I think the general gist of the short story we read for class will be discussed quite often in these blog posts, so I’ll go straight into some parts I found particularly interesting or note worthy.
First, about the noise from the machine on page 8, Vashti “did not notice the noise, for she had been born with it in her ears.” I thought this was quite an interesting detail because it shows the influence of normality. If you’re born x way and everyone around you accepts that as normal, you don’t know any better. I think there are actually few aspects that humans will innately be repulsed by- a lot of what we consider socially acceptable is just that- social norms that have been ingrained into us as acceptable. This idea obviously extends past just the tangible noise and into the way society took place in the machine; the isolation, the selfishness, the parental abandonment, etc. This phenomenon is actually visible in today’s world, as well, in cultural difference. Things that are taken as just the way things are- ie tan skin being beautiful in the west and highly desired, are not perceived in the same way in other places, but to each group of people their way of thinking seems perfectly logical and reasonable.
The next quote I found interesting was when Vashti says that if Kuno “did not die to-day he would die to-morrow. There was not room for such a person in the world” on page 14. This brought to mind the idea of being “incompatible with human life.” I heard this term in a medical context, regarding unborn babies who had ailments that would make them unable to live past a few days, or at all. However, I think that on a much less extreme scale this can also be applied to people who simply do not fit in with society. While I’m not saying that they should or would die like Vashti says, it could make their lives either increasingly difficult or lonely.
Lastly, I wanted to talk about the idea of religion presented. When Vashti says that “‘The Machine has been most merciful,'” Kuno replies with “‘I prefer the mercy of God'” (17). However, I think it’s an interesting juxtaposition that while religion as we know it was such a radical idea in the story, it’s now quite traditional, and there are many people who find the idea of God ridiculous. And a similar idea can be found when The Machine reinstates religion, but it’s only The Book of the Machine, which is basically just an instruction manual for the contraption they live in. While that detail increases the satiric and dsytopian nature of the story, some view the current state of religion as just as repressing, strict, and crazy as we view The Machine. I suppose it’s just interesting to see the way that society changes.