The Machine Stops
1) Describe the Machine at the center of the story. What are its functions? List as many as you can.
2) This story was written in 1909, prior to the advent of much of the communication technologies we have today. For example, the radio was not mass used then, the telephone existed but was not in every home, there were no televisions, etc. However, Forster was able to see these forms of technology of his day and project them into an imagined future. He also looked at industrialization itself, and saw how it changed the lives of people (in the story, he mostly focused on negative changes.)
The Industrial Revolution, which took place from the 18th to 19th centuries, was a period during which predominantly agrarian, rural societies in Europe and America became industrial and urban. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, which began in Britain in the late 1700s, manufacturing was often done in people’s homes, using hand tools or basic machines. Industrialization marked a shift to powered, special-purpose machinery, factories and mass production. The iron and textile industries, along with the development of the steam engine, played central roles in the Industrial Revolution, which also saw improved systems of transportation, communication and banking. While industrialization brought about an increased volume and variety of manufactured goods and an improved standard of living for some, it also resulted in often grim employment and living conditions for the poor and working classes.
3) Forster seems to have predicted a number of communication technologies that exist in our world today. What are those?
3) How do the humans in the story relate to their physical bodies? Can you see any parallels between the world of the story and our world, insofar as how our technologies have changed how we relate to our bodies?
4) How does the machine affect how people relate to one another? Can you see any parallels between the world of the story and our world, insofar as how our technologies have changed how we relate to one another?
5) What has the Machine done to human thought and imagination? How does this compare to what the parlor families and banning of books did to imagination in F451? Do you see any of our technologies functioning similarly?
6) In what ways is the machine like our Internet? Do we relate to the Internet similarly?
7) Examine the evolution of the machine throughout the story. It begins as something to improve human life, then slowly people begin to worship it, and fail to fix it. What might this evolution of the Machine's power be a metaphor for in our world? What is the ending of the story warning us against?
2) This story was written in 1909, prior to the advent of much of the communication technologies we have today. For example, the radio was not mass used then, the telephone existed but was not in every home, there were no televisions, etc. However, Forster was able to see these forms of technology of his day and project them into an imagined future. He also looked at industrialization itself, and saw how it changed the lives of people (in the story, he mostly focused on negative changes.)
The Industrial Revolution, which took place from the 18th to 19th centuries, was a period during which predominantly agrarian, rural societies in Europe and America became industrial and urban. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, which began in Britain in the late 1700s, manufacturing was often done in people’s homes, using hand tools or basic machines. Industrialization marked a shift to powered, special-purpose machinery, factories and mass production. The iron and textile industries, along with the development of the steam engine, played central roles in the Industrial Revolution, which also saw improved systems of transportation, communication and banking. While industrialization brought about an increased volume and variety of manufactured goods and an improved standard of living for some, it also resulted in often grim employment and living conditions for the poor and working classes.
3) Forster seems to have predicted a number of communication technologies that exist in our world today. What are those?
3) How do the humans in the story relate to their physical bodies? Can you see any parallels between the world of the story and our world, insofar as how our technologies have changed how we relate to our bodies?
4) How does the machine affect how people relate to one another? Can you see any parallels between the world of the story and our world, insofar as how our technologies have changed how we relate to one another?
5) What has the Machine done to human thought and imagination? How does this compare to what the parlor families and banning of books did to imagination in F451? Do you see any of our technologies functioning similarly?
6) In what ways is the machine like our Internet? Do we relate to the Internet similarly?
7) Examine the evolution of the machine throughout the story. It begins as something to improve human life, then slowly people begin to worship it, and fail to fix it. What might this evolution of the Machine's power be a metaphor for in our world? What is the ending of the story warning us against?
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