Vonnegut as a "Bug in Amber"
Connection of Fiction and Autobiography in the Works of Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
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CHAPTER III: Hero vs. Villain
Readers are used to books and stories having a hero
and a villain character. When reading Vonnegut these two
poles are not easy to identify. There are questions, as Reed
says,
of who were villains and who heroes, of when heroes
were villainous and villains heroic, of vice in
defence of virtue and virtue as the mask of vice,
even of what was vice and what virtue...
(Reed:93-94)
You could even say that the stories have no hero characters
and no villain characters. Ranly notes this: "Vonnegut's
father once complained that his stories had no villains. Not
even the great book about the fire-bombing of Dresden could
uncover a villain. But then, Vonnegut has no heroes either"
(Ranly:208). Maureen Howard comes with a definition of
a Vonnegut hero: "a vaguely dissatisfied dupe in a flabby
society" (Howard:133). If a main character can be
automatically considered to be a hero, then her definition
is correct. Most 'heroes' in Vonnegut's books fit this
description. However, it can be doubted that such
a character can be called a hero. Peter J. Reed seems to
find the reason for the lack of these characters:
The lack of real villains and heroes seems an
almost inevitable consequence of the vision of the
world Vonnegut creates. It is hard to conceive of
men achieving true heroic or villainous stature in
a world where they are so nearly pawns, so little
in control of their destinies and where their
actions are so often subject to chance or merely
"the way the moment is structured." There exists no
place for "tragic flaw" in such a world. (Reed:209)
If it is not possible to find a hero or a villain in an
individual human being, the reader must once again move one
step higher and get back to considering Humanity and
Divinity to be literary characters.
The Villain
The villain character will be identified first. This
essay has shown that Vonnegut's Humanity is a horrible
character. People treat each other terribly, they are
destroying their beautiful planet etc. This could mean that
Humanity as a whole is the villain in Vonnegut's books.
However, it is not so. As has been shown, Humanity cannot be
held responsible for its actions. It is a slave to
'enormous forces' (SH5:164). It is a subject to forces it
cannot control, forces it must obey. If it is true that
Humanity's actions are far beyond its control, it cannot be
considered to be the villain, no matter how bad the actions
are. Therefore we have to look for a character who is the
slaver, the master, the one who makes people behave as they
do. Divinity has been identified to be this kind of
character. In Galapagos, the oversize human brain is
identified as the only real villain of the book (GAL:270).
One may, analogically, induce that the Big Brain of
Humanity, that is Divinity, is the only real villain of
Vonnegut's books.
The Hero
Since Divinity is the villain, the post for a hero
rightfully belongs to Humanity. However, it can be asked how
a 'listless plaything' can be a hero, how a puppet can be
a hero, since it is thoroughly controlled by the villain. It
would be possible if 'hero' was simply someone who is badly
treated. If people are machines or robots, as Vonnegut
implies, they cannot be considered to be the heroes. Hero is
mostly someone who defeats the villain, who wins in the end.
Humanity, however, manages that, manages to win over the
villain, manages to find a way "out of amber".
Ways out
It has been said that there is a way in which Humanity
defeats Divinity, even though it cannot be found in all of
Vonnegut's books dealing with this aspect. Sometimes the
readers encounter a failure in the strife for victory rather
than success. The following section will deal with various
ways out of the imaginary amber, how they are carried out,
in what ways they succeed and in which ways they fail.
First, the failure of the attempts at escaping will
undergo a close analysis.
Failure
"Harrison Bergeron" (WTM:7-13)
"Harrison Bergeron" depicts a horrid society where
everyone is equal, or made equal by non-sesuous laws, by
violence even. For example, slim people have to carry
weights in order to weigh the same as the less fortunate,
obese people. The hero of the story, a young man named
Harrison Bergeron, who is unwilling to be subject to such
laws, is set in prison. However, he manages to escape. He
gets to the television and tries to revive the people, the
nation, the humankind. He starts with choosing his mate:
a brave ballerina. He removes all her handicaps and an ugly
mask she had to wear in order that all the people (even the
ugly and stupid ones) could be equal. Suddenly "not only
were the laws of the land abandoned, but the law of gravity
and the laws of motion as well" (WTM:12). Even though the
way how they managed to overcome the laws is not clarified
in the story, it seems to work for some time. However, then
there is Diana Moon Glampers with a shotgun. After shooting
the two characters, H arrison Bergeron and his ballerina,
she restores order and law.
In this story, there appears to be a way out of amber
of the world: a man, a savior about to deliver the humankind
from tyranny of stupidity. This attempt, even though it
succeeds for a few moments is suddenly doomed. The tool of
damnation is Diana Moon Glampers, a character which also
appears in God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. In this novel she
is described as the most miserable of creatures,
a sixty-eight-year-old virgin who, by almost
everybody's standards, was too dumb to live. ... No
one had ever loved her. There was no reason why
anybody should. She was ugly, stupid, and boring.
(ROS:56)
The ending of "Harrison Bergeron" only adds to the
hopelesness of the society and the whole world, which is
already obvious at the beginning of the story. It shows that
the amber is really strong and difficult to break out of.
Harrison Bergeron fails in his attempt and the entire story
can be seen as a failure in escaping.
"The Euphio Question" (WTM:177-192)
In "The Euphio Question" Vonnegut tries to give people
something to enjoy, something to help them deal with life,
which is too difficult to deal with. What he gives people is
"synthetic peace", artificial happiness, euphoria: a noise
coming from space that makes people extremely happy and
forget about life. "You can give [the people] the most
precious thing in all creation -- happiness" (WTM:182).
Although the euphio works, there is this problem with
the happiness being artificial. It is not the happiness
which is pursued and reached through pursuing, but an unreal
happiness, happiness which is bought (WTM:192). Furthermore,
the person who came with the invention or discovery seems to
start controlling the world through euphio and thus mankind
goes from the amber of the world into an amber of
artificial, incontrollable happiness. Therefore, this way
proves to be a failure, too, even tho ugh happiness appears
to be one of the possible ways out.
Jonah charaters and Escapism
Some Vonnegut's novels have gained the title "escapist
novel" and some of his characters have been alluded to
Biblical Jonah:
the most recurring Biblical reference in
Vonnegut's works is to Jonah. It is tempting to
consider Jonah one of the earliest representatives
of the absurd anti-hero in Western literature.
(Nelson:552)
The original Jonah in the Bible was given a message to
deliver to the people of Nineveh. "But Jonah rose to flee to
Tarshish from the presence of the Lord" (Jonah 1,3).
However, the Lord sent a tempest and the ship upon which he
was fleeing was in danger. The sailors drew lots and found
out that it was Jonah, who displeased the Lord. To save the
sailors, he advised them to throw him into the sea, which
they did. He was swallowed up by a giant fish and then,
after three days and three nights, vomitte d out again,
a day's journey from Nineveh. There he finally did deliver
the message (Jonah 1,4 - 3,5).
The same way Jonah tries to escape a task he is given,
but is unable to do so, many Vonnegut's characters also
strive for the achievement of freedom. They try to avoid the
pre-set journey that has been planned for them. Nelson goes
on to comment on this:
As a man protesting his fate, seeing no meaning in
it, finding that all his attempts to escape his
destiny merely contribute to its fulfillment,
Jonah's story concludes with his still not
understanding the bizarre events in his life. It
would seem that anyone familiar with Vonnegut's
writing could not overlook this parallel...
(Nelson:552)
A typical example of a Jonah story as described in the Bible
or commented on in the extract above by Nelson, can be found
in the Sirens of Titan, in the character of Malachi
Constant. Everything that happens to him, no matter where or
how he tries to escape, leads him only closer to the goal,
to the fulfillment of the purpose of his life, purpose of
Humanity's existence.
Further, according to Nelson, this view is applicable
mostly to Vonnegut's early novels, Player Piano, Sirens of
Titan, Mother Night and Cat's Cradle (where the main
character really is called Jonah). He describes four stages
of development of the story: "confusion, dismay, active
rebellion and final frustration" (Nelson:553) which can be
identified in the above mentioned books by Vonnegut, too.
However, escapist features can be seen in some of the later
books as well.
This is where humanity fails in the same way Jonah
failed in his rebellion against God. The way in which he
could not escape his destiny, Humanity in the novels
mentioned in this section cannot escape either.
More failures
The above are only a few examples of failure in
Vonnegut's books. Failure, however, appears in many other
cases as well. In Slaughterhouse-Five, people can be seen to
fail in preventing wars and violence and suffering on Earth.
In Deadeye Dick people again seem to fail: Rudy is a victim
of guns (for guns are here to blame) when he, in his
childhood, shot a pregnant woman with his father's gun.
However, the same way Rudy fails, Humanity later fails when
a Neutron bomb is released and destroys M idland City.
Deadeye-Dick also shows a failure in answering questions
about life, for example why names are funny, or why people
make weapons like the Neutron bomb. In Galapagos people fail
and are wiped out of the planet (at least people as they are
today), in Hocus Pocus or Breakfast of Champions people fail
to get away from the power of chemical reactions in their
bodies. In Jailbird people try to escape from history, but
Vonnegut does not let them, they fail.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS:
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I: Humanity
Characteristics of Humanity
Playthings, puppets
Human life and its value
Bugs in Amber
CHAPTER II: Divinity
Characteristics of Divinity
Other Divinity characters
The Divine Father
Religion
CHAPTER III: Hero vs Villain
Hero vs. Villain
Unsuccessful Ways Out
Successful Ways Out
Humanity vs. Divinity
On meaning and purpose of life
CHAPTER IV: Vonnegut as the Hero
Fiction and Autobiography merged
Vonnegutīs amber
Vonnegutīs ways out
CONCLUSION
List of Abbreviations Used
Bibliography
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Last modified: Apr 2, 1998