interesting vocabulary words

speaking apparatus: is the tool people use in the machine to communicate with others and it is made as a kind of instant messaging/video conferencing.


Homelessness: expulsion from the underground environment and sent to the surface of the earth which means death.

hexagonal: it is a math term,is a polygon with six edges and six vertices.  but in the story it is the shape of the room in the machine. the room is very small and looks like a cell from outside. 

summary of the book

the Machine Stops" is a science fiction short story (12,300 words) by E. M. Forster. (November 1909), the story was republished in Forster's The Eternal Moment and Other Stories in 1928. It was voted one of the best novels up to 1965, it is in the populist anthology Modern Short Stories.[1] In 1973 it was also included in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame.


The story describes a world in which most of the human population has lost the ability to live on the surface of the Earth. Now they live in isolation below ground in a standard 'cell', with all bodily and spiritual needs met by the Machine. Travel is permitted but is unpopular and rarely necessary. Communication is made as a kind of instant messaging/video conferencing machine called the speaking apparatus, with which people conduct their only activity, they sharing ideas and knowledge. The two main characters, Vashti and her son Kuno, live on opposite sides of the world. Vashti is content with her life, which, like most people of that world, she spends producing and endlessly discussing secondhand 'ideas'. Kuno, however, is a sensualist and a rebel. He tells Vashti that he has visited the surface of the Earth without permission, and without the life support apparatus supposedly required to survive in the toxic outer air, and he saw other humans living outside the world of the Machine. However, the Machine recaptured him, and he has been threatened with 'Homelessness', that is, expulsion from the underground environment and sent to the surface of the earth which means death. Vashti, however, dismisses her son's concerns as dangerous madness and returns to her part of the world.


As time passes, Vashti continues the routine of her daily life, and there are two important developments. First, the life support apparatus required to visit the outer world is abolished. Secondly, a kind of religion is re-established, in which the Machine is the object of worship. People forget that humans created the Machine, and treat it as a mystical entity whose needs supersede their own – like a god. Those who do not accept the deity of the Machine are viewed as 'unmechanical' and threatened with Homelessness. 


During this time, Kuno is transferred to a cell near Vashti's. He comes to believe that the Machine is breaking down, and tells her, "The Machine Stops." Vashti does not believe him and continues with her life, but eventually there are some strange things that appear in the Machine.  For example, when people use the book try to call a bed, the bed never comes out. At first, humans accept those things as the whim of the Machine, which they now totally accepted. But the situation get worse and worse, as the knowledge of how to repair the Machine has been lost. Finally the Machine collapses, bringing 'civilization' down with it

questions part two

Study Questions – Part I of E. M. Forster’s “The Machine Stops”

As you are reading, pay attention to any dystopian characteristics you see.  Who are they?

List:

a) People who believe they live in a perfect world. The waiter on the plane and the other people lives in the machine.

b) People who are really totally controlled. vashti

c) There is at least one character that recognizes the flaw in the society. kuno

d) Those who are unwilling to accept the truth about the society. kuno

e) A major flaw in the society will eventually destroy the society. When the machine is not working very well and ill people and old people stat distrust the machine.

1.     What does Vashti look like? Vashti is the people the machine really controlled and she thinks she just lives in the machine, she did not treat the machine like a god but really at the end of the story, she treat the machine like a god, she pray to the machine. Write one quotation that supports your answer.

2.    Describe Vashti’s connections with others. (What has enabled Vashti to be accessible to other people?) vashti can talk to other people through the video, the things vashti enabled to do is she only can talk and see the people but she cannot touch them.

3.    Describe the relationship between Vashti and Kuno. The relationship between those two people is parents and child. But when kuno tell vashti that he thinks machine is not good, she felt shame to give birth to this child. When vashti knows kuno will be a homeless she felt angry and sad.  Give at least two quotations to support your answer.

4.     What does the Book of the Machine say about “parenting responsibilities”? parent only have to give birth to the child and machine will take care of child for rest of his or her life. Does Vashti feel responsible for Kuno? No, when kuno tell her that the machine gone stop, she do not trust him and when kuno ask her to come over, she said is too far and she do not want go. This shows vashti do not care about kuno very much.  Find a quotation to support your answer.

5.    What is Vashti’s reaction to Kuno’s desire to walk on the surface of the earth? She is very surprise and she wants to know why he made this decision.

6.    Why does Vashti decide to visit Kuno? Because kuno whats to tell some things to vashti, but kuno do not want talk through the machine. Describe the ordeal that this presents for her.

7.    After talking to Kuno, “For a moment, Vashti felt lonely.” What comforts her? She go on her video and start to talking to other people.

8.    What does the word “ideas” mean in the story? Everybody lives in the machine should not have any idea and they just do what machine tell them do and do come up with the idea that is against the machine’s law. How do Kuno and Vashti differ on this? Kuno think new idea can improve people’s lives and vashti thinks idea are breaking the law.

9.    Does religion of any sort exist in this mechanical society? Yes, people in this story treat the machine like a god and when machine stops working, everyone pray to the machine hope it will work again. Support your answer.

10.  At the end of section one, what is the irony in Vashti’s statement, “No ideas here,” when she views Greece from the air ship? Greece is a country come up with many different ideas and their ideas influence the Europe’s history. But vashti said there are no ideas in Greece.

questions

Study Questions – Parts II and III of E. M. Forster’s “The Machine Stops”

1.    Describe and define “homelessness” in the Vashti and Kuno’s society. Homeless in the society means people who break machine’s law and the machine sent them to the earth surface.  This action would kill the homeless because the air is highly polluted at the surface and the people who are homeless cannot breath and dead.

2.    What is Vashti’s comment about “worshipping” the machine? Vashti’s comment is she thinks the machine is a good place to live and it provides everything for her. But she did not treat the machine like God. Using her reaction, what can you infer about how Vashti’s society feels about religion? In vashti’s society, people do not have religion and they just believe machine is a safe place to live.

3.     How does this society view physical strength? The society does not admire physical strength, when a baby is born if the machine think is too strong they will kill the body. Why? Because the society do not wants people to go outside or do something that against the machine.

4.    List Kuno’s discoveries he made while on the platforms. Kuno discoveries grass and some human lives on the earth’s surface and kuno get back his sense of space.

5.    Summarize the section in which Kuno journeys to the top by listing the key events. What

Discoveries does he make in this journey? He gains back his sense of space. When he finally gets on the earth surface he found out he can breathe without the respirator and he discover there are humans lives on the earth surface.

6.    Trace the symptoms of the Machine’s destruction from the beginning of Part III until the end of the story. At part two, the machine cannot provide beds for people to sleep and lights in the room become darker every day. The air in the room is dirty. When vashti try to play some music on her video, the music sounds is very strange. Later on, the machine stop working.

7.    What does Kuno believe the future holds at the end of the story? Kuno believe human will lives on the surface of the earth. They will never live in the machine anymore.