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Alyssa Smith

Ms. Dearing

English 106

3 March 2015

Eternal Dilemma

Although dystopian novels are common and many people feel they do not relate to the

world we live in, most dystopian stories contain themes that our society struggles with. My

analysis of “2BR02B” by Kurt Vonnegut will demonstrate that even though it may be a work of

fiction, the underlying theme of population control by government regulations is something that

we can relate to in our own society, and I would recommend this story to anyone of mature age

with spare time on their hands.

Vonnegut begins his gruesome tale in the waiting room of the delivery ward at a 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 has found a cure for aging. No one dies of disease or

old age, they are eternally young. This sounds like a wonderful world to live in, but if no one is

dying they must enforce 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 to make way for a new generation. In order for Mr.

Wehling to have all of his children to live he must find three volunteers, otherwise his children’s

lives will be terminated. He has found only one volunteer so far, his grandfather; so he is faced

with the impossible problem of deciding which of his children get to live. Vonnegut then

introduces Dr. Hintz and Ms. Duncan, the delivery doctor and hostess. They do not appear to be

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alarmed or worried about their lives because they are necessary to their world and do not have to

consider committing suicide themselves. Because of this, readers see the building tension

between the doctor and Ms. Duncan unfold.

In “2BR02B”, Vonnegut stresses the negative effects of population control on the general

public. “The law said that no newborn child could survive unless the parents of the child could

find someone who would volunteer to die,” (Vonnegut 11). Since everyone in this society has the

ability to live forever, it is extremely hard to find volunteers to sacrifice themselves in order for

someone 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 innocent

infant must be sacrificed as well. Although the society had seemingly good intentions by

regulating population, they were causing deeper, more controversial issues with those affected by

it.

As mentioned earlier, these negative affects displayed in “2BR02B” only affect the

general public, not the people higher up in society, like Ms. Duncan and Dr. Hintz. They 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 destroy 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 people in other professions like Mr. Wehling.

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I believe that population control is something readers can easily relate to because it is

something we as a society struggle with. An example in our society was the issue in China where

the government mandated how many children each family was allowed to have due to

overpopulation in their country. Because of this many families valued the lives of sons over the

lives of daughters because only sons could carry on the family name. Multiple problems

stemmed from this including newborn babies being thrown away in trash cans or in the streets,

especially infant girls. Also, since families were mainly keeping sons, the male to female ratio

was thrown extremely off balance and made it harder for those sons to carry on the family name

and reproduce because there are not enough females.

I believe that by reading “2BR02B” we gain a new perspective on our society,

specifically about population control by government regulation. “The way that we learn lessons

from those who are no longer with us, that humanity has built on itself, progressed, made

knowledge incremental rather than something that has to be relearned, over and over,”

(Gailman). Gailman states that by reading fiction we can learn from the past so that we can plan

for the future. I believe this also applies to learning from Vonnegut’s perception of the future and

how it relates to our society today. He offers insight to population control and even though it is

much more extreme than the problems we face today, we can still learn from this fictional

society to help save our own.

Although we do not have the cure for aging as shown in “2BR02B”, Vonnegut 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. Since we can

expand our thoughts on these themes and get a different perspective, I believe that all young

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adults/adults should read Vonnegut’s extremely interesting, although ghastly, dystopian short

story.

Works Cited

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

Gaiman, Neil. "Why Our Future Depends on Libraries, Reading, and Daydreaming." The

Guardian. 15 Oct 2013. Web.