Kurt Vonnegut: A Literary Analysis

In the short story, “Harrison Bergeron”, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. explores what might happen in the not-so-distant future. In 2081, everyone is finally equal and no one is any smarter, better looking, or stronger than anyone else. Equality could be seen as a way to solve the constant competitiveness, as is human nature. Others might say that it stops wars, and makes it so humanity can get along. However, “Harrison Bergeron” shows that equality isn't all it's cracked up to be by discussing the ways equality might oppress natural human nature rather than cause peace, and this idea is demonstrated throughout via the characters in the story.

Harrison Bergeron and By the Waters of the Babylon Do you ever imagine the future? If so what does it look like bright, and shiny? Unfortunately the way the world is headed it will probably look the opposite of what you imagined, gloomy, and desolate. The stories of “Harrison Bergeron” by, Kurt Vonnegut and “By the waters of Babylon” by, Stephen Vincent Benet are two short stories that represent dark versions of the near future. Will our world ever end up like this, hurt by inequalities or destroyed by technology?

Kurt Vonnegut was a novelist and essayist, known for his satirical literary style, as well as his science fiction elements in a lot of his work. “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut takes place in 2081, where everyone is made “equal”. They are not born equal, but made equal through the use of physical and mental handicaps. This prevented anyone from being more significant than anybody else. Vonnegut gives the reader a good idea of how the world would be if everyone were to become equal.

New Historicism is all over the novel. Which is a way of saying that the winner side of history is not the only side being told. Throughout the novel of Slaughterhouse V, written by Kurt Vonnegut, New Historicism is used through Billy Pilgrim and his time-traveling life of telling about his time during World War II. By telling both sides of history, Billy Pilgrim is telling the reader exactly how senseless war is, considering both sides did some pretty bad things in order to win what was wanted. And, by telling both sides of the story, people are able to judge both sides fairly because both sides are significant in history.

Vonnegut says in his Political and Social Critique that he based his ideas on the egalitarianism and share the same principles of the America’s Declaration of Independence. If we continue reading, we will reach to the following conclusion: people must be forced to be equal to one another in their appearance, behavior, and achievements. However, “Bergeron”, says that the ideals of egalitarianism can be dangerous if they are interpreted too literally, but

Kurt Vonnegut states, “ I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you can see all kinds of things you can see from the the center” (Vonnegut). Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007) is closely associated in the Modernism era. It started up in the early 1900s and ended roughly in 1946. In this time, rapid growth of cities and more advanced housing began.

Have you ever heard of a war without having a tragedy, war without peace, or even a war without innocent people dying? Any war in the world has impacted the economy, people and other countries. The outcome of war and death that Author Kurt Vonnegut shares is a reality of war, intended to improve the lives of people, but always leading to the death of human life(Overview Slaughterhouse Five). Author Kurt Vonnegut endorses this view in his novel, Slaughterhouse-Five, he shows that war can never be justified as long as innocent life is lost. " The nicest veterans in Schenectady, I thought, the kindest and funniest ones, the ones who hated war the most, were the ones who'd really fought."(Vonnegut).

Many people argue every day for complete equality of all people, due to new movements and campaigns. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. wrote the short story, “Harrison Bergeron,” in order to show what it would be like if this came true. It is a short story that follows the lives of Hazel and George Bergeron. The two live in a society where the government places handicaps on people to make them more ‘average’ or ‘equal.’ This takes place in the United States in 2081, where there has been many amendments in order to ensure total equality throughout society.

As a student in high school, one will read countless books to pass their English courses. Often times the books are somber and dramatic. Usually, the books are boring. It is not often that they get to read a book so unorthodox that they are left thinking, “Huh, was this actually a good book?” Kurt Vonnegut wrote just that, good books.

It should be established before anything else that the author I have chosen, Kurt Vonnegut, was heavily influenced by World War II. The idea of war, along with its devastating effects, gave Vonnegut a rather cynical and twisted view on human nature. This perspective bleeds over onto his writing and can be seen in many of his major and minor works, including one of his most impactful, “Slaughterhouse 5,” in which he uses time travel, alien planets, and other farfetched ideas to describe the physical and emotional consequences of violent acts. Vonnegut’s fatalistic and overly pessimistic view of the future, most likely stems from the very problems created by The World Wars. The mechanization and automation of weaponry caused an emotional disconnect to form that removed the face-to-face contact experienced in previous wars.

On December 7, 1941, the empire of Japan launched a surprise attack on the American harbor at Hawaii known as Pearl Harbor, along with several other American provinces in the Pacific such as Guam and the Philippine islands. This vicious attack on American soil pulled America into the second World War [one of the most destructive and bloody wars the world remembers today]. Millions of young men enlisted into the Armed forces, one of them being Kurt Vonnegut at the age of 20. What Kurt Vonnegut did not know was that he was going to end up as a prisoner of war. Kurt Vonnegut’s experiences during this time in the hands of the Germans gave him a new outlook on the brutal conditions of warfare, the neglect that veterans were given after World War

You Have Insulted Me essay by Evan Hang Kurt Vonnegut’s purpose for writing the letter, “You Have Insulted Me” is to convince the school board to change their decision through the use of rhetorical strategies, logos, pathos, and ethos. To begin, Vonnegut uses ethos to convince the school board. Vonnegut uses examples of ethos such as that he served in World War 2 and earned a purple heart to change the school board’s decision. “Every year I receive at least a dozen invitations to be the commencement speaker at colleges and high schools.” Vonnegut uses real-life, reliable information to show the school board that he is trusted by many people.

It’s a day that would start a series of events that would change literature forever. So it goes. November 11, 1922, Methodist Hospital, Indianapolis Indiana Edith Vonnegut gives birth to one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, he is named after his father, Kurt Vonnegut Sr. And So it goes. Kurt Vonnegut Jr. was a man of many shades,

Vonnegut creates a conflict where Billy has no control - for both the literal and figurative aspect. As a relationship of an author to a character, Billy really has no control as to where the story is headed next. However, figuratively speaking, Billy does not know when he will be next switching to different periods of his life: his optometry practice, his home back in America, the Prisoner of War Compound or the slaughterhouse in Dresden. Throughout the course of the novel, Billy takes refuge in his thoughts from the acquired PTSD resulting in the creation of the Tralfamadorians. Death, Free Will, and Time themselves are only illusions from the depictions created from Billy 's

A twenty-two year old prisoner of war emerges from the slaughterhouse where he works to see a formerly beautiful city reduced to nothing but rubble and embers. This man would go on to remove close to 30,000 corpses before seeing them incinerated. This experience would go on to haunt and plague Kurt Vonnegut for years on end. His experience of this event led him to write Slaughterhouse-Five, the story of Billy Pilgrim, who was also an American soldier who experienced the firebombing of Dresden and lived to tell about it. By drawing parallels between himself and Billy Pilgrim, providing philosophies and points of view, and recalling wartime events from WWII in the wake of a new war, Kurt Vonnegut brings many new concepts to the hypothetical table