on the street. That’s all business is…common sense, experience, and talent.”

These lines reveal the extent of Donny’s self-delusion. By this point, he has already admitted to having lost money to Fletcher in a poker game. Nevertheless, he likens himself to the street-smart Fletcher to impress Bobby.

“Cause there’s business and there’s friendship, Bobby…there are many things, and when you talk around you hear a lot of things, and what you got to do is keep clear who your friends are, and who treated you like what.”

These lines feature colloquial speech that characterize Donny as a working-class man. They also showcase Donny’s view of friendship. According to Donny, friendship must be demonstrated rather than claimed. Though these lines are characteristically vague, Mamet uses them to make claims about friendship and characterize Donny.

“Fuckin’ Ruthie, fuckin’ Ruthie, fuckin’ Ruthie, fucking’ Ruthie, fuckin’ Ruthie”

These are Teach’s first lines in the play. Before even greeting the other two characters, Teach lambastes an unseen woman. These lines aptly reflect how Teach is an aggressive and judgmental individual, though he does not identify as such.

“She is not a good card player, Don. She is a mooch and she is a locksmith and she plays like a woman” 

These lines, spoken by Teach, are riddled with bias and rage. They show that Teach is prejudiced against women, specifically one that does not appear onstage and can’t defend herself. Throughout the play, there is no evidence that Ruthie has cheated.

“We’re talking about money for chrissake, huh? We’re talking about cards. Friendship is friendship, and a wonderful thing, and I am all for it. I have never said different, and you know me on this point”

Teach expresses his thoughts on friendship and business. Both Teach and Donny differ in their opinions of what constitutes friendship. Teach professes to be a proponent of friendship, but claims that poker should be considered distinct. These lines also show how seriously the characters take poker.

“You know, it’s just some guy we spotted”

Donny reluctantly admits that he and Bobby are tracking an individual with a suitcase. Teach will continue to press Donny for details, which ultimately leads to tension both with Bobby and Donny. Though Donny shows positive qualities like friendliness, he is also in the business of stealing and targeting marks.

“Lookit, sir, if I could get ahold of some of that stuff you were interested in, would you be interested in some of it”

These lines showcase the ambiguity of Mamet’s dialogue. Donny and an unseen respondent are on the phone. The vagueness of the unknown “stuff” creates suspense, while also suggesting that the business is illicit.

“Maybe five, six things, comes to eight bucks. I get ‘em and I put ‘em in a box and then he tells me he’ll go fifty dollars for the nickel […] so I tell him (get this), ‘Not a chance.’”

Donny tells Teach that that a recent customer offered a surprisingly high figure for a buffalo-head nickel. Donny also brags about his gumption for having denied the customer’s initial offer, eventually claiming ninety dollars for the item. These lines demonstrate the subjective value of objects within the play, in addition to the characters’ prevailing philosophy that prioritizes self-interest over fairness.

“All I mean, a guy can be too loyal, Done. Don’t be dense on this. What are we saying here? Business.”

These lines, spoken by Teach, showcase the play’s biggest source of tension—that between Teach and Donny. Teach does not think that Donny should send Bobby into the target’s home. He is interested in inserting himself into the heist for quick riches. These lines reveal that loyalty does not have the same value for Teach as it does for Donny.

“You know the fucking kid’s clean. He’s trying hard, he’s working hard, and you leave him alone.”

Donny comes to the quick and sincere defense of Bobby, after Teach has accused Bobby of being unreliable. These lines further characterize Donny as someone who is willing to overlook faults, give people the benefit of the doubt, and recognize intrinsic value.

“Well, you think, but here’s a helpful hint. Fifty percent of some money is better than ninety percent of some broken toaster that you’re gonna have, you send the kid in.”

These lines demonstrate Teach’s penchant to rush into things, his presumptuousness in assuming that he himself is suited for the heist, and his willingness to bully Donny into making a decision.

“But you didn’t get the coffee. Now, did you?”

Teach publicly criticizes Bobby’s performance. Teach’s willingness to cast aspersions on a younger, less aggressive character reveals Teach as ruthless and conniving.

“Forget it for me.”

Bobby demonstrates that he understands the implications of Donny’s statement, “I’m saying forget the thing” (71). Here, “the thing” refers to the robbery. Though he is young, Mamet gives these lines to Bobby to demonstrate that he is capable of reading between the lines. Here, Bobby sees that Donny does plan on carrying out the heist, but without Bobby.

“I know it’s only a fuckin’ nickel…I mean, big deal, huh? What I’m saying is I only want it back.”

For the first time, Donny discloses that he wants to recover the nickel. Contrary to what the audience may have thought, Donny seems interested only in reclaiming the nickel in question, and with it perhaps, the missed opportunity to earn a greater profit. These lines clarify Donny’s motive and suggest that he, unlike Teach, has a greater, more nuanced appreciation for material objects, valuing them for more than their monetary value alone.

“I’m not talking cash, all I mean, what other stuff do we take…for our trouble?” 

These lines reveal that Teach plans to take more than just the nickel. Teach justifies his greed by claiming that he and Donny somehow deserve a greater bounty for the “trouble” they’ll take in being burglars. Mamet shows that Teach is both greedy and delusional.

“Nothing. I can pay for it […] This guy. I found a coin”

When Donny asks Bobby what he needs money for, Bobby delivers vague, staccato sentences. As tension builds between Teach and Donny, Bobby’s failure to explain the situation in greater detail will become more problematic.

“Don: What do you want for the coin?

Bobby: What it’s worth only.” 

Bobby admits to having little business acumen. However, he emerges as a fair, if less than forthcoming, character. Rather than trying to swindle Donny out of more than he himself paid for the coin, Bobby shows interest in knowing the coin’s value, which is all he expects in exchange. Unlike Teach, Bobby does not care to profit from the transaction. His qualities—fairness and curiosity—make Bobby a more exemplary businessman and a character of superior integrity.

“He takes two on your standing pat, you kicked him thirty bucks? He draws two comes out with a flush?”

Teach convinces Donny that Fletcher duped him into losing money at a poker game. Donny is understandably upset that Teach did not voice his suspicions earlier in the play. In addition to calling into question Fletcher’s character, these lines demonstrate Teach’s propensity to withhold useful information from his so-called friends.

“All the preparation in the world does not mean shit, some crazed lunatic sees you as an invasion of his personal domain”

Teach justifies his intention of bringing a gun to the robbery. His insistence on arming himself is unsurprising given his paranoia. These lines are ironic, as Teach refers to a hypothetic victim of robbery as a “crazed lunatic,” when he himself is the one who plans to break into a stranger’s home fully armed. These lines reveal just how distorted Teach’s perspective has become.

“You don’t fuck with us; I’ll kick your fucking head in. (I don’t give a shit).” 

Teach speaks these lines just before striking Bobby with an unnamed object. Here and elsewhere, Mamet uses parentheses to illustrate a character’s introspection. The audience is meant to interpret these lines as—in part—addressed to Teach himself. After Donny confirms that Fletcher is not at the Masonic Hospital as Bobby claimed, Teach loses all patience with Bobby. He is the first character to resort to physical violence.

“You want kids, you go have them. I am not your wife. This does not mean a thing to me. I’m in this, and it isn’t over.”

Teach proves to be a truly incorrigible character, dead-set on the robbery. Unlike Donny, Teach is concerned neither for Fletcher, who has a broken jaw, nor for Bobby, who he made bleed from the ear.