Rage against the machine

One such courageous soul is Robert Frost, who wrote the poem “Out, Out-.” Frost uses the example of a young boy to point out to the audience a flaw in man’s reliance on the industrial society. Though the description of the nameless young child is vaguely described to the reader, one’s heart still aches for the child who lost his life to a saw while doing his daily task. Robert Frost uses this scenario to detail how man’s reliance on technology for a livelihood results in death. In the case of the young child, the death is quite literal. The boy died after losing a limb to a saw which was more thoroughly described, particularly personified with beast-like details, than the boy himself. On a grander level, Frost is telling the world something is wrong. The reliance on technology by man is causing death, be it literal, as in this case, or emotional, as in others.

Robert Frost made an example of the young boy who relied upon technology developed by the forceful industrial society for a livelihood. However, this point is lost if man does not heed the warning and then change his ways. Frost has stated a predicament and, according to Tillich’s theories, it is now up to each individual man to find an answer.

Another poet, Charles Bukowski, also makes a point using a man who is reliant upon technology for his livelihood in his poem “drunk with the Buddha.” Though the man featured in Bukowski’s poem does not suffer a literal death, he faces another monster just as daunting, if not more: emotional death. Charles Bukowski’s poem is focused on a poet who is suffering from writer’s block. The poet expects to find inspiration while sitting dolefully at a typewriter, as if the typewriter is expected to be the ultimate fountain of revelation. As with the poem by Robert Frost, the machine, a result of the industrial society, is personified into something more detailed than the human protagonist the poem features. When the typewriter expectantly fails to provide a novel set of ideas for the poet, he sinks further into an emotional death, aided by alcohol.

One particular stanza in Charles Bukowski’s “drunk with the Buddha” further details the numbing effect of the industrial society on man: “we still search the walls for answers that will not arrive” (lines 13-14). Brave Bukowski is showing an example of how man now expects everything to cater to his needs now that he has mastered technology. He is making the point that answers to life cannot be found in the walls; to find these answers, one must be out in the world individually and independently seeking to find his own answers. Walls are not magic 8 balls that will reveal one’s fate. Man must be “the master of his world and of himself” (46). Man’s reliance on technology because of the industrial movement will only lead to his demise. Charles Bukowski has observed this for himself and articulated it in his poem. It is now up to man to interpret these observations and seek on his own for answers.

In conclusion, men like Charles Bukowski and Robert Frost need to continue using whatever outlets are available to communicate the predicament arising from man’s dependence on technology. However, these men can only do so much. After a problem is exposed, it is up to the rest of humanity to obtain answers.