Sometimes people forget that there are often many flaws in seemingly perfect things. They imagine perfection, but there will still be many factors that were overlooked. The author of “2BR02B”, Kurt Vonnegut, realizes that perfection will never be achieved. Even in the far future when there are many new, helpful innovations and perfection will be strived for, it is not obtainable. Through Vonnegut’s use of setting and symbolism, it is evident that he feels that there will always be flaws. Vonnegut’s use of a futuristic “utopia” setting with complications helps form the idea that there are many flaws that people sometimes forget about. In the story the setting is described as, “Everything was perfectly swell…a man who had volunteered to die.” These quotes from the story explain that the world depicted in “2BR02B” is seemingly perfect. However, the line about the man makes the reader rethink the perfection of that utopian world. In order for a new life to enter the world and stay, another life must be lost. Although they have major advances in this world, the only way they could maintain …show more content…
Vonnegut uses a mural of a garden to represent how perfect things seem until the “weeds” or death appear. The story describes this mural as, “The mural he was working on depicted a very neat garden…Men and women in purple uniforms pulled up weeds, cut down plants that were old and sickly, raked leaves, carried refuse trash to burners.” The weeds, plants, and trash represent the people in the world who volunteer to die. The mural beautifies the ugliness of the things they do every day, making it appear helpful or necessary. Another example of symbolism in “2BR02B” are the dropcloths. A conversation between the painter and the orderly goes, “‘What’s your idea of what life looks like?’ The painter gestured at a foul dropcloth. ‘There’s a good picture of it,’ he said.” The dropcloths represent the bad aspects of the