Reading “The Machine Stops” really made me realize how dependent our society is on technology. The first paragraph pulled me in with all the imagery that is going on. At first I was very confused on what was going on and what time period they were in but after the first few pages I figured it out. Vashti, who is the mother of Kuno, lives in a room by herself with a chair and a small desk. When the chair was described it made me think of a mechanical wheel chair of some kind. I assumed she was handicap until I read more. Everyone has these mechanical chairs as well as a book that they don’t go anywhere without. I was unsure if Vashti was traveling on a boat or on a plane. She said “they were crossing a golden sea”. She spoke about the sunlight coming into her window on her trip to seeing Kuno but the way the trip was described did not seem like it was on a plane. Maybe it wasn’t a plane or a boat? Maybe it was something from the future since everything else they described was from the future.
Throughout this entire story they talk about this book that pretty much controls their lives. From birth, this book tells them exactly what to do. Mother and children are separated at birth and can only connect through this machine. She spoke to her son through there and i believe she saw him through the machine as well. Anything she wanted to do, she had to press a button on this machine. Her room only had the chair she sat in and a desk but some how if she pressed a button something weird happened. Whenever she wanted to go to sleep, she pressed the button and she was sleeping, same thing for anything else she wanted to do which was weird to me. I am not completely sure if i understand how it happened but she made it seem like everyones life revolves around these machines and this book. Anything they needed to know, they asked this book and the book told them what to do.
In more ways than one, this machine/book compares to our society today. Many people rely on technology at all times. More and more resources are showing up online. It is exactly like what the story is about. Mostly everyone in this world has a cell phone and a computer, if not they have access to a computer. Why? Because everything is done through technology these days. School assignments, books, movies, documents, and many more things are all online. I feel that technology is getting out of hand. It is kind of how Kuno is feeling. He wants to rebel and find his own way above ground and his mother tells him to get permission first. Why should Kuno have to get permission to go somewhere? He wants to live his life and experience things on his own without technology, without permission from the book or anyone else. He wants to breath air and see what its like to be above ground. I agree with Kuno and don’t see why he has to listen to all of these rules. Today, many people, even children, are addicted to their computers, tablets or cell phones. It is not a way to live. What happened to playing outside, writing things down on paper, and doings things without technology? Over the next few years, technology is going to take over more than it already has. I don’t blame Kuno for wanting to find things out on his own. This is life. We are entitled to do what we want to do. Of course there are some rules we need to follow but in the story they cannot do anything. It is unfair. Technology is taking over and I hope that in the future things will not be the way this story is explained. I enjoyed this story but I was very confused. After I read everything I figured it out but this story was a little difficult for me.
