Kurt Vonnegut, JR’s Theme

Throughout the given Kurt Vonnegut stories, there has been a common, underlying theme. This theme can be found in such short stories as “Report on the Barnhouse Effect,’ ‘The Euphio Question,’ and ‘Harrison Bergeron.” In extremes of both spectrums, Vonnegut’s theme is that of the unshackled mind. Through Vonnegut’s writing, it is obvious that he cares heavily for freedom of choice. Each short story comes from a different angle of the unshackled mind but all result in the same message concerning the mind. It is through a step-by-step examination of the short stories that one can easily see the theme of the unshackled mind.

In “The Euphio Question,” Vonnegut shows what happens when the mind is shackled, coupled with the effects of greed. When a hissing sound from space was amplified, the whole town became like zombies. “The whole town went nuts…For no reason at all, all the cars pulled up to the curb like there was a hook and ladder going by. Says here people shut up in the middle of sentences and stayed that way for five minutes. Hundreds wandered around in the cold in their shirt-sleeves, grinning like toothpaste ads.”(pg. 175)Th

is sound, when amplified at the masses, caused full shackling of the mind, all free will gone, and just an extreme docile view of life. At first the characters don’t see the mind altering as mind control or shackling of free will, they see it as just helping others achieve happiness. “Is happiness bad?’ Lew interrupted. No, I admitted.” (pg 176) From this moment in the story on, the main protagonists begin to think of ways of turning this device into a cash crop. They realize that once the consumers mind is shackled, and void of free will, that they will agree with anything such as the sale of a house. When the protagonists do a test of the “Bockmans Euphoria,” everyone becomes happy and extremely passive, not caring what’s going on around them no matter what. One of the most disturbing occurrences is when a sheriff comes into the house and is afflicted by the euphora. He takes a seat and then offers the small child his gun. “Hey, kid- like guns? He took his revolver from its holster…Eddie took the gun, aimed it at Marion's bottle collection and fired. A large blue bottle popped to dust and the window behind the collection splintered.”(pg 180) This alone shows the dangers of the mind-shackling device, that of letting things happen no matter what the consequences or dangers involved. Another example of total disregard for life and property due to the mind shackling is found on (pg 182), “Susan and I arrived just in time to join the cheering as a big elm crashed down on our sedan. ‘Kee-runch!’ said Susan, and I laughed until my stomach hurt. ‘Get Fred,’ Lew said urgently, ‘He’s gonna, miss seeing the barn go!” It is obvious that because of this “drug,” the human mind is shut off and everything becomes a joke- whether it be the destroying of a car or the destruction of ones house. The experim

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