“It is a process of pride" How will this "machine" end?

 As I continue to read more about Gerald’s quest for the “fulfillment of his own will in the struggle with the natural conditions”(pg. 224), I reflect on the literal use of the word “machine” as well as the more structural “mechanical” tendencies that the text has taken on as whole: “they sounded also like strange machines, heavy, oiled…the voluptuousness was like that of machinery, cold and iron” (115). The repetitive use of the words “machine” and “voluptuous” earlier in the paragraph used to describe the men, mimics the conformed, monotonous mentality of machines, processes, and various other processes workers perhaps partake in in coal mines. Moreover, the repetition of words or phrases such as “he”, “she”, “but” and “seemed to become” (pg 130-131) that permeate the novel, paired with the character’s constant flux toward and away from external and introspective debates similarly acquire a very automatic and predictable feel. Almost circular and never-ending. For many of the characters, this may be the point; to live a life where nothing is fixed. Aren’t machines also in a state of flux-always changing, moving, organizing, and re-organizing to produce an item or product of some sort? And in this constant state of transience they are, in a sense, remaining the same in the fact that they are always moving unless turned off or thwarted. In this sense, I find it impossible not to compare the the character’s overall desire to be fulfilled or not be fulfilled, finding or not finding a counterpart to a process similar to a machine.

Even though Gerald and Burkin’s conversation at once seems to suggest the union between man and women and the seeming responsibility to reproduce as sort of death, isn’t some kind of end required for some sort of reflection/examination? They will have to complete themselves to have existed at all right? It seems like this constant shift or as stated in class, “zigzag” in thought and dialogue is an attempt to immortalize oneself as one in a state of constant flux. I am wondering if it is possible for any kind of resolution or climax other than a physical death? If everyone fears what is means to be complete or finished, what can be said about the completion of this novel? What are we supposed to gain from the text other than the projections of the characters various epiphanies or non-epiphanies? I realize these questions are entirely too vague and general, with little textual support but I found this section of the reading to be enthralling and after, Man to Man and The Industrial Magnate I am anxious and obsessed to learn the books fate. And while cheesy and maybe momentary, I have initiated an introspective debate of my own while toiling with the idea of a life free of an ending point or state of completion. I am just as guilty as the character’s in the book constantly learning and changing. It’s difficult to envision life beyond college when right now we are striving for an end? I detect an obvious shift after Diana's death but the repetitiveness seems to have merely escaped to a larger scale. I guess I will just have to wait and read.