Essay About Kurt Vonnegut And American Dream Of A New Eden

Kurt Vonnegut
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Kurt Vonnegut has always had a great awareness of the destructive social impact of
science and technology. Contraptions that Vonnegut calls “social transplants” replace real
relatives and friends with synthetic ones. Recordings, radio and television are just a few of these
devices. They make it possible to bring synthetic relatives and friends right into your home and
replace those friends and relatives who are not perfect, nor even consistent, with a better class of
people. Vonneguts least favorite technology is the computer, because it is a nervous system
outside of our own, and it has deprived humans of the experience of becoming. “All they have to
do now is wait for the next program from Microsoft” (Pickering 24). Films, books and plays
show us people talking much more entertainingly than people really talk. Singers and musicians
show us humans making sounds far lovelier than humans really make (Skaw 568). All of these
technological developments have decreased the amount of contact we have with other humans.
The first of these “transplants” took place in the 4th century before Christ. Audiences accepted
attractive people who memorized interesting things to say on stage as genuine relatives and
friends (Vonnegut 266). We no longer have a need to make conversation with our dreadful real
family and friends, not when we have all of these technological and entertaining transplanted
friends and family. Vonnegut believes contemporary society is lonely because we have alienated
ourselves from each other because of all of the technology in our world. Throughout his many
writings Vonnegut shows his fascination with the way technology changes the social
environment (Lundquist 88).
He never abandons his theme of hatred for science and technology and its social impact
on society. Vonnegut also believes that we no longer have developed imaginations because of
destructive technological developments. We are not born with an imagination; teachers and
parents help us to develop it. Imagination was once very important because it was your major
source of entertainment. The imagination circuit is built in your head. People can read a book and
envision it in their mind. However, this is no longer necessary. Now there are shows, actors, and
movies that show us the story instead of letting us use our imagination to envision it. We do not
need imagination just like we do not need to know how to ride horses in our society. We have
cars that can go much faster than horses so why learn how to ride one? This question can be
applied to imagination. Why unleash your imagination to envision an unknown world in a book
when you have movies and actors that do it for you? Those who have imagination can look into a
face and see the stories there “to everyone else, a face will be just a face.” Science and
technology has denied us our imaginations (Freedman 2). In a technologically advanced society,
we no longer need it. Vonnegut knows that science and technology have changed America and
society tremendously over the years. Technology and salesmanship have raped and stripped the
land and divested the people of pride, leaving them ridiculous mechanical men and women. As a
result, “The American dream of a new Eden with a new Adam, possible in the virgin wilderness
of a new land, has materialized into a junkyard by way of the glories of technology” (Schulz
348). As Vonnegut sketches his settings, American ghosts haunt them: coastal Indians, whalers,
Iroquois tribes, Erie canalmen, and pioneers. All of these people exemplify the American dream
and all of these people were destroyed by technology (Uphaus 466). People of the contemporary
society are no longer the hard workers they used to be because machines do their jobs for them.
We dont need to work as hard as the Indians, canalmen, pioneers, and whalers. Machines do our
jobs for us; all we need to know how to do is push a few buttons. Many Americans are jobless
because of the computerization in corporations, and Vonnegut blames American scientists and
technologists for this (Uphaus 466). Technology is so destructive that it has taken our jobs away
from us and takes away our pride. He believes that only those who still have manual labor to
perform are truly happy. He shows this belief in his stories, if he ever were to write a sentimental
novel with a conventional happy ending the hero almost certainly will be wearing a blue collar.
In his novel, Player Piano, the people who still have manual labor to do are the happiest. Science
and technology hasnt affected these people; they still have a job to perform. Kurt Vonnegut is
not only aware of the destructive social impact of science and technology; he tries to make you
aware of it through his writing. Technology is the villain in his writings because of this
awareness. He knows its ability to destroy society and he tries to make you aware of it.
Accomplishing what few other writers dare