Kurt Vonnegut Essay -- Essays Papers

Kurt VonnegutKurt Vonnegut, jr. is a contemporary American author whose kit and caboodle have been described by Richard Giannone as ridiculous masks covering the tragic farce that is our contemporary life (Draper, 3784). Vonneguts life has had a number of fundamental influences on his works. Influences from his personal philosophy, his life and experiences, and his family are evident elements in his works. Among his comic masks are three novels Cats Cradle, The Sirens of Titan, and God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. Throughout these novels, elements such as attitude, detail, narrative technique, setting, and theme can be viewed with more understanding when cerebrate to certain aspects of his life. These correlations are best examined in terms of each influence. whiz of the most significant influences from Vonneguts life on his personal philosophy has been his liaison in World War II. During the war, Vonnegut served in the American army in Europe and was captured by German soldiers. As a prisoner of war, he witnessed the Allied bombing of the city of Dresden, in which more than 135,000 people died cod to the resulting fires (Draper, 3785). This experience had a profound impact on Vonnegut. From it, he substantial his existential personal philosophy and his ideas about the evils of engine room. He states, I am the enemy of all technological progress that threatens mankind (Nuwer, 39). The influence of Dresden shows up in each of the novels. In Cats Cradle, one element of his experience at Dresden that Vonnegut portrays is his fear of technology. Initially, the intention of the story is for the narrator to write about what the scientists who invented the nuclear bomb were doing the day it was dropped on Hiroshima. To this effect, one of the scientists in the story said, comprehension has now known sin, to which another replied, What is sin? (Vonnegut, Cradle, 21). The focus on technology quickly changes to a material called ice-nine, which has the ability to freeze water at room temperature. This technological break by dint of, by a scientist who worked on developing the nuclear bomb, has the ability to destroy the world by freezing all its water. plane though the people with ice-nine are very careful all through the plot, they lose control of it in the end and the world becomes frozen. With ice-nine, Vonnegut thematically demonstrates how relatively simple technolog... ...84). BibliographyDraper, James P., editor. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. World Literature Criticism 1500 to the Present. 1992 ed. Existentialism. Microsoft Bookshelf 94. (CDROM) N.p. Microsoft Corporation, 1994. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Concise Dictionary of American Literary Biography Broadening Views, 1968-1988. 1989 ed. Mantell, Harold, producer. Kurt Vonnegut A Self Portrait. Films for the Humanities, Inc. 1975. Nuwer, Hank. Kurt Vonnegut Close Up. The Saturday Evening Post. May/June 1986. pp. 3839. Reed, Peter J. Writers for the 70s Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. U.S.A. Warner Books, Inc . 1972. Streitfeld, David. Vonnegut, Existentially Speaking. cap Post (DC) 29 August 1991. Newsbank, People, 1991, fiche 36, grid C13. Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr. Cats Cradle. New York. dingle Publishing Co., Inc. 1963. Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr. Discovering Authors. (CDROM) N.p. Gale Research, Inc., 1993. Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. New York. dingle Publishing Co., Inc. 1965. Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr. The Sirens of Titan. New York. Dell Publishing Co., Inc. 1959. Wakeman, John, editor. Vonnegut, Kurt (Jr.). World Authors 1950-1970. 1975 ed.