Ur not Dum

One major problem with not being comfortable with your outward appearance shown in both “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” (https://biblioklept.org/2015/03/03/read-kurt-vonneguts-early-short-story-tomorrow-and-tomorrow-and-tomorrow/) by Kurt Vonnegut , and “Immortality” (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/55751) by Leigh Stein is that people who do not value themselves can turn to harmful things, in an attempt to improve the way they feel about themselves. The main character in “Immortality” becomes obsessed with his image, and going to the gym. He talks about how he is encouraged by others who tell him “At the gym, they told me I would not die, I would only get sexier, and I believed them.” He is uncomfortable with himself, and wants to improve his outward appearance. There is of course, nothing wrong with that, unless it becomes obsessive. In “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow,” the cure for aging brings about more problems than the one it takes care of. The head of a family, an older man known as “Gramps,” becomes addicted to anti aging medication. He refuses to let himself pass on, and he continues to take up valuable space and resources in the family apartment. Just as the main character in “Immortality” becomes addicted to medication, working out, and mirrors in which he can check his outward appearance. Gramps develops problems with his family, and eventually schemes to have them all thrown into prison. All because he doesn’t like his wrinkles, wishes to be young again, and wants to live forever. The main character in “Immortality” loses all his friends, because, as he puts it “none of my friends could relate. They were jealous.” Both characters struggle with themselves and their images, and the failed resolutions of these struggles have terrible effects on them and those close to them loved ones.