Human Characters In Vonnegut's Novels example essay topic

The America in which Kurt Vonnegut finds himself is a country of broken promises. His ancestors emigrated to America to escape poverty, encouraged by the hope of a new way of life, epitomized by the American Dream. This is the dominant philosophy in American society, that if you work hard enough, you can achieve anything that you want to. Vonnegut's novels express a dissatisfaction with this view, a desire for a more realistic and useful approach to life. What Vonnegut likes to point out is an intrinsic fault in the structure of America. This country is almost entirely composed of immigrants, from a vast cross section of culture.

But rather than drawing on all these different cultures, they have been mangled and distorted to form the America of today. The various cultures have been left behind, in favor of a new identity, a strong part of which is the American Dream. Success in America is supposed to be dependent on hard work. Success for characters in Vonnegut's novel's is more likely to come about from what he terms 'dumb luck' and life is ruled by more random principles. He sees a country where the desires and needs of people have been taken over by those of business and government; what he desires is a return to the basic needs of people. Vonnegut books each have a unique feature of them dealing around the same problems.

Through his books Vonnegut has created a unique relationship between the created image of humanity, people in general and Divinity, a divine power of God. Vonnegut also portrays family life as he experienced it through out his childhood while still including humanity and divinity. Humanity is seen as a machine moving in controllably forward, driven by several factors (such as greed for money and wealth, ambition, sex). The machine never stops, decency is unimportant, and human lives are also unimportant.

The 'monster' moves onward, destroying everything that gets in its way. However, the machine also seems to be driven by a much high force, something completely our of humanity's control. One thing that drives human beings is sexual lust as stated by Vonnegut. He suggests that people's inability to control their animal drives will lead the planet into doom, mostly by means of overpopulation. Mary Hepburn, one of the main characters in Galapagos, describes, for example, "how easily a teenage virgin could be made pregnant by the seed of a male who was seeking sexual release and nothing else, who did not even like her" In Breakfast of Champions Vonnegut points out that most countries are in such a miserable condition that there is no more space for people, they have nothing to eat.

Still they go on having sexual intercourse, which is, as Vonnegut reminds us, how babies are made. "More babies are arriving all the time-kicking and screaming, yelling for milk" Humanity, is producing more than it can sustain, yet it is ignorant of this fact. "Just because something can reproduce, that doesn't mean it should reproduce", Vonnegut does not only describe the drives of humanity, he uncovers the source of these lusts and of all the bad things humanity does. In Galapagos, the course is humanity's imagination, destructive ideas, and people's oversized brains. "If catastrophe comes more easily to man than courtesy and decency", as suggested by Contemporary Authors, "man's large brain is to blame" Vonnegut asserts that the planet is basically innocent, "except for those big brains" These brains are "irresponsible, unreliable, hideously dangerous, wholly unrealistic" and they are "simply no damn good" These brains make people life. They generate crazy ideas in the heads of human beings who cannot help but carry them out.

Vonnegut calls this aspect of human brains "diabolical" A rather common tendency that humanity seems to have in Vonnegut's works are suicidal tendencies. How often the reader encounters characters who die prematurely of their own will. So often, the bad ideas in people's brains make them do such a horrible thing as commit suicide. In Timequake, Vonnegut says that people are the smartest animals on the planet, who "hate being alive so much". A rather common manner of ending one's life is eating Drano, a poisonous chemical normally used for cleaning drains.

Celia Hoover, the wife of one of the main characters of Breakfast of Champions and Deadeye Dick, commits suicide in this manner. Drano also appears later in Vonnegut's books as a successful tool of deliberate self destruction. He writes that the Earth itself, humanity itself looked as it if were eating this chemical. From reading Vonnegut, one can easily conclude that Vonnegut intends to show that people are stupid, that humanity as a whole is stupid, dumb and ignorant.

With several characters the writer takes it to the extreme, such as Kimberley in the "Chemistry Professor". The play's commentary calls her "scatterbrained", but stupidity could be the image the reader forms when reading about her going to look up an unimportant comment in the library, a comment that has been uttered just by the way, and even more when, after a few pages, Kimberley enters again and asks innocently "Which building is the library?" Others, more important characters, may be seen as stupid as well. Howard, for example, sees Billy (Slaughterhouse Five) as "a vaguely dissatisfied dupe", and adds that "he is a blank and stupid man". In Cat's Cradle Bokonon says that he could write a whole book, "a history of human stupidity" and use it for a pillow. Another quality of humanity corresponds stupidity. This quality is seen when Vonnegut describes people as machines.

In Sirens of Titan Vonnegut explains the term machine. In his opinion, to be a machine is to be vulgar, to lack sensitivity and imagination. These traits or most of them, can be recognized in most human characters in Vonnegut's novels. Humanity's vulgarity is obvious from perhaps everything Vonnegut has written: from how people talk and how they act, from their 'animal' attitude towards sexuality etc.

That people are purposeful is also a very often expressed quality. People keep doing what they seem to be programmed for, what they seem to be designed for. One of these purposes is surely the already mentioned reproduction method. Another aspect of Vonnegut's novels that can hint at the issue of purposefulness, is people being reduced into unthinking entities by various institutions. People are often seen as robots under orders, willing to do anything. In Sirens of Titan Vonnegut describes soldiers as people with antennae in their heads, controlled by radio to do anything the commander chooses.

The only exception from the traits of 'a machine' applied to humanity is the lack of imagination. It cannot be said that his characters lack imagination. On the contrary, human imagination is often emphasized. It is a very important human quality of Vonnegut's humanity.

Man's inhumanity can be understood only tangentially, through science fiction devices. The human being is most human -- and most praiseworthy-when he lives wholeheartedly in his natural condition, working in the open, doing joyfully for his own support, loving other life, and being loved. Human worth-hence significance-resides in the being of the human. Vonnegut shows humanity in the worst light possible, over and over again describing human lives as precious and valuable in themselves. People do not need to prove to be worthy, their worth is there no matter what kind of person they happen to be.

Vonnegut depicts usually broken down people, criminals, failures, while still showing the fact that their value is great, beyond measurement. When describing Vonnegut's used of divinity there is one thing in mind "entity". Divinity plays a part in almost all novels by Kurt Vonnegut and is seen from similar viewpoints. This is due to the fact that Vonnegut comes from a society where Christianity is the major religion, he in turn mainly refers to the 'Christian' God in his books. However, there are some expectations when Vonnegut replaces God with some other 'higher' force (such as Mother Nature in Galapagos, or Time in Jailbird).

These 'higher' forces carry the same attributes and usually have the same qualities as Vonnegut's God. There is only one quality which could be isolated and studied independently on the relationship with humanity: the lack of concern for anything, indifference and laziness. Even though Vonnegut admits, that God could have designed something like Heaven, or Paradise for good people to go to after death, the view that he lacks for human beings is still there. Vonnegut seems to be asking whether such a paradise can be considered to be a kind of reward. Since God is, in his view indifferent towards the people, one cannot expect Him to be indifferent when it comes to the afterlife.

In Jailbird, Vonnegut presents two kinds of characters. They are not people versus God, they are people and years. It seems as though the years serve as a function that is played by god in the other novels: something that makes people do things, something that is to blame instead of people. In Timequake, there is a problem of free will apparently cause by God or any intelligent being. It is a timequake, a natural catastrophe which happens just as an earthquake might happen: all of a sudden, with no-one's intention. Therefore, the re a der would not have to suspect divinity behind the scene.

It is definitely a human quality or maybe "divine" quality, and not of something abstract, something not living. This may be understood in such a way that, even though Vonnegut is really speaking about a natural disaster, there is divinity acting the same way as timequake. It is divinity, as can be concluded, who drags us through life. Vonnegut reveals in the shallow absurdities of life. If no human villain can be discovered, the Vonnegut seems to say that perhaps god is the villain...

14 Vonnegut seldom addresses the question of God directly. Through his style, his humor, and especially through the form of science fiction he is able to sidestep every direct confrontation with the question of God. The question, however, seems to haunt him at every turn. If life were only hopelessly and idiotically absurd, then the whole question could be dismissed. But two circumstances will not allow the question to be dismissed.

A certain design, a certain pattern is strangely discernible in events. And... secondly, man has an inquisitive nature which seeks to know the reasons for things. In conclusion the purpose of people is to love and to be happy. Throughout his writings, Vonnegut illustrates man's necessity of family, whether hereditary or artifical. People often say that family is the basis of every state and every human society. Should family be broken, the society would break as well.

The family in Vonnegut's books just seems not to work properly. Especially the relationship between father and son often fails to function correctly. Vonnegut writes as though America would be more sincere if a more definite family atmosphere were implemented that catered to and made each citizen an absolute necessity to the machine. For a family utopia to exist, family members must observe a similar concept of conformity to ensure pleasure and fulfillment for all. By practicing basic rules of common decency this is achieved in beautiful proportions.

Only as a member of expansive family groupings can man truly find his place in society and flourish amongst its support and companionship. Drawing from familiar individuals and past experiences, Vonnegut relies on his own impression of families natural, and otherwise to create plot and relate his views to the reader audience. Using characters that very nearly mirror himself, his life, and the lives of his family, the author illustrates his theories through incidents of his theme. When common decency is given higher priority than love in family relationships, the quality and quotient for success is greatly increased, bettering the entire situation.

Where common decency is practiced, a bond is automatically formed between parties that creates a unity resembling family. As most individuals, struggling in their loneliness, are searching for such compassion's from others, shared common decency offers the much needed family environment situation imperative in a profitable society. Vonnegut constantly petitions society with the pervading message that 'you " ve got to be kind'. Vonnegut illustrates that this dependence is only successfully achieved in practicing common decency. Thus does Vonnegut create a web of interdependence and reliance on others for him characters; even in the midst of suffering and discomfort, to truly be satisfied one must rely on positive influences of others.

Most of Vonnegut's novels deal with life, seeking its true purpose.