Product Review

2BR02B, one of Vonnegut’s last short stories, explores the ethical dilemmas and untenable trade-offs. Is it far-fetched to think that we are trading our lives for the lives of our children? Vonnegut makes this a literal trade in this story. The conservationist idealism seems a bit suspicious until the issues are examined on a deeper level. The reader cannot help but ask: what are the unintended effects as science and medicine make life-extending advancements? How does that effect population and the future lives of generations to come. Vonnegut propels his reader towards these examinations in this short, but powerful story set in the not-too- distant future.