Overpowering Technology in Four Selected Short Stories by Kurt Vonnegut

The present study tackles over Kurt Vonnegut s selected short stories: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow Harrison Bergeron , 2BR02B , and Welcome to the Monkey House . As the frightening control of tyrannical government and the nature and coherence of capitalist Ideology is disputed in these selected short stories, this study initially probes into the political context of Vonnegut dystopian societies which is the portrayal of the American society of his time in the light of Louis Althusser s theory of Ideology. To do this, the article first identifies the dominant Ideology of the state by providing an in-depth analysis of the structure of the dominant class and its tactics of domination by the help of Ideological State Apparatus (ISA) and Repressive State Apparatus (RSA). Later, this paper displays the way Vonnegut satirizes the absurdity of moral strictures imposed by power holders who have always misused morals and manipulates minds and bodies to inflict their own purposes and subjugate individuals by interpellating them to completely controlled, collectivized and contented subjects. As Vonnegut often employs technology in his figurative language to question the relationship between humans and machines and criticize mankind s blind faith in technology, the final section of the paper attempts to reveal the threat of advanced technology which eventuates in an emotionless life and the dehumanization of individuals by making robot-like hailed subjects and their transformation to machines

Keywords:

Overpowering Technology , Vonnegut , Althusser s Theory of Ideology , ISAs and RSAs , Interpellation , Selected Short Stories