Quest for Purpose in the Novels of Kurt Vonnegut

2311 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Kurt vonnegut critical essay

Quest for Purpose in the Novels of Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut's personal experiences force him to question the meaningless cruelties and conflicting paradigms in life. As a second generation German-American and a witness of Dresden's bombing during World War II, he observes firsthand the pointless destruction of which humans are capable (Dictionary 494). He devotes his works to understanding the chaotic, cruel world he encounters. According to Peter Reed, Vonnegut's works feature a "...protagonist in quest of meaning in an absurd world" (500). While struggling to understand the disordered universe around them, Vonnegut's protagonists attempt to become satisfied individuals by understanding the purpose of human life.

As he probes the chaotic nature of the universe, Vonnegut, according to Ernest Ranly, "...seems preoccupied with genuine human questions, about war, peace, technology, human happiness" (454). Vonnegut's works show an obsessive desire to answer these questions, and he explores them by narrating quests for order and purpose in human life. According to Stanley Schatt, Vonnegut "...believes passionately in both the importance of the individual and the need for human love and compassion" (348). Vonnegut's beliefs become apparent as the searchers invariably realize Vonnegut's truth: the universe is too chaotic to understand, so the secret to order in their lives is simply kindness.

In Vonnegut's novel, Galapagos, the narrator, Leon Trout, attempts to understand humanity's cruelty after witnessing the Vietnam War's brutality and lack of purpose. As a marine in "...a nearly endless, thankless, horrifying, and, finally, pointless war..." (Galapagos 254), Trout struggles to come to terms w...

... middle of paper ...

...nd: A Study of the American Novel in the Nineteen-Sixties. Yale, 1973. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 3. Detroit: Gale,1975.

Ranly, Ernest W. "What Are People For?" Commonweal. 7 May 1971, 207-211. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale,1974.

Reed, Peter J. "Kurt Vonnegut, Jr." Dictionary of Literary Biography. Vol.2: American Novelists Since World War II. Detroit: Gale, 1978.

_____. "Kurt Vonnegut." American Writers. 1981. Scribner's Writers Series.

Schatt, Stanley. "The World of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr." in Critique: Studies in Modern Fiction. Vol. XII, No. 3, 1971. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale,1973.

Vonnegut, Kurt. Galapagos. New York: Dell, 1985.

_____. Mother Night. New York: Dell, 1961.

_____. The Sirens of Titan. New York: Dell, 1959.

Show More
Related

  • Comparing 2BR02B And Harrison Bergeron

    461 Words  | 1 Pages

    Kurt Vonnegut, a modern American writer, composed stories about fictional situations that occurred in futuristic versions of today’s world. His stories included violence, both upon oneself and one another, and characters who sought out revenge. In “2BR02B” and “Harrison Bergeron”, Vonnegut conveys physical violence most likely experienced while a prisoner of World War 2, as a way to show how war brings pain and destruction.

    Read More

  • Relationships and Interdependence in the Works of Kurt Vonnegut

    2146 Words  | 5 Pages

    Relationships and Interdependence in the Works of Kurt Vonnegut While on the surface Kurt Vonnegut's works appear to singularly contain the pessimistic views of an aging, black humorist, his underlying meanings reveal a much more sympathetic and hopeful glimpse of humanity that lends itself to eventual societal improvement. As part of Vonnegut's strategy for enhanced communal welfare, the satirist details in the course of his works potential artificial family groups to connect the masses and alleviate the lonely.

    Read More

  • Kurt Vonnegut’s Opinions Expressed in Player Piano, Cat’s Cradle, and Slaughterhouse-Five

    2281 Words  | 5 Pages

    Every so often, a person comes along and encompasses the meaning of a generation. This person will capture everything people want to say, and then word it so well that his or her name becomes legendary. The sixties was an era with many of these people, each with his or her own means of reaching the people. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., armed with a typewriter and a motive, was amongst those that defined the sixties. Like other notable figures of the sixties, his strong opinions moved the people. Vonnegut’s opinions cover a wide range of topics and address almost all aspects of society. He represented the flower children of the sixties, as he protested the Vietnam War. After his horror of World War II, it is not surprising that Vonnegut opposed war. He also had a unique philosophy about religion, as well. To him, religion is a term with a much broader implication than just the establishment of the church. Vonnegut also compares himself to dictators, as a servant of the people. Opinions such as these are not only found in the many revealing interviews, such as his interview with Playboy magazine. Kurt Vonnegut goes above and beyond many other writers, as he voices his opinions in the actual text of his novels, such as Player Piano, Cat’s Cradle, and Slaughterhouse-Five.

    Read More

  • Unequality in Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut

    860 Words  | 2 Pages

    Festa, Conrad. “Vonnegut’s Satire.” Vonnegut in America: An Introduction to the Life and Work of Kurt Vonnegut. Vol. 5. 1977. 133-50. The GaleGroup. Web. 10 March. 2014.

    Read More

  • Effective Use of Irony and Satire in Cat's Cradle

    867 Words  | 2 Pages

    Vonnegut's writing style throughout the novel is very flip, light, and sarcastic. The narrator's observations and the events occurring during the novel reflect a dark view of humanity which can only be mocked by humor. At the beginning of the novel the narrator is researching for a book he is writing. The book was to be about the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and the lives of the people who created the bomb. The narrator travels through the plot of the story, with characters flying in and out, in almost a daze. He is involved in events which are helplessly beyond his control, but which are inevitably leading to a destination at the end.

    Read More

  • A Life Worth Living in Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five

    2311 Words  | 5 Pages

    In 1958 his sister and brother-in-law died, leaving him to raise their children, along with his own (Campbell 2). Despite these hardships, however, to Vonnegut life is still worth living. It shows through in his novels. Vonnegut utilizes black humor and irony to show many recurring themes noted in his works which are we, as a race, must learn to keep happy illusions over evil ones and that a soothing lie is sometimes the best truth (Lundquist 1). To say that Vonnegut feels life is worth living despite the horrors of the world is to say that Vonnegut really longs for the life of his childhood.

    Read More

  • The Idealism of Kurt Vonnegut

    2000 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Idealism of Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut was greatly influenced by his involvement in World War II. His entanglement with the Dresden bombing had an unequivocal effect upon his mentality, and the horrid experience propelled the liberal anti-war assertions that dominate many of his novels. Throughout his life, his idealistic nature has perceptibly undulated, and five representative novels illustrate the forceful progression and gradual declivity of his liberal views. The first thirty years of his life outwardly coincided with the average American man. He was born in Indianapolis on November 11, 1922, and lived a happy childhood with a stable family.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Slaughterhouse-Five Antiwar Sentiments

    776 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... Vonnegut’s writing is unique because “the narrator offers a very different kind of war story—one which combines fact and fiction” (Jarvis 98). With the combination of fact and fiction, Vonnegut successfully connected events from WWII to the political references and societal conflicts during the Vietnam War. Works Cited Barringer, Mark, and Tom Wells. “The Anti-War Movement in the United States.”

    Read More

  • The Masterpiece of Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle

    2161 Words  | 5 Pages

    Kurt Vonnegut,  critically acclaimed author  of several best-selling novels, uses  self-expression and psychological manipulation to  stress to the reader  his beliefs and ideas dispersed within  the context of Cat's  Cradle. From reading this  novel, one  might attribute  perplexity pondering over the plot  and general story  line of the  book. Cat's Cradle entangles  itself  in  many  interesting  changes of events; strange outlandish ideas and psychological "black holes" can be found with just the flip of a page.

    Read More

  • War and Heroism in Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five

    780 Words  | 2 Pages

    What is war? Is war a place to kill? Or is it a place where something more than just killing happens? War, as defined by the Merriam Webster is “a state or period of usually open and declared fighting between states or nations.” War, can also be viewed with romantic ideals where heroes and legends are born. Even the most intelligent of us hold some rather naïve notions of war. Upon reading Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five, intelligent readers have been divested of any romantic notions regarding war they may have harboured.

    Read More

  • Essay on Theism versus Atheism in Catch-22

    792 Words  | 2 Pages

    Heller, Joseph. The Chelsea House Library of Literary Criticism. Twentieth-Century American Literature Vol. 3. New York. Chelsea House Publishers, 1986.

    Read More

  • East of Eden Essay: Criticism of East of Eden

    1218 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ress. 1957. pp. 302-305. Rpt. In Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. David Marowski. Vol 45 Detroit: Gale, 1987. pp. 370- 371

    Read More

  • Symbolism in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman

    1199 Words  | 3 Pages

    Baym, Franklin, Gottesman, Holland, et al., eds. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 4th ed. New York: Norton, 1994.

    Read More

  • The Biblical Allusion of Lot's Wife in Slaughterhouse-Five

    1998 Words  | 4 Pages

    Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse-Five, uses the biblical allusion of Lot’s wife looking back on the destroyed cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to parallel the story of Billy Pilgrim during the war and his experience after, when he returns to the United States. Although the reference is brief, it has profound implications to the portrayal of America during World War II, especially the bombing of Dresden. Although Lot’s wife’s action dooms her to turn into a pillar of salt, the narrator emphasizes her choice to indicate the importance of being compassionate and having hindsight. Ultimately, Slaughterhouse-Five critiques the American social attitude to disregard the unjust nature of its actions in World War II. Furthermore, Vonnegut’s novel explicates this by elucidating the horrors of war—especially in regard to the massacre of innocence, how it leaves the soldiers stagnant when they return home, and leaves them empty with an American Dream that cannot be fulfilled. In order to combat violence, the novel stresses that one must hold human life to a higher value and be compassionate towards others; America must acknowledge its mistakes so that the soldiers who fought and died for her so that the soldiers may move on.

    Read More

  • An Analysis of Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions

    974 Words  | 2 Pages

    Work Cited Vonnegut, Kurt. A. Breakfast of the Champions. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing. Group, Inc., 1973.

    Read More

More about Quest for Purpose in the Novels of Kurt Vonnegut

Open Document