Kurt Vonnegut: Life And Books Essay, Research Paper

Kurt Vonnegut, born on November 11, 1922 to Kurt and Edith Vonnegut, spent a majority of his life writing. He based most of his writing on his life experiences, his inner feelings, and social experiments. Vonnegut began writing for his high school newspaper, The Shortridge Daily Echo. His writing eventually blossomed and his main career in writing began.

Vonnegut’s accounts at Dresden were the basis for his book The Slaughter House FIve. The main character, Billy Pilgrim, is a representation of Vonnegut himself. Billy experiences everything Vonnegut experienced during his war days both physically and psychologically. Pilgrim became a POW after the Battle of the Bulge and worked in the slaughter house, just as his creator did. Vonnegut illustrated his experiences and thoughts at Dresden for the reader through the eyes of Billy Pilgrim, rather than himself.

To mark the end of his depression, Vonnegut wrote Breakfast of Champions. The subtitle for this book was Goodbye Blue MOnday, which signifies his departure from gloom. Vonnegut places himself as Dwayne Boover in this particular story. Just as he used to own and run a SAAB dealership, Dwayne Boover owns a Pontiac Dealership. Dwayne also experiences depression and insanity throughout the story after reading a book by Kilgore Trout, an author who appears in a numberous amount of Vonnegut’s work.

Being a man of science, Vonnegut uses his stories as social experiments. One of his experiments was demonstrated in his book God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. He set up real life scenarios and social behaviors in this book and brought the characters to the answers to their problems. GOd Bless You, Mr. Rosewater demonstrates the behaviors people will take on towards others out of spite or greed. He shows what will happen when money and jealousy come into play in everyday life.

Vonnegut places himself inside various characters throughout his stories. In some way or another, he manages to relate his books to his own personal experiences and life. If Vonnegut had not experienced as much as he did, hi stories would not be as diverse and entertaining. In order to relate to the different lives and views ofeveryday people, Vonnegut incorporates his own emotions and opinions in his books.