These three machines are: the communal kitchen, a mysterious machine Opehila; and Anechka Prokopovich's bed. All the main characters struggle for power throughout the novel and are connected to these three machines. The main feature in common to these three machines and their design is control over human life.

The first machine being discussed is the communal kitchen which is connected with Andrei Babichev. Andrei is in charge of the Central Food Trust and is in the process of building a communal kitchen. He is an administrative genius and communist day dreamer who believes that nourishment and digestion are the material basis of human happiness. Envious Kavalerov insists that Babichev would give birth to the communal kitchen if humanly possible. The...