Unabashedly, I must compare this piece to the same points repeated in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Although taken from a view of ‘successful technology’ the aphorisms of inhuman qualities within society are borrowed heavily in this piece. However the piece, by showcasing such dystopic aspects, helps to distinguish the unequivocal struggle of man versus machine. Due to the nature of progress, and its heavy reliance on processing and machinery, it is hard to embrace what had once been us. To clarify this point, humans have forgot what we once were. This is mainly due to the fact that technology has separated a sense of space between what we are now, and who we were before.
Ironically, we see this analogy presented in the opposite manner. The present day, which is generally considered young and hip, is portrayed in the perspective of the elder mother. Whereas the son is given the more adventurous role of describing his journey to the outside. The fear of the piece, I suppose, is that people have lost sense of their natural selves. This is comparable to Frankenstein and his monster – his ‘daemon” – to which he is haunted by for the entirety of the novel. That which was once considered normal – the animal that was man – is now frowned upon. And yet it is something that we use as a baseline to experience that which we no longer can. I think of this in the manner in which the son plays the role of mediator to the mother. In some sense, the story that is told to the mom can be categorized as entertainment. We can find similar aspects to this as the comes into personal lives. As the voice of reason seeks to persuade us of the safety of conformity, our own intuition begs us to be curious of our past. Such is the relationship, in my eyes, of the relationship of Vashti and her son Kuno.
I will comment, however, that the bias shown of the machine turning on mankind is one that seems to be a bit pessimistic. We have no idea if this accurately represents future conditions, although they are terrifying to picture. But I suppose it is easier to do the latter than the former.