Sex Ex Machina

As technology advances, machines are becoming a part of everyone's daily life. There is no escape from the ever present machinery that powers society. However, there are many people that are afraid of machines, be it fear, doubt, or trauma. In "Sex Ex Machina", James Thurber, a renown American cartoonist and humorist, interestingly connects the parallels betweens machines and sex.

He mentions that many "attribute the whole menace of the machine to sex" (153). This essay was written for the The New Yorker, a magazine company, in 1937, a time of great technological evolution. This essay probably was a great illustrator of the time period he was living in. Machines were becoming more larger, stronger, and more efficient. This sudden change probably frightened many people that weren't used to it; thus, prompting Thurber to address this issue.

 Thurber's audience is most likely people that are apprehensive about machinery, those who still don't quite understand how machines work. Thurber's purpose is to inform his audience that this fear that they have of machines is natural, and he achieves it quite well. He gives interesting anecdotes about his own personal life and of his friends and their experiences with machines. He himself is somewhat scared of all these new machines for he, "discerned only a natural caution in a world made up of gadgets that whir and whine and whiz and shriek and sometimes explode" (157). He also mentioned a friend that, "developed a fear of automobiles, trains, and every other kind of vehicle that was not pulled by a horse" (158) because he fell off of a motor boat once and had a traumatic experience. Thurber states that, "I do not regard that as neurotic, either, but only sensible" (158). He understands that machines intimidate many people, just as sex intimidates many people.

Thurber has a great literary voice that has a mix of calmness and irony that allows understanding the purpose easier and makes his writing much more enjoyable. His purpose can also reach out to people today. In his time period, the machines that frightened people were large, clamorous automobiles; however, in this time period, the machines that people tend to fear are smartphones and computers. I know of many people who have difficulties navigating their computers and doing simple computer operations, and in the end, they just quit saying that technology isn't their thing. What's amazing is that Thurber's topic and purpose transcends time and shows the basis of human nature.

The Fear of Machines