Radium Girls- Influence Case Study

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  ‘Radium Girls’, whilst being a highly contemporary piece of literature, articulates the anecdote of the power a woman’s voice has over the patriarchy within the beginning of the 20th century, and the corrupted methods of those abusing their role within the patriarchy- despite the original play from playwright D. W. Gregory being a mere 24 years old, an array of varying adaptations across a plethora of media have already began to emerge, including the most recent film adaptation following the story of the injustices within the radium plant through a different perspective of women, whom act as a symbol of the women involved, rather than the true historic figures. Despite the dramatic telling of this tale- following the dangers of radium and the dangers of an overly ambitious group of men trying to deflect responsibility- within recent years, the foundations of the two act play stems from a firm reality, being heavily mirroring the real events of the real women affected- coinciding with the true tragedy these women faced, whilst showing the humanity behind the women, showing they were, and always will be, more as just a headline; despite the modern reiterations of this surreal and cruel story, this play- and all adaptations branching from it- span from the same truth, of the world of 1918 and beyond- a world infected by radium, and greed.

  D. W. Gregory, a playwright and teaching artist, whom of which bases herself within the state capital of the United States of America- Washington DC- a playwright of which grounds herself within one principle whilst writing her plethora of plays- to examine the entire crux of American culture, and most importantly their fixation and borderline obsession with, as Katherine Wiley says, their: “public image”- and how the fundamentals of power are never questioned, and these corrupt systems being able to coexist and- essentially- thrive, with the typical lives of those within the Americas; having the comedic aspects of life seamlessly flow into the ebbs of these horrifying tales of injustice, until the point of no return is reached- the point where one question of the system within the play begins to unravel the ropes which act as the foundation of society within America. This play was the formal debut of political playwright D. W. Gregory, a woman who had, at the time, recently moved to the capital of the USA in order to create, not for herself, yet rather to uplift the women and those oppressed throughout American history, reimagining them, not as people, yet in a format that could reach those within the 21st century, the art of theatrical performance, a medium infamous for its ability to entertain and educate simultaneously, coinciding the comedy and the tragedy of everyday life- such as that of the girls who suffered the malpractice of the US Radium Corporation. The truth of the war between the consumer and the corporation began with the protagonist of the play- Grace Fryer, the American dial painter who sought to the sanctity of the legal system in order to compensate for herself and the girls whom suffered radium poisoning as a result of their employment to the US Radium Corporation- two years after her departure from the company, at the beginning of the ‘Roaring 20’s’, the visible effects of the radioactivity began to physically affect Fryer’s health, causing pulsing pain throughout her jaw (due to the jaw actively deteriorating, which led to the teeth within her mouth to subsequently fall out), as well as more subtle properties of the illness manifesting, such as clouded eyes- the same year when an Italian immigrant, whom was formerly employed at the radium plant, died of this chronic poisoning due to the same radium industrial branch of which Fryer was employed- two of the family members of the late worker, named Amelia Maggia later joined the case, alongside Fryer’s colleague and close friend and a lady called Edna Hussman- who helped to file the original case against the US Radium Corporation, despite being rarely mentioned within dramatic retelling of this story, including both D. W. Gregory’s script, as well as the 2020 film of the same name of ‘Radium Girls’. Grace Fryer’s story follows the pivotal point within the fight for the labour rights movement, with her ‘Case of the Five Women Doomed to Die’ helping to establish and shape safety regulations for all employees within the work environment, even giving young girls abused for their labour within this modern age a sanctuary, with the Horological Society of New York awarding watchmaking scholarships in the name of Grace Fryer, to commemorate her and the Radium Girls’ efforts for the safety towards- especially women- workers in the employment field, still showing the importance of the fundamentals they have laid for modern working women today, especially within the Americas; it was only natural for Fryer to be the protagonist of Gregory’s political theatre piece, being the true epitome of the human spirit, yet not being a unrealistic concept of optimism- Fryer- if any concept- is one of determination, and bitter realism is not always a synonym for the expected outcome, especially if that expected outcome is simply just the easiest to accomplish- from Fryer to Schuab; the girls abandoned fighting for themselves, yet rather, they fought for the Radium Girls that couldn’t speak, and that so ‘Radium Girl’ would have to scream for compensation, like they did, again.

  Not only did this story shape the working industry for women within the 1920s, it also challenged and aided to mould the ever changing societal roles for women, whilst simultaneously showing how playing to the stereotypical foundations of ‘womanhood’ mattered more as you climbed the class system - as a result of societal pressure; for example, in the case of women within the middle-upper class, whom were expected to balance her primary purpose of motherhood, whilst also maintaining her public presence in the name of her husband, with most gaining power within women-led clubs, which were set up for a front of charity- a trait which was not only exclusive to the Americas; on the contrary, women who had not fulfilled their sanctitude of motherhood had a higher pressure to use their power within their female led practices in order to not be scrutinised within society’s eyes, such as Miss Katherine Wiley of the New Jersey Consumer’s League, whom of which acts as a common figure within each dramatic adaptation; her direct influence within the Radium Girls case leads to Wiley becoming a significant influence within the feminist elements of the story- her role within the play, for example, makes her use the tactics of the low, selfish people surrounding the case, in order to get into their most fragile aspects of their defence and crumble them; she acts as a foil, of acting more brutish for good, rather than the more ‘powerful’ masculine figures around her acting on a fabricated sense of understanding, in order to undermine the girls they caused to suffer: the story has different moral connotations, depending on the perspective you view the story from, for example- in the eyes of Arthur Roeder (the main ‘antagonist’), the moral pushes towards knowing your limits towards your ambition, and being aware of when to stop- before a point of no return, whereas towards Roeder’s wife, the moral completely shifts, to the impact of deciding between supporting your own societal image and your own husband- and how she acts as a metaphor for how reliant married women were on the image of their husband- and, despite what oppositions happen behind closed doors, the public will always view Diane Roeder as a mirrored image of Roeder’s beliefs; she simply becomes the family name, rather than an individual. The story of the Radium Girls is not a typical case of trying to subdue one threat or villain, per say, yet rather the challenging of an entire system, and how the partriachry and the corruption of the US government ultimately led to each characters downfall within varying aspects of their characters; how the legal system’s flaws led to the girls being able to sue, yet also finding another flaw in order to benefit the US Radium Corporation- with the judge who ruled for the girls being a board member of the corporation; Radium Girls is a story of which party could manipulate their own personal tribulations, as well the US court system, simultaneously- which neither ‘side’ could ever acquire fully- each side either scarified their lives, as well their entire livelihoods, or rather their entire public and mental image- which shows the point abundantly clear, which Gregory wanted to forefront; the corruptions within the political scape of the US will never have a winner- it favours its own corrupt system rather than any individual, regardless of status or wellness; ironically, being both the most discriminatory in arenas of the system, whilst growing to be the least within other areas, on the back of its own selfish needs.