For those who wish to discuss this story, please see this website for possible ideas for developmental discussion (although this site really doesn't cover specifically the work under discussion, but rather other aspects of Forter's writings).
http://www.literaryhistory.com/20thC/Forster.htm
Forster studies concentrates on such aspects as emperialism and colonialism; historigraphy; polyphonic aspects of storytelling, in addition to gender issues, to name only a few. (I'm particularly fascinated by rhetor
Kenneth Burke's dramatistic pentad for excavating motive through action and discourse.)
Additionally, there was a
TV adaptation of this novelette [it is not a short story] here:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060643/
which may be available for purchase somewhere in your area.
Further discussion can be gleaned from here
http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2008...pixars-wall-e/
wherein the author attempts a comparison/contrast on the
Pixar film WALL-E.
And finally, a
FREE AUDIO BOOK is available from
http://librivox.org/the-machine-stops-by-e-m-forster/
I have not listened to this and can offer no comments as to the audio quality of the production or to the interpretive stanch of the narrator(s).
Hopefully, this information will help jump-start meaningful discussion, to include (as merely one example) a study of Forster's homosexuality and how he might view the technology and ethos of the future.
Happy reading, y'all ! I'll join everyone when we start discussion
Stephen King's "Under the Dome."
(
Me - I'm back to whipping Zombies and torturing dead cats - and I certainly have my work cut out for me! ACKKKK!!!! 
)
Don