The Freedom of Expression and The Negative Impacts of Conformity in E.m. Forster’s The Machine Stops

Messages of the Machine

The world in which E.M. Forster’s short story “The Machine Stops” is set has been so extremely standardized and stripped of individuality that any difference in personality of the story’s characters becomes especially noticeable and meaningful. Forster conveys his ideas about freedom of expression and the dangers of conformity by crafting characters such as Vashti and Kuno, as well as the idea of the Machine itself, to highlight the views held by different groups in society and point out the effect the possession of such views can have.

Kuno’s tendencies to deviate from society’s expectations and his desire to get more out of life make him representative of those who take pleasure in the liberty that comes with nonconformity. Kuno has displayed habits that put him at odds with societal standards. Unlike other humans of the age, Kuno has kept in touch with his mother and even desires to see her in person. Even more scandalously, he is dissatisfied with life within his room, the place where society expects him to be able to access all he needs to be entirely happy and where life “was perfectly easy” (Forster 126). His desire to travel not only beyond the walls of his room, but to the surface of the Earth is so unconventional that it drives even his mother to be repelled by him. Kuno’s ambition to do “what was not contemplated by the Machine” arises from his individualistic spirit and belief that “man is the measure;” thoughts that have been all but annihilated in this new world of sameness (Forster 134). Nothing gives him motivation or pleasure more than going against the grain of society and the Machine. His venture to express himself culminates in his illegal visit to the surface and subsequent threatening with homelessness. Forster’s characterization of Kuno as a nonconformist serves to further the idea that true happiness comes from liberty of mind and body. In his quest for satisfaction in life Kuno strays from the “mechanical” thoughts that nearly the entirety of the human population shares and begins to exercise, a practice looked down upon by those who worship the machine. Kuno’s experience defying the machine and societal norms is demonstrative of the innate human desire for independence and the satisfaction that is derived from achieving it.

Vashti is representative of those who conform to the ways of society while secretly harboring doubts about the beliefs they are taught to hold. While on the surface, Vashti appears to be as mechanical as any citizen of this new Earth ought to be, with her inseparability from technology, adherence to the rules of the Machine, and aversion to nature and physical contact with others, she does in fact possess some qualities that reveal the traditional human nature she retains. Despite the duties of parenthood ending “at the moment of birth,” Vashti has maintained a relationship with him and has even received repeated personal visits from him as “there had been something special about all her children” (Forster 126). This natural tendency to remain close to one’s offspring reveals that the bonds of maternal love cannot be destroyed even by a force as powerful as that of the Machine. Vashti further exposes her skepticism of societal standards when she replies, “I worship nothing!” to Kumo’s accusation that she is just like the Committee and all other citizens who idolize the Machine and its ideals (Forster 132). Though, unlike her son, Vashti does not have the drive nor courage to oppose the Machine, her utterance reveals that she too possesses a desire for independence and individualism and that she feels the Machine does not hold the key to a perfectly happy existence. Through Vashti’s subtle disconformity and internal questioning of the righteousness of the machine, Forster aims to further the idea that happiness is not obtained through sameness, but rather through the quest for individuality. He also reinforces the idea of love as an undefeatable force that even society itself cannot quash and the necessity to think for oneself as opposed to mechanically accepting what one is told to be right and true.

Finally, Forster develops the idea of the Machine itself as a representation of the false senses of supremacy and infallibility that society often develops. The Machine is seen by nearly the entire Earth’s population as an omnipotent and all righteous institution that draws calls of, “How we have advanced, thanks to the Machine!” at its mere mention. The Earth’s population has put all of its trust in the continuation of the Machine’s functionality as not only their contentedness, but their survival, depends on it. Despite the population’s dependence upon the Machine, there is little if any worry about the Machine’s, and thus society’s, eventual breakdown. The humans have become so confident in their abilities and righteousness, as well as those of their ancestors, who designed the Machine, that a failure of their creation is simply unthinkable. At the first temporary suspensions of the Machine’s services, people were alarmed and angry, but, in tune with the supremacy held by so many, the lecturers were able to easily brush off such fears with remarks of the Machine’s historical reliability and calls to “wait patiently for its recovery” as it “would be the wish of the Machine” (Forster 148). At the end of the story, the Machine has become completely dilapidated to the point at which it is no longer able to support human life. In the final paragraphs, it is recognized that the Machine, and society, is no longer incapable of failure and that it has, in fact, reached its breaking point. This realization prompts a return to a more natural way of living in which “we touch, we talk, not through the Machine,” even if only for a few moments (Forster 152). The death of the Machine represents a “[coming] back to our own;” a “[recapturing of] life” (Forster 152). Through Vashti and Kuno’s brief return to a way of life that they had never experienced in earnest, Forster proves that humans are designed for physical contact, individualism, and interaction with Creation. He further uses the Machine’s destruction to warn of the dangers of feeling oneself to be infallible and to condemn the deprivation of original ideas.

In his short story “The Machine Stops,” E.M. Forster calls upon the personalities of his characters and the nature of the world in which they live to point out the necessity of individualism, the importance of free thinking, and the dangers of supposed omnipotence. In doing so, Forster also reveals the everlasting nature of love, the importance of physical interaction with others, and the paths through which personal satisfaction may be reached.