The Machine Stops

Kuno is Vashti’s youngest son, and he represents a curiosity about the world that the Machine could not entirely breed out of humanity. Although babies who show athletic promise are culled at birth, Kuno is “possessed of a certain physical strength” (11). Kuno is like the philosophers throughout history, looking to the world and asking questions instead of accepting what he is told. In a world where humans have been taught to live as if their bodies are an inconvenience, Kuno is restless and not content to live his life without movement and discovery. These are not considered positive traits in this dystopian society, so Kuno is denied when he applies to procreate. This brings up questions about human existence and one’s ability to leave a mark on the world. Kuno knows that his life and legacy will end when he dies, which might be a catalyst for his yearning to discover something outside of the Machine. He has nothing to lose and everything to gain.

This society has determined that Kuno is genetic waste and ought to be erased from humanity. Although ideas about heredity go back at least as far as the ancient Greeks, genetic science began to take off in the first decade of the 20th century, when Forster wrote the story.