Kurt Vonnegut, a great American novelist,died last week due to irreversible braininjuries. The author used his experiences toportray major issues in the science and politicalsectors of the world. Arguably his greatestnovel, “Slaughterhouse-Five,” influenced byhis experience in World War II, deals with variousdifferent subjects such as extraterrestrials,time travel, war, economics, marriage, andmaturing into adulthood. The way in whichVonnegut’s characters interact with each otherin this fantastic novel implies that certainsocial conventions need to be changed. Forexample, on Earth, the character Billy marriesValencia, an overweight woman who is completelyin love with him, but he marries hersimply to get rich with the help of her wealthyfather.
In another chapter, Billy is put in a zooon another planet when he is captured by aliensand mates with an actress. Do these chapterssuggest that there is no love to be found in life?Is marriage only a vehicle for social climbers?Vonnegut’s writing questions the way inwhich society functions and asks what is trulyacceptable behavior.
In “Cat’s Cradle,”Vonnegut uses his infamous irony and humorto make statements about the shape that theworld is in. A lethal weapon called ice-nine isdeveloped and threatens humanity’s existence.If mishandled, one molecule of this substancecould destroy all life on earth. Through thisnovel, Vonnegut comments on the sense ofpanic and chaos experienced by the worldaround him. This book was published duringthe Cold War, right around the time of theCuban Missile Crisis.
The story proves to be afascinating analogy and shows how carelesshumans in power can be.What was most amazing about Vonnegutwas his ability to create realistic characters, somuch so that readers are scared to think theremay actually be people in the world like them.
Vonnegut was an amazing author who usedintertextuality to enhance his work. His referencesto other texts include religious texts likethe book of Jonah in the Bible to classical literaryworks like “Moby Dick.”
In an April 13, 2007 New York Post article,Tom Wolfe, author of “The Bonfire of theVanities,” said, “He was the closest thingwe’ve had to Voltaire. It’s a sad day for the literaryworld.”
While Vonnegut wrote both short storiesand novels, he had once commented that muchlike Charles Dickens, and other famous writers,he wrote the short stories simply formoney, while his novels were his most pridefulwork.
His most recent novel is “Timequake”(1997) and his most recent book of essays is”A Man without a Country” (2005).Contemporary writers like Khaled Hosseini,author of “The Kite Runner,” and MichaelCrichton carry on in Vonnegut’s footsteps, shininglight on issues in other countries that affectpeople of all origins. Vonnegut’s ingenious mind will be missed but not forgotten.