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Death
"And even if war didn't keep coming like glaciers, there
would still be plain old death" (SF 4). Such is Vonnegut's
resignation to the fact that this life will end; as for what
awaits us after we die, his opinions fluctuate during the span of
these books. In Slaughterhouse-Five he treats death as if it's
little different from a peaceful sleep (34), and he resents it
when someone rescues him from dying (44), because it's all right
to be dead (148). By the time we get to Slapstick, Vonnegut's
view has changed drastically. On three occasions in the book he
refers to the afterlife as being downright boring (60, 143,
234), and in one instance he goes so far as to say that "the life
that awaits us is infinitely more tiresome than this one" (85).
While specific mentioning of the afterlife is not made in
Breakfast of Champions, it is most likely that it was during the
writing of it that Vonnegut's views of the afterlife were
changing, for the last words of the novel are cried out by
Kilgore Trout: "Make me young, make me young, make me young!"
(295). Apparently, Vonnegut has stopped, by this point,
perceiving the afterlife as a wonderful sleep, and has started
seeing it as something to be avoided for as long as possible.
As we turn to Jailbird, though, this perception of the
afterlife seems to have mellowed a bit. It starts with Walter
Starbuck surmising that life in general is probably worth it, but
that it goes on too long (200). It appears by this time that
Vonnegut seems to be anticipating, if not joyously at least
without any remorse, departing this life for whatever lies ahead.
Later, though, Mary Kathleen says that she hates life and
welcomes death, because even though she's one of the richest
people in the world, and she's done everything she can to make
the world better for everybody, she hasn't accomplished much
because there isn't much that anybody can do - she's tired of
trying (257). Mary Kathleen is speaking as the voice of the
pessimistic Vonnegut, who often questions if his writings have
really made a difference. But it is also the voice of the
Vonnegut who doesn't give up, even though he might not be making
much of a difference, as is evidenced by Vonnegut's later role as
a co-editor of the political watchdog magazine the Washington
Spectator.
People
This section will cover Vonnegut's views on people in
general, and also how we allow other people to determine certain
aspects of our lives, whether it's from personal interaction, or
from the elite of this country using various forms of the media
to shape our thoughts and influence our decisions.
As was mentioned earlier, Vonnegut was taught as a graduate
student in anthropology that no one is bad, disgusting, or
ridiculous, and this has had a great effect on his writing, for
while he shies away from making blanket condemnations of people
or organizations, he will make occasional comments that lead the
reader into viewing certain people and institutions with disdain.
An example of his non-judgemental approach occurs when he
mentions in Slaughterhouse-Five about going to the New York
World's Fair. The Ford Motor Car Company and Walt Disney tell us
what the past had been like, and what the future will be like,
but not what the present is, and how it relates to Vonnegut
(18). In this brief passage, Vonnegut has managed to allow for
the reader to find out for him or herself just how much influence
big business has on determining how we view the world, while
pointing out their obvious shortcomings and inabilities, without
pronouncing any judgements.
The media/elite go to great lengths to propagate wars in the
way they use glamorous people to portray war heroes on TV and in
movies (SF 14-5). If war isn't glorified it won't occur nearly as
often (SF 117). This is bad for the elite class, because they are
the ones who benefit financially from conflict by owning the
businesses that produce war goods and machinery, and/or by having
the money to invest in these industries.
A wonderful comment Vonnegut makes on people is that so many
of us in the United States are trying to construct lives for
ourselves that make sense by purchasing things we find in gift
shops (SF 39). Billy Pilgrim's mother is one of these people, and
from the sketchy details we are given of her, it would be safe to
assume that she led a vacuous life.
An aspect of human nature that Vonnegut points out in an
almost delicate manner is the self-centeredness and apathy that
runs rampant among the human race. An incident to illustrate this
assertion comes in 1967 when Billy is driving through the ghetto
of his hometown, Ilium. A black man taps on Billy's car window
while Billy is stopped at a street light and acts as if he wants
to talk about something. While Billy could roll down the window
and see what the man wants, he does the simplest thing instead
- he drives on (SF 59). Soon after this, it is noted that Billy
was not moved to protest the bombing of North Vietnam; he "did
not shudder about the hideous things he himself had seen bombing
do" (60). Billy had become an uninvolved spectator to life.
Another aspect of human nature that Vonnegut deals subtly
with is our need to fit in and be accepted. He first touches on
this when he shows Billy playing hacker's golf with three other
optometrists. Billy obviously is not golfing because he is good;
he is golfing because he feels the need to connect with others on
some level (85). Then when Billy goes back to World War II and is
under the influence of morphine, he dreams he is a giraffe, and
the other giraffes kiss him and accept him, simply because he is
one of them (99). Billy never felt such uncritical acceptance as
a human.
One of the problems with people is that we many times allow
others to determine who we are and what we do. There are a number
of examples of this throughout Slaughterhouse-Five. The first
example uses a German shepherd named Princess as a metaphor for
people and how the societal machine often takes over our lives.
Princess had spent her life on a farm until the morning she makes
her appearance in the book. That morning she was borrowed from
the farmer, and she soon found herself in a war. She had never
been to war before, and had no idea what game was being played
(52), just like many of the soldiers, who, like Princess, would
rather have been back home on the farm. But society is so
unbending, Princess and the soldiers shouldn't really expect to
be able to determine their own lives (167). Nor will they be able
to determine who they are, because society will determine that
for them, too (169).
An aspect of being human that Vonnegut touches on rather
nicely is how trivial most of us are. As Billy lies in the
veterans' hospital after his emotional breakdown, Valencia talks
only about their silver pattern (111). Our lives are so filled
with trivialities that our existence becomes mundane, to the
point that Billy must confess to the Tralfamadorians, after
eating his breakfast out of cans, cleaning the dishes, doing some
exercises, and showering, that he is as happy on Tralfamadore as
he was on Earth (113-4), for Billy's life on Earth was merely
bearable, due mainly to his marrying a woman he didn't love so he
would be wealthy. That Billy's life was so mundane is borne out
by the conjecture that the happiest moment of Billy's life was
spent sleeping in the back of a horse-drawn wagon in Dresden
(195). The greatest moment of his life was when he was not
conscious of this world.
In Breakfast of Champions Vonnegut returns to the thought of
how mundane our lives are when he tells of one of the
conversations that takes place between Kilgore Trout and the
truck driver. When the truck driver finds out that Trout is in
the aluminum storm window business and knows something about
aluminum siding, he asks Trout if the people who have aluminum
siding installed are happy with what they get. Trout says they
are about the only really happy people he ever saw (107). Can
life be any more vacuous than that?
Vonnegut levels an attack on the people of the United States
when he writes about two incidents that occur while Billy is in
the POW camp. When Billy gets snagged in a barbed-wire fence and
can't unsnag himself, a Russian soldier undoes the snags for him
one by one. Billy leaves without a word of thanks while the
Russian waves and says, "'Good-bye'" (SF 123-4). While we must
bear in mind that Billy is still under the influence of morphine
in this instance, Paul Lazzarro has no such excuse when he is
caught stealing a British soldier's cigarettes. After the debacle
of this and the dinner and play that the British POW's shared
with the U.S. prisoners, one of the British soldiers is led to
comment about the U.S. soldiers, "'Weak, smelly, self- pitying
- a pack of sniveling, dirty, thieving bastards'" (127). In this
same vein, shortly after Dresden is bombed Billy and some other
U.S. soldiers nearly kill a horse they had been using to pull
a wagon they were in. They paid as much attention to the horse's
needs as they would have paid to a six- cylinder Chevrolet
(196), showing once again how the U.S. can be such a selfish
society.
A tremendous condemnation Vonnegut makes of our society is
how we treat the poor people of our country. He uses a monograph
that is sent out by Howard W. Campbell, the main character of
Vonnegut's 1962 novel, Mother Night, to make the point. Campbell
had been born and raised in Schenectady, New York, but had become
a German citizen and worked as a double agent for the U.S. during
World War II. His job for Germany was in propaganda, to make
Germany look good to as many people as possible. In the
monograph, Campbell writes that the U.S. is the wealthiest nation
on Earth, but that its people are mainly poor, and that it is in
fact a crime to be poor in the United States. Every other nation
has folk tales and traditions about men who were poor but
extremely wise and virtuous; the U.S. has no such traditions. The
motto for the U.S. may as well be, "If you're so smart, why
ain't you rich?", for the most destructive untruth is that it is
easy for a person to make money in the United States. The rich
propagate this untruth to keep the poor down, for if the poor
believe this they will constantly blame themselves for being poor
and exalt the rich for being intelligent, hard working, and
virtuous (SF 128-9). Don't sign this monograph with Howard W.
Campbell's name, sign it with Kurt Vonnegut's.
Vonnegut makes sure he shows that people will do just about
anything in the name of love, and that we need to show more
common decency to one another, not more love. In
Slaughterhouse-Five he shows how Billy Pilgrim's daughter uses
love as an excuse to take away Billy's dignity (132). In
Slapstick he suggests that people, when they fight, should say to
each other, "'Please - a little less love, and a little more
common decency'" (3).
The rich people of this country have had a large influence on
how things are done here. One thing they have influenced is that
we are the only nation on the planet that will not dip its flag
to any person or thing, even though this is merely a form of
friendly and respectful salute (BC 9). Since our flag won't be
dipped to dignataries or institutions of other countries, it
should come as no surprise that a lot of the citizens of this
country, mainly poor citizens, should also be ignored by the
rich. But even worse than being simply ignored, they are often
cheated and insulted, too (9). The way the rich people can so
easily get away with cheating and insulting the poor is because
they have managed to utterly confuse the poor with pictures like
that of the truncated pyramid with a radiant eye on top of it
that is found on paper money (9-10). The masses are also confused
by our educational system, which really doesn't educate them - it
merely tries to prepare them to get a job (J 48). The confusion
begins when the kids are in elementary school. They are taught
that Columbus discovered this continent in 1492 when, in
actuality, there were millions of human being already here, and
that 1492 was simply the year when sea pirates began to cheat and
rob and kill them (BC 10). The children are further taught that
these sea pirates eventually created a wonderful government which
became a beacon of freedom to human beings everywhere. They even
set up a huge statue of an imaginary beacon to further fool the
mass of children (BC 10-1). When these children grow up, they
become dazed and confused when they find out for themselves about
1492 and the imaginary beacon. It is at this point, while they
are confused, that the rich people take advantage of them. In
this country that is a beacon of freedom, the Earthlings that had
a lot of money didn't think they should have to share it with
others, unless they really wanted to, and most of them didn't
want to (BC 13).
Through the mouth of Kilgore Trout, Vonnegut states his
opinion on what the human race deserves, and what we deserve is
to die horribly, since we have behaved so cruelly and wastefully
on a planet that is so sweet (BC 18). Vonnegut has already
established at this juncture that the chief weapon of the sea
pirates "was their capacity to astonish. Nobody else could
believe, until it was much too late, how heartless and greedy
they were" (BC 12). Thus, it comes as no surprise that Vonnegut
believes we deserve to die horribly.
Vonnegut spends quite a bit of time in Breakfast of Champions
letting the reader know how easily we all are influenced by the
media, and by the rich people who own the newspapers, TV
stations, radio stations, advertising agencies, etc. (76). We
have been convinced that we need to have a lust for gold (25)
simply because "human beings could be as easily felled by
a single idea as they could by cholera or the bubonic plague"
(27), and we have been told that since gold is shiny, it's worth
a lot. The reason we're so easily brought to believe all of this
is because we're exposed to commercials and commercialism at such
a young age that we just assume what they tell us must be true
and right (90-1). We've even let the media convince us that
Mondays are bad (243). Imagine that: fully one-seventh of our
lives is ruined without us ever giving it a second thought.
One of the saddest commentaries made about people is how we
allow the media and those people who are around us to determine
how we feel about ourselves. Vonnegut uses a Kilgore Trout story
to show how we allow ourselves to think we are inferior to
everyone else just by the simple manipulating of some statistics
that an advertising agency puts in front of us (BC 170-1), and
also how people get typecast as being a certain way or filling
a specific societal role, and then become trapped by the label.
After a while it matters not at all what this person has to say,
because everyone else assumes they know what this labeled person
is going to say, so they don't listen to them (BC 142).
Vonnegut makes a few other random comments in Breakfast of
Champions about people. For instance, he refutes the belief that
rich people are more intelligent than poor people; they've just
been born into better circumstances (106). He also mentions that
most people in our country are expendable bit players because we
like to live our lives like people live in story books, where
it's always convenient to end a short story or book by having
someone shot to get rid of them. Not only do individuals succumb
to this belief, that basically everyone other than themselves and
their close family and friends are expendable, but our government
treats people like this also (209-210). Finally, Vonnegut points
out that the people who work in coal mines and on assembly lines
are no more than slaves, being paid a pittance to make money for
their master/employer (263).
One of the weaknesses of Slapstick is that it doesn't break
much new ground for Vonnegut. This is shown in his comments about
the human race. He reiterates points he has made previously about
political and financial disenfranchisement (53), allowing others
to determine who we are (70), and allowing labels to determine
much in our lives (210). Though redundant, his comments are still
valid.
Possibly the best insight he lends is that we are actually
de-evolving, that we were at our best when we were innocent great
apes with a limited means for doing mischief (36). He repeats
this view a few pages later when he states that a lovely thing to
be on this planet is an idiot, better even than being highly
intelligent, for intelligent people often use their minds for
evil purposes (40). Shortly after this, Vonnegut offers that we
may be making an unconscious effort to go back to where we've
come from as so much of what people talk about is utterly useless
and uninteresting (65).
Vonnegut's first comments on the human condition in Jailbird
focus on the oppression of the working-class masses. He blasts
unions for having as their sole aim making money, at the expense
of the workers they are supposed to represent (24), while the
business owners seek only to make money also, regardless of the
health and welfare of their workers (25, 27). Part of the reason
behind feeling that it is okay to exploit workers is because of
the Puritan work ethic. A feeling pervades among rich people,
often in the collective unconscious, that they have been chosen
by their god to be rich as a blessing for their piety, which
leads to a hypocritical humbleness (29).
Soon after Vonnegut gets into the story of Walter F.
Starbuck, Starbuck begins lamenting about Harvard men. The prison
Starbuck is in is filled with Harvard graduates, but Starbuck,
a Harvard graduate himself, admits that there is nothing special
about Harvard men (49). Of course Starbuck, who is virtually
penniless as he leaves prison, has no one to give him a forgiving
hug or a free meal or a bed for a night or two upon his release,
which doesn't say much for any class or group of people (46).
One way that the rich control the masses is by what they
allow us to remember. The tale of Jesus is constantly appearing
on TV and the radio, and in the print media, for Jesus said the
poor will inherit the kingdom of God, which is exactly what rich
people want the poor to believe. However, the story of Sacco and
Vanzetti, who were both sacrificed as Jesus was, is totally
forgotten by the masses, with the exception of a few high school
history teachers. Nobody knows or cares about them anymore, even
though they were martyred in the name of justice for the common
man (J 51). The members of the elite don't want us to know about
Sacco and Vanzetti, who used common sense to show the evil of the
ruling class, so we don't ever hear about them. And it's not just
political ideology that's affected. Also due to the media hype is
the pressure that many college boys, who are really children,
feel as they stand on the threshold of manhood, especially by
those who were in college during the Great Depression. These boys
were mocked by their own virginity, and petrified of all the
things women would expect of them. Women would expect them to
earn good money, and they could not see how they could do that
with all of the businesses shutting down. The women would expect
them to be brave soldiers, but how could they be sure that they
wouldn't go to pieces when bullets flew and flame throwers were
fired and the guy next to them had his head blown off? Finally,
the women would expect them to be perfect lovers (J 53-4). Women
expected all of this because the books and magazines they read
and the movies they watched all presented rich, brave men who
were fantastic in bed. If a male wasn't all of the three, then
surely he wasn't a man. The same is still true today.
Shortly after this Vonnegut returns his thoughts to what it
means to go to Harvard. Apparently, it doesn't mean much.
Starbuck's son certainly wasn't impressed that his father had
graduated from there (62). Harvard hasn't taught its graduates
about people and how to deal with the different knds of them
(63). Harvard has taught its graduates how to use the law to
their advantage, how to use legal loopholes to make money, to be
the worst criminals of their time and still obey the law (118).
And Harvard has taught its graduates to do absolutely whatever it
takes, at anyone's expense, to make money (126). One thing we
need to keep in mind, however, is that Vonnegut is simply using
Harvard as a convenient example, and that the same thing could be
said about just about any college.
Ruth, Starbuck's wife, speaks early in the novel on how evil
and insignificant people are (J 67). Vonnegut explains why we are
such heinous creatures in little niblets that are interspersed
throughout Jailbird. It starts when we are young and are
constantly told to shut up, which leaves us to feel as if we, as
individuals, must not have anything worth saying (170). It
continues as we grow older and encounter so much bureaucracy and
red tape that life becomes overly complicated (275). Eventually
we realize that nobody really knows what's going on (149). We
finally reach the point where we have become so totally helpless
to the powers of huge institutions and conglomerates that we fail
to care about anyone else, and start to look out only for
ourselves (280). That's why people are so evil.
One of the aspects of Vonnegut's writing that establishes him
as a great thinker is that he realizes there are no easy answers,
and that all issues are many-faceted. In his look at people and
society he shows that there are many answers to the questions,
How are the masses oppressed?, and Why are people so evil?
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
(the main page, abstract, evaluation form...)
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1 - AUTOBIOGRAPHY
CHAPTER 2 - PHILOSOPHY AND OPINIONS
CHAPTER 3 - STYLE
WORKS CITED
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