Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow - Essay Example 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