In the Dark, Wasting My Time

Jan 24, 2008 14:11

Vashti clutches onto time like a mother to her nest eggs. Time is truly of the essence to her, and to waste time becomes an embedded fear. Kuno dares to waste her time by forcing her to speak to him face to face, and even when using the Machine to communicate, Vashti continually insists that Kuno "be quick"- she can devote only "fully five minutes ( Read more... )

forster, vashti, kuno, the machine stops

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martin_doc January 25 2008, 04:41:50 UTC
"Cover the window...these mountains give me no ideas." Nature, unlike the Machine, cannot immediately bring her satisfaction. . . The old media, using nature as its medium (tree-->paper), is slow. New media has a notion of speed that delivers immediate satisfaction. . . .Vashti could never be a tree hugger.

This is an excellent point about nature vs. technology in the story, and connects to something I just wrote on se101's recent post.

~MKF

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But Vashti does turn her back on the machine se101 January 25 2008, 21:19:50 UTC
But at the very end of the story I think Vashti physically reconnects with humanity. It happens when,

"She crawled over the bodies of the dead. His{her son's} blood spurted over her hands. "Quicker," he gasped, "I am dying-but we touch, we talk, not through the Machine."

When Vashti feels her son's blood flowing over her hands there is a physical reunion. The blood represents the violence and pain which had to occur in order to separate humanity from the machine. In many ways Vashti is "reborn" in a sense at the end of the story through this physical reunion with her son.

-Ross

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Re: But Vashti does turn her back on the machine scifi129 January 26 2008, 04:56:59 UTC
"...at the very end of the story I think Vashti physically reconnects with humanity."

True. I think Forster purposefully shows her 'rebirth' as you put it, how Vashti reunites with her son & realizes the importance of the physical world. In no way am I saying Forster's ending is anti-climatic or unsuccessful in doing this; perhaps I am cynical in wanting Vashti to fail in recognizing this importance- somehow her dismissal of the new media 'Machine' and acceptance of Kuno as her son, in physical form, touching her hand, leaves me feeling unsatisfied. I should be happy for their union, Vashti's realization and Kuno's triumph in proving to his mother that he was telling the truth about the Machine- instead, the Machine's world has crashed and a certain type of society is gone. Rather sad to me, although I am sure the dismal future is purposeful. To me, it overshadows the joyous union in some way.

Man, I'm just one big 'ole pessimistic, aren't I? Avocado sushi roll, sour granny apple + diet coke produce in me a rather callous attitude.

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Re: But Vashti does turn her back on the machine martin_doc January 26 2008, 17:14:42 UTC
I should be happy for their union, Vashti's realization and Kuno's triumph in proving to his mother that he was telling the truth about the Machine- instead, the Machine's world has crashed and a certain type of society is gone.

Agreed -- especially since Vashti and Kuno die at the end. There is hope (the humans who still live outside), but IMO it is a hope constructed outside of (literally) and in spite of The Machine.

~MKF

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Re: But Vashti does turn her back on the machine jamiebussey86 January 26 2008, 18:11:35 UTC
I appreciate the ending, although I wish Kuno had survived, because he seemed to understand how their world work (perhaps his death was because he didn't try hard enough to change it). I think the ending and the idea of "ideas" as discussed in Dr. Foys post are important to keep in mind. I tend to think that perhaps part of the reason the Machine stops, is because no one was willing to reinvent the wheel so to speak. It's an interesting concept to think about, what would happen if we stopped now with our technology and seized to grow? I mean it seems to me there are extreme ends of the spectrum of what "technology" does, but isn't developing a part of our society?

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