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Divinity
The other literary character this essay is going to deal with
is Divinity: that is, God, or gods. This character plays a part
in almost all novels by Kurt Vonnegut and is seen from similar
viewpoints. Probably because Vonnegut comes from society where
Christianity is the major religion, his ex-wife and daughter are
Christians (PS: 235), he mostly refers to the 'Christian' God in
his books. However, there are some exceptions when Vonnegut
replaces God with some other 'higher' force (such as Mother
Nature in Gal pagos, or Time in Jailbird). These substitutes,
however, carry the same attributes, mostly have the same
qualities as Vonnegut's God.
Divinity as a character cannot be studied separately. Its
character traits can be defined by examining its relationship
with Humanity. Literary theory concerning physical appearance and
environment is not applicable here, since Vonnegut hardly
mentions these aspects at all. His image of God is, however,
quite well described by indirect indication. There are various
hints throughout Vonnegut's books as to what is God really like,
some mentioned by other literary characters, some stated directly
by the narrator of the story or Vonnegut himself.
Lack of Concern
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 (something so
much differing from the Christian view of God, who loves and
cares for His people, giving Himself as a sacrifice for their
sins etc.). Vonnegut's Divinity appears not to care about what it
created. This aspect of Divinity gets even more emphasized when
the relationship with Humanity is brought in the consideration.
Earlier, in 1959, Vonnegut had developed the idea of indifference
more in detail in his novel Sirens of Titan, which dealt, above
all, with Humanity. In the book, Vonnegut presents a new religion
invented by himself: 'The Church of God Utterly Indifferent'. In
this a bit extreme concept he illustrates that God does not care
about anything at all and does not intervene in the affairs of
people at all. Throughout the whole novel an outcry can be heard:
"Take Care of the People, and God Almighty Will Take Care of
Himself" (TIT:128)
Together with indifference, Vonnegut sometimes mentions
laziness of Divinity. A very good example of this can be found in
the novel Jailbird, where the main character speaks about his
wife, Ruth, who had suffered in a concentration camp during the
World War II. "I asked her once whether she had ever sought the
consolations of religion in the concentration camp. 'No,' she
said. 'I knew God would never come near such a place.'" (JAI:29)
Later, Ruth gave a toast one Christmas Eve with these words:
"Here's to God Almighty, the laziest man in town" (JAI:30).
Sometimes, it is not only that Vonnegut's Divinity does not
do anything which shows its indifference. Mostly it is the fact
it it does do something. A good example would be Kilgore Trout's
dialogue with a truck driver in Breakfast of Champions, comparing
Divinity's and Humanity's indifference toward the planet, nature
and life. Trout describes that he "used to be a conservationist"
and that he used to cry about people causing environmental
catastrophes, but that he has to laugh about it now.
"I realized," said Trout, "that God wasn't any
conservationist, so for anybody else to be one was
sacrilegious and a waste of time. You ever see one of
His volcanoes or tornadoes or tidal waves? Anybody ever
tell you about the Ice Ages he arranges for every
half-million years? How about Dutch Elm disease?
There's a nice conservation measure for you. That's God,
not man. Just about the time we got our rivers cleaned
up, he'd probably have the whole galaxy go up like
a celluloid collar. That's what the Star of Bethlehem
was, you know." (BOC:84-85)
This passage quite well illustrates how divinity employs its
destructive powers. Slaughterhouse-Five describes this in the
connection with Humanity. In this novel, Vonnegut mentions the
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. He sees this Biblical act of
God as an evidence of Divinity's lack of concern for Humanity
(SH5:21-22). He seems to be saying that Divinity showed its
indifference toward people by destroying them completely instead
of saving them, not caring about the suffering of poor and
innocent people that, as Vonnegut supposes, lived there.
Divinity is seen here as an oppressor saying: 'You'll either
do what I command you, or you'll die.' This oppressor does not
have in mind the people at all, it only pursues to satisfy its
own ego. It is seen as an evil and cruel ruler with a rod of
iron, crushing everything that does not please its fancy,
everything that disobeys its law.
Playthings, puppets and the Puppet Master
Not only that Vonnegut sees Divinity as an oppressor, he sees
it also as the controller of Humanity. Humanity seems not to have
any free will, it seems to be an entity completely ruled by
Divinity, led into every situation by it, led to do everything by
it. Humanity seems to be a puppet in the hand of a puppet master,
to be a plaything designed for amusement or for being tested what
it can stand.
Ranly notes that all Vonnegut's characters are "comic,
pathetic pieces, juggled about by some inexplicable fate, like
puppets." (Ranly) Vonnegut says this himself in
Slaughterhouse-Five: "there are almost no characters in this
story, and almost no dramatic confrontations, because most of the
people in it are so sick and so much the listless playthings of
enormous forces." (SH5:164)
The lack of free will is a common feature in most of
Vonnegut's books. In Slaughterhouse-Five, for example Vonnegut
introduces the phrase 'bugs in amber'. One of the examples is the
passage which shows (from the view of the Tralfamadorians --
alien beings) that the future is given and that one cannot change
it.
All moments, past, present, and future, always have
existed, always will exist. The Tralfamadorians can look
at all the different moments just the way we can look at
a stretch of the Rocky Mountains, for instance. (SH5:27)
Another passage of the novel describes the theme more directly.
It is the part when the Tralfamadorians kidnap Billy Pilgrim and
he asks "why?".
Have you ever seen bugs trapped in amber?
Well, here we are, Mr. Pilgrim, trapped in the
amber of this moment. There is no why." (SH5:76-77)
This concept views the world as a kind of amber and everything in
the world as a 'bug' stuck in it, unable to control what it is
doing, having no free will at all. Humanity, according to this,
cannot help what it is doing.
The structure of Vonnegut's novels itself reveals the fact
that everything is set and the characters have no way of changing
the storyline. The plot is usually revealed in the first couple
of chapters, you almost always know what's going to happen next.
The narrator often occupies a vantage point for observing the
whole story. In Slaughterhouse-Five, for instance, it is the view
of Tralfamadorians who see in the fourth dimension, therefore see
everything that's happened and that will happen. In Gal pagos it
is the viewpoint of a ghost narrating the story a million years
after it actually happened, therefore seeing it from a very
similar point to the Tralfamadorians'.
If there is a puppet which is actually doing something, there
also must be a puppet master. It is difficult to recognize the
puppet master, though. The 'enormous force' (SH5:164), the source
of all acts of Humanity differs from book to book. In Gal pagos,
as has been mentioned, it is the people's big brains. In some
other books (eg. HOC, BOC, DED), it is chemicals or fault in the
'construction' of the human being: "It is a big temptation to me,
when I create a character for a novel, to say that he is what he
is because of faulty wiring, or because of microscopic amounts of
chemicals which he ate or failed to eat on that particular day."
(BOC:4) Some of the most gruesome accidents, says Vonnegut, "were
caused by people who had rendered themselves imbecillic or
maniacal because by ingesting too much of what, if taken by
moderation, could be a helpful chemical." (HOC:28). In some
novels it is the sexual drive or other physical needs. The key
word is probably the word 'physical'. Vonnegut often sees the
fault in the body. In Bluebeard, for example, that fault is seen
in the 'meat': "I would hate to be responsible for what my meat
does." When people do something terrible, it is the 'meat's'
fault. (BLU:246)
On the other hand, in Breakfast of Champions Vonnegut muses
about the idea of God being the cause. He uses a parallel: the
'destructive testing division' at the Pontiac Division of General
Motors, where
various parts of automobiles and even entire
automobiles were destroyed. Pontiac scientists set
upholstery on fire, threw gravel at windshields, snapped
crankshafts and driveshafts, staged head-on collisions,
tore gearshift levers out by the roots, ran engines at
high speeds with almost no lubrication, opened and
closed glove compartment doors a hundred times a minute
for days, cooled dashboard clocks to within a few
degrees of absolute zero, and so on.
Everything you're not supposed to do to a car, they
did to a car. (BOC:165-166)
Vonnegut wonders if this is the reason what God put people on
earth for, whether it was to test them how much they can stand
without breaking (BOC:166). From the novel it seems that he
thinks that this is, obviously, the reason.
After all, Vonnegut seems to imply, Divinity is the creator
of the 'meat' and the designer of the 'big brain', both of which
a human being cannot control, both of which a human being is
subject to. Another clue of Divinity being the source can be
seen: If Divinity created the whole reality, then it is the maker
of the amber as well. What are people predestined to do must have
been predestined by Divinity, the creator. Vonnegut may also
refer to the Biblical quality of God, who sees everything:
everything that is, everything that was and everything that is to
come; who knows what people are going to do next; who plans
people's lives. However, Vonnegut does not allow the possibility
to avoid God's plans, does not acknowledge the Christian 'right
to choose'.
Vonnegut Playing the God
In Breakfast of Champions, Vonnegut himself plays the part of
Divinity. He assumes a role that, in my opinion, illustrates the
role of Divinity in his other books. He is the creator of the
amber, the storyline. He is the creator of the characters. He
decides what the characters will do next. He is the
puppet-master leading his puppets. The characters are utterly
under his control. The only character that seems to realize this
is Kilgore Trout, who says to his parakeet: "the way things are
going, all I can think of is that I'm a character in a book by
somebody who wants to write about somebody who suffers all the
time" (BOC:241).
The parallel between this and other Vonnegut's novels (and
Vonnegut's life itself) can be easily seen. Humanity is suffering
and it feels like a character under the hand of somebody who
likes to write about suffering.
The Big Brain of Humanity
In Gal pagos, the cause of everything an individual does is
the oversized human brain. It is what leads him/her into doing
terrible, abominable things, it is something s/he cannot help
obeying. According to what has been discucced in this section so
far, the cause of everything Humanity does seems to be Divinity.
Therefore, Divinity appears to be the 'oversize brain' of
Humanity. If we compare the relation of an individual and
his/her brain to the relation of Humanity and Divinity in
Vonnegut's novels, we see an almost perfect match. Gal pagos,
which, as an exception, does not blame God for anything, can now
be seen as a parable of the relation between people and God,
actually putting even more blame on Divinity than any other
novel.
Summing Up Divinity
This section has shown that Divinity is the cause of
evrything Humanity does. Sometimes it is just hidden behind the
'minor sources' (e.g. fate, faulty construction of human bodies,
oversize brains, people's reaction to chemicals, sex drive etc.)
and sometimes directly pointed out as the Master Puppeteer
leading its puppets. This part of the essay has shown that
Divinity is the highest force, the designer of the 'amber', the
author of the tragedies of human lives, the Big Brain of
Humanity. Humanity seems not to be given any free will, anything
that would make its life worth living.
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