Vonnegut's Utopian Vision

The image of what mankind needs to achieve becomes clear when Vonnegut discusses his utopian vision which was formed due to the traumatic experience of his time in the army. Sigmund Freud proves through the psychoanalytic criticism that, “The aesthetics of id-psychology are grounded in the notion that the work of art is the secret embodiment of its creator’s unconscious desire” (37). Vonnegut’s conscious desire, seen through his art in the form of writing, would be the fixing of mankind. After witnessing mass amounts of killing Vonnegut was able to see that by changing younger people’s ideals the killing could be stopped starting his conscious desire to change mankind through writing. “What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable …show more content…
The idea of community that Vonnegut is discussing goes along with his ideas of moving away from death and that all humans should be one not divide themselves. He aspires for the younger generations to no longer have war or killing in his vision. The concept of loneliness that he brings up is truly referencing love. If there was more love than loneliness in the world there would be no war or killing by his line of thinking. By bringing up “beliefs about life” Vonnegut is referencing that change can be made by utilizing latter generations and sending out messages of love making it possible for mankind to be fixed. The references of love can be applied to the ideal government Vonnegut has in mind. “That totalitarian state against which he and Vonnegut had so long warned would quickly be a fait accompli” (Broer,1). A totalitarian government is not in Vonnegut’s ideal society, it is what he witnessed during the war and something he knows needs to be avoided. By advocating against this, he sets up the correct path for others to