The Adding Machine

As a morality tale, many of the characters’ opinions are outdated, and some of their expressions are considered bold faced examples of sexism and racism today. Why is it important revisit these challenging topics, and what merit–if any–can be gleaned by preserving them?

While The Adding Machine puts the focus on Zero’s experience of life (and afterlife), the first scene in the play is comprised of a monologue performed by a secondary character, Mrs. Zero. Why would Elmer Rice have chosen to structure his play in this way?

What is the significance of the adding machine in this play? Consider some other potential machines that might have cost workers their jobs during and after the Industrial Revolution.

Elmer Rice has imagined a very specific afterlife for his characters, in the Elysian Fields. What may have influenced this version of heaven (or hell)? Consider the social and political landscape of the mid-1920s, and some of its important events.

The Adding Machine borrows heavily from both Eastern and Western religious traditions. Identify an aspect of each that you see at play in the text. Why might Rice have chosen to incorporate them both?

Initially, Elmer Rice chose to remove Scene 5, in which Zero sits behind bars in a cage, from his original production, but returned it to the script in the 1950s, where it has remained. What are the positive and negative connotations of such a decision?

Elmer Rice uses Expressionist techniques in his play–such as the use of numbers to identify Mr. and Mrs. Zero and their social set, representative of their belief in the merit of rank in their society, and their overall vapid or empty nature as characters. Identify and explain three other examples of Expressionism in The Adding Machine.

The Adding Machine tackles the theme of employment, and in particular the worth of one’s dignity as a worker. What do characters like Lieutenant Charles and the Boss say about Elmer Rice’s own perspective on the matter? Consider answering this question from an earnest perspective, and as a satirist such as Rice himself would have.