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... )
Comments 5
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
Reply
"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
Reply
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.
Reply
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
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment