Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow (short story)

"Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" is a short story by Kurt Vonnegut written in 1953, and first published in Galaxy Science Fiction magazine in January 1954. The title comes from Shakespeare's famous line from the play Macbeth "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow." The name "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" appears in Vonnegut's collection of short stories, Welcome to the Monkey House. The story was originally titled "The Big Trip Up Yonder" when published in Galaxy Science Fiction magazine.^[1]

Setting

The story is set in 2158 A.D., after the discovery of a drug called anti-gerasone, a mixture of mud and dandelions which halts the aging process. Anti-gerasone allows people to unnaturally control when death from old age occurs. Due to the discovery of this drug, America suffers from over-population. This over-population has led to shortages of many materials, including metals, gasoline, and desirable food. Many, outside of the very wealthy, appear to survive by a diet of processed seaweed and sawdust.

Plot

The story is written in third-person narrative structure and follows the Schwartz family, and in particular Lou and Emerald, grandchildren of Harold D. Schwartz (also referred to as 'Gramps'.) Lou and Emerald live in an apartment in Building 257 of Alden Village, New York City, in what once was Southern Connecticut, along with twenty other of Gramps' descendants. The apartment follows a system of patriarchy due to Gramps' control of his will, which determines who inherits his apartment, possessions, and fortune.

Emerald plots to kill Gramps by diluting his supply of anti-gerasone, but Mortimer ('Morty') beats her to it, diluting the supply himself. Lou attempts to secretly dispose of the diluted supply and replenish it with full strength anti-gerasone in fear of Gramps' reaction to such a provocation, but is caught in the act after he shatters the glass container. This leads Gramps to fake his death the following day and compose a new will in which all his descendants are entitled to an equal share of his estate.

The new will incites a riot among the family members. The police arrive and Harold D. Schwartz's descendants are all put in prison, a place they find strangely spacious in comparison to their former quarters.

The story ends with Gramps enjoying the newly emptied apartment. He has hired a lawyer to ensure a conviction of his family members, and has since taken Super-anti-gerasone, a new drug which reverses the aging process.

References

1. ^ Marc, Leeds; Reed, Peter. "Kurt Vonnegut: Images and Representations". Greenwood Publishing Group. http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&docId=27675552. Retrieved 18 December 2010.