Midway through the play, Wilson (one presumes-it’s never made clear who is upstairs) begins using the dumbwaiter to send Ben and Gus food orders written on pieces of paper. As working-class men, Ben and Gus are at the mercy of Wilson, their boss, and the way they use the dumbwaiter to communicate demonstrates this power imbalance. By virtue of its historical use alone, the dumbwaiter functions as a symbol of class disparity: the way a dumbwaiter physically distances the lower classes from the upper classes they serve illustrates the way that Ben and Gus’s and Wilson’s different socioeconomic statuses create a power imbalance between them. In early-20th-century London, they were common fixtures in the houses of the privileged domestic servants would use them to move laundry between different rooms of the house. A dumbwaiter is a small, elevator-like platform used to carry items (usually food or prepared dishes) between the different levels of a building. The dumb waiter represents power imbalances and the power of authority.
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