The Machine Stops

Kuno is Vashti’s youngest son, and he represents a curiosity about the world that the Machine could not entirely breed out of humanity. Although babies who show athletic promise are culled at birth, Kuno is “possessed of a certain physical strength” (11). Kuno is like the philosophers throughout history, looking to the world and asking questions instead of accepting what he is told. In a world where humans have been taught to live as if their bodies are an inconvenience, Kuno is restless and not content to live his life without movement and discovery. These are not considered positive traits in this dystopian society, so Kuno is denied when he applies to procreate. This brings up questions about human existence and one’s ability to leave a mark on the world. Kuno knows that his life and legacy will end when he dies, which might be a catalyst for his yearning to discover something outside of the Machine. He has nothing to lose and everything to gain.

This society has determined that Kuno is genetic waste and ought to be erased from humanity. Although ideas about heredity go back at least as far as the ancient Greeks, genetic science began to take off in the first decade of the 20th century, when Forster wrote the story. Forster predicts the rise of eugenics that accompanied these advancements in genetic science, imagining a world in which those in power decide to selectively breed a submissive and compliant population. This occurs 20 years before the Holocaust and the Third Reich’s attempt to breed a population with specific traits. While most of the people who accept and adapt to the Machine are content to remain completely controlled, Kuno dreams of a world that is allowed to grow and advance. It is not explicitly clear whether his application to father a child was rejected before or after his brief escape, but the Central Committee recognizes his strength and critical thought as bad for society rather than attempting to harness them for the betterment of the Machine.

In the story, everyone has access to the outside, but most choose to avoid it. They are susceptible to the Machine’s influence. The image of Kuno digging his way up to the surface is a potent one, symbolizing the lone, struggling voice fighting to see daylight. He is different because he is inspired by the outside world rather than repulsed by it. Once on the surface, Kuno escapes the hum of the Machine for the first time. It is notable that Forster chose to tell the story from Vashti’s perspective rather than Kuno’s, because Kuno’s journey is certainly more eventful and dramatic. But Vashti represents the average person who follows the rules of society with minimal resistance. Kuno is the exception. Identifying with Kuno gives readers the likely false sense that in such a dystopian society, we would be the ones to stand out and rise up. But Kuno belongs to the minority group of people who are suited to make their own lives on the surface, to adapt to the environment. At the end of the story, he shows a greater capacity to love than the Machine typically allows, returning to die with his mother and balking social customs by kissing her.