The Machine Stops"

Home , The Machine Stops

PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF ALGERIA Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research University Center of Ain Temouchent

Institute of Letters and Languages Department of Letters and English Language

Dehumanization in E.M.Forster’s novella "The Machine Stops"

An Extended Essay Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for a Master’s Degree in British Literature

Submitted by: Supervised by: Cherif Nour El Houda Belhamidi Selma

Board of Examiners  President : Hassain Zahira  Supervisor : Belhamidi Selma  Examiner : Rezigue Fatima Zohra

Academic Year: 2016/2017

Dedication

First and foremost, I praise the Almighty God for everything and I whole- heartedly dedicate this research paper to my supportive parents, brothers Adel Taki Eddine and Mohamed Amine, my beloved sisters Asmaa and Lina Aya.

Acknowledgment

My thanks and deep appreciation go to my supervisor Mrs Belhamidi, and to all our professors for their encouragement and guidance. In addition, this dissertation would not have been possible without the unending support of my parents and family.

Table of contents

Dedication ...... I

Aknowledgment ...... II

Abstract ...... III

Introduction...... 2

Chapter 1 : definition of key concepts ...... 4

1. Dehumanization ...... 5 2. Alienation ...... 8 3. Faith ...... 10

Chapter 2 :Late modernity and democracy ...... 13 1. Control and resistance ...... 15 2. Individualism...... 18 3. The importance of personal relations ...... 21

Chapter 3 :Utopia and Dystopia ...... 23 1. Forster’s Dystopia ...... 25 2. The inhumanity of Dystopia ...... 27

Conclusion ...... 30

Work cited ...... 32

Abstract

Forster’s novella has surprisingly an assumption of future elements. However, its symbolism reflects a contemporary society. Forster’s humanist voice may be also a reminder to man about human connection and the loss of humanity. Along these lines, the purpose of this research paper is to identify dehumanization and where should people draw the line of control.

Introduction

In 1909, E.M.Forster published his only work of science fiction, a dystopian tale titled ‘The Machine Stops”. It is merely the only dystopian short story. Moreover, it is completely different from the dystopias that were written at that time. The Machine Stops is somewhat similar to Well’s The Time Machine and Huxley’s Brave New World. Besides the machine stops does not contain horror and violence in the novels listed above. Nevertheless, Forster depicts a future life of human beings who are almost repressed and dependent on a single machine underneath the earth’ surface. Forster creates an anti-utopian world where everybody is happy. Forster’s novella also cannot be just a simple tale of a futuristic world, but an allegory of bleak and a very negative image of a contemporary culture. Despite the advances in society, the writer develops his own explanation of the future. Moreover, at the end of the tale, he depicts to his readers an image of a dehumanized society and on the brink of collapse. Dehumanization is thus present in ways of thinking, feeling, and acting. The phenomenon is established in language, emotions and law. H.Jack Geiger notes that the dehumanizing aspects mainly deal with the loss or diminishing of human qualities: the inherent worth in being human, the uniqueness of the individual, the freedom to act, the ability to make decision, and the equality of status. These are the aspects observed when reading the “Machine Stops” by E.M.Forster.1 As the enlightenment changed the world into a mysterious one, knowledge was defined according to what is available to the physical senses. Whilst the apparatus or the machine in Forster’s story diminished the set of senses, the universe became more closed, for there is nothing beyond the senses to be studied. Thus, Forster in most his writings and especially in “The Machine Stops” describes people caught in the trap and suggests a way out.

1 Geiger, H. Jack. "The Causes of Dehumanization in Health Care and Prospects for Humanization." In Jan Howard and Anselm Strauss eds., Humanizing Health Care. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1975.

Dehumanization is the psychological process of humanness degradation. However, the development of empathy and the establishment of personal relationships between people could be the only solution in order to pursuit common goals. To speak about this topic, we arrived at raising some questions: 1. How the machine in Forster’s novella produces fear? 2. Can reason coexist with belief in The Machine Stops? 3. Does religion exist in Forster’s dystopian tale?

Since its introduction in the early 19th century, the term dehumanization has assembled a variety of meanings. It is used to refer or describe the denial of “humanness” to others. As for the question, we hypothesize that the domination of the machine in society takes away the interaction between people. In the novella, each person is isolated. They live far away from each other’s, and their only interaction is through the machine. Humans create the machine; however, the machine takes place over and they start worshiping it. After Forster, human can attain spiritual liberation and enlightenment without the existence of God (the Machine).

To answer these questions, I make a research that embodies three main chapters. In the first chapter, I will define some key concepts related to the topic and the novella. These concepts are dehumanization, alienation and faith. Furthermore, other concepts like; modernity, democracy, control, resistance, personal relations and individuality will be discussed in terms of Forster’s novella. In the last chapter, other terms will be also discussed such as utopia, dystopia, and Forster’s ideal about it, besides the inhumanity of dystopia.

Dehumanization in E.M.FORSTER’s novella "THE MACHINE STOPS" Chapter one Definition of key concepts

It is important to know that the dystopian literature emerging in the twentieth century was mainly taken from the utopian vision that seeks to create a perfect and ideal world. Nevertheless, in the nineteenth century many intellectuals and authors realized impossibility of utopian perspective. Thus, a wave of anti-dystopianism emerged. The dystopian vision tends to present a brilliant and terrifying vision of a soulless society. In his novella “The machine stops”, Forster examines a society as the citizens become increasingly dependent to a controlling machine, a machine that strips away human qualities such as denying others individuality.

Forster as a modernist as well as a humanist endeavours to show the importance of human connection, humanness and freedom or democracy above all else. In the light of the novella “The Machine Stops”, it is obvious to speak about three main motifs: dehumanization, alienation and faith, in which I relate some researches that have been already done by some philosophers and writers.

1. Dehumanization :

The concept of dehumanization is mainly the psychological process of humanness degradation. It is described as the process of depriving an individual of aspects and qualities that constitute their humanity or “humanness”, thus treating them as inferior to others or less than human1. For this reason denying human abilities such as feeling and thinking.

After the fading of romanticism in mid-nineteenth century, a reasonable number of European intellectuals embraced science as the sole verdict of knowledge, including knowledge of humanity as well as society. In his novella “The Machine stops”,

1 http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dehumanization

Dehumanization in E.M.FORSTER’s novella "THE MACHINE STOPS" Chapter one Definition of key concepts

E.M.Forster recounts the events as if it is a spoof for the modern reality, besides the scientific and technological advance.

In a volume entitled “The Abolition of Man”, the British writer C.S.Lewis wrote about the imperilments of scientific materialism and notified that "If man chooses to treat himself as raw material, raw material he will be: not raw material to be manipulated, as he fondly imagined, by himself, but by mere appetite...in the person of his dehumanized Conditioners".2 C.S.Lewis called the innovators ‘the conditioners’, as if they are conditioning man to obtain control over the other. According to Lewis, man only gains understandings, but he cannot change nature and the laws of nature cannot be ruined by man’s knowledge. Thus, man cannot control nature, because he merely loses control over himself and this belief will lead to the abolition of man. That is the problem in Forster’s “The Machine Stops”; it depicts a world in which humanity abandons individual responsibility to an immense system that meets all needs until it fails.

In addition, two questions raised from the literature on dehumanization. First, what shapes humanness? Second, what does it mean to deprive others of their humanness? Drawing on several psychological models of human perception, Haslam has incorporated earlier work, arguing that dehumanization is a complex phenomenon that includes two distinct ways of denying humankind: Human uniqueness or human nature.3

Utopian works typically draw a future in which technology improves the daily lives of human beings and advances civilization, while dystopian works offer an opposite view. Dystopian writings, such as Forster’s "The Machine Stopsʺ, has been characterized as a fiction that presents a negative vision of the future of society and

2 C. S. Lewis, the Abolition of Man (New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1947), p. 84.

3 Haslam, N. Dehumanization: An integrative review. Personality and Social Psychology Review (2006), 252-264. doi:10.1207/s15327957pspr1003_4

Dehumanization in E.M.FORSTER’s novella "THE MACHINE STOPS" Chapter one Definition of key concepts humanity. Technological advances enslave humans’ lives and a collective loss of history makes humanity easier to be manipulated psychologically. Thus, ultimately leading to dehumanization.

"You talk as if a god had made the Machineʺ, cried the other. "I believe that you pray to it when you are unhappy. Men made it, do not forget that. Great men, but men. The Machine is much, but not everything.”( E.M.Forster, The Machine Stops, p )

In Forster’s novella, “The Machine” replaced everything. It controlled people’s thoughts and became a life, religion and law to people. The ruling machine in this society has removed the interaction between people. Man made the machine, but the machine seized everything.

John Dewey, the famous twentieth century atheist explained :

There is no God and there is no soul. Hence, there are no needs for the props of traditional religion. With dogma and creed excluded, then immutable truth is also dead and buried. There is no room for fixed, natural law or moral absolutes. 4

According to Dewey’s perspective as an existentialist, traditional religion is a suspect and it is a force not for the realization of human potentials. On the contrary, it is a dehumanizing force. In addition, we cannot speak about the issue of dehumanization without addressing alienation (isolation).

4 https://books.google.dz/books/about/Living_Philosophies.html?id=K3B5QgAACAAJ&redir_esc=y

Dehumanization in E.M.FORSTER’s novella "THE MACHINE STOPS" Chapter one Definition of key concepts

2. Alienation :

Alienation is described as the act of exclusion or separation of a person or a person’s affections from an object or position.5 It is a concept developed by Karl Marx in the 1844 economic and philosophical document and it is defined as the transformation of people's own labour into a power, which rules them.6

According to Marx, people become alienated from their works and thus alienated from their true selves, confined to one particular function. Marx argued in many ways that The Industrial Revolution created workers who were alienated from their own essential humanity, because they were treated as “machines” as opposed to human beings. Further, they are alienated from one another because there is no social relationship.

The idea of homelessness as it is depicted in Forster’s novella “The Machine Stops” is considered by many academics to be the core of modernity. As a universal and existential preoccupation that shaped social condition, the phenomenon of homelessness restricts the concept of alienation linked to the rise of urban capitalism and the modern "psychic condition". Yet, despite its existential significance, the discourses and rationalities of material homelessness have been largely contained within an un-examined ideological framework whose integration into modern, capitalist and urban societies helps evaluating the phenomena of the home and the environment.7

5 http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alienation 6 Byron, Chris. « Marx Human Nature : Distinguishing Essence from Essentialism. » Marxist-Humanist Initiative (2013). 7 Paul Thiele, leslie. Timely Meditations: Martin Heidegger and Postmodern Politics (2001) (Princeton University Press), pp.171-2.

Dehumanization in E.M.FORSTER’s novella "THE MACHINE STOPS" Chapter one Definition of key concepts

On the one hand, there have started into life industrial and scientific forces, which no epoch of the former human history had ever suspected. On the other hand, there exist symptoms of decay, far surpassing the horrors recorded of the latter times of the Roman Empire. In our days, everything seems pregnant with its contrary: Machinery, gifted with the wonderful power of shortening and fructifying human labour, we behold starving and overworking it; the new-fangled sources of wealth, by some strange weird spell, are turned into sources of want; the victories of art seem bought by the loss of character.8

Marx developed this idea of alienation to reveal the human pursuit that is behind the impersonal forces that dominate society. Again, as represented by Jean-Paul Sartre’s writings where “Hell is other people”, home may be experienced as a prison, constraint and imprisonment; both through its physical and static form, and its associations with capital and private property.9

This vision on alienation accounts for the different ways in which ‘homelessness’ can be envisioned and manipulated as either an alienated state or a force of resistance, and has led to the variety of perspectives and attitudes to those with this status.

During the nineteenth century, Mary Shelley’s novel “Frankenstein” was widely read and had a great influence on the emerging educated class. In fact, the subtitle for “Frankenstein” is A Modern Prometheus, indicating that she was echoing and updating the ancient Greek myth mentioned earlier. Mary Shelley was deeply influenced by the changes in society at that time, especially the ambivalence people felt about technology and science. In fact, one can see this early science fiction novel as transitional; it is rather based on the Jewish legend of Golem, but where Golem is

8 https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1856/04/14.htm 9 From the play No Exit, Jean-Paul Sartre.

Dehumanization in E.M.FORSTER’s novella "THE MACHINE STOPS" Chapter one Definition of key concepts gifted with life from the power of God, Frankenstein’s monster is the product of science.10

Later, Karl Marx’s ways of looking at history and society have been a major influence in academic and non-academic thought. Their revelations about the rise of alienation were highly impactive, and demonstrated not a new concern experienced by people. Influenced by Hegel’s early thought, Marx felt that the changes recently experienced, more specifically the rise of capitalism and the industrial revolution, were generally not helpful and aided the continuing loss of control and the devastation of humankind.11

In “The Machine Stops”, Forster shows that everyone in this society is alienated, but nobody ever realizes it with the exception of Kuno. Who also realizes that he does not belong in this society. The machine knows he does not belong because he never shows any devotion to it as most individuals in the world.

3. Faith :

“I do not believe in belief. But this an age of faith, and there are so militant creeds that in self-defence, one has to formulate a creed of one’s own. Tolerance, good temper and sympathy are no longer enough in a world, which is rent by religious and racial persecution, in a world where ignorance rules and science, who ought to have ruled, plays the subservient pimp.” E.M.Forster.

In considering life philosophies, it is difficult to distinguish between what we accept by simple faith and what we arrive at through thought and mental discipline. Further, what happens when these two modes of our understanding collide? It would seem that belief and reason are mutually exclusive, that whenever they come into contact there must be a conqueror and a loser that a choice must be made about which way

10 Stableford, B. Frankenstein and the Origins of Science Fiction. http://Knarf.english.edu/Articles/stable.html 11 Marks, K. The communist Manifesto. https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/Manifesto.pdf.

Dehumanization in E.M.FORSTER’s novella "THE MACHINE STOPS" Chapter one Definition of key concepts of understanding we choose to embrace. We struggle daily to bear down the beliefs we accepted with the empirical knowledge we cannot ignore.12

Forster pointed out that his epoch embraces the notion of religious faith sincerely; moreover, Forster on the need of living to create, but only, “tolerance, good temper, and sympathy”. In his attempt to reach this philosophical ideal, he highlights the inevitability of turning to belief, even in his fiercely non-religious worldview. Here Forster’s essay may completely answer the question: can reason coexist with belief?

Let your ideas be second-hand, and if possible tenth- hand, for then they will be far removed from that disturbing element - direct observation. Do not learn anything about this subject of mine - the French Revolution. Learn instead what I think that Enicharmon thought Urizen thought Gutch thought Ho-Yung thought Chi-Bo-Sing thought Lafcadio Hearn thought Carlyle thought Mirabeau said about the French Revolution.13

According to Forster, it is clear that reason can coexist with belief, on condition that belief is founded and united to empirical and philosophical origins in which is not blind faith like religious faith. Besides, in “The Machine Stops” Man’s faith towards the machine resulted in the collapse of humanity. This was revealed by society when it was too late to do anything about it.

To Forster, belief is certain rather than blind faith. In addition, it reflects man’s understanding of the world and how they should feel about it. Forster attempts to

12 Forster, E.M. What I Believe ( from : Two Cheers for Democracy). http://www.spichtinger.net/otexts/believe.html 13 Forster, E.M. the Machine Stops, chapter 3. http://www.ele.uri.edu/faculty/vetter/Other-stuff/The- Machine-Stops.pdf

Dehumanization in E.M.FORSTER’s novella "THE MACHINE STOPS" Chapter one Definition of key concepts

capture how the world appears, and how it should work. He also embraces relationships, living as if life was endless. and acting as if civilization was eternal not only because these things are true but because these satisfy his understanding of how the world must exist for a philosophically, humanistically, and personally satisfying life.14

Thus, Forster does not reject faith, but only faith taken from religion. As he also states the difference between faith in religion and faith in principles, and he reflects some ideal about about the human condition reached through consideration, not dogmatic acceptance. Belief and reason are not in fact mutually exclusive.

Forster criticizes religion and all its principles, the opening sentence of his essay I do not believe in Belief reveals that Forster prevents the adherence to anything like blind-faith acceptance of certain rules. Forster claims that it is man’s duty to states his own values. This argument for intellectual independence characterizes Forster’s position on the issue of belief, leaving no doubt that he is opposed to religious faith.

14 Griggs, Edward Howard. The Soul of Democracy: The Philosophy of the World War in Relation to Human Liberty. https://archive.org/details/soulofdemocracyp00grig

Dehumanization in E.M.FORSTER’s novella "THE MACHINE STOPS Chapter two Late modernity and democracy

Modernization cannot necessarily include structural change. However, it can embrace both social structures and social agents. As modernization reaches a certain level, agents become more controlled by structures, and thus more individualized. In fact, structural changes force social actors to free themselves from the existing structure. In order to achieve modernization, individuals must first free themselves from any structural dependence.1

The twentieth century started mainly as an era of philosophical, scientific and technological upheaval. It also witnessed a separation from all the previous traditions of the previous years, which means that everything was reviewed again and it was elaborated differently. As well as doing things differently as a revolution at the beginning of the century.2

Forster witnessed much the early Modernist era, and after the war, however The Machine Stops is his own explanation on the rapidly developing modern world, identifying the dystopian society.

1 Lash, S., & Wyanne, B. Introduction. Beck, Risk Environment and Modernity: Towards a New Ecology. https://books.google.fr/books?hl=fr&lr=&id=BUVAJ_HOUHwC&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Lash,+S.,+%26+W ynne,+B.+(1992).+Introduction.+Beck,+Risk+Society:+towards+a+new+modernity&ots=aZGig8B3Rt&sig= Sqb5LINuK9Kmh8QrwqpY_BgqRK0#v=onepage&q=Lash%2C%20S.%2C%20%26%20Wynne%2C%20B .%20(1992).%20Introduction.%20Beck%2C%20Risk%20Society%3A%20towards%20a%20new%20moder nity&f=false 2 https://www.mdc.edu/wolfson/Academic/ArtsLetters/art_philosophy/Humanities/history_of_modernism.h tm

Dehumanization in E.M.FORSTER’s novella "THE MACHINE STOPS Chapter two Late modernity and democracy

1. control and resistance :

In studying some themes in dystopian fiction, it is obvious that they are close to the main characteristics of the utopian perspective to the world. Whereas, utopian writers believe in the positive outcomes of the perfectly structured life of the utopia, dystopian writers are not hopeful to conclude that the hard planning of the utopian society will go flawlessly. Besides, they reveal what really happens to a utopian society when something collapses in its divine order.

Whether the dystopian citizens who do not want to comply with the state or a governmental apparatus that becomes corrupt and strive for an authoritarian power. Walsh cited that “If utopia is social planning that produces good results; dystopia is most often social planning that backfires and slides into nightmare”.3

Like the characters Vashti and her son Kuno in EM Forster’s novella “The Machine Stops”, written over a century ago, the individual may have to accept that there are no new ideas. Eventually, humanity was sinking into decadence, and progress had not come to mean the progress of people but the machine.

As the character of the story Kuno claims

We created the Machine, to do our will, but we cannot make it do our will now. It has robbed us of the sense of space and of the sense of touch, it has blurred every human relation and narrowed down love to a carnal act, it has paralysed our bodies and our wills, and now it compels us to worship it. The Machine develops - but not on our lines. The Machine proceeds - but not to our goal. We only exist as the blood corpuscles that course through its arteries, and if it could work without us, it would let us die. (From the Machine Stops)

3 Walsh, Chad. From Utopia to Nightmare. https://books.google.dz/books?id=ib0gAQAAIAAJ&hl=fr&source=gbs_book_other_versions

Dehumanization in E.M.FORSTER’s novella "THE MACHINE STOPS Chapter two Late modernity and democracy

Forster’s story has surprisingly an assumption of future elements, but the key point lies in that where people should draw the line of control. “The Machine Stops” asks to consider at what point one may become deceived into giving up the will of his thoughts and actions to a machine, and whether is prepared to tolerate the consequences.

'I want to see you not through the Machine,' said Kuno. 'I want to speak to you not through the wearisome Machine.' While reading what kuno said to his mother vashti, one may notice that the lives of citizens are highly controlled, denying any personal relationships and feelings. People are educated by the machine, and trained to be loyal. Moreover, they fulfil their attachment to specific functions without questioning or challenging the system.

In Forster’s story, Vashti also carefully avoids direct experience of the outside world on the surface of the earth in her daily life.

The absurd cread of the age of the machine is expressed “First-hand ideas do not really exist. They are but the physical impressions produced by life and fear, and on this gross foundation, who could erect a philosophy? Let your ideas be second- hand, and if possible tenth-hand, for then they will be far removed from that disturbing element – direct observation”. In an age of scientific and technological advance, there is a lack of ideas, which are exchanged as the only thing humans still produce. Without any new experiences, this society is unable to make new knowledge.

Just as Vashti’s fear which makes her scared of direct observation of the world beyond her walls.

In the novella, “The Machine” almost replaced everything. It fulfilled human needs and even controlled people’s thoughts. Finally, “The Machine” became a life,

Dehumanization in E.M.FORSTER’s novella "THE MACHINE STOPS Chapter two Late modernity and democracy

religion, law, and became a controller over people. The mother, Vashti, relies on the machine in everything; she listens to music through the machine as well as not going outside, which reduced the human interaction. The reader can observe from the text that Vashti is mainly worshiping the machine. “Then, half ashamed, half joyful, she murmured ‘O Machine!’ and raised the volume to her lips. Thrice she kissed it, thrice inclined her head, thrice she felt the delirium of acquiescence. Her ritual performed, she turned to page 1367, which game the times of the departure of the air-ships from the island in the southern hemisphere.” Vashti thinks the book as a guide of life and keeps the rituals in the routine. Even her son Kuno says that she is worshiping the machine; she cannot admit the fact. She emphasizes the importance of the Book, saying “all the fear and the superstition that existed once have been destroyed by the Machine… The Book says so.” She has given her life over to the system of that machine which responds to her needs physically and systematically. She talks like that the machine is godly existence.

Kuno, the son of Vishti has always questioned the existence of the machine. As he was not happy about isolations that are happening because of that system and he was alternatively seeking for real humanity among unified society. Eventually, while searching for freedom, hoping the machine stops, he ends up dying. “I have seen them, spoken to them, loved them. They are hiding in the midst and the fens until out civilization stops. Today they are the Homeless—tomorrow.” At the end of the story, though Kuno and his mother died, ‘the whole city was broken like a honeycomb.”

He replied: “I have seen them, spoken to them, loved them. They are hiding in the mist and the ferns until our civilization stops. Today they are the Homeless - tomorrow-----’ 'Oh, tomorrow - some fool will start the Machine again, tomorrow.' 'Never,' said Kuno, 'never. Humanity has learnt its lesson.”

Forster depicts the sacrifice and the resistance that one may experience. Despite its consequences even death, one can finally be free from all restrictions.

Dehumanization in E.M.FORSTER’s novella "THE MACHINE STOPS Chapter two Late modernity and democracy

2. Individualism:

Individualism as philosophical and social moral makes the individual its first aim .In fact, it has a lot to do with the fundamental basis that the human individuality is basic for the struggle for freedom.4

According to John Stuart Mill, people should act without the need of being socially rejected. In addition, actions cannot be as free as ideas or viewpoints. He states also that human beings are weak, and therefore they need to experiment with different ways of living. However, individual freedom must be eternallyexpressed in order to fulfil a social and a personal progress.5

In the “Machine Stops”, Forster portrays church, education and the government as an apparatus put to enforce the dominant views of the early twentieth century. However, far from presenting the connection of individuals permeated with free will, the apparatus or the machine is depicted as seeking to limit the harmony of any member of society to the dominant value-system, denying the very individualistic concept of liberal humanism.

E.M.Forster is famous of being an advocate of a philosophical individualism, in both his novels and essay writing. Moreover, his novella “The Machine Stops” balances an idealised psychological naturalism with a future society that bestows a dystopian vision of an opressed individuality.

4 Brown, L, Susan. The Politics of Individualism: Liberalism, Liberal Feminism, and Anarchism. https://www.amazon.com 5 M, j, Stuart. On Liberty. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/4202/on-liberty

Dehumanization in E.M.FORSTER’s novella "THE MACHINE STOPS Chapter two Late modernity and democracy

“The Machine Stops” is considered as a science fiction and dystopian work, yet the advanced society depicted in this novella reflects the primitive in many times through the ritualistic parts in the worship of book and the machine.

“I found a way out of my own” The phrase conveyed no meaning to her and he had to repeat it. “A way out of your own? ” She whispered, ‘But that would be wrong.’ ‘Why?’ The question shocked her without measure” It is clear that Vashti was shocked when Kuno asked her: why? This also shows that there is no answer. As if there is no rule preventing from escaping the machine by one’s own will. Moreover, the restriction that has exceeded in this society is that of Kuno exercising his individuality.

As with all the obstacles, oppression could not succeed to withdraw Kuno’s instinct. The instinct that appears in Kuno’s flourishing sense of physical self and the uncanny (the homeless) and his attempt to repossess his body.

He mainly declares that man is the measure, which definitely spots the light on the individualist centre that is set against the suffocating society.6

That individualism is understood in Forster’s work as a novelist and an essayist. Like C.B.Cox cited : Forster beleived No restrictions must be placed on individual liberty; if a man is tied down by the need to adapt himself to dogma or convention or to other people, he sacrifices some part of his essential human nature’. Forster’s individualism and humanism seem to be the motive behind this story. Forster spreads the rules of this futuristic society with the sense of ‘otherness’ common to an early twentieth century Western audience facing prohibitions.

6 Forster, E, M. the Machine Stops. http://www.ele.uri.edu/faculty/vetter/Other-stuff/The-Machine- Stops.pdf

Dehumanization in E.M.FORSTER’s novella "THE MACHINE STOPS Chapter two Late modernity and democracy

Furthermore, the novella reveals a developed moral against the threats to individuality and the idiotic obedience to the power of something else (the machine). The story also depicts the body as an extension to the machine, not as an individual and a self. The loss of autonomy in this dystopian society is a result of crucial decision that the machine is supposed to serve everything.

Humanity let its destiny to the machine, probably as a substitute to individual autonomy that was abolished. In general, the society ends, as individuals are isolated and spending their whole lives in a monstrous enclosure. Humans create a supreme or a new myth of transcendence that turns to death.

Forster’s use of the same term, the machine is a central conception of understanding Forsterian liberalism; a mechanistic conception, which is attached to a language in stories such as “The Machine Stops”. Forster’s pessimistic humanism could be also observed in his essay “what I Believe,” written in 1939.

Dehumanization in E.M.FORSTER’s novella "THE MACHINE STOPS Chapter two Late modernity and democracy

3. The importance of personal relations:

As a response to H.G.Wells’ praise to science in “The Time Machine”. Forster wrote “The Machine Stops” that takes place in the far future where humankind is totally dependent on a global machine for food and housing, communication and medical care. In return, human race has given up the earth's surface for a life of isolation and immobility. Each person occupies an underground hexagonal cell where all bodily needs are met and where faith in the Machine is the chief spiritual prop. People rarely leave their rooms or meet face-to-face; instead, they interact through a global web that is part of the Machine. Each cell contains a glowing blue "optic plate" and telephone apparatus, which carry image and sound among individuals and groups.7

Imagine, if you can, a small room, hexagonal in shape, like the cell of a bee. It is lighted neither by window nor by lamp, yet it is filled with a soft radiance. There are no apertures for ventilation, yet the air is fresh. There are no musical instruments, and yet, at the moment that my meditation opens, this room is throbbing with melodious sounds. An armchair is in the centre, by its side a reading-desk — that is all the furniture. And in the armchair there sits a swaddled lump of flesh — a woman, about five feet high, with a face as white as a fungus. It is to her that the little room belongs. (From “The Machine Stops”)

7 Forster, E, M. the Machine Stops. http://www.ele.uri.edu/faculty/vetter/Other-stuff/The-Machine- Stops.pdf

Dehumanization in E.M.FORSTER’s novella "THE MACHINE STOPS Chapter two Late modernity and democracy

The lump of flesh depicted in is Vashti, the guide and the protagonist in this story. As one may notice, Forster Consciously uses the tone of the wise narration, which is far from emotions.

In addition, each one lives in separate place for his whole life controlled by the machine with limited needs. “The Machine Stops” contains two characters Vashti who is in a harmony with her environment, the other character Kuno, Vashti’s son who is eager to escape to the surface. In fact, he is longing for direct contact with his mother who chooses ideas and communication through the machine.

Thus, dystopian societies are characterized by dehumanization and isolation. As well as Forster’s “The Machine Stops” raises questions concerning how people live in time and space; and how they establish relationships with the other and with the world. In addition to this, the reliance on the state of the machine can change the way people understand the world and the possibility of losing connection with the other.

Despite thousands of people that Vashti knows, she dies alone in a mass of strangers, trying to escape to the earth’s surface when the machine eventually stops. Moreover, her salvation comes from a true human contact. Vashti finally meet her son Kuno, to talk, touch and kiss but not trough the machine, before they pass away.

Dehumanization in E.M.FORSTER’s novella "THE MACHINE STOPS Chapter three Utopia and dystopia

The British philosopher Thomas More mainly tackled the term Utopia. Literally meaning “no place” in which More describes an island where everything is perfect. On the other hand, a dystopia would be very negative, a place in which everything is repressive and imperfect. More created the word in order to describe a perfect place that does not even exist, a perfect environment to humankind that is unknown. He wrote the book utopia about an island. However, the modern way of understanding literary utopias lead to create the idea of dystopia as a response to utopian notion.

The twentieth century was mainly a century of radical changes in social, political system and even science. It was also a time of uncertainty about the vitality of the modern progress. As a result, dystopian fiction rises to depict further gloomy and critical vision.

Since things did not progress as was expected, literature would dive deeply into explaining the contemporary fear, eagerness and negativity regarding the outstanding change.

Dehumanization in E.M.FORSTER’s novella "THE MACHINE STOPS Chapter three Utopia and dystopia

1. Forster’s dystopia:

Forster’s novella “The Machine Stops” is an early and influential example of a dystopian future. This story can be ironic and an allusion to both the future and the past.

The protagonist of the story Vashti had studied the civilization that immediately preceded her own, the civilization that had mistaken the functions of the system, and had used it for bringing people to things, instead of for bringing things to people. In Vashti’s present, humans are totally on the machine for the necessities of life, as well as Vashti is a perfectly constructed subject of that automated society, dependent to the state of the machine.

Regardless the end of the story, “The Machine Stops” can also show hope. Like every dystopian tale, hope can drive events, giving the protagonist a reason to chase a better future. However, feelings are the result after the collapse of a dystopian society. The reason many dystopias repress love and desire.

Dystopian novels generally end in one of two ways. The protagonist will sometimes escape from the society, to find a new home or to help overthrow the repressive system. On the other hand, the system succeeds in defeating the protagonist, either through death or through reintegration into society and collective thought.

Vomitories are the only openings that lead to the surface of the earth. Upon exitingthrough a vomitory, citizens must use a respirator because it is said that the polluted air will cause death. The surface of the earth has no sig'ns of life and is described as a "horrible brown," with "only dust and mud. ( Forster, 1909, p. 5).

Dehumanization in E.M.FORSTER’s novella "THE MACHINE STOPS Chapter three Utopia and dystopia

Thus, citizens find no need to travel or even leaving their rooms, as E.M.Forster claims,

Few travelled in these days, for, thanks to the advance of science, the earth was exactly alike all over. Rapid intercourse, from which the previous civilization had hoped so much, had ended by defeating itself. What was the good of going to Peking when it was just like Shrewsbury? Why return to Shrewsbury when it would all be like Peking? Men seldom moved their bodies; all unrest was concentrated in the soul. ( E.M.Forster, The Machine Stops, p.12).

In addition, all the citizens of the machine are given the same rights, which is also threatened by homelessness penalty. Citizens are scientifically and religiously controlled, it means that a birth is only allowed after there has been a death. Thus, homelessness is only caused by death or dishonorable behavior.

Forster also took the inspiration from the aspects of life in the Victorian England, in which he grown up.

In his novella, Forster tries to focus also on the automation that had a great effect on daily life, as he also states the implicit theme of industrialism's effect on the physical environment of the city. Moreover, elements of the underground system are depicted. “The Machine Stops” is Forster’s fictional society exists in the London’s Underground Railroad, where people use it to travel. The writer also chooses the term ‘vomitory’ in order to describe the stairs that lead to the surface of the earth.

Dehumanization in E.M.FORSTER’s novella "THE MACHINE STOPS Chapter three Utopia and dystopia

2. The inhumanity of dystopia :

The most important thing to observe in the context of dystopia is that science helps the state repress human nature and change the values of the citizens. These functions are also results of the way society is shaped through scientific processes.

Looking at the totality of oppressive mechanisms in the machine stops it is plain to see that they are in many ways quite gentle in character. The society is based on a number of technologically advanced mechanisms that control the citizens not by threats, but by instilling the citizens with values and perceptions that make them fit perfectly into their place in society.

Forster emphasises the sense of disturbance in the story, marking any loss of individuality, empathy and love as a thing to be feared, and presenting the repressed elements: re-inhabiting your own body, re-connecting with nature, re-connecting with other people, as ways for salvation.

The system imposed on Forster's dystopian society lies in that the dominant power precedes the individual. Therefore, individuality and personal ambition are completely unacceptable features. This process inhibits people from challenging the controlling power in order to improve their own situations.

Dehumanization in E.M.FORSTER’s novella "THE MACHINE STOPS Chapter three Utopia and dystopia

Cannot you see, cannot all you lecturers see, that it is we that are dying, and that down here the only thing that really lives in the Machine? We created the Machine, to do our will, but we cannot make it do our will now. It was robbed us of the sense of space and of the sense of touch, it has blurred every human relation and narrowed down love to a carnal act, it has paralyzed our bodies and our wills, and now it compels us to worship it. The Machine develops - but not on our lies. The Machine proceeds, but not to our goal.

( E.M.Forster, ‘The Machinne Stops’)

Vashti’s son Kuno well understands and embraced history, the first part of humanity that is erased after the rise of dystopia. However, his mother Vashti could not accept it. Kuno tries hard to warn her that the civilization she supports tirelessly is on the brink of collapse. Thus, the third and the mainly last part of this long history is the fated tragedy.

But Humanity, in its desire for comfort, had over-reached itself. It had exploited the riches of nature too far. Quietly and complacently, it was sinking into decadence, and progress had come to mean the progress of the Machine.

(E.M.Forster, The Machine Stops)

Dehumanization in E.M.FORSTER’s novella "THE MACHINE STOPS Chapter three Utopia and dystopia

The truth is … that I want to see these stars again. They are curious stars. I want to see them not from the air- ship, but from the surface of the earth, as our ancestors did, thousands of years ago.

(E.M.Forster, The Machine Stops)

Kuno is ardently seeking physical, mental, and spiritual exploration, meaningful human contact as well as a contact with the natural world. Thus, he is considered as an abnormal to the general population, which is under control.1 His mother Vashti and the machine have then inquired Kuno.

1 Forster, E, M. the Machine Stops. http://www.ele.uri.edu/faculty/vetter/Other-stuff/The-Machine- Stops.pdf

Dehumanization in E.M.FORSTER’s novella "THE MACHINE STOPS"

Conclusion

“The Machine Stops” is not only a tale but an allegory that depicts the contemporary society. Furthermore, it is about the need of two societies; the intellectual and the physical in order to meet and understand each other.

Forster’s writing not only revolves around the necessity of society to be interlinked as a whole, but the need of individuals to connect their both rational and emotional sides. A well, Forster use of the two characters the protagonist Vashti and the antagonist Kuno to make clear the problematic situation in the early twentieth century. The writer illustrates as well as describes the fear of people and their blind obedience to the machine.

At the end of the novella, the character Kuno could not save himself or even his mother Vashti from the machine’s collapse, but he has ventured into the unknown surface of the earth and found there the real promise of cosmos. Kuno then found a life that is in total harmony with nature.

Throughout his novella “The Machine Stops”, Forster’s depiction of a dystopian society and technological dependence becomes a demonstration rich with religious collaborations. Furthermore, what began as a simple instrument to improve lives becomes a divine entity that demands worship. Thus, and according to Forster religion can be wrong, misleading and or most created by man himself. After Forster, a human being can attain spiritual, physical liberation and enlightenment without the existence of God (the machine).

Dehumanization in E.M.FORSTER’s novella "THE MACHINE STOPS"

Dystopian fiction is somehow related to anti-utopian fiction. However, Forster’s tale “The Machine Stops” contains a positive thought that even though human nature can be oppressed, it can never retained back or changed completely.

This also confirms the facts that the individual acts according to his natural instincts and. Thus, human nature can be revealed even in such a complete repressed and controlled societies.

Dehumanization in E.M.FORSTER’s novella "THE MACHINE STOPS

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