Fates Worse Than Death | Themes

Fates Worse Than Death Themes

Addiction

As the son, nephew, sibling and father of addicts, Vonnegut devotes much space in Fates Worse Than Death to the phenomenon of addiction, which he characterizes as turning to something for brief spasms of pleasure, even though long-term it makes one's life ghastly. He is happy to report that he has no addictions to alcohol, drugs, gambling, and petroleum or war preparations - for he makes it clear that addiction need not depend on external chemicals. A master's degree in anthropology has taught Vonnegut the "villains" are culture, society and history, not drugs. While writing the unfinished SS Psychiatrist about a doctor using talk therapy at Auschwitz to treat staff members' depression, he is on Ritalin, which he realizes is "dehydrated concentrate of pure paranoia." His son, Dr. Mark Vonnegut, suffers a full-blown crack-up, which he describes in The Eden Express. Since boyhood, Vonnegut thinks madness has a chemical basis....
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