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Alyssa Smith

Ms. Dearing

English 106

10 April 2015

Audio Essay

Today I will be reviewing the short story “2BR02B” by Kurt Vonnegut. It is a classic

example of a dystopian novel where readers can easily relate to the main message. In this review

we will discuss the underlying theme of population control by government mandates and how

readers can relate this to our society today.

Vonnegut begins his gruesome tale in the waiting room of the delivery ward at the local

hospital. We are introduced to Mr. Wehling, who is waiting for his wife to deliver triplets. On a

day where any first time father should be bursting with joy, Mr. Wehling is morose, dreading his

situation. In Vonnegut’s futuristic society, the world he created has found a cure for aging. No

one dies of disease or old age, they are eternally young. Now, this sounds like a wonderful world

to live in, but, one must think, if no one is dying, there must be strict population control so the

world does not become overpopulated. In order to accomplish this, every time a new soul is to be

born, someone must sacrifice their own life by volunteering to die. In order for Mr. Wehling to

have all three of his children, he must find three volunteers, otherwise his children’s lives will be

terminated. He has found one volunteer so far, his own grandfather. He is faced with the

impossible problem of deciding which of his children get to live. Sounds like a set up for a pretty

horrifying story if I do say so myself.

In Vonnegut’s story, he stresses the negative effects of population control. “The law said

that no newborn child could survive unless the parents of the child could find someone who

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would volunteer to die,” (Vonnegut 11). (That’s a direct quote from the story). Since everyone in

this society has the ability to live forever, it would extremely hard to find willing volunteers to

sacrifice themselves in order for someone else to have children. In this particular instance, Mr.

Wehling can only find one volunteer for his three newborn babies, his grandfather. Not only

would he lose someone dear to him, he would not even be able to save all of his children.

Therefore, he must choose which two babies would be sacrificed as well.

Vonnegut does a good job of displaying the negative effects in “2BR02B”, but shows

how they only affect the general public, not the people higher up in society like doctors or those

in charge of terminating the volunteers. Those people justify themselves and their actions by

stating, “Without population control, human beings would now be packed on this surface of this

old planet like drupelets on a blackberry!” (Vonnegut 12). Doctors and Hostesses of the Bureau

believe that since they discovered the cure for aging, if they did not use population control,

people would continue to multiply until they used up all of the world’s resources and eventually

destroyed themselves. It is easy for them to point these fingers because they know they are not

the ones who will have to sacrifice themselves because there is a sense of urgency for them,

unlike other people like Mr. Wehling.

Although Vonnegut’s story is a little bit exaggerated, because as you know, we do not

have the cure for aging, he raises issues that readers can relate to. Population control and

government regulations are something our society has in common with Vonnegut’s dystopia,

although it is not as extreme. I believe this short story was well written and opened my eyes to

problems we face in our own society that I did not previously give much thought to. For those

reasons, I believe this is an extremely successful piece of writing that will continue to be relevant

for many decades to come.

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Works Cited

Piano Music, CrusaderBeach. “Dramatic Piano Instrumental Background Music” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 11 Aug. 2013. Web. 17 Apr. 2015.

Vonnegut, Kurt. 2BR02B. Auckland: Floating, 1962. Print.