'Young Woman In Sophie Treadwell's Machinal'

The play Machinal by Sophie Treadwell creates a world that Young Woman feels trapped in by the mundane, thoughtless routine, repeated every day. Much like the machines that they work with, most of the characters around Young Woman perform a certain set of tasks and never stray from them. Young Woman is yearning for something different, a feeling of life that is not mechanical, instead something human, even though she is not entirely sure what that entails. As her life moves on, however, she becomes even more entrenched in the conveyer belt life that she desperately wanted to avoid. As a result of her constant dissatisfaction with her life, and without anyone around her able to understand, she becomes isolated, cornered by her discontent. Young …show more content…
Here, the environment is heavily mechanical, including the language used by her coworkers. They give the first description of Young Woman, before she arrives. Their discussion of her turns to her ability as an employee, much of which is negative; the stenographer defends his position against her because he claims “I'm efficient. She is inefficient” (3). The concept of efficiency, while not rooted in a machine, became quickly attached to it as a way to express output, as they were meant to increase productivity in less time. In order to be considered efficient, to the stenographer, as well as to wider society, means to complete as much work as possible in the smallest amount of time. Efficiency can be considered mindless, much like the machines around Young Woman and her coworkers. There is no consideration to humanity. Rather, it becomes solely about outcomes and numbers. Since Young Woman does not produce outputs to the same standard, she is not considered a good employee. Judgement of her is based solely on how well she imitates the machines with which she is working. Who she is as a person is not important; there is no emotional reasoning or connection with her and the work she performs. The other workers only care that she can be another cog in the employer’s wheel, just like them. However, since she does not fit into that model, she is an anomaly in the workplace. When Young Woman finally makes her appearance, the other co-workers turn to her, and simultaneously say “you’re late” (5). It is as though they are one in that moment, all turning to the one that stands out. She does not adhere to the routine, which cannot be tolerated. The moment she is with people, she does not find comfort or camaraderie. Instead, Young Woman is isolated even when in a room with multiple people. She is singled out by everyone else; her missteps open for the workers to comment upon. This magnification on her is