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Kurt Vonnegut Research Paper

989 Words4 Pages

World War II is notorious for its mass destruction and loss of lives. On February 13th, 1945 the Allied powers bombed the city of Dresden, killing more than 135,000 people. In German captivity, Kurt Vonnegut survived the bombings while waiting underground for hours. Imagine surviving one of the deadliest acts of war, listening to a city crumbling down above you, and then being forced to clean up the aftermath. This was the reality Kurt Vonnegut had to face. Kurt Vonnegut was an author known for his black sense of humor on serious topics and his sci-fi style. Vonnegut grew up in the Great Depression, served in World War II, and wrote books from 1950s to 1990s. Living an extraordinary life with lots of influential events, Kurt Vonnegut expressed …show more content…

Vonnegut majored in Chemistry, but was a writer and editor for the student newspaper Cornell Daily Sun (Leonard 1). Following the start of World War Two, Vonnegut decided to drop out of college and enlist into the army, rather than wait to be drafted (Shields 53). Unfortunately, this caused the tension between Vonnegut and his dad to grow, and caused more emotional pain to his mother. Vonnegut’s mother had been suffering from depression almost her entire life, and just as he had returned home on leave for Mother’s Day, his mother committed suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills (“Kurt Vonnegut” 208). Vonnegut and his sister Alice were the ones to discover their mom’s death, which left a lasting impact on Vonnegut’s life and his writing (Shields 56-58). He was shipped to Europe in 1944 to serve with the 106th infantry division (Leonard 1). Vonnegut witnessed many horrible sights of war during his deployment, which would often be reflected in his books. On December 22nd, 1944 Kurt Vonnegut and several other men were captured behind enemy lines by Nazis (Leonard 2). Shields explains, the men were packed into train carts with barely enough room to even stand. They traveled for days before arriving at Stalag IV-B in Muhlberg. Upon

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