30 pages • 1 hour read
Elmer RiceThe Adding Machine
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1929A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Morality and Moral Codes
Zero lives by a strictmoral code that not only concerns himself but can be applied at least in part to his friend group and society as a whole. From the first scene in The Adding Machine, Rice begins to set up that code with information the audience can unpack from Mrs. Zero’s observations of her fellow community members and opinions of herself and her husband. Her friends are interested in romance but look down upon scandal and adultery. While violence is commonplace in the city, by the time films work their way to her part of town (i.e. the suburbs), they have been censored. Mrs. Zero is also incredibly concerned about appearing lazy toward her friends, and does not want her own husband to slack. Ambition is an important concept for Mrs. Zero, and while it is not central to Zero’s own moral code, its importance to her is of value to him when he enters his own workplace the next morning.
The reader or audience member will learn more about Zero’s moral code (in particular, its strict rules on adultery and sexuality) from Scene 2, in which Zero and Miss Devore start an average day at the office. More information regarding a character named Judy O’Grady comes to light, a woman who lived in Zero’s neighborhood that he had picked up by the police for indecent exposure. It sounds, from Zero’s perspective, that this woman was not following the expected moral code for single women in her situation (at a boarding house), and as a result he was unable to resist watching her undress at night. Rather than admit his immoral thoughts and actions to his wife—or control them himself—he calls the police to remove the obstacle (Judy) from his view.
Zero’s moral code is complicated after he commits murder; while one might think this action would spark expressions of guilt and remorse, Zero is happy to pass the blame on to Judy and his boss. Society at-large can also be seen absolving themselves of any second-hand guilt associated with Zero by rejecting his plea to be recognized as a flawed, impersonal human being rather than a one-dimensional monster. In the afterlife, Shrdlu’s distinctive moral code is immersed more fully in religious belief than Zero’s, but they share an aversion for the kind of inactivity that has become commonplace in the afterlife.
Western Religion and the Afterlife
Elmer Rice was an American playwright writing for a Western audience in the 1920s. However, his depiction of the afterlife in The Adding Machine is far from the traditional depiction of a Judeo-Christian heaven and hell. In The Adding Machine, a man is executed for killing his boss and confessing to the murder. Five of the scenes take place in life, while the final three take place in some version of an “afterlife.” In fact, all three scenes from the afterlife are very different from one another, but none are truly representative of the Christian notions of heaven and hell.
Scene 6 is set in a graveyard, in which two souls converse as ghosts or shades (with some tropes present, i.e. pulling themselves out of the ground, a mournful demeanor, etc.). Scene 7 is set in the Elysian Fields, in a beautiful meadow with music, tents, and a diverse population of artists and creative types. Scene 8 is set in an afterlife office much like the one Zero worked in during his lifetime. Of the three, the Elysian Fields would perhaps be the most indicative of the Christian concept of heaven, but does not seem to have the moral restrictions that one might associate with Christianity. The Elysian Fields were first conceptualized by Ancient Greek religions; they feature in literature in Homer’s Odyssey. In Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy, Elysium is defined as the dwelling place for blessed souls in the lower world (so, folks who were good but not Christian, such as those from ancient civilizations who did great things either spiritually or philosophically).
In the first two locations, we see that Shrdlu is unhappy because he desires justice and expects to have to pay back his sins on Earth. But what of the notion that by withholding this from him, Shrdlu’s punishment in the afterlife exceeds even his own expectations, tormenting him in whatever location he visits, just by refusing to fulfill his needs? Similarly, in Scene 8, Zero is seen contentedly performing the job he left on Earth—adding figures. He has been doing so for an additional twenty-five years (the same number as his time on Earth), but Lieutenant Charles has to pry him away in order to send him back to Earth in a nod to reincarnation that feels removed from Western tradition altogether.
Social Climbing in 1920s Society
Zero and his wife are aptly named for their position in society and amongst their friends in The Adding Machine. Rice has kept things easy for his viewers in the play and named the couples in the community based on their socioeconomic rank from lowest (Zero) to highest (Twelve). Beyond these twenty-four people, the rest of the characters in the play have “normal” names (i.e. Daisy and Judy). As the economy in the 1920s was booming, many people who would not have grown up around money were finding themselves much more fortunate. The term “new money” would have been used for people like this.
As economic gains were made, people were also looking to profit socially from these new returns. People like the Zeros—while certainly not millionaires—would have had found themselves with some extra pocket money for things like movies and clothing that they would not have had time to think about during harder financial times. As such, housewives like Mrs. Zero, eager to fit in amongst her social set and aware of her current standing at the bottom of the pile, would have paid extra attention to what her peers were interested in, how they dressed and carried themselves, and what they found thought-provoking and fresh.
For these reasons, ambition would have been a main motivator for people like Mrs. Zero, and would have been a major factor when selecting her life partner, Zero. She is justified in feeling the disappointment she displays at the end of her monologue in Scene 1. She feels that Zero has changed as a partner over the years, while her personal drive for betterment has not degraded. She’s still putting effort into her personal appearance, and “keeping up with the Joneses,” as it were. As the audience can see from Scene 6, both Zeroes are obsessed with keeping clippings from the trial because it means Zero’s name is in the paper.
