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Edward Morgan Forster's The Machine Stops

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In 1909 “The Machine Stops” was written by Edward Morgan Forster. This futuristic short story is showing shocking similarities of our society in present time. Although Forster lived in the early 1900’s, this imaginative author made a bold prediction of technology being too involved in the lives of people in his story. Society might blow off the story by claiming that we could never end up like people in “The Machine Stops”, but there are many similarities that could lead us down the same road as the people. As Forster says in this book, “No one confessed the Machine was out of hand. Year by year it had served with increased efficiency and decreased intelligence… and in all the world there was not one who understood the monster as a whole… But …show more content…

Television and the radio take up so much of our time and money. Television provides millions of people around the world with jobs. We have people in this world that are reliant on looking pretty on a television to provide them money to feed and house their families. This is a perfect example of relying on technology. In addition, the radio provides many people with jobs speaking on it. People who do not speak on the radio or act on television still watch a lot of television and listen to the radio very much. Similarly, people in “The Machine Stops” do nothing but stare at a video screen all day and listen to the Machine’s radio. There is very little physical contact between people in the book. This is true of some people in the world today. People would rather stay inside and play video games or watch television rather than going out to be with friends. We are falling into a trap with technological entertainment. We need more outdoor activity to prevent as much reliance on technology for entertainment. Manual and outdoor entertainment could save our country from falling further into the technological trap we are falling

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Ray Bradbury 's “The Veldt” takes place in a house that can do anything the want which results in the main characters-George, Lydia, Peter, and Wendy Hadley not sharing a strong bond with their family. You end up having no connection to your family so you have trouble communicating and having feelings for them which results in even though the machines don’t have any feelings or connections having to machines more that other people this shows how when people use technology too much or machines. People become to rely on them too much which dehumanises them and Bradbury shows that by symbolism, imagery and dialogue. Ray Bradbury uses symbolism to show how machines dehumanise people. One example is what the lions actually mean, the lions represent

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Bradbury believes that technology is a benefactor when it comes to the aid of people’s lives. However, Bradbury is also wary of the unintentional hazards technological innovation may cause, and fears technology that seems to replace human responsibility. Bradbury sums up his doubts, stating that technology should never come at the expense of human life. These ideologies are displayed throughout the following short stories: “The Veldt,” “There Will Come Soft Rains,” and “A Sound of Thunder.” Each story contains the underlying theme that technology must be wielded with great care.

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For instance, Vashti gives lectures through the Machine screen without receiving the listeners’ verbal response. Although she feels “somewhat pleased” (Forster, 20) about the lecture, she later attempts to contact a friend who is a specialist in sympathy for consolation because of having a breakdown and being terrorised of the silence (Forster, 20) during the progress of deterioration of the Machine. As the death of the Machine approaches, people “touch each other” (Forster, 20), “talk, not through the Machine” (Forster, 22) and have direct human contact after they “opened [their] prison[s] and escaped” (Forster, 21). It is tragic that they still do not realise the importance of humanity and that the Machine should not be blindly worshiped. For instance, Vashti still stubbornly thinks that “some fool will start the Machine again” (Forster, 22).

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