Milly

Young woman studying art at Columbia.

S2E3 - Back in the common room, Rose asks Dora, Greta and Milly about their life goals. With a series of pointed questions, Rose makes them realize for the first time how male-dominated the world is and how foolish some of their dreams are.

DORA: I've never drawn a nude man before.
MILLY: I've never seen a nude man before.
GRETA: Drawing a man's genitals is not easy.
ROSE: Or appetizing.
GRETA: Did you draw a face on his penis?
MILLY: No.
GRETA: It's smiling.
MILLY: I draw what I see.
GRETA: Rose, let's see yours.
ROSE: Oh, I completely skipped the down-there part. It made me very uncomfortable.
GRETA: Even though it was smiling?
MILLY: It's not smiling.
DORA: I wouldn't submit that for your master's thesis, Milly.
ROSE: A master's degree, that sounds so important. Are you all on that path?
MILLY: Pretty much.
ROSE: My, I can't even imagine. And once you have your master's, what do you do with it?
GRETA: Pardon?
ROSE: I mean, it's so audacious, a master's. You're learning so much. What are you going to do with all that knowledge?
MILLY: What is she talking about?
ROSE: What do you do once you graduate?
MILLY: There's a lot of things we can do. Teach.
ROSE: Oh, yes, teach. Where?
DORA: Here, I guess.
ROSE: But none of the teachers here are women. They all seem to be men.
MILLY: I guess a lot of them are men.
ROSE: I think all of them are men.
DORA: I never put that together.
GRETA: Some of us want to be artists. I want to be an artist.
ROSE: But there are really no lady artists, not in the States. I knew a couple back in the day in Paris. One quit, no one knows where she is today. The other one killed herself. Mainly because no one would buy art from a girl. She tried calling herself Bertrum and wearing a bowler, but it didn't work. You don't like your sandwich?
MILLY: I'm not hungry anymore.
ROSE: Some of you are doing this to find a husband, I assume? That's why my daughter went to college. Oh, sure, she wanted to make friends and take classes, but her real goal was to meet a man, and she met one. Then he dumped her, so she's working a low-level job because all she had was a degree in Russian literature, but not a master's.
GRETA: I mean, it would be nice to meet a man.
DORA: Yeah, I guess.
ROSE: Well, if you want to meet a man, this is not the place to do it. The art department, mm-mm. The whole building, nope. Now, the business school, that's the place. Lots of choices and they're all studying something with real potential. I hope you don't mind the thoughts of an older woman. I'm just very new at all this.
DORA: Not at all.
GRETA: Yes, thank you, Rose.
– S2E3

3. The Punishment Room

• List of Characters