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CHAPTER 3
STYLE
It's been said that one of the problems with Vonnegut is that
he asks college sophomore-like questions (Wetysteon 78). There's
really a very simple reply to this complaint: "Don't we first
have to find the answers to these questions before we move on?"
It's plain to see from the depth and scope of these four novels
that pigeon-holing Vonnegut as sophomoric is ignorant. From his
simple assertion that war is stupid, to his questioning of the
metaphysical, Vonnegut shows his genius. Because he doesn't hide
his thoughts and ideas behind the language of pre-World War
I English aristocrats, there will always be critics who deem him
as simple-minded. They couldn't be more wrong.
The style which Vonnegut uses in these novels, especially the
first three of them, challenges the form of novels, and is
a product of the 1960's counter-cultural revolution (Klinkowitz,
Kurt Vonnegut 69). The technique of giving away the ending of the
story at the beginning of the tale is not the common way to write
a novel. His use of repetition is a strong way to show the
interrelatedness of events. In Slaughterhouse-Five he is
continually making reference to a dog barking (42, 48, 75, 82,
168). He also uses repetition in the pet phrases he coins for
each of the novels. "So it goes" appears over one hundred times
in Slaughterhouse-Five. "And so on" pops up thirty-nine times in
Breakfast of Champions. "Hi ho" annoys us eighty-three times in
Slapstick. By the time of Jailbird, Vonnegut seems to be tiring
of writing in this manner, as the closest he comes to a pet
phrase is the word "peace," which appears as its own sentence
seven times.
James Lundquist has stated that Vonnegut avoids storytelling,
and that the way he makes all characters equally important is
laughable (101-2). Lundquist apparently doesn't realize that the
most important character in Francine Pefko's world is Francine
Pefko. Ruth Starbuck sees herself as the center of the universe.
The sun rises and sets around Colonel Bertrand Copeland Rumfoord,
as far as Rumfoord is concerned. And from where James Lundquist
sits, no one means more to him than himself. Vonnegut realizes we
are all interchangeable parts; thus, everyone is just as
important as everyone else. This is reflected in his writing
style, for it's part of what he believes.
There are a couple of curious contradictions that appear in
two of the novels that I will mention here for the simple reason
that it appears Vonnegut has made the mistakes on purpose just to
see if the reader is paying attention. In Breakfast of Champions
he mentions that Kilgore Trout would have one joint of his right
index finger bitten off by Dwayne Hoover (234). But when a finger
tip is actually bitten off, it's the ring finger that loses its
tip (273).
As we move to Jailbird, Walter Starbuck states that
Nineteen-hundred and Forty-six gave him an ungrateful son (45).
As the story moves on, we find out that it was on 15 October
Nineteen-hundred and Forty-six that Walter and Ruth got married.
Walter goes on to say that that was most likely the day that
their son was conceived (66), making it highly improbable that
their son was born less than two and a half months later.
On pages 311-2 of Palm Sunday Vonnegut grades his books. He
gives Slaughterhouse-Five an A+, Breakfast of Champions a C,
Slapstick a D, and Jailbird an A. While he's a bit harsh on
Breakfast of Champions and Slapstick, he's a little too nice to
Jailbird, which lacks the punch of Slaughterhouse-Five, which he
graded perfectly.
The four books that have just been investigated have gone
a long way in establishing Kurt Vonnegut as one of the preeminent
writers of the second half of the Twentieth Century. He is
a writer we need to continue to study and cherish, for his wisdom
and compassion are seldom matched.
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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