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Dystopian Society In 2 B R 0 B

Decent Essays

Science is always attempting to cure ailments of humans, such as cancer; however, do all ailments need to be cured? In Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s “2 B R 0 2 B,” death and old age has been cured, creating a utopia in concept; however, upon closer inspection, the society is a dystopian society driven by suicide. In current times, suicide is a plague that science is attempting to help bring down; however, in “2 B R 0 2 B,” suicide is the only way to allow a newborn child to survive, a national department was created, and people became willfully ignorant of what occurs in the department. Through this dreary image of a society, one character gives insight to the true nature- the painter, a nameless character whose role in the story is to paint a …show more content…

This knowing that life should have an end reveals the painter’s freedom to the system run by those who wish to live forever. Along with the orderly, the difference of willful ignorance and freedom can be seen through the exchange of Leora Duncan. Leora Duncan, a suicide hostess, displays willful ignorance in the truest sense. Her job is to assist people in suicide and seems to take great pleasure in her job. When she visits the painter, the talk between the painter and Duncan reveals the society’s value of the balance of life and death. Leora Duncan, when picking one of the faceless bodies in the mural for the painter to stick her face on, settles on the one sawing off a limb of a tree, that happens to be right next to Dr. Hitz, a doctor responsible for new life. With the painter’s sarcastic remark of “You’re entitled to be immortalized” (Vonnegut, 91), the painter expresses his knowledge of the bleakness of the world, giving him a sense of freedom, while Leora Duncan is too occupied with “immortalizing” herself and shows a sense of willful ignorance in the lives of those that she helps to kill; Leora knows what she is doing, assisting in suicide, but seems to not care, implying her willful

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