Treadwell, Machinal

"You look so silly - oh I know what's coming when you look like that - and kiss me like that - don't - go - away - "(Treadwell 18).

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/JulianneBanda/2009/02/offstage_importance.html

Stones - stones - small stones
Foreshadowing the Young Woman doing away with her husbands life

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/JoshuaWilks/2009/02/love_and_money.html

Whoops...
"Love - what does that amount too! Will it clothe you? Will it feed you? Will it pay the bills?" pg 17

"YOUNG WOMAN. Where do we go from here?
SECOND MAN. Where do we go from here! You just got here!
FIRST MAN. What's the hurry?
SECOND MAN. What's the rush?
YOUNG WOMAN. I don't know."
~page 35 in Episode 5
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/JenniferPrex/2009/02/always_on_the_go.html

HUSBAND (pulling her back to his knee). No, I didn’t! Not by jugful! I got a lot of ‘em up my sleeve yet – that’s part of what I owe my success to – my ability to spring a good story – You know – you got to relax, little girl – haven’t you?
(Treadwell 23-24)

Treadwell’s Machinal addresses many social issues that plagued American society during the late 1920’s. The foremost would be the position of women during this period; it was a time inflamed with the suffragette movement, with women demanding equality. In Machinal the husband is referred to in the script as “HUSBAND” while the man’s wife is referred to as “YOUNG WOMAN,” not “WIFE.”

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/AlyssaSanow/2009/02/murderess_or_victim.html

NURSE (to young woman) "Aren't you glad it's a girl? You're not! Oh my! That's no way to talk! Men want boys - women ought to want girls."

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/AliciaCampbell/2009/02/youre_having_a_girlcongratulat.html

Hot dog?? Does anyone know what that means? Give me some of your ideas.

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/NathanHart/2009/02/hot_dog.html

"FIRST REPORTER. Suppose the machine shouldn't work!
SECOND REPORTER. It'll work! - It always works!"

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MatthewHenderson/2009/02/the_machine_doesnt_stop.html

What actually happened? We'll never know.

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/RebeccaMarrie/2009/02/what_actually_happened_well_ne.html

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/RosalindBlair/2009/02/love_again.html

"MOTHER: In love! Is that beginning again! I thought you were over that!" – Machinal Episode Two p.15

Boy, as I started reading this play I thought a feminist had finally come along that had earned my sympathy.

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/CarlosPeredo/2009/02/feminism_i_like_nope_i_was_wro.html

"Love! -what does that amount to! Will it clothe you? Will it feed you? Will it pay the bills?"

Treadwell, page 17 (the mother)

How useful is love?

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/ChristopherDufalla/2009/02/money_practical_love_impractic.html

PITIFUL: "you just take it for granted - you'd let me go on forever - and never feel any pity"
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/AprilMinerd/2009/02/cant_find_sympathy.html

"-God never had one - Mary had one"
Is the young woman comparing herself to the Virgin Mary?
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MarieVanMaanen/2009/02/young_woman_gets_biblical.html

Nameless Abortions - The lack of names and a secret baby?

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/AjaHannah/2009/02/nameless_abortions.html

"YOUNG WOMAN. I've been free father, for one moment, down here on earth, I have been free. When I did what I did, I was free. Free, and not afraid. How is that, Father? How can that be? I great sin, a mortal sin, for which I must die and go to hell, but it made me free! One moment, I was free then, how is that Father? Tell me that." Treadwell, page 80

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/SaraBenaquista/2009/02/life_is_a_machine.html

Hot Dog!

The use of repetition and its sing-song quality

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/AndrewAdams/2009/02/hot_dog.html

Leave it to a PA major to try and diagnose this chick...
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/RachaelSarver/2009/02/starting_to_crack.html

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/NikitaMcClellan/2009/02/no_sympathy_here.html

I dont have sympathy for helen

YOUNG WOMAN (reading). Prisoner escapes - lifer breaks jail - shoots way to freedom - (pg 55)
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/JessicaBitar/2009/02/freedom.html

In reading the introduction of Machinal it struck me that Treadwell is associating the nine scenes with the nine months of gestation for a women. I know that I don't think that I would have put those two things together, however since she points this out it was quite interesting to connect the two.

I find myself constantly questioning the character of this young woman..... On page 29, a Nurse says, "You got a mighty nice husband, I guess you know that?"
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/JustinIellimo/2009/02/shes_in_it_for_the_money.html

"YOUNG WOMAN. Tell me - (Words suddenly pouring out.)
Your skin oughtn't to curl - ought it - when he just comes near you - ought it? That's wrong, ain't it? You don't get over that, do you - ever, do you or do you? How is it, Ma - do you?

MOTHER. Do you what?

YOUNG WOMAN. Do you get used to, it - so after a while it doesn't matter? Or don't you? Does it always matter? You ought to be in love, oughtn't you, Ma? You must be in love, musn't you, Ma? That changes everything, doesn't it - or does it? Maybe if you just like a person it's all right - isn't it? When he puts a hand on me, my blood turns cold. But your blood oughtn't to run cold, ought it?..."

young woman exclaims, "Life has been hell to me, Father!" The young woman seems to have no regrets about murdering her husband.
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/JustinIellimo/2009/02/life_has_been_hell_to_me.html

Machines are confusing

http://blogs.setonhill.edu/SueMyers/2009/02/sometimes-machi.html

Can you relate Helen's personal struggles to your own life?