Kurt Vonnegut and the Future Generations or the Lack Thereof

      Kurt Vonnegut grew up in a well off family with his two parents and two other siblings, but things took a turn during the Great Depression, where he and his family fell into hardships; “as a result, Vonnegut attended public schools even though his older siblings had received private school educations,” (Farrel, 1). While he was in these public schools, Vonnegut joined the newspaper club and began his writing. From there, World War II broke out, and Vonnegut was sent to war; when he got back though, he married Jane Cox and had three children. With a family to support now, “Vonnegut redoubled his efforts to publish his stories,” (Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library, A Brief Biography of Kurt Vonnegut). Thus his family became a big pushing component to write, seeing as he could make money off these stories he published. Vonnegut and his wife Jane also ended up adopting the children of Vonnegut's sister after she died of cancer. This doubled, “the size of their family overnight [and] it became more imperative for Vonnegut to bring in more money,” (Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library, A Brief Biography of Kurt Vonnegut). So he wrote, and wrote, and wrote, all to support his growing family. While it was undoubtedly very difficult, and at times maybe not the best idea, Vonnegut would not have done it if there was not a part of him that truly cared for children, which brings this to the missing children epidemic that is raging today. Kurt Vonnegut would surely do anything in his power to bring attention to this problem whether that be through his writing or through other means.

      While Vonnegut did post a lot of stories in newspapers to support his family, he also published a multitude of novels. Some of these afformented novels focused heavily on a dystopian world where machines take over and humanity is no longer necessary. Vonnegut, “explores what happens to people in a world where technology eliminates the need for human labor and thought,” (Price, 1). Human labor, and especially thought, make the basic foundation of what humanity is; without labor and thought, there is no humanity. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines humanity as: “the totality of human beings,” or in simpler terms, “the human race,” (Humanity Definition & Meaning). There can not be a stable human race without both children and adults alike. There can also not be a stable human race if children are still continuously going missing, which is exactly what is happening now. Kurt Vonnegut was very against the rapid advancement of machines because he believed that it would strip the human race of what made them human, and as previously stated, there can not be a continuous human race without children. Which is why Vonnegut would be just as distraught with the epidemic of missing children, as he is with the advancement of machines, if not even more so. The replacement of people with machinery would result in the same catastrophe as losing children would, but losing children would just be a much more distressing way to lose humanity.

      Not only due to machines, Kurt Vonnegut has a very bleak outlook on life, and this is further reflected in his letter to future generations. He begins by saying, “Ladies & Gentlemen of A.D. 2088,” and then goes on to offer words of wisdom from old, such as, “a prayer first used by alcoholics who hoped to never take a drink again,” (Kick, 1). In this letter, he addresses the fact that Nature is cruel, and that “it needed no help from us in taking the planet apart and putting it back together some different way,” (Kick, 1). Nature takes care of itself, he claims, and the human race does not need to help by polluting the waters and air, nor do we need to help by going to war with raging nuclear bombs. Vonnegut gives a very thought provoking statement at the end of his speech, he says we must, “stop thinking [our] grandchildren will be OK no matter how wasteful or destructive [we] may be, since they can go to a nice new planet on a spaceship. That is really mean, and stupid,” (Kick, 1). Kurt Vonnegut was concerned for the future of life as we know it and was concerned for future generations, as well, and he had every right to be. However, the biggest claim Kurt made was that we must, “stabilize [our] population,” (Kick, 1). Our population is reliant on the children of our generation and of generations to come, and, if this missing children epidemic continues, there will be no feasible way to actually stabilize anything. Which is why Kurt was disappointed in humanity already; with the way we are destroying the Earth he would be even more so disappointed that children are constantly going missing.

      Kurt Vonnegut lived a life full of many ups and downs, but throughout all of his life he wrote. While he created and published stories ranging from a wide variety of topics, his most common novels were of humanity and how the world interacted around it. Humanity is by definition the human race, and humanity exists because of the human race. Our existence as people may only continue through the younger generations of children. Vonnegut, being the renowned pessimistic writer that he is, knew how important life was. He showed it in how he grew up and took care of his family, he showed it in his writings of humanitarian issues, and he showed it in his letter to future generations. Kurt Vonnegut would be disappointed and distraught with this epidemic of missing children because how can there be a future without children? There can not be, and that is what Vonnegut would say.