The State of the Future Society - Essay Example

The of the future society This dis delves into the analysis of Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, an article by Kurt Vonnegut published in 1953. The author applies several literary features to convey his message in the Article by providing a critique of the knowledge of science and future pointing at some of the likely negative effects. Suspense is one of the stylistic devices applied by the author to develop conflict, which forms the story line. However, all the effort aims at exposing vanity and materialism in the society. This is what the paper discusses and combines them in the end. In the article, Vonnegut explores a fictional topic. The author addresses materialism and vanity thematic issues prevalent in the contemporary society and in the process makes the story relevant that resonates with modern literary readers. To pass his message, Kurt Vonnegut manipulates factors that include the setting and the placement of the story to validate the desired fictional plot. This paper puts into perspective aspects of the themes to understand how the author portrays his message. Through the thematic issues he addresses, he does not only earn respect among his target audience but also provides a sharp criticism of his society. Analysis The story depicts the theme of materialism. In this case, the characters strive to obtain clothes, riches, and revamp technology in order to live longer and in the process get wealth wherever possible. The Gramps face similar problems because the number of descendants outweighs the family resources. Analytically, it is easy to state that Gramps demands the best and the biggest of every share. The numerous children on the other hand strive to impress the old man in order for him to consider them in his will, which he has used all along to blackmail them. He revises the will frequently making it difficult for the children to determine any concrete share of inheritance. The descendants strive to appease the old man since only such an action would earn them favor from the old man who coincidentally is not about to die. He maintains a claim in his wealth owing to his long life. The fact that he is even considering taking the age reversing drugs makes the situation even more precarious since he will need the wealth even more. The author puts into use suspense to heighten the theme of materialism in the short story extensively. Suspense refers to a literary style in which the author reveals relative details in the story leaving the author contemplating other subsequent actions in the story. This leaves the audience always willing they had more detail in the story. Additionally, suspense is a style used to sustain readership in either stories or films. The author manipulates the feature by providing relative amount of detail often leaving the reader to imagine the growth of such actions in the story. The author ends the story in such a state thus leaving the audience imagining the future of the society. The short story ends with the discovery of yet another better drug that will make people younger. The current state of the society is appalling as people struggle for the scarce resources. Various literary analysts have criticized the author’s exposure of materialism, which they hold he claims the society if greedy. However, there are those who laud his efforts to earn respect from his audience. This helps in adding value to the story both in the early society and in the contemporary society as explained in this discourse. Kurt Vonnegut adopts his title tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow from William Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth. The author uses the adopted line from Shakespeare to create suspense from the title of the story. The setting of the story by Vonnegut is in New York City in 2158 AD. The story revolves around the Schwartz family led by Harold, a one hundred and seventy-two year old man commonly referred to as Gramps. The discovery of medicine dubbed Anti-Gerasone causes panic in the American society including other European societies. The drug reduces the rate of the aging process. It is made from mud and dandelions. The raw materials are readily available. In addition to various lifestyle complications that relate to population increase, the United States faces overpopulation (Boon, 2001, 31). The author sets the story in the future times to make sure that his message and plot that involve the social structure of the society attain value. The descendants of Gramps discover that life in New York prisons is better than what they go through in their homes after being arrested. Analytically, this alludes to developments in the future society. The developments are discoveries by science that come negative social effects. Social problems created by developments in science (Molin, 2005, 71). In that case, the state shall have anticipated the growth in population after the discovery of controversial drugs thereby improving the capacity of basic infrastructures including prisons and schools. The setting makes the police in the society appear more efficient compared to their actions in the present American society. Among other actions, they respond to minor family squabbles that appear irrelevant in the current society. Riots in the Gramps family are a good example how swift and effective the police in two thousand one hundred and twenty-eight will react. Vonnegut gives meaning to his assertions by placing the story in a historical time as well as a fictional location. In doing this, the author comprehends the need to relate an imaginary society in the future and makes a comparison with the current geographical location of the readers. Therefore, he places the story in the future of New York City (Marc, & Reed, 2010, 37). A large proportion of his readers have a primary view of both New York and the Connecticut in its neighborhood. They have the capacity relate to the future society alluded in the story. This way, they can infer and compare the two societies by conceptualizing ideas presented by the author in the short story. The author develops a real plot after creating the setting effectively passing his message in the fictitious short story. Scholars define a plot as a flow of action within a story. The author succeeds in explaining the relationships among family members effectively. Vonnegut starts by explaining the abnormal age of the old man and the evident squabble for resources. Through dedicated medical researches and improvement in technology, the medical practitioners succeed in discovering a drug that halts the aging process. The drug is manufactured using soil and this makes it available readily even to the poor in the society. The discovery of the drug increases the American population and in the process maintains the pressure on the resources caused by the increase in population. Gramps is constant administration of the anti-aging drug. It is important to mention at this moment that the family is overpopulated already. The old man gets the largest share of every meal and reserves the most comfortable room for him. His descendants squeeze in the three-roomed apartment and exert more pressure on the old man’s resources. The old man keeps revising his will and in the process manipulates activities of his descendants as they seek to gain his attention to enjoin them in the will. The old man’s wife ponders over killing him by diluting his dose of the drug but her grandson, Luis advises her on the contrary. The family faces myriad challenges just as the rest of the American population due to increased pressure on resources that keep diminishing every time because of the increased population. The old man later fakes his death causing riots in the family because members fight over the inheritance of the family apartments as well as the old ma’s bedroom. It is at this point that the police appear and arrest everybody available. However, family members find the prison cells more comfortable and more spacious than their home. Therefore, they keep praying that the court finds them guilty so that they continue living in the prison. The short story ends with Gramps showing up and is determined to press charges against the family members. Additionally, the old man has just discovered a new drug as he watches an advert on television. The new drug does not only halt the aging process but also reverses the process. The old man is therefore elated as he begins imagining the exploits of reliving his youth. The author uses his setting to develop an important feature during the development of his literary concepts. In many ways, this serves to add value to the story making it more relevant particularly among a target audience group. Evaluation of the setting in this case refers to the time of the story that the author places in future. A fictional story such as this requires an effective placement in order to validate the action. The author understands the need for such and places his story in history that the modern day audience can only imagine. This makes it difficult for the audience to evaluate actions and characters in the story. Kurt Vonnegut places his story in 2158 AD in New York. The timing is strategic since the audience can only imagine what the future holds. Technology is rapidly changing and humans discover new and better ways of living. The author validates the discovery of such drugs as Anti-Gerasone that halts the aging process by placing his story in the future. The author develops conflicts that sustain the story throughout using factors identified above. Among the essential elements in the conflicts in the story is the struggle for resources. The old man makes sure that he reserves the best bed space and the biggest share of every meal for him. The descendants do not have another alternative but compete for the rest. It is important that the old man dangle the will as the carrot to have his descendants struggle to please him. His actions coupled with the fact that he will not die irritate his family members including his wife who plot on several occasions to kill him. The story ends in suspense with the old man discovering yet another better drug that will not only halt his aging process but also make him younger. As he ruminates over how he will re-experience his youth, the author leaves the audience wondering, and only imagining the problems, the family members are likely to face in future. The author employs several other literary features to help convey his message in the story. Among the most evident literary features, that Kurt Vonnegut employs is vivid description. The established author provides a vivid description of the action, the setting, and the characters. This way, he develops the relationship between the three and shows specific features. Through the vivid description of the factors and the sentence structures the author uses in the story, he succeeds in developing a complete story besides the evident description of his audience. The short story targets the public it has neither age limitation nor specific target audience. This arises from the choice of words and the sentence structures that the author applies. Kurt Vonnegut employs simple descriptive sentences. He does not employ any complicated vocabulary. This makes the story easy to understand. The style applied by the author makes understanding of the action easier as the readers relate easily with the ideas the author portrays in the story. Through the vivid description of both the actions and the characters in the story, it becomes easier to relate with the same. The avid description of such factors in the story improves the understanding of the plot since it improves the conceptualization of the action by the readers. Conceptualization refers to the mind map that one develops while reading a story. Stories lack visual evidences. However, the reader develops such following the portrayal of the actions in the story by the author. Kurt Vonnegut provides an avid description of every feature of the story making it easier for his readers to conceptualize the ideas he envisions in his story. The description of the conflicts coupled with the simple and realistic sentences he uses in the story makes it easier for his readers to conceptualize and understand the story. The author helps his readers conceptualize by validating both the setting and the time of the story. He places the story in the future; this makes it easier for his audience to observe the current technological development to project the future of the same. Additionally, he places the story in an American society. By placing the story in the future New York, the author makes it easier for the audience to conceptualize the future of the society and visualize actions in relation to the current New York. Factors such as population increase and technological development in the future society coupled with medical discovery make it easier for the reader to generate a visual image of the intensity of action in the story. Conflicts that arise from overpopulation in the society are results of the same. It would also help to validate claims including the living conditions in New York jails, which the author alleges are better than the conditions in most of futuristic families. Vivid description in literary works often helps most film developers adapt stories and develop films from such works. The author leaves his readers wondering the possible effects of an age reversing drug as the story ends with the old man contemplating the use of such drugs. The author also achieves relevance through the numerous themes he addresses in the story. A theme in literary work refers to the underlying idea an author states either directly or indirectly through the story. Such must have some social relevance with the society of the target audience in order to achieve the audience recognition (Morse, 1992, 29). Kurt Vonnegut addresses several thematic issues in the story key among which is materialism. This refers to the desire by the several characters to gain material wealth. Overpopulation in the society results from increase in birth rates with reduced death rates. This is courtesy of the anti-aging drug. This piles pressure on the resources as the poor begins lacing basic needs. Presentation by the author relates closely to vanity. Medical practitioners in the society discover an anti-gerasone drug that stops aging immediately it is taken. The drug is readily available because it is made from the soil. When one stops taking the drug, he or she continues to age. The effects of the drug are dire and represent the epitome of vanity. The characters strive in the short story to live forever. It appears as if Gramps will live forever since he takes the drug regularly. Therefore, he strives to keep his wealth. Gramps denies his family basic resources because of the desire to live forever. His will becomes the tool to induce children to keep giving him few incentives to get favors in the will. This is because he keeps revising the will or insinuates to doing the same. This forms the greatest conflict in the story and sustains other smaller conflicts of interest. At one time, his wife plots to kill him in order to reduce problems the family is going through. The old man’s death would leave the family with a direct control of the wealth and a more peaceful house. However, this is not the case as the old man fakes his death after learning that his family is interested in his wealth. In his absence, the descendants begin fighting among themselves as they scramble for the old man’s bedroom, which is more comfortable compared to the other rooms. The riots in the family prompt the police to intervene and arrest some of the members of his family. A police response results in the arrest of all the family members. The plot portrays the extent of vanity in the society following the greed exhibited by the Gramps. Additionally, the plot reveals the old man’s vile behavior, as he knew his family’s reaction at the receipt of the information of his death (Farrell, 2008, 31). Therefore, anticipated reaction and a possible arrest are inevitable. The old man hoped for the elimination of his entire family when he faked death to leave him a destitute but with all the wealth. The essence of the old man wishing that his family members did not come back from jail is that he is greedy and does not wish to share his wealth with anybody. This is greed likely to appear in the future society. This is the reason he gets the news of a new discovery in the field of medicine that makes him look younger apart from stopping the process of aging. Kurt Vonnegut creates an original literary work by employing the specific features of the trade. The story is fictional but is a portrayal of the society in which he lived. The author addresses specific negative personality traits and achieves the primary objective of art. He represents his society relatively through his personal criticism in a form of a short fictional story. Works cited Boon, Kevin. At Millennium's End: New Essays on the Work of Kurt Vonnegut. Albany, NY: State Univ. of New York Press, 2001. Print. Farrell, Susan. Critical Companion to Kurt Vonnegut: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On File, 2008. Internet resource. Marc, Leeds & Reed, Peter. Kurt Vonnegut: Images and Representations. New York: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2010. Print. Molin, Pauline. American Indian Themes in Young Adult Literature. Lanham (Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2005. Print. Morse, Donald. Kurt Vonnegut. San Bernardino, Calif: Borgo Press, 1992. Print. Read More