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Research Article | Volume 4 Issue 4 (July-Aug, 2022)
The Negative Aspects of Materialism and Capitalism inElmer Rice's The Adding Machine
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Open Access
Abstract

Elmer Rice (1892-1967), one of the foremost American playwrights, was born in New York city. He was the son of a cigar salesman. He grew up among slums and tenement houses, which to some extent left a stamp on his writings. He attended the New York University Law School at night and graduated in 1912 with distinction. Having passed his bar examination, he was qualified to be a lawyer. However he had more interest in the theatre than in the legal profession, which made him give up law and be entirely devoted to playwriting. He wrote more than fifty plays which show versatility and a wide variety of techniques. Yet, he is remembered for only few of them. His first play, Our Trial ( 1914 ) was very successful. In this play, he developed the flashback technique. His second successful play was The Adding Machine (1923), while the third one was Street Scene (1929 ), he also wrote Counsellor at Law ( 1931 ) and Dream Girl (1944 ). Furthermore, Rice worked as a producer, director, film writer and novelist. His well-known novels are A Voyage to Purila (1930) and Imperial City (1937). In addition to the previous works, he wrote a book about the theatre entitled The Living Theatre (1959). He also wrote Minority Report: An Autobiography (1923). To make an account for Elmer Rice's achievement in this respect, the researcher divides the present paper into an introduction, three sections and a conclusion: The introduction of the paper sets the background of Elmer Rice's literary rise and significance in his subsequent literary American scene. Section One discusses Zero's dilemma with the Boss. The researcher focuses on their struggle throughout the whole play. Section Two sheds light on the domestic problems between Zero and his wife Daisy, and to illustrate the negative impacts of Materialism and Capitalism on the individuals. Section Three moves to reflect the internal and external struggle inside Zero's intellect. The Conclusion sums up the findings of the paper.

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