The painter

Outer characterization

The painter  in Kurt Vonnegut's short story “2BR02B” is described as “a sardonic old man, about two hundred years old” (p. 227, l. 9). However, he looks like a man in his thirties: “in the days when people aged visibly, his age would have been guessed at thirty-five or so. Aging had touched him that much before the cure for aging was found” (p. 227, ll. 10-13). The hospital orderly calls him “ ‘grandpa’ ” (p. 228, l. 13), suggesting that people who look like him are considered “old” in the new society, or perhaps his outlook on life betrays his advanced age. 

The painter is not referred to by name in the story, suggesting that his occupation as an artist is what best defines him.

Inner characterization

The painter is a representative of the “old world”, as he was born back when people still aged and died of natural causes, and before the new system was established. As a result, he is cynical about the new world order, believing that life is more accurately depicted by a dirty cloth than by ...