Is apocalyptic fiction criticizing the idea of going with the crowd and sticking to the norm?
Both “The Comet” and “The Machine Stops” have examples of ways that following the norm doesn’t
benefit anybody. In “The Comet”, Dubois wrote about something that directly contrasted what the norm was at
the time. In addition, in “The Machine Stops” we see how just letting things blow over and just accepting
things as they are isn’t going to help anything. It is interesting how in one case we see humanity completely
fall, while in the other one we see the main characters returning to reality and descending their elevated
position and their elevated state. Furthermore, as Jim and Julia became more comfortable with each other they
became, in a way happier, despite there being death all around them. That is just like how Kuno became
happier when he began to figure out how to sense space and when he went to the surface. In both cases, we see
that even though the norm is comfortable, breaking out of your comfort zone can make you happier.
In “The Comet”, the normal is a race divide. The reaction we see from Jim is one of bitterness because
“yesterday… she would scarcely have looked at him twice” (Dubois 127). However, Julia’s reaction is one of
surprise as, “he dwelt in a world so far from her” (Dubois 127). The experiences of both Jim and Julia are
vastly different thus, at first they stay with each other out of fear of being alone. But then they start to see past
the other’s race and become more at ease with one another. Julia notices “how foolish our human distinctions
seem” (Dubois 131) when she and Jim are at the precipice of their elated state. The scene on the roof is a bit
like the Reconstruction period after slavery was abolished. For a few years after slavery was abolished black
people were free and mostly had all the same rights as white people, but then it went back to being almost just
as bad as when slavery was legal. Just when Jim and Julia were thinking that they could start a new humanity
that didn’t rely on human distinctions, they were brought back to the way things were where a black man
shouldn’t even look at a white woman even if they were the last people on earth.
In “The Machine Stops” Forster makes the normal doing whatever the machine allows. The normal is
staying inside each of their respective rooms, obeying the Machine, and just going with the flow. In the
beginning Vashti practically obeys the machine and in a way, her obedience can be seen as worship. Following
the norm was such to the people that they had to “beware… first-hand ideas” (Forster 70). Then when the
machine started to fail, they just let it happen with the belief that it would get better, but in the end it didn’t. In
the end those who relied on the machine ended up dying, but those on the surface ended up being the ones who
survived. That shows that to a more extreme scale that going with the crowd might lead to comfort in the
moment, but in the long run, it will lead to more pain. That is similar to how we are producing all this pollution
because of laziness and trying to be really comfortable at the moment, but a century from now, we don’t know
if the earth will still look like this.
In both of these apocalyptic short stories we see that there is a difference between the way that not going with the crowd is presented, but they both get the point across. In “The Comet” Jim and Julia are able to find a short happiness in light of all the death around them and they even begin to see each other in terms other than race. Instead of criticizing following the norm, what Dubois is doing is closer to showing what could be if we decided to go against what is seen as normal. On the same note, “The Machine Stops” is showing more of what happens when you don’t do things for yourself and you keep other s make your decisions for you the way that everybody besides Kuno let the Machine dictate what they did like it was a person. In different ways, both of the stories are showing that change is possible, but in order to be achieved we might have to give up a few of our comforts.
I like this comparison. "The Comet" shows what happens to the intense social constructs during chaos, and "The Machine Stops" shows the horrors of when these social constructs become too powerful. I had also never thought of comparing "The Comet" to the Reconstruction period.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWith the Machine, I never viewed it as a master of normality, rather a master enslaving humans to rely on the Machine. So, the interpretation of the Machine of societal norm is new and interesting. Even in "Soft Rains" (is that the title?), the house is the same as all the other houses in the neighborhood, which is a sign of this societal norm in a post-apocalyptic setting.
ReplyDeleteI think this is an interesting question and I liked the examples from "The Machine Stops" and "The Comet" that you used to answer it. I think the other apocalyptic story we read, "There Will Come Soft Rains", kind of applies as well. It was written in the 1950s, a time where conformity was common, and depicts the demise of a typical (other than the futuristic technology) suburban home. While I'm not sure that the story necessarily criticizes conformity as much as it criticizes technology, I think that aspect of the story is an interesting connection to your question.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting connection to make. I like how you showed that conformity leads to disruption. I think this can also be seen in other stories, as others have pointed out. Specifically, "Speech Sounds" also deals with conformity and is apocalyptic. In "Speech Sounds", we see how broken society is and how detrimental it can be for people to conform and just give in to their animal desires or keep to themselves to protect themselves, but how life can get better once you break away from that, like when Rye takes in the children for no benefit of her own.
ReplyDelete