Vonnegut wrote this story in 1961. Why did he describe a society 120 years in the future? A future setting distances Vonnegut’s audience from the story and minimizes the risk of offending readers.

A future setting allows for a sharp contrast between present-day society and the future.

A future setting provides a warning of what could happen if present-day society does not address a problem.

since most of current immigration into the u.s., both legal and illegal, is coming from latin america. it would be very difficult to imagine or rationalize a country my fellow citizens are trying desperately to flee into, would pose a threat to my prosperity or freedom. since the u.s. has a long history of intervention, but no record of permanent occupation, i would not feel oppression is the main objective.  

the largest free trade nation, along with the largest gdp in the world wanting to expand it's economic policy on us, and including us, could only be positive. the u.s. government has no interest in, or way of simply forcing american culture on us. and has no track record of it. other nations that adopted american social culture, or "americanization" did so voluntarily, mainly through the choice of allowing american businesses and u.s. citizens to come into their nations, as free operatives.

your answer would be a) no nation can be economically self-sufficient.

stay in school!

barrio is a spanish word meaning neighborhood. in spain, several latin american countries and the philippines, the term is also used officially to denote a division of a municipality while a ghetto is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, typically as a result of social, legal, or economic pressure. the term may have originally been used in venice to describe the part of the city to which jews were restricted and segregated.