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The Machine Stops Literary Techniques

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The Machine Stops Literary Techniques
“The Machine Stops” Analytical Essay

Human beings are an intelligent and creative species; however is it possible that their own technologic creations can exceed their own levels of intelligence and creativity to such an extent that humans have no need to rely on doing everyday things manually? In the short story “The Machine Stops” by E.M Forster the conflict between the main characters Vashti and Kuno allow readers to explore the main idea that “humans are architects of their own destruction”. Forster does this by giving Kuno and Vashti opposing opinions on the way of life of the Machine through the use of dialogue, language techniques and an omnipresent narrator that capture both opposing views clearly, to effectively convey that “humans are architects of their own destruction.
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However every room is identical and all have a button for each thing that needs to be done. This is an amazing thing for one of the main characters Vashti. The importance of the Machine to her is shown through the quote “Then she generated the light, and the sight of her room, flooded with radiance and studded with electric buttons, revived her. There were buttons and switches everywhere — buttons to call for food for music, for clothing. There was the hot-bath button, by pressure of which a basin of (imitation) marble rose out of the floor, filled to the brim with a warm deodorized liquid. There was the cold-bath button. There was the button that produced literature and there were of course the buttons by which she communicated with her friends. The room, though it contained nothing, was in touch with all that she cared for in the world” She represents majority of the human race that thoroughly depend on the existence of the machine to continue living. Vashti does everything by means of the

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