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Children Of The Bedtime Machine - Coggle Diagram
Children Of The Bedtime Machine
Character/Speaker
The narrator in Children Of The Bedtime Machine describes the house and surrounding land as lonely. The woman's character is shaped by this as the general lack of human contact has caused her to be a generally negative
person.
The woman's "hard" character was brought up by the death of her husband and son in a brutal war which dismantled her family and ruined her adolescent dream of having a large family filled with love and compassion.
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Other contributing factors for the woman's personality include procedures that deteriorate and harm the natural world on a large and global scale. These procedures include global satellites in the sky and in the solar system, climate change and global warming and oil being a large indicator of economic success causing unsafe practices for manufacturing.
Bitter eggs are used as a symbol in the story as the woman ate them daily which raises questions as to why she would voluntarily eat them or what it means. Her "hard" personality is also described to "crack like the shell of a bitter egg" when she places her candles around her in a manner that soothes her and reminds herself of the "world that was"
The woman roaming around the town to go shopping caused her emotional state to be enhanced which gave the reader inside information on why her personality was not very warming and her life seemed to be a chore as opposed to a blessing.
Sentimentality is a big part of the woman's life as she enjoys reminiscing on how positive the world was prior to improper manufacturing and economic practices and modern warfare. This is shown through the store she visits which possessed a "large pile of yesterday" such as computers, laptops and cell phones. The fact that these things are seen as older products could signify that the story takes place in the future
The woman's emotional state improved after the kids came from the bedtime machine and gave her the family she had always desired. The woman became "softer" as the story went on showing that the children from the bedtime machine were what the woman needed to be emotionally satisfied and now live a "chore" of a life
THEME
The woman walking around the town through the shops changed her emotional state. The yolks of her eggs were yellow meaning they were not rotten or bitter. A theme that can be deducted from this situation is that human contact and reducing loneliness improves morale and emotional wellness.
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The theme regarding human contact and happiness is perpetuated when the family that the woman always desired was brought to her by the bedtime machine after she was reluctant to purchase it
Questions
The beginning sentences of the story utilize the word lonely three times. Could the feeling of loneliness foreshadow to something later on in the story? Is loneliness a feeling that is felt by all inhabitants of the surrounding area
The narrator in the story claims that the woman goes about her "chore of living" on a daily basis. Does the woman view her own life as a chore? Does she live a very physically or emotionally taxing lifestyle?
The author of the story introduces various catholic figures such as Jesus Christ causing the reader to question whether the plot of the story has any religious meaning or significance
Many people in the story seem to possess a gun in this society, could this be a prediction made by the author for future society?
The woman's blue eyes are harped on throughout the story, since blue eyes typically have a positive connotation, what could they imply for the woman
Since computers, cell phones, notebooks and e-readers are seen as items from the past, could the story be taking place in the future? Could this futuristic story mean the bedtime machine is dangerous seeing as how negatively the present day is spoken about in the story?
CONNECTIONS
The bedtime machine seems similar to the nursery in the short story The Veldt as it is a machine that is used to be an escape from reality
The way in which the woman seems largely disgusted at the bedtime machine while the man tries to sell it to her shows that it is not the best idea to rely on machinery for everything.