Kurt Vonnegut Research Paper

Kurt Vonnegut Everything that happens has a cause and effect. Your everyday life can be influenced by somebody else’s actions, whether its physically or mentally. One influence can be the well known author Kurt Vonnegut. He blended literature with science fiction and humor and also created his own unique world in each of his novels. Kurt Vonnegut’s political and personal beliefs can be determined by his contributions in literature and his experiences in life. Kurt Vonnegut was born on November 11, 1922 in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was born into a well-to-do family who fell off during the Great Depression. His father Kurt Vonnegut Sr. was one of the most prominent architects in the city and his
mother Edith Sophia was a wealthy Indianapolis brewer. As a teenager, he attended Shortridge High School, where he served as a editor and writer for the school news paper. After high school he attended Cornell University in New York, New York where he majored in biochemistry. Failing to Maintain a good grade, Vonnegut left Cornell and enlisted into the U.S. Army in 1942. In the Military he received training as a mechanical engineer at Carnegie Institute and University of Tennessee. He was sent off to serve in World War II, where he was an infantry battalion scout.

Vonnegut was captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge on December 14, 1944 and was sent to a prisoner of war camp, where he experienced the Bombing of Dresden on February 13, 1945.
He returned to the United States on May 22 and was awarded the Purple Heart. Post war he graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in anthropology. He also married his high school friend Jane Cox and had 3 kids. During that time Vonnegut started pursuing his career as an author, writing novels like Cat’s Cradle (1963) and Slaughterhouse-Five (1965). Since he was endlessly disappointed in humanity and in himself, he expressed that disappointment in a mixture of black humor and deep despair into his writing. He separated from Jane and moved in with Jill Krementz, then later married her. During the years Vonnegut slowly became a major name in the American Literary scene. He also started drawing and his work now hangs in Galleries and is being sold to the public. In 1984, he tried to commit suicide with pills and alcohol but did not die until April 11, 2007 by accidentally falling on the steps of his New York brownstone. Kurt Vonnegut wrote a collection of twenty-four novels and is being read by schools all around the
nation. The American Humanist Association defines Humanism as a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism and other supernatural beliefs, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity (AmericanHumanist.org).
Kurt Vonnegut was often labeled as a humanist or a freethinkers. In his words “Being a Humanist means trying to behave decently without expectation of rewards or punishment after you are dead” (goodreads.com). His family heritage is of freethinkers, his great grandfather Clemens Vonnegut in fact founded the Freethinkers Society of Indianapolis in 1870 and served as president of the organization for years (Augustyn 1). He was also the founder of a freethinker Sunday school and fought against religion in schools as a member of the Indianapolis Public School Board. Freethinkers were influenced by science, which explains Vonnegut’s use of science in all of his work. Science fiction helps lend form to the presentation of this world view without imposing causality upon it. You can also say that he believes that everything happens for a reason and its just destiny. Humanity was a theme that ran through most of his novels. Vonnegut doesn’t believe in supersition but free
will. Kurt Vonnegut actively expressed his political views through out his career. In his Collection of essays, A Man Without A Country, Vonnegut wrote about his opinion on what is going on in the country and to open the readers eyes and minds to question the problems in their lives. He thought the United States was in denial and does not question political problems enough. He believed that as people, we are making "thermodynamic whoopee with atomic energy and fossil fuel" and that people do not "give a damn whether the planet goes on or not." We are, he also says, too cheap and lazy (USAToday.com). He was against the Iraq war and said the reasons for entering war were unnecessary and childish. During the war in Iraq he stated that" We're terrible animals. I think that the Earth's immune system is trying to get rid of us, as well it should." "I don't want to belong to a country that attacks little countries." Also "I have wanted to give Iraq a lesson in democracy because we’re experienced with it, you know And in democracy, after a hundred years you have to let your slaves go And, after a hundred and fifty years you have to let your women vote And at the beginning of democracy, is that quite a bit of genocide and ethnic cleansing is quite okay And that’s what’s going on now" (political humor.about.com). Vonnegut has such strong political beliefs and opinions he wants to give to everyone.

After going through the effects of war Vonnegut became a pacifist, and during that time he wrote a anti-war novel detailing the brutal killings of war. Slaughterhouse-Five: The Children’s Crusade, A Duty Dance with Death written in 1965, highlights the main character Billy Pilgrim, who symbolizes Vonnegut, survived the firebombing of Dresden, Germany by being in a meat locker under the slaughterhouse numbered five where he was a prisoner of war. Unlike other war novels, this one does not have a hero and the main character is a helpless weak man. Pilgrim can see bad things before they actually happen and instead of trying to prevent it, he let it happens. This being an example of Vonnegut’s personal belief “Destiny” and “Faith” and that everything happens for a reason. When Vonnegut dramatized his World War II experiences, he spoke to a nation torn and outraged with its involvement in the Vietnam War. Once again Pilgrim represents the brutal mechanisms of war and crushed the human spirit. People all across the country were touting the novel as evidence that the United States involvement in Vietnam could result in nothing but senseless brutality, slaughter, and ultimate death or hope or salvation (Salempress.com). Slaughterhouse-Five inspires readers to be kind rather than hurtful.

Kurt Vonnegut’s political beliefs, personal beliefs, literature and opinions left an impact on many people lives. He wrote a lot of remarkably stories that has a lot value and are used in several schools today. In the literary world Vonnegut came to be a force to be reckoned with in contemporary literature. Kurt Vonnegut has helped to increase the range of an american novel through his innovations in tone, style, and form.