51 pages • 1 hour read
E. M. ForsterThe Machine Stops
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1909A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Quiz
Reading Check, Multiple Choice & Short Answer Quizzes
Reading Check questions are designed for in-class review on key plot points or for quick verbal or written assessments. Multiple Choice and Short Answer Quizzes create ideal summative assessments, and collectively function to convey a sense of the work’s tone and themes.
Reading Check
1. In his first call to Vashti, what does Kuno ask his mother to do?
2. Why doesn’t the machine show nuanced facial expressions?
3. What is Vashti’s objection to looking at stars and mountains?
4. What illegal activity does Kuno describe doing when he is visited by his mother?
5. What does Kuno see the Mending Apparatus do right before he passes out?
6. What does Homelessness mean in the story?
7. What does Kuno do to prepare to go to the surface and why?
8. How do the people in the Machine respond when it starts to fail?
9. How does the Famous Lecturer justify the new ban on going to the surface?
10. What kills thousands of people instantly when the Machine stops?
Multiple Choice
1. At the beginning of the story, Vashti is impatient with Kuno because she is supposed to
_________ in a few minutes.
A) meet a friend
B) go to sleep
C) give a lecture
D) catch a train
2. Why hasn’t Vashti seen Kuno in years?
A) He lives on the other side of the world.
B) They stopped speaking after a falling out.
C) Kuno has been in prison for 10 years.
D) Vashti has been away fighting in the war.
3. What is Vashti’s only material belonging?
A) a baby hat
B) he Image
C) a silver cross
D) the Book
4. Why doesn’t the man pick up the Book he drops?
A) He is used to the Machine picking things up.
B) The Book is tainted after touching the ground.
C) It’s immediately destroyed by the Machine.
D) He realizes he doesn’t really care about it.
5. Why do most people in the Machine think travel is pointless?
A) They already live in the best city in the world.
B) Every city is exactly the same as the next.
C) Traveling takes so long that it isn’t worth it.
D) No one inhabits the other cities in the world.
6. What does the Air Attendant do that offends Vashti?
A) She brings Vashti a lunch that contains meat.
B) She touches Vashti to stop her from falling.
C) She tells Vashti about the history of the area.
D) She asks Vashti to tell her about her son.
7. What happens to strong, healthy babies in the world of the Machine?
A) They are raised as rulers.
B) They become athletes.
C) They are left to die.
D) They become laborers.
8. Why does Vashti become angry when Kuno accuses her of worshipping the Machine?
A) Because she is a Christian and it’s blasphemous.
B) Because Vashti doesn’t believe the Machine is real.
C) Because advanced people don’t subscribe to religion.
D) Because she hates the Machine and has tried to escape.
9. What excuse are the people in the Machine given for the Machine’s progressive failures?
A) The people need to become less dependent.
B) The Machine is under attack by enemies.
C) It is under construction with new advancements.
D) The Machine is failing because they didn’t pray enough.
10. In the end, what outmoded comfort does Kuno want from Vashti?
A) physical touch
B) a lullaby
C) morphine
D) a soft bed
Short-Answer Response
Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Describe the mother/son relationship between Vashti and Kuno.
2. Why does Vashti find her journey in the airship to be unpleasant and disturbing?
3. What has Kuno discovered when he says, “Man is the measure”?
4. Why do Vashti and others ignore the signs that the Machine is breaking down?
5. What causes the Machine to fail in the end?
Quizzes – Answer Key
Reading Check
1. to travel to see him on the other side of the world (Paragraph 17)
2. They aren’t considered necessary for communication. (Paragraph 42)
3. they don’t give her any ideas (Paragraph 29, 116)
4. breaking out of the Machine and visiting the surface without permission (Paragraph 130-187)
5. kill a woman by stabbing through her throat (Paragraph 206)
6. being evicted from the Machine to die on the Surface (Paragraph 129)
7. walk to regain his sense of spatiality (Paragraph 145-147)
8. They complain but then adapt. (Paragraph 226-249)
9. He tells them knowledge through the Machine is better than first-hand knowledge. (Paragraph 210-211)
10. the sudden silencing of the hum (Paragraph 265)
Multiple Choice
1. C (Paragraph 7)
2. A (Paragraph 86)
3. D (Paragraph 64)
4. A (Paragraph 89)
5. B (Paragraph 87)
6. B (Paragraph 97-99)
7. C (Paragraph 145)
8. D (Paragraph 139-140)
9. B (Paragraph 260)
10. A (Paragraph 280)
Short-Answer Response
1. Babies are removed from their mothers’ care at birth and placed in public nurseries. However, Vashti and Kuno still feel a natural affection for each other, even as Vashti resists in the name of propriety. They revert to their instincts and hold each other as the world ends.
2. Vashti must endure being confronted with things that have been erased from modern life in the Machine. For instance, she must interact with others and share space with them. The trip also requires her to have contact with the outside world by seeing sunlight and mountains through the window.
3. Kuno has realized that by limiting their movement in the Machine, the social order has taken away their sense of spatiality and the connection of their bodies to the world around them. By moving through the space, he rediscovers that spatiality can be measured by his body and its physical abilities.
4. The people who live in the Machine have been conditioned to trust it like a god. Although they complain about inconveniences, they eventually accept and adapt, as they have been bred to be docile and open to suggestion from lecturers.
5. Over time, those who made the Machine and knew how the entire thing work have died off. The only people who are left to maintain the Machine only know parts of how it functions, so it finally breaks down.
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