What do you find particularly horrifying about the world Forster creates in

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What do you find particularly horrifying about the world Forster creates in “The Machine Stops”?

In “The Machine Stops” Forster creates a world set in the future, where machines rule. In fact, machines run life so much so that human beings, by this time, have adapted accordingly to life and the lifestyle it brings. “In the arm-chair there sits a swaddled lump of flesh – a woman, about five feet high, with a face as white as a fungus,” Forster writes. This is a pretty horrific description because it shows us that in the world Forster has created, people get no exercise whatsoever. There is in fact no need to get any exercise with the life the humans lead under the control of The Machine. “Infants [are] examined at birth, and all who [promise] to endue strength [are] destroyed…it would [be] no true kindness to let an athlete live; he would never [be] happy in that state of life to which the Machine had called him.” Therefore, humans have whittled down to shorter heights as they do not get outside of their rooms often, therefore diminishing this need, and they also consequently get no sunlight. These factors combined lead to people who are deathly white and resemble out-of-shape “blobs” from basically being hunched on a seat constantly.

More frightening than this, and so this is truly scary, is the lifestyle the Machine is described as giving in the story. The people need only push a button and whatever they require will appear there at their fingertips. This seems like a comfortable enough life, but instead of having more control under The Machine, it is in fact the exact opposite. With The Machine an almost constant life of luxury is created, but the question presents itself of what the luxury is based on. If anything happens to The Machine whatsoever, then what becomes of the people? Life then cannot go on! It is often perceived that life is better and easier with machines – but it is eerie to think of what will happen without them, as they are the ones that actually truly have the control. Again, it is often thought that with the machines man is able to control everything, but what if in truth The Machine is actually reactionary to society and civilization? Life then becomes less secure than we care to believe.  

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So changes in lifestyle indeed have occurred, and the main one being that people basically need not ever to leave the comfort of their own home! Video telephone calls are available, so it is possible to call people and see them visually during the conversation – but therefore, in this world Forster has created, no one really ever sees anyone face to face, up close and personal. This seems negligible though, but it actually leads onto much greater consequences. People in this world are now haunted by the “terrors of direct experience” and direct experiences are things that are ...

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