Has Vashti’s Love for Kuno Been Erased?

The Machine Stops represents the doubt and wonder surrounding the rapid development of technology. However, E.M. Forster’s story also showcases a narrative of love, one that is transformed as Kuno lets his curiosity lead his actions. Kuno was driven to such a point that he went against everything and everyone around him, yet his mother was willing to discuss his views with him. However, the Machine contaminated their relationship in the end, as Vashti became too distant to ever regain the love she once had for Kuno. Vashti’s submission to the Machine had taken her over.<br>It began when Vashti accepted the flaws that the Machine had torn into human civilization. When Kuno tells her of an idea he had for life above the surface, Vashti notices he becomes silent and possibly unhappy, but she couldn’t be sure because of the rough projection the Machine created of Kuno. Expressions are key for people to understand each other, to empathize, but Vashti seems comfortable to dismiss this practice. She tells herself, “the imponderable bloom, declared by a discredited philosophy to be the actual essence of intercourse, was rightly ignored by the Machine...Something “good enough” had long since been accepted by our race”. Vashti’s sense of “good enough” hints at her acceptance of not only the state in which she lives but the position humanity has been put subject to. This fundamental disagreement between Vashti and Kuno is the first step to pulling them apart.<br>While this disagreement drives them apart, it isn’t enough to visibly impact Vashti’s and Kuno’s relationship. While their disagreements are inherent, Vashti isn’t acting against her son. Then came the point in the story that Kuno had extensively explored the surface, and reflected on his ideas. In a turn of emotion, Vashti directly showed her disapproval for Kuno’s actions. Vashti tells him “Don’t. Don’t talk of these terrible things. You make me miserable. You are throwing 12 civilization away”. Here, Vashti accuses Kuno of sullying the life the Machine has brought her, and so many others. It is no longer a difference of views, but a betrayal. You, Kuno, are “throwing civilization away”. In a sense, Vashti struggles to accept that Kuno became so much so that she makes him the enemy. <br>The accumulation of such things leads me to believe Vashti has settled for a connection that is less than love. Repeatedly, Vashti shows affection for her son, sympathy, but it is swiftly cut with the interjections of the cold machine. This was a short story showcasing the fear of developing technology, its frightening power to create but to also divide. The constant pressure exerted on Vashti by the machine, and her dependence on it has arguably cost her her love for Kuno.