Preview

The Machine Stops

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1363 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Machine Stops
In The Machine Stops, E.M. Forster projects life years from now where people live underground with extreme technological advances. Also, people live separated in little rooms where they find a variety of buttons they can press in order to perform any task they desire. They do not communicate with people face to face as often as we do now. Without a doubt, their society is very different from ours. All of the inhabitants are used to living along with the Machine and it is hard for them to imagine life without everything the Machine is able to facilitate. People are so caught up with technology that they find it absurd to spend time in nature. Because of the dependence people have towards the Machine, they have somewhat lost their humanity and become a machine themselves. The characters Vashti and Kuno perfectly represent how inhumane or humane a person could potentially be in such an environment. Vashti and Kuno play the two major roles in The Machine Stops. Vashti is Kuno’s mother but despite this, they do not live together or even near, they were separated little time after Kuno was born. Vashti lives in the Southern Hemisphere and Kuno lives in the Northern Hemisphere which is on the other side of their underground society, therefore, they rarely see each other. In order to communicate they talk from time to time using a device that permits them to see an image of each other. One thing that is rapidly noticeable about their relationship is that Vashti does not get exited when talking to her son; she gets very impatient and wants to finish the conversation as quickly as possible. Like most people, Vashti stays in her room the majority of the time and then goes back to sleep. Even though she does not do much with her life, when her son Kuno asks her to please come visit him to the Northern Hemisphere she says she does not have time to do that. It is weird to see this kind of behavior coming from a mother because mothers usually worry a
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    1by Raven Munson Summary
    • 211 Words
    • 1 Page

    1by Raven Munson Summary

    As we replace everyday things with machinery, we begin to lose empathy and we forget how to interact with others. Human interaction is a necessary part of life and when you remove it, we begin to disconnect from others. This affects society in many ways and most of them aren’t very good. Such as when you begin to lose empathy bad things that are condemned by society may not seem so bad. As we replace human beings with machinery we also take away jobs, which affects those who were originally…

    • 211 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Fahrenheit 451 Dialectical Journal Analysis
    • 695 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Fahrenheit 451 Dialectical Journal Analysis

    I thought it was ironic how Beatty mentioned that the mechanical hound just “functions” because that’s how the citizens seem to act as well. For example, how one of Mildred’s friends had so many abortions without a care in the world. They act inhumane just how a robot would or even a mechanical hound. The mechanical hound is programmed to ‘function’ as if it were…

    • 695 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury: Character Analysis
    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury: Character Analysis

    Throughout the novel, the machines that dominate Montag’s world represent the majority of the half-dead, half-living people that he comes in contact with. The very first machine that is seen is the “Snake” that is used to clean the poisons that Mildred has put in her body. The snake “fed in silence with an occasional sound of inner suffocation and blind searching. It had an Eye” (14). Though it is a machine, this snake is described as having human-like qualities such as an “eye” and performing human-like tasks such as “drinking up” the green matter that was inside of Mildred. The hound that lives in the firehouse is another major example of a machine possessing humanoid qualities. This hound “slept but did not sleep, lived but did not live” (24). The Mechanical Hound possesses the power to paralyze, wound, and even kill its victims with the release of poison from a needle inside his nose. By having an incredible ability unlike any other living animal, the hound represents the human-like attributes of the machines in this society. The tv parlor that takes up so much of Mildred’s life also serves as a symbol of something being both dead and alive in this novel. Mildred refers to the people on the tv programs that she watches as her “family” and even has a speaking part in the episodes. Like the other machines, these characters are only on a screen, but…

    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Montag's Identity In Fahrenheit 451
    • 160 Words
    • 1 Page

    Montag's Identity In Fahrenheit 451

    There is a crucial similarity between the Mechanical Hounds and the people of the monotonous society. These man – made creatures are living but not living, thinking but not thinking. They think what man tells it to think. And irony plays it, the people of…

    • 160 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Carr's Ethos Pathos Logos
    • 149 Words
    • 1 Page

    Carr's Ethos Pathos Logos

    Continuing, Carr’s use of the metaphor makes a strong statement in his argument and supports the idea that technology is making humans into machines well. To compare humans to machines appeals to the readers’ pathos because it makes the situation more directed towards the reader and their emotions. For those who use technology daily, the comparison would affect them more because they are more likely to be surrounded by technology and possible end up thinking like the machine they are using. Carr makes sure that this metaphor show how the human brain is changing and has adapt to work like a clock and that it will adapt to be like the other devices being used. Analyzing the two strategies, personal anecdote and figurative language, Carr uses…

    • 149 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    In Over Their Heads By Margaret Peterson Haddix
    • 1018 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In Over Their Heads By Margaret Peterson Haddix

    This is a Contrast Contradiction because these robots were made and programmed to protect the human race and to provide a stepping-stone for the Humans. Modern day humans had been killed by killer robots and people donated their embryos to freeze and program robots to care of these until Killer Robots were gone and then Bring the Human Race back to life after they had instigated the Robots to go rogue and instead, were trained to be nicer.…

    • 1018 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Examples Of Machinery In The Grapes Of Wrath
    • 726 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Examples Of Machinery In The Grapes Of Wrath

    Humans and machinery have one major difference that sets them apart: emotions. Machines don’t feel emotions the way humans do , or have characteristics like humans. In chapter 5 of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes Of Wrath, Steinbeck is portraying a land owner giving the bad news to a tenant farmer that he is being kicked off his land, who does not take it lightly. Throughout the chapter , Steinbeck is depicting the idea that machinery is void of all human characteristics and emotions.…

    • 726 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    The Bird and the Machine Exam
    • 1815 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Bird and the Machine Exam

    1. In The Bird and the Machine, Loren Eiseley reads an article one morning and is confronted by a new world: one which is inherent of technological advancement. In fact, he reads that this new world is machine dominant, and that machines are to surpass human intelligence and potential in the world. This new world also fuses a new scope on life that, for example, the human mind is just a mechanical system like a computer and nothing to get superstitious about. In finish, this world is more mechanized and is based on man-made creations rather than dwelling and thriving in nature’s beauty.…

    • 1815 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Harrison Bergeron By Kurt Vonnegut: An Analysis
    • 1951 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Harrison Bergeron By Kurt Vonnegut: An Analysis

    A scene set in a society that strips individuality and strives for complete and utter equality by any means. Many feel that people should have similar rights and be treated the same by everyone, but in this world you are truly revoked of your physical and mental prowess if it is above average. This ridiculous satire of “America’s form of egalitarianism” (Hattenhauer n. pag.) creates a vision of what it is truly like to have a whole country at the baseline of human abilities. This conveying point of how ridiculous it is to bring individuals down instead of raise them up is emphasized within the story and portrayed within the characters. Everyday people such as George and Hazel Bergeron can barely function and are considered the perfect amount of intelligence. Buzzers go off in George's ear to prevent him from thinking too hard or too long about anything. Vonnegut crafts a society idolized for creating a population of people that are barely able to carry out menial tasks. It is such a perverted idea to “depict the american ideal that ‘all men are created equal’ gone amok” (Farrell n. pag.) and make it into a reality. Kurt Vonnegut brings this all to life into a short story that cuts into the idea of equality while simultaneously showing the importance of education and…

    • 1951 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Use Of Technology In Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man
    • 1290 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Use Of Technology In Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man

    In the novel The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury, there are many short stories that analyze the abuse and danger of technology, as well as our fascination with it. In addition, it shows how technology influences our relationships with others. In “The Veldt”, a family’s smart house ends up making their lives easier at first, but eventually ruining their lives as the technology becomes a replacement for the people themselves. In the story, the children end up killing their parents because the home has become a parent figure to them, and their real parents threaten to take it away. In “Marionettes, Inc.”, peoples’ robotic forms of themselves begin to act for themselves and become a better version of the original person. Rather than deal with the problems in their relationships, the people in the story choose to run away by making a robotic version of themselves. Ray Bradbury uses these stories that show the risks of technology in order to spread the message that we need to be careful around…

    • 1290 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Effects of Equality in “Harrison Bergeron”
    • 1075 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Effects of Equality in “Harrison Bergeron”

    “Harrison Bergeron,” written by Kurt Vonnegut focuses on the idea of physical and mental equality, which is controlled by the government in the year 2081; the strong are forced to wear handicaps which hinder their abilities, the intellectual are forced to be unintelligent due to a radio transmitter that won’t allow the individual to think. Vonnegut uses satirical tone and places this story in the future, to show how total equality would not work. Not only does total equality sound absurd it removes the ability for individuals to be different. Individuality means having a quality that separates one individual from another. This means that by having total equality, there is a loss of individuality. In Kurt Vonnegut’s story “Harrison Bergeron”, Vonnegut’s satirical, dystopian society in which everyone is average, presents the idea that handicaps that constitute equality also eliminates individuality, along with self-worth.…

    • 1075 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Harrison Bergeron Character Analysis
    • 682 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Harrison Bergeron Character Analysis

    “Harrison Bergeron” is a satirical short story written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr, a story that is a probable and mocking glimpse into how dark society may become in the future. The characters in this story are all equal, therefore not one person stronger, smarter, or better looking than any other individual. This is achieved by the use of handicaps produced by the government, which include a mask if you are ascetically pleasing, heavy weights to slow down individuals who are too fast or strong, and also earphones with vociferous radio signals to make ingenious people lose their train of thought or certain memories. These handicaps make a significant impact to everyone in the dystopia, including the three main characters in “Harrison Bergeron” who are fourteen year-old Harrison Bergeron, his father George Bergeron, and his mother Hazel Bergeron. Kurt Vonnegut’s dystopian and socially paralyzed world is brought out of the dark and into the light by his use of simple characters and their dispassionate reactions to rebellion and abnormality.…

    • 682 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Analysis Of Alone Together Sherry Sherkle
    • 1334 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Analysis Of Alone Together Sherry Sherkle

    The device hold information about the life of the owner but can also solve any problem that they would need. The android has become that friend that you relay on more than an actual human being. Turkle exemplifies that “Digital connections and the sociable robot may offer the illusions of companionship without the demands of friendship.” (Turkle 263). With progresses of technological research, automatons have been built to offer the idea of friendship. It is meant to be there to give comfort and take away the feelings of loneliness. However, the android takes away the feelings of solitude but the it does not require anything back, it does not request for the person to comfort the machine Technology was not meant to take the place of a human being, it was made to simplify the life of the populaces. Technology has not just given people a virtual friend but also taken away time to spend time with realistic friends. Gopnik epitomes on how technology has distracted us from authentic lives, ““Oh, you know… just… bumping into Charlie Ravioli,” meaning, just bouncing from obligation to electronic entreaty, just spotting a friend and snatching a sandwich, just being busy, just living in New York.” (Gopnik 160). With the evolution of technology, it has become an obsession to always have any time of technology on hand. The idea of an authentic life does not fully exist in the idea of this new time and age. Technology has taken so much of each individuals’ time that they tell others whom they care about that they are too busy for them. The digital equipment that is used as a daily distraction, it makes it a difficulty to live authentic lives. The android that is carried in everyone’s pockets gives people the busyness and the interference to avoid seeing others. The electronic devices have been…

    • 1334 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Veldt, Zero Hour, And Marionettes Inc. By Ray Bradbury
    • 829 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Veldt, Zero Hour, And Marionettes Inc. By Ray Bradbury

    With the rapid advancement of technology, it has deeply engaged to the modern lifestyles of humans, which refer to ‘technology is the current world’. With regard to this, there are social concerns to the effect of the power of technology in far future in affecting the behaviour of humans. Ray Bradbury discovers this principle in his short stories of ‘The Veldt’, ‘Zero Hour’, and ‘Marionettes Inc.’. The three stories are about how the creation of humans, the imagination of individuals and the conception of robots outlines the concerns of technology in the future to be raised. This three short stories perfectly described of how the invention of technology in the future has raised the social concerns towards the behaviours of the individual.…

    • 829 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Computer Disadvantages
    • 336 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Computer Disadvantages

    Man is a social animal. His survival deems an interactive society. Sharing his ideas, thoughts and beliefs with others play a key role to his existence. Computers have locked him somewhere in the dark with no access to the outer world. He mostly remains to himself, secluded from the real world. He gets involved in a gradual transition to becoming nothing but a lifeless machine. He starts to perceive everything in terms of numbers and numerals. His metamorphosis into an emotionless animal arouses anti social tendencies that marks him as an alienated species. Computers might create wonders and help man to reach the acme of success. But, if not controlled it can also be the…

    • 336 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics