The Machine Stops

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1909

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Symbols & Motifs

The Book

Certain nouns are capitalized in the story, such as the Machine, the Central Committee, and the Book. This denotes singularity. There may have been infinite machines throughout history, but there is only one all-powerful Machine. Similarly, the Book, a vestige from the days of physical tomes, is central to the way people understand and process their lives. Serving as a mode of instruction, the Book parallels the holy books from any religion. Other religious holy books teach followers how to live through parables and lists of laws. The Book has simplified this, reducing proper life choices to a set of instructions about which buttons to push to achieve which effects. In essence, it is a user manual for the Machine, but since the Machine has become all-encompassing, it is also a user manual for life.

When Vashti kisses the Book’s spine, it is reminiscent of the Jewish practice of kissing one’s fingers and touching the Torah as it is paraded by. This reverence contradicts the claims that following the Machine is different from following religion, particularly because people utter prayers and praises. When the Machine begins to break down, the Central Committee becomes particularly invested in fostering this sense of religion because faith is necessary to prevent rebellion. Therefore, they begin to print religious declarations in the Book: “The Machine […] feeds us and clothes us and houses us; through it we speak to one another, through it we see one another, in it we have our being. The Machine is the friend of ideas and the enemy of superstition: the Machine is omnipotent, eternal; blessed is the Machine” (19). Inscribing this assertion into the Book makes it legally irreverent to question the Machine, even as society begins to fail.

The Mending Apparatus

Kuno encounters the Mending Apparatus on the surface in its horrifying form: white worms slither out of the underground opening and grab him. He also glimpses the worm killing a woman who presumably lives on the surface and was trying to help him. The Mending Apparatus repairs parts of the Machine as they break, such as the gap that Kuno makes when escaping to the surface. The idea of repair extends beyond simply fixing mechanical issues and into maintaining stasis and the status quo. In this instance, the Mending Apparatus does not allow Kuno to leave. The Machine claims him and will not permit him to make the choice to join those who live on the surface. It seems odd that killing would fall under the category of mending, but the people on the surface threaten the Machine civilization. If they manage to communicate with and influence the people who live underground, the people might begin to think for themselves and rise up, leaving the Machine to die.

If the Mending Apparatus is the arm of the Machine that makes repairs, it also includes the medical device that descends from the ceiling in order to fix illnesses or injuries. Although the Mending Apparatus seems automatic, its functions are not entirely mechanized. The medical device drops from Vashti’s ceiling when Kuno contacts her doctor, insinuating that her doctor is a human being. When the Machine begins to break down, Vashti issues complaints to the Committee of the Mending Apparatus, suggesting that they are humans who prioritize and direct the functions of the Machine. The Committee personifies the Apparatus, pronouncing, “The Mending Apparatus has treated us so well in the past that we all sympathize with it and will wait patiently for its recovery” (22), as if the Machine is only ill, not breaking down.

Measured Structures

From the beginning of the story, Vashti is preoccupied with structured time. She is impatient and hurried, demanding that her son take less than five minutes of her time and becoming annoyed when he does not speak quickly enough. Ironically, in a society that has done away with work obligations, Vashti has no real reason for needing to measure and manage time so closely. In fact, one benefit of a leisure-based society ought to be the elimination of rushing. Vashti gives lectures, but these are delivered virtually, requiring no inconvenient gathering. The lecture format, which is only 10 minutes long, suggests that these lectures occur constantly, and a cancelled lecture would not be missed. The close measurement of time gives the illusion of order and productivity.

In a civilization that has centered the mind rather than the body, measuring time replaces measuring space. Much of human society is preoccupied with spatiality and the organization of space. Without the technology that allows people to speak to each other across distances, non-written interactions require the commitment of travel. As Kuno discovers, “[m]an is the measure” (12) of time and space. Distance is a matter of how much time it takes for the human body to traverse. Since the airship can travel to the other side of the world in two days, these technological advances change the way spatiality affects human lives. It changes the nature of friendship. In today's era of social media, it may seem unremarkable that Vashti is constantly surrounded by insistent voices. However, this type of instant group interaction was impossible in 1909. When time and space are valuable, human relationships require sacrifice and effort and therefore become more sacred.