Vonnegut’s forward-looking depiction into a parallel where those who live can achieve immortality takes place in, “The Big Trip Up Yonder.” The title eventually changed to “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow,” a famous line recited in Shakespeare’s play Macbeth (Macbeth 5.5.17-28). Interestingly, both Shakespeare’s well-known soliloquy and Vonnegut’s story mimic the idea that there is no meaning to life but rather life is just a voyage of uncertainties that leads to an unending outlook. To better understand the complexities that surround Vonnegut’s dystopia, it’s essential to underline three major themes. His story illustrates technological implications, manipulative nature, and self-preserving individuality; when combined, creates a bleak future where over-population plagues everyone.
As with many of Vonnegut’s stories, technology plays a major role in dictating the motives and actions each character is constrained by. Just about all of earth’s illnesses have been cured and aging is obsolete. Coincidently, this has left the world deprived of valuable resources that have forced everyone into adapting atypically. This idea is reinforced during one the habitual family television sessions where a fictional Doctor is quoted saying that “most of the world's ills can be traced to…show more content… Cramps personifies this theme towards the end of the story when presented with an opportunity to reverse the effects of aging so that he can look young again. Instead of thinking of his family, he is consumed by the idea of appearing young again. This innovative notion further dooms this society through conformity. His selfish inclinations have no end and identity amongst society is lost. Individuals remain the same and self-preserving individuality consumes the greater good. Moreover, Vonnegut helps illustrate the psychological repercussions where a potentially positive outcome is doomed by human