Digital Violence

[se101]

 After reading The Machine Stops I was interested in the final portion of the story when the machine stops and how Vashti reacts to this on page 37.

"She whirled around, praying to be saved from this, at any rate, kissing the Book, pressing button after button...The uproar outside was increasing...The brilliancy of her cell was dimmed...Vashti

Comments

[martin_doc]

It's interesting to think of this in terms of whether digital narratives are more physically descriptive or less than old media.

This bit reminds me of a strategy that Forster uses in his own narrative, as Vashti sails over the earth in the airship, Forster makes a point of describing the landscape in graphic and poetic terms. But after each description, it's clear that this is what the narrator, not Vashti sees, as for Vashti, the landscape continuously fails to provide any "ideas."

~ MKF