Comparing 2BR02B And Harrison Bergeron

Kurt Vonnegut, a modern American writer, composed stories about fictional situations that occurred in futuristic versions of today’s world. His stories included violence, both upon oneself and one another, and characters who sought out revenge. In “2BR02B” and “Harrison Bergeron”, Vonnegut conveys physical violence most likely experienced while a prisoner of World War 2, as a way to show how war brings pain and destruction.

Vonnegut includes topics of war and violence in his work in order to explain his opinions on such conflicts. “After this battle, Kurt Vonnegut was captured and became a prisoner of war. He was in Dresden, Germany, during the allied firebombing of the city and saw the complete devastation caused by it” (Biography.com). This helps explain my thesis because it shows the hardships Vonnegut

went through and these events showed up in his writing in a way of expressing his feelings towards them.

Writing was the only way Vonnegut cold really explain his thoughts of hatred and discontent towards war in an indirect kind of way. An example of the violence that Vonnegut portrayed in stories, most likely from his war experiences is from “2BR02B”, “Wehling shot Dr. Hitz dead, “There’s room for one- a great big one,” he said. And then he shot Leora Duncan. “It’s only death”, he said to her as she fell. “There! Room for two.” And then he shot himself, making room for all three of his children.” What is going on in this quote is the main character is shooting the people without thought and that helps relate to Vonnegut’s experiences in war where that was the same scenario. In “Harrison Bergeron”, “It was then that Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General, came into the studio with a double-barreled ten-gauge shotgun. She fired twice, and the Emperor and

the Empress were dead before they hit the floor.” What happened here was that once again a big act of violence in one of Vonnegut’s short stories where the person does the action without thought or return. Kurt Vonnegut did not like the war and his books help to convey his thoughts and feelings towards it. All the revenge plots that Vonnegut includes in his stories are most likely directed towards his thirst for revenge in war.
In conclusion, Vonnegut conveys physical violence most likely experienced while a prisoner of World War 2, as a way to show how war brings pain and destruction. Vonnegut included those topics of war and violence in his work in order to explain his opinions on such conflicts. We see many instances in his short stories where Vonnegut conveys his experiences in an indirect kind of way. Such instances as in “Harrison Bergeron” and “2BR02B” where violence was the main element and result of the plot.