Preview

Dystopian Vs Today

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
767 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Dystopian Vs Today
Comparing Societies
Have you ever thought about today’s society becoming a dystopian society? “The Machine Stops” is a story written by E.M. Forester in 1909. For Forester’s story to be 106 years old the book is incredible accurate of today’s society. However, “The Machine Stops” dystopian society differs from today’s society in the way they live, the way they travel, and the way society interacts. One difference in the dystopian society described in “The Machine Stops” and today’s society is the way people live. For example, in “The Machine Stops” people live in “a small room, hexagonal in shape, like the cell of a bee.” The room described by Forster is completely opposite of what one would see in today’s society. Today, people live in all different kinds of living
…show more content…
In today’s society face to face interaction is an everyday occurrence. Kids go to school and see other kids every day. Adults go to work and work with their co-workers every day. Social interaction is a key part of today’s society. On the contrary, in “The Machine Stops,” social interaction happens only a few times in a person life time. For example, when Vashti leaves her pod she “pressed an unfamiliar button.” This shows that she hardly ever leaves her pod. Why would she need to leave her pod, she has everything she could ever need at the touch of a button. Also, in Forester’s society people never interact, never touch, and never socialize. In contrast, today’s society is full of interaction, touching, and people socializing. Touching for example happens every day in today’s society. In “The Machine Stops” touching is considered barbaric, animal like even. For example, when Vashti was on the airship a woman yelled at the flight attendant for grabbing her and not letting her fall. Forester says “When Vashti served away from the sunbeams with a cry, she behaved barbarically - she put out her hand to steady

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    One good example of the message about human society that is conveyed through the story’s portrait of the machine society is when the machines had no leader chaos broke out. After they thought all the men had died on Earth chaos broke out in the compound because the machines did not know what to do with out orders. “ Outside, wild activity filled the yard. Many machines, their routines for the first time in years,…

    • 839 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “ Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” (Arthur C. Clarke). “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. and Anthem by Ayn Rand are both two attempted societies striving for equality and fairness for all. Failing to complete this achievement the two protagonists of these stories revolt against their societies and fight for what’s right. Although “ Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut , Jr. and Anthem by Ayn Rand are both pieces of dystopian literature, their portrayal of technology differs greatly.…

    • 472 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    1. In The Bird and the Machine, Loren Eiseley reads an article one morning and is confronted by a new world: one which is inherent of technological advancement. In fact, he reads that this new world is machine dominant, and that machines are to surpass human intelligence and potential in the world. This new world also fuses a new scope on life that, for example, the human mind is just a mechanical system like a computer and nothing to get superstitious about. In finish, this world is more mechanized and is based on man-made creations rather than dwelling and thriving in nature’s beauty.…

    • 1815 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Machine Stops is about a machine that was made by humans who live underground because of the dangerous conditions on the surface.…

    • 1259 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The book Anthem, written by Ayn Rand, represents a technologically primitive totalitarian view of a futuristic society. This future society governed by heavy limitations to technology may of been the effect from a civilization with a surplus of technology. With ongoing advancements to the technological world today it can raise awareness to the question of establishing a completely technical society. In society today technology has replaced jobs and became such a necessity for everyday life. With no limitations to technological advancements, eventually society will become completely technology based.…

    • 602 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Aldous Huxley wrote of a futuristic society in his book entitled “Brave New World” where individualism and morals had been eradicated. The members of this city were no longer conceived, but mixed in labs to ensure that the best traits and combinations of genes were prevalent. A single fertilized egg produced thousands of identicals to establish a steady exponential population growth. To the government, people were no longer people, but numbers. The society as a whole lived, thought, and valued the same things. Growing up in this culture, Lenina found it natural to accept this, but the reader could see the horror of the situation. By showing how addicted to drugs, judgemental, and sheltered Lenina was, Huxley clearly illustrated that people need to stick to their morals and value their differences, or else they will be easily swayed by society’s influences.…

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    the veldt

    • 516 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The short story ‘’the Veldt’’ is a very thought provoking masterpiece that makes readers reconsider their use of technology. Since the very beginning of the story, Lydia seems unsatisfied with her life in the ‘’Happylife Home'’, even if all she might need is found in it. She started feeling unnecessary as the house left her nothing to do as a mother and wife. This obviously tells the reader that if social duties are performed by machines, humans will feel unnecessary and life will sound boring. The second lesson that can be drawn from this short story is the fact that machines cannot parent children without disastrous consequences. This was illustrated in the obvious lack of communication between George and Lydia from one side and their two kids from the other. Therefore, the over use of technology destroys family and human relationships. When George and Lydia decided to leave the house, their kids strongly refused as they were greatly attached to the nursery. As a result, they sacrificed their parents in order to keep living in the house. They felt no regret or guilt when their parents died, which means they are emotionless, exactly like machines. A lesson can be easily drawn here; human interaction with machines makes Man lose his humanity. To sum up, ‘’the Veldt’' is an excellent illustration of the negative side of technology and machines.…

    • 516 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There will always will be a power or a government with a society. Whether it be as small as a group or as large as a country. According to multiple sources, government has been around since the first city-state was created. Just by this source alone we demonstrate how society has always needed an order and power: Government. Dystopian: An imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one. Lord of the Flies, a novel that is realistic is the fact that it parallels with the real world. The moral that Golding was taking example of was the evil inside all of us. He created this novel to express dystopia, which was how boys were stuck on an island and how they created their own “government” which was nothing but to avoid the beast they thought was amongst them. Simon figured the beast was all of them. But since the other boys believed that the beast was an actual creature, it brought the death of Simon.…

    • 1847 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the story “The Machine Stops” there were many fantastic happenings that in the time it was written in 1906 people never gave it any merit of it possibly happening. Although, it is a story of fiction written in the past it seems to foreshadow what is very possibly an outcome for the United States of today. For example, in the story everyone has become distant and although they have the means to travel and have a face to face encounter with other people they would rather sit in the rooms with little more than a blurred image of their loved one to talk to. Because of this lack of will power the people show in “The Machine Stops” is a blurred reflection of the people of the United States this is how I fear the society of the United States will…

    • 1147 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cars without drivers have the capacity to make people feel powerless and out of control. One of the five basic needs identified by William Glasser is power over something else. By driving a car, a person has power over the vehicle. By not having drivers, the vehicle has power over the human. The inversion of power between fully automated machines and humans taps into common fears of “the sci-fi world” where humans become servants to machines (“The Editorial: Understanding the Future of Driverless Cars is Crucial to Navigating Present Concerns Regarding Infrastructure and Public Transit”). These sorts of fears arise with every new technology. Eventually, however, society tends to accept these new…

    • 1935 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Machine Stops Essay

    • 490 Words
    • 2 Pages

    “The Machine Stops” by E.M. Foster explores the collapse of modernistic ideas and the detrimental effects of human progression as a result of the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment. One of the characters, Kuno, realizes that flaws exist within the Machine they live in because it has failed him. Whereas, his mother, Vashti, worships the machine and all it has done for her, as it allows for her to live a comfortable life with all she feels that she needs. Modernism aims for the progression of human beings and has made religion to seem obsolete in futuristic day and age. This allows for science to take religion’s place as a means of worship and for those to follow with blind faith. Vashti believes she “worships nothing” and that…

    • 490 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    632 (after ford) in London and year zero for this calendar is 1908 AD, which was the introduction of the first Ford Model-T and where Henry Ford first introduced the idea of mass production. The setting that is used by Huxley employs social, political, and technological implications that help to convey the idea of a World state, which is a unified government that administers the entire planet and has a motto of community, identity, stability, and how it might function. All three implications closely relate to one another. The technological implications such as ‘the fertilizing room’ and the ‘state conditioning centres’ allow the government to create and enforce the political implications like the rules and regulations. These political implications then determine the social implications of how people live, work, play, and also things in their personal lives like their relationships and family. Right from when babies are in their ‘test-tubes’ the ten World Controllers are planning people’s lives and giving them an ‘unescapable social destiny’ that they are programmed to enjoy. The theme of science as a means of control further portrays the social, political, and technological implications and also relates to the idea of a dystopia which is what Huxley has created in Brave New World. The citizens have been programmed to do certain things in their life, nothing more and nothing less. Every person that is created through…

    • 771 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Machine Stops

    • 180 Words
    • 1 Page

    The quest for efficiency knows no limits. Humans, seeking a more perfect life, strive endlessly to create a society that will run more smoothly tomorrow than it did today. In an efficient world, there is no room for error, no room for humanity. Peak efficiency can only be achieved when emotions and desires are put aside in order to objectively approach each situation. Unfortunately, or perhaps, fortunately, humans are not capable of this sort of blatant objectivism. It follows, then, that humans are not capable of perfect efficiency. To circumvent this, we have created machines. A computer, armed with artificial intelligence, is much better at analysis and reason. In E. M. Forster's short story, “The Machine Stops”, mankind has completely…

    • 180 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Dystopian Society

    • 1518 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The term Orwellian originated from George Orwell’s novel notably Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm. Both novels had a common theme, the attempt to become a utopia society but result in a dystopia society. Utopia is the opposite of dystopia where utopia is the idea of the best possible society, whereas a dystopia society can be described as a human-created hell (Geeraert, March 21). An Orwellian society is a result of an attempted utopia society gone badly. The term Orwellian implies characteristics in Nineteen Eighty-Four the make it Orwellian; propaganda, surveillance, and manipulation by the government. Notably in the past 20 years’ society has become more and more Orwellian. In George Orwell’s Nineteen…

    • 1518 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Imagine a world in which technology is in charge of the world, and nobody can live without some form of drug. Dystopian societies are basically the opposite of an utopia. This means that they are mainly ruled by one person, and everything is unpleasant. The works 1984, Brave New World, and “The Pedestrian” all have many dystopian elements with a variety of sacrifices and gains. In general, dystopian societies offer stability and complete control of power; however, citizens have to sacrifice privacy and individuality, which, as shown in the texts, can lead to government control of everything.…

    • 949 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays