The Machine Stops

by

E.M. Forster

Respirators Symbol Icon

Respirators—a form of protective equipment that make it possible to visit Earth’s surface—symbolize humanity’s innate desire to be close to nature. In the world of the story, the air aboveground has become toxic to human beings—whether this is the product of environmental degradation, or changes in human physiology from living underground, or some combination of both, isn’t clear. Because of these conditions, most people live underground in pods, where a technological system called the Machine ostensibly provides all of their basic needs. However, many people still want to see the surface, and at the start of the story, it is relatively easy to do so by requesting a permit and a respirator. The existence of respirators suggests that even in this society, people still want to experience the natural world, despite their separation from it.

Kuno, who wants to experience the natural world as human beings once did, wishes he could go to the surface “naked,” without the aid of a respirator. This wish is almost fulfilled when his respirator is blown away from him, and he miraculously survives because some of the artificial air blown from underground settles in the valley around him. Kuno’s desire suggests that respirators, however necessary they might be, are still a poor substitute for a more direct experience of the natural world.

But even this imperfect connection to the world above ground is cut off when the Committee of the Machine abolishes respirators. The reason behind this decision seems to be that respirators allow people to escape, however briefly, the Machine’s direct control (even if the respirators are still connected to the Machine). To use respirators seems to be an acknowledgement that the Machine is not everything, and that there is value to experiencing the natural world. However, this decision turns out to be one of the most severe mistakes in the story, because the elimination of respirators makes it so that the Machine’s eventual collapse condemns the underground inhabitants to certain death without the air that the Machine generates. This ending shows how disastrous it can be when humanity tries to deny our fundamental impulse to connect with the natural world.

Respirators Quotes in The Machine Stops

The The Machine Stops quotes below all refer to the symbol of Respirators. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Technology vs. Nature Theme Icon
).
Part 2: The Mending Apparatus Quotes

“The mortar had somehow rotted, and I soon pushed some more tiles in, and clambered after them into the darkness, and the spirits of the dead comforted me. I don’t know what I mean by that. I just say what I felt. I felt, for the first time, that a protest had been lodged against corruption, and that even as the dead were comforting me, so I was comforting the unborn. I felt that humanity existed, and that it existed without clothes. How can I possibly explain this? It was naked, humanity seemed naked, and all these tubes and buttons and machineries neither came into the world with us, nor will they follow us out, nor do they matter supremely while we are here. Had I been strong, I would have torn off every garment I had, and gone out into the outer air unswaddled. But this is not for me, nor perhaps for my generation. I climbed with my respirator and my hygienic clothes and my dietetic tabloids! Better thus than not at all.”

Related Characters: Kuno (speaker), The Machine , Vashti
Related Symbols: Respirators
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 107
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 3: The Homeless Quotes

No one confessed the Machine was out of hand. Year by year it was served with increased efficiency and decreased intelligence. The better a man knew his own duties upon it, the less he understood the duties of his neighbour, and in all the world there was not one who understood the monster as a whole. Those master brains had perished. They had left full directions, it is true, and their successors had each of them mastered a portion of those directions. But Humanity, in its desire for comfort, had overreached itself. It had exploited the riches of nature too far. Quietly and complacently, it was sinking into decadence, and progress had come to mean the progress of the Machine.

Related Characters: The Machine
Related Symbols: Respirators
Page Number: 116
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Machine Stops PDF

Respirators Symbol Timeline in The Machine Stops

The timeline below shows where the symbol Respirators appears in The Machine Stops. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 1: The Air-Ship
Technology vs. Nature Theme Icon
Simulation vs. Experience Theme Icon
Human Connection Theme Icon
Emotion vs. Rationality Theme Icon
...mud,” with no life, and it is impossible to breathe the air outside without a respirator—its coldness kills unprotected humans immediately. Kuno says that he knows and will take proper precautions.... (full context)
Part 2: The Mending Apparatus
Technology vs. Nature Theme Icon
Religion and Faith Theme Icon
Simulation vs. Experience Theme Icon
Human Connection Theme Icon
Emotion vs. Rationality Theme Icon
...regaining his “sense of space.” He exercised to regain his muscular strength, then summoned a respirator and returned to the ventilation shaft. He climbed up through it, feeling as though the... (full context)
Technology vs. Nature Theme Icon
Simulation vs. Experience Theme Icon
Emotion vs. Rationality Theme Icon
...underground tunnels was escaping into the air of the outer surface like a fountain. His respirator had flown away, caught in the air currents above him, and it pained him to... (full context)
Technology vs. Nature Theme Icon
Simulation vs. Experience Theme Icon
Human Connection Theme Icon
Emotion vs. Rationality Theme Icon
...in the tunnel, although he did not realize this at first. He saw that his respirator had disappeared and decided he must run away, even the outer air killed him. (full context)
Part 3: The Homeless
Technology vs. Nature Theme Icon
Simulation vs. Experience Theme Icon
Emotion vs. Rationality Theme Icon
In the years following Kuno’s escape to the surface, respirators are abolished. Most people are in favor of the change, because people like Vashti always... (full context)