In The World of The Intensive Care Unit and The Machine Stops The

Human Condition is Presented as Vulnerable

The intensive care unit by J.G Ballard and The machine stops by E.M.
Forster are two on-mark prognoses of science fiction in the 1900s. In spite of
being almost a generation apart, both authors address the establishment of
technology in similar manner. Each writer chose to depict the human condition
in his science fiction as being vulnerable; nonetheless, their choice of structure,
language and use of common metaphor lets their distinct writing styles to shine
through.
The Machine Stops raises the anti-technology theme through a more
fictitious approach rather than The Intensive Care Unit, through the use of
allegory. In The Machine Stops, the abstraction of being trapped below ground
stretches how humans seclude themselves from others. The use of allegory is
effective as it adds layers to the narrative. This allows the reader to interpret the
story varyingly. As a result, the story stands for something of greater significance
than their literal meaning. This in turn, undoubtedly resembles the modern state
of our society, in which, humans entraps themselves in front of their computer
screens, the only difference is that our society choose to entrap themselves.
Moreover, emphasizes on how technological appliances are progressively taking
over.
However, the humankind may also be leaning towards the same direction as that
shown in The Machine Stops: it occurred to me that our cities had been built in
the days when men still breathed the outer air, and that there had been
ventilation shafts for the workmen, this quote shows how The Machine did not
occupy as much time and dedication to humans lives and how we steadily and
gradually became more and more reliant on those machineries. In actuality, a
comparable force is also working its way within our society; humans have lost
their sense of balance when it comes to depending on them and depending on
technology. Analogously, humans in the machine stops are described to have lost
their sense of space. In The Machine Stops, the anti-technology theme is
hyperbolized even more until it got to the point where the machine became a
religious belief and the society found peace and pleasure through the machine: I
prefer the mercy of God, when Kuno imparted those tendentious words to
Vashti, Vashti is revealed to immediately feel offended and ashamed at her son,
this shows how humans no longer have faith in anything rather than the
Machine. On top of that, when the Machine is depicted to experience hitches,
the society is shown to complain to authorities, even so, it only lasted for a while
as they adapted to those problems and it no longer mattered. This is another way
in which the author, E.M. Forster, used allegory to perhaps symbolize hope;
seeing that humans are adaptable creatures, humans may as well adapt to an
environment where technology is seldom used.
Likewise, The Intensive Care Unit shares a somewhat subtler and more left-
brained version of using allegory. The society is once more described, to be
cloistering themselves from one another. Apparently, this is how the society has
always been in the world of The Intensive Care Unit, and isolation has long
become a norm. The same sense of being trapped bears a similar meaning to that
of The Machine Stops.
In addition to that, another allegory is used to present the human condition as
being vulnerable: in every sense needless to say, this brought about an immense
increase in the richness of human experience and thus spared all the
psychological dangers of a physically intimate family life. .All the same we are
at last together and my affection for them overrides these small problems of
mutual adjustment. Suggests that humans flawed self, are easily attached to
things, regardless of whatever psychotic action their loved ones attempted, they
are yet to share fondness for each other. This vulnerability is shown in the main
character, I towards his wife Margaret and his children Karen and David. In The
Intensive Care Unit, the author visualizes the human vulnerability through a
different set of glasses to that of The Machine Stops. Instead of technology
becoming a religious cult, the use of allegory also describes how technology
strips humans off their social and physical abilities also making them
psychologically damaged. The scene in which the main character and his family
metamorphosed into savage beasts once more shows this. Their actions were all
triggered by the oddity of never having physical contact.
Another similarity is that both stories, having raised the same theme also
used didacticism to put forth a similar moral: But Humanity, in its desire for
comfort, had over-reached itself. It had exploited the riches of nature too far.
That is we that are dying, and that down here the only thing that lives is the
Machine? The author of The Machine Stops has chose to include the message
he is trying to convey into the story through the thoughts of Kuno. Besides that,
E.M. Forster also chose to personify the Machine as if it was a living thing. This
contributes to his use of didacticism as readers can easily relate to the Machine
as if it was an entity causing harm to another entity: I stamped upon the
creature instead of flying from it, and it at once curled round the ankle. Then we
fought. The worm let me run all over the dell but edged up my leg as I ran. This
quote shows how Kuno described the Mending Apparatus as if it was a living
worm that was assaulting him whilst it was in truth mending the Machine.
Indifferently, the author of The Intensive Care Unit, J.G. Ballard attempts to
capture and communicate the same moral through his story, which is, to not live
a life behind a screen and isolate you from the public. With the exception using
framed narrative instead of directly including the moral of the narrative in the
narrative, The Intensive Care Unit portrays the same moral as that of The
Machine Stops. In The Intensive Care Unit, framed narrative is used to
emphasize on speculation and its impact on the society. Speculation, being what
started the science fiction is projected in the form of a flashback. This is effective
because it allows the impact of technology to be emphasized in the beginning of
the narrative then re-emphasized towards the end. As a result, readers
understand that the concept of being unexposed to physical contact may lead to
being psychologically impaired. This is relevant to todays behavior where
people are beginning to prefer virtual modes of communication to face-to-face
communication, particularly because technology itself aids us humans in
blurring out their vulnerabilities, particularly when it comes to language
manipulation routinely used in text messages. Make-up is in turn used to blur out
flaws in The Intensive Care Unit: neither of us was wearing make-up. Without
its cosmetic mask Margarets face seemed pasty and unhealthy. On the
television screen there were no body odors or strained breathing, no pupil
contractions and facial reflexes, no mutual sizing up of emotions and advantage,
no distrust and insecurity. Affection and compassion demanded distance.
Besides morals relating to the impact of the science fiction speculation, both The
Machine Stops and The Intensive Care Unit also poses morals affiliated to
family life. In both stories, bonds between family members are disrupted by their
excessive use of technology; this is another note the author is trying to convey.
The relationship between Vashti and Kuno in The Machine Stops clearly
displays terseness. Whether they are chatting face to face or communicating
through the screen, Vashti and Kuno constantly argue about their beliefs.
Correspondingly, the main character and his family in The Intensive Care Unit
cannot seem to accept flawed physical attributes of their family members, which
are not apparent through their television. In both cases, both families should
learn to see more than what could be seen. Families should be able to accept
each others hamartia, this being particularly directed towards The Intensive
Care Unit, as well as to being able to accept differences in perception,
particularly in the case of The Machine Stops. Fortunately towards the end of
the story, both families were able to reconcile themselves by communicating
orally: I am dying but we touch, we talk, not through the machine. This
somewhat happy ending in both stories is chosen by both authors in order to
emphasize another moral being that, family life is better off without technology,
moreover everyone is better off not reliant to technology.
Lastly, authors of both The Machine Stops and The Intensive Care Unit
chose to use Paradox in order to dramatize how senseless and logically
unacceptable humanity is in their science fiction. However, Paradox is mostly
used to deepen the readers attraction to the story. Through the use of paradox,
both authors were able to retain their readers interest, by letting the readers
figure out the concealed meaning behind the happening of a specific
phenomenon independently, as well as, by constantly leaving the readers at the
edge of their seats, only unraveling the truth bit by bit. In both The Machine
Stops and The Intensive Care Unit, the author characterizes their characters to
be undoubtedly obsessed with technology, with the exception of Kuno.
Regardless of that, the author expects their readers, to respond counteractively
towards the judgment of their characters. In other words, characters in the story
thinks they know the truth, while in actuality, what they know is the complete
opposite of what the readers know and what the author trying to convey. In the
case of The Machine Stops for instance; Vashti formidably believes that
humankind are surviving because theyre within the Machines control,
nevertheless, the Machine ends up to be the root of humans destruction at the
denouement of the story. The readers however, are made to know all along that,
the story would eventually discontinue with a technology and human
apocalypse. In similar fashion, Paradox was used in The Intensive Care Unit: in
every sense needless to say, this brought about an immense increase in the
richness of human experience and thus spared all the psychological dangers of
a physically intimate family life. This in turn shows how the characters perceive
technology to be their liberator from physical contact and interaction. In this
case, the readers are again made to know all along that, technology is in fact the
origin of their psychological impairments. In both cases, the readers are made
aware of how technology is created by humans to help them survive whilst
stripping them off several pivotal skills and wrecking technology itself,
conceivably wheeling humankind towards an eon in the future parallel to the
state at the beginning of time, in which no technology exists. These paradoxical
points are impeccably relatable for individuals of the current generation where
no one is certain on whether or not technology is aiding our survival. The
hypothesis of an apocalyptic end of technology has already been subtly
mentioned in both stories as; the unmentioned death of the main characters
family in The Intensive Care Unit and the deterioration of the Machine and its
inhabitants in The Machine Stops.
In conclusion, choices in structure, moral, language and symbolism made
by J.G. Ballard of The Intensive Care Unit as well as E.M. Forster of The
Machine Stops both portrays the vulnerability of human condition despite their
different writing styles. Both science fictions are also on-button speculations of
future circumstance of human condition and technology for the 1900s society,
which in turn makes The Machine Stops and The Intensive Care Unit, two
relatable narratives for the current generation.