1.This story was written in 1909. What modern technologies did Forster capture? List five.
2.Why is Vashti irritated in general? How does this relate to our society?
3. What gives Kuno an idea? Why does “this” inspire him?
4. After talking to Kuno, “For a moment, Vashti felt lonely” (3). What comforts her? Are there any parallels with our society today?
5.What does Vashti’s ritual with the Book of the Machine remind you of? Why is this significant? (Machine is not a proper noun. Why does Forster always capitalize it?)
6. What does the following passage mean? “Rapid intercourse, from which the previous civilization had hoped so much, had ended by defeating itself. What was the good of going to Pekin when it was just like Shrewsbury? Why return to Shrewsbury when it would all be like Pekin? Men seldom moved their bodies; all unrest was concentrated in the soul.”
7. What does this passage symbolically convey: “The sun had conquered, yet it was the end of his spiritual dominion. Dawn, midday, twilight, the zodiacal path, touched neither men’s lives not their hearts, and science retreated into the ground, to concentrate herself upon problems that she was certain of solving.”
8. Why is it ironic that Vashti hides Greece behind a metal blind, saying “no ideas here?”
9. What is “Homelessness”?
10. Where did Kuno go? Why? (What is symbolically significant about this society living underground?)
11.Why does the narrator seemingly argue against learning “first-hand?” How does this tie to the earlier comments about avoiding “direct experience?”
12. Kuno states that “[h]umanity, in its desire for comfort, had over-reached itself.” How does this connect to Vashti’s request that the Machine grant her euthanasia?
13. What is happening to The Machine?
14. What lesson does Kuno argue that humanity has learned?
15. The theme (or narrative argument of “The Machine Stops” is _________________________________________________.
Helpful article? https://interestingliterature.com/2021/02/em-forster-the-machine-stops-summary-analysis/