Considered to be one of America's imaginative, original, and talented contemporary writers, Kurt Vonnegut has treated readers to such wonderful works of literature as Slaughterhouse-five and Breakfast of Champions. Most of his many novels, short stories, and plays criticize various wrongs of society. Vonnegut's work is often humorous and light-hearted, mixing settings of fantasy with everyday situations of life. Deeper themes concerning the welfare of society are clearly evident in his satire. Throughout this long career Vonnegut has used his unique style to effectively portray his outlook of the world.
     Edith Vonnegut gave girth to her second son, Kurt, Jr.., on November 11, 1922 in Indianapolis, Indiana. She and her husband Kurt had been married nine years at the time os junior's birth. The couple's eldest child Bernard was born in 1914, and a daughter Alice followed three years later. Kurt, Sr. had built a reputation as a qualified architect and was able to support his family fairly well. Kurt, Jr.'s early education came at Orchard Public School NO. 43 in Indianapolis from 1928 to 1936. After grade school he moved on Shortridge High, where he served as a staff member for the Shortridge daily Echo, the school's newspaper. Here we see his early like for writing. Finding himself interested in biochemistry, Vonnegut, Jr. attended Cornell Daily Sun. A year later in 1943 the young Hoosier transferred to the Carnegie Institute of Technology. Studies there were cut short by his enlistment into the army to fight in World War II.
     Vonnegut fought in the battle of the Bulge as a scout for the 106th US Infantry Division, after which he was taken prisoner by the Germans. He along with other American prisoners were put to work in a factory (actually an abandoned slaughterhouse) in Dresden, Germany, that made vitamin supplements for pregnant German women. On February 13, 1944, the city was almost completely destroyed by fire bombs dropped by Allied planes. The surviving prisoners, Vonnegut included, were forced to clean up the rubble and corpses of some 135,000 Germans. His service at Dresden earned him the Purple Cross. His experience of the bombing served as his motivation for his best known novel Slaughterhouse-five.
     After the war Vonnegut continued his education and tried a variety of jobs. He attended the University of Chicago, where he studied anthropology from 1945 to 1947. He earned his Master's Degree after returning to school again in 1971. On September 1, 1945, Vonnegut married his high school sweetheart Jane Marie Cox. The two had three children, Mark, Edith, and Nanette. After college he took on the job of public relations for the Chicago City News Bureau for one year. Next he worked in a public relations for the General Electric, Co. In Schenectady, New York, alongside his brother Bernard. In 1950 Vonnegut retired to become a full-time free-lance writer. His first novel, Player Piano, was published in 1952. While a teacher for emotionally disturbed children in sandwich, Massachusetts, he contributed short stories to magazines like Colliers, Sports Illustrated, and Saturday Evening Post. He even started his own SAAB car dealership.
     Vonnegut adopted his sister's three children after her and her husband's death in 1959. Through the sixties and seventies Vonnegut would produce many more novels and also a number of plays including Happy Birthday, Wanda June, and Between Time and Timbuktu. After lecturing at Harvard on creative writing in 1970 and 1971 he was recognized as a Distinguished Professor of English Prose by the City College of New York.
     Vonnegut's interests in school and in writing came in part from his father and brother. His father wished him to study in areas that would be beneficial, such as biochemistry and writing. Bernard is credited with developing the process of seeding clouds with silver iodine to induce rainfall, which is used in areas where drought is a problem. He was looked up to by Kurt and became a role model for him throughout his life.
     The genre of Kurt Vonnegut includes prose and drama. His many novels have been generally more accepted than his plays, however. His unique, "schizophrenic" style is found in both. People who suffer from paranoid schizophrenia often feel isolated from others and that only they themselves are able to make decisions. Many of the complex characters Vonnegut creates in his stories have similar qualities, such as Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse-five. The events in his writings closely parallel those he actually experienced, which were filled with pain from the loss of people important to him. Vonnegut's mother committed suicide on Mother's day in 1936 when he was only 14. He reflects this devastating incident in Breakfast of Champions as the lead character, Dwayne Hoover, deals with the suicide of his wife. Vonnegut hides the pain caused by his father's death also in Breakfast of Champions by portraying Hoover's son to be gay, which breaks down their father-son relationship.
     The most notable aspect of Vonnegut's works is the use of satire. Considered a master satirist, Vonnegut vividly portrays through his characters and plots the absurdity of war, the downfalls of religion, and the consequences of technology.
     Three well-written pieces by Kurt Vonnegut that I have read include Slaughterhouse-five, "Adam," and "Harrison Bergeron." I am proud to say that Slaughterhouse-five is definitely one of the best books I have ever read. The book is clearly Vonnegut's masterpiece. The book is remarkable in its scope of intelligence and creativity. I was able to gain a clear knowledge of the meaning of the novel as well as enjoy it. The book was set around the Dresden bombing, a truly atrocious act of warfare. A direct attack on human suffering, it showed how war affected the would and especially individuals. Critic Charles B. Harris describes the book as being "less about Dreden than it is about the impact of Dreden on one man's sensibilities." The focus of any analysis of the book should be on how the story is presented rather than its actual plot or content. Vonnegut repeats different phrases throughout the novel for different reasons. "Mustard gas and roses," "so it goes," and "blue and ivory" all appear in chapter one where Vonnegut speaks as author/character. They appear again in Billy Pilgrims's situation, thus proving that Billy is actually Kurt. I really liked this repetition and believe it's effective since it keeps the reader waiting to find more instances of those phrases.
     The short story "Adam" is a good example of how Vonnegut attacks smaller-scale problems and makes us see how important they really are. In the story Heinz Knechtmann is experiencing the birth of his son. Both he and his wife are survivors of the Holocaust, so they consider life a very precious thing. Heinz is ecstatic after learning he has a new baby boy and wants to share his joy with everyone around him. To his surprise he finds that many people take the miracle of birth for granted. Bitter towards those people, he begins to wonder if maybe he is overreacting. Vonnegut shows how society fails to appreciate the birth of a baby, thinking of it nonchalantly. He does a great job allowing the reader to see why the baby means so much to Heinz. He is saying that it is truly foolish not to react with overwhelming gratitude that Heinz does.
     While satire is clearly Vonnegut's specialty, he is very good at using fantasy to express a theme. "Harrison Bergeron" is set in the future in a United States where all human thought and activity is controlled. Everyone is definitely created equal as handicaps are given to all people so that no one will be superior to anyone else at anything. George Bergeron is very intelligent, but is forced by law to wear a device in his ear that breaks up his thoughts after twenty seconds, so that he can't think about something more than others. He is forced to be equal to his wife Hazel, who is only capable of thinking in short bursts. Their son Harrison is considered dangerous because he is too smart and too strong to be controlled with any handicap given to him. Harrison ends up being killed because of his superior abilities. The story mocks the idea of a level playing field. It is undeniable that in life everyone is given different talents and abilities at different things. Not everything can be equal. By handicapping an individual to fit the level of everyone else is severely hindering that person's potential. Vonnegut is trying to say that people should do all they can to improve on their personal strengths, letting nothing stand in their way. The story may be far- fetched, but it does effectively show how important individuality really is.
     As I first began reading Slaughterhouse-five I knew I was going to enjoy it. I couldn't put the book down. Its unusual structure and organization made it more intriguing for me. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. is clearly an accomplished writer. After I read the book, I could see that I would most likely enjoy more of his writing. Through my conducted research I understand how he is influenced by the world around him and what he says in his works.


Works Cited
http://copper.usc.indiana.edu/~briscott/vonnegut.html
"Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr." Discovering Authors, Gale Research, 1993.
Harris, Charles B. "Time, Uncertainty, and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.: A reading of Slaughterhouse- five'," in The Centennial review, Vol. XX, No. 3, 1976.
"Harrison Bergeron." Literature and Language, MCDOUGALL LITTELL, CO., 1992.
"Adam." Responding to Literature (yellow), MCDOUGALL LITTELL, CO., 1992.