A Heaping Helping of Dehumanization: Breakfast of Champions
Michael Pardo
“Dear
Sir, poor sir, brave sir: You are an experiment by the Creator of the
Universe.” (Vonnegut 259) Imagine if this was addressed to you. What an awful
feeling of betrayal and loneliness you would no doubt get. But what if next you
heard this? “You are the only creature in the entire Universe who has free
will. You are the only one who has to figure out what to do next—and why. Everybody else is a robot, a
machine.” (Vonnegut 259) Surely you would feel like your entire existence was a
big joke, one at your expense. You would feel desensitized, remote, and
detached from all human feeling. You would be a poor victim, someone taken hold
of by the cold grasp of dehumanization. The American Heritage Dictionary
defines dehumanize as “To deprive of human qualities or attributes” or “To
render mechanical and routine”. This certainly does a grand job at describing
the callous, inhuman, and cold feeling you get when reading the novel Breakfast of Champions. In his book Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut
Jr. uses bold motifs, complex characterization, a plot of mundanity and
shallowness, elementary diction, and satirical style to emphasize his main
theme of dehumanization.
In
1922, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. was born in Indianapolis, Indiana to Edith Vonnegut and
Kurt Vonnegut Sr. At the age of 18 he graduated from Shortridge High School and
pursued a degree in chemistry at Cornell University. (Bonner, par. 1) However,
he left college in 1943 to serve his country in World War II. Upon return,
Vonnegut continued his studies at the University of Chicago in the field of
anthropology. (Encarta, par. 4) In 1950 He left his job and started writing
full-time. Vonnegut’s other works include Player
Piano, Cat’s Cradle, and Slaughterhouse-Five.
Vonnegut’s
seventh novel Breakfast of Champions
is “a tale of a meeting of two lonesome, skinny, fairly old white men on a
planet which was dying fast.” (Vonnegut 7) The main event in the story is an
arts festival in Midland City. This is where Kilgore Trout and Dwayne Hoover
are destined to meet. The story is set in New York around 1973. It follows
Trout’s journey from Cohoes to Midland City, and Hoover’s dysfunctional daily
routine while Trout is doing so. Trout makes his way by getting a ride with a
truck driver and during the ride, as well as the whole trip, his mind wanders
to fanciful stories of science fiction. Destiny, as it were, brings Trout and
Hoover together near the end of the book. This is where Trout turns Hoover into
a homicidal maniac.
There
are a few motifs that Vonnegut uses to drive in the theme of dehumanization in
his book. Sex is one of the most apparent motifs used. It is also one of the
most sacred things we have as humans. We use it for recreation1 and
we also use it to recreate. Vonnegut uses our sexual urges to tear us apart and
make us seem mechanical and routine. He reduces us to nothing less than a
“fucking machine”. (Vonnegut 280) Kilgore Trout’s literature for example, is
filler for pornographic books and magazines. His works of art are featured in
publications, which advertise “Wide Open Beavers Inside”. (Vonnegut 22) “It
fills such a need, this machine,”
says Trout of a film projector in an adult theater, “and it’s so easy to
operate.” (Vonnegut 69)
Another
motif that is used in the novel is racism. Racism is the epitome of
dehumanization. Whenever a black person is mentioned, he or she is referred to
as a “Nigger”. Stories are told of the hatred that white people had for blacks,
like the sawing in half of a black man with barbed wire. Men referred to
household chores as “women’s work” and the women referred to it as “Nigger
work”. Black people are stereotyped as lazy, unlawful, dirty, dumb, and in
general as lesser beings. Racism is one of the most dehumanizing factors of our
society both now and in the past, and Vonnegut certainly uses this factor as a
cornerstone for his main theme.
Another
dominant motif, by definition, in Breakfast
of Champions is the simple and quite
random drawings. One of these drawings may have more insight into the theme of
the book than any thousands words written in it. The fact that the very first
picture in the book is an “asshole” says something. Vonnegut goes on to draw
things like underwear, bombs, another “asshole”, a dinosaur, and even a bucket
of chicken. The pictures are put in as if the book where a children’s
encyclopedia, to explain completely mundane and ordinary objects. As adults we
see these things and can only laugh, but on closer inspection, many of these
pictures can only make us laugh at ourselves. It is our own human vices that
Vonnegut is materializing in these pictures. Things like war, sex, and racism.
The
characters of Breakfast of Champions
add their own element of dehumanization. The story is of “two lonesome, skinny,
fairly old white men on a planet which was dying fast”: Kilgore Trout and
Dwayne Hoover. (Vonnegut 7) Kilgore Trout likes to keep away from the world in
his basement apartment. His only companion is his pet bird Bill and he knows
that there is something unmentioned and unanswered in his life. There in fact
is. The same goes for Dwayne Hoover: a wealthy and insane businessman.
As
explained in the novel, both Trout and Hoover are characters created by the
author of the book. Kilgore Trout is a pessimist and a cynic. He considers
himself a failure as a writer, since all his works had been published in
pornographic literature, if you could call pornography literature. His own introspective
view as an outsider adds to the dehumanizing feel of the book. Dwayne, on the
other hand, is completely insane. He hallucinates, often becomes paranoid, and
has even deemed himself schizophrenic. It is Trout’s strange mind, Dwayne’s
psychosis, and some guidance from the author—who appears as himself in the
book—that makes possible the most horrifying and dehumanizing occurrence in the
novel.
Trout’s
and Hoover’s interaction with each other and other characters in the book lay
the groundwork for the dehumanizing that takes place. It is their personal
qualities that give Breakfast of
Champions its discouraging and coldhearted mood. They are representative of
all that is dehumanizing in this society: failure and success. As it turns out
in this novel, failure leads to enlightenment, while success leads to insanity.
The
plot of Breakfast of Champions sets
up for the perfect letdown, and enriches the dehumanizing qualities already
present in the book. The main event in the book is the art festival in Midland
City. Trout gets invited to be an honorary speaker at the festival. This comes
as quite a shock since he is not well known at all. It was money that got him
invited, the money of one devoted fan. This proves that money can get you
anything. The fact that a writer whose works are published as filler in
pornographic literature can be an honorary guest speaker at an Art Festival is
dehumanizing in itself. Trout spends the night in an adult theater, gets
mugged, and gets his finger bitten off. This all comes as a skin-deep gesture
of appreciation for his works.
Even
the activities described in the novel soak it with dehumanization and remove
the feeling of fulfillment. Dwayne’s sexual encounters, Wayne Hoobler’s meager
gestures, and even Harry LeSabre’s secret transvestite life all lead to a
dysfunctional impression. The plot’s shallow base leaves plenty of space for
the dehumanization that saturates it.
The way Kurt Vonnegut writes in this novel, you would think he is speaking to a young child. He often explains things in an elementary manner, with simple explanations, in short and often blunt sentences. He explains things such as chickens and gravity the way you would explain them to a toddler. Often he draws pictures of what he is trying to explain. At the same time though, he offers a realistic and quite shocking blend of adult language, and creates a full spectrum of diction. With his infantile manner of speaking, he stirs in strong vulgarity and overtly unsettling dialog, which creates a juxtaposed2 and quite a revelation of a concoction. He makes words such as “fuck” and “shit” nothing more than ordinary. A perfect example of Vonnegut’s writing style is found in the eighteenth chapter: “There was dog shit on a shoulder of his coat. He had collapsed into dog shit on the handball court under the Queensboro Bridge after the robbery. By unbelievable coincidence, that shit came from the wretched greyhound belonging to a girl I knew.” (Vonnegut 202)
Not only does he mix in vulgarity with his naïve and childish talk, but also vulgar ideas and subject matter. Throughout the book, Vonnegut seems to have the habit of mentioning the penis sizes of certain male characters, whether relevant to the current subject or not. Vonnegut also tends to use the word “Nigger” throughout his novel. Vonnegut refers to manual labor as “Nigger work”. Certainly through his diction alone, Vonnegut achieves his theme of dehumanization. His bland vulgarity, offensive material, and crude slurs all contribute to a demoralization and general separation from the human race. Vonnegut makes this all seem commonplace with brilliant finesse.
The diction of Breakfast of Champions spawns from the intensely satirical style of the book. Everything from sex, to racism, to pollution is critically examined. Vonnegut takes all our vices and makes them seem almost delightfully comical.
“You are surrounded by loving machines, hating machines, greedy machines, unselfish machines, brave machines, cowardly machines, truthful machines,” he read… “The Creator of the Universe would now like to apologize not only for the capricious, jostling companionship he provided for the test, but for the trashy, stinking condition of the planet itself. The Creator programmed robots to abuse it for millions of years, so it would be a poisonous, festering cheese when you got here. Also, He made sure it would be desperately crowded by programming robots, regardless of their living conditions, to crave sexual intercourse and adore infants more than almost anything.” (Vonnegut 261)
With this small excerpt, Vonnegut takes everything wrong with our world and squeezes it into one sweaty ball of filth. But the way he does it makes it seem comical. There is nothing funny about what he says, but rather how he presents it. He often presents it as something new to us. Like most other things in the book, he explains to us what is wrong with us as if we were children, or more fittingly, visitors from another planet. Either way, the reader feels disconnected and symptomatic of dehumanization.
In his seventh novel Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. drills in his main theme of dehumanization. He does this using bold motifs, complex characterization, a plot of mundanity and shallowness, elementary diction, and satirical style. He shocks and confuses us with his style of writing, leaving us floundering with questions. Through all this he makes the human race seem empty and alone. But he is right in doing so, because we in fact are.
1 n : an activity
that diverts or amuses or stimulates
2 adj. : placed
side by side often for comparison; "juxtaposed pictures"
Bibliography:
Vit, Marek. Home Page. N/A
<http://geocities.datacellar.net/Hollywood/4953/champions.html>
Bonner, Stephanie E. Home Page. N/A <http://geocities.datacellar.net/Hollywood/4953/alter_ego.html>
Anonymous. Encarta. N/A <http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefArticle.aspx?refid=76157250>
Vonnegut, Kurt. Breakfast of Champions. New York, New York: Dell Publishing. 1973.
