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Kurt Vonnegut's Life

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Stories of a full life Anybody can think of some random fictional story but what makes a brilliant story is one that has been inspired off of real events. Kurt Vonnegut took experiences from his life and altered them into novels that inspired generations to come. Novels such as slaughterhouse five are based roughly off of his imprisonment during W.W.2. Or The sirens of titan being based off of Vonnegut's love for science. Not only did Vonnegut make novels based on his own life, but he also reflected deeply on his time in the war. This is a trend that can be seen in authors even today. Vonnegut’s love for writing was first shown in 1952, when he published his first book, player piano. This was followed up by novels the sirens of titan, the
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673 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut intertwines reality and fiction to provide the reader with an anti-war book in a more abstract form. To achieve this abstraction, Kurt Vonnegut utilizes descriptive images, character archetypes, and various themes within the novel. By doing so, he created a unique form of literature that causes the reader to separate reality from falsehood in both their world, and in the world within Vonnegut’s mind. Vonnegut focuses a lot on the characters and their actions in “Slaughterhouse Five.”

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1749 Words | 7 Pages

Victorious conquerors have taken prisoners of war in conflicts across human history. The foreign prison camps of the World Wars were infamous for their cruelty. However, many people are not aware that millions of German prisoners of war were placed in hundreds of camps all across America. These prisoners had their own unique experiences that differed significantly from prisoners held in foreign POW camps. Kurt Vonnegut voices his own traumatizing prisoner of war experience through the main character of Slaughterhouse-Five.

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1745 Words | 7 Pages

The creative ways Kurt Vonnegut intertwined the novels aspects to the bombing allowed for extreme emphasis and attention to be focused on the important event. The story of the Dresden air raid is not often told but through a different science fiction outlet Vonnegut was able to bring attention to the event. The significance of this somewhat ordinary science fiction novel is brought to life by the anti war message and details about World War

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1106 Words | 5 Pages

People are influenced by the events that surround them. Individuals transform into a product of their environment and experiences of the time. The literature and art often reflects the time period in which it is written in, and Vonnegut’s novel is no exception. The novel takes place during World War II, but is written during the time of the Vietnam War. With the Vietnam War, came a lot of anti-war propaganda.

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2045 Words | 9 Pages

“The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal”1 is a statement that in the mouth of the American writer should sound at least victorious. However, Kurt Vonnegut in the opening line of his dystopian short story Harrison Bergeron creates a highly ironical declaration, which he later ridicules by the following story. The author who gained his fame by writing the novel Slaughterhouse-Five, describes the world supposedly equal and free, but entirely bound by the laws that command the lives of people. That describes also fairly well the second short story 2 B R 0 2 B, which title refers to the famous phrase “to be or not to be”2 from William Shakespeare 's Hamlet, as mentioned in the text, “the trick telephone number that people who didn 't

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1543 Words | 7 Pages

November 11th, 1922, in Indianapolis, Indiana, produced one of the most famous living writers of his time. Kurt Vonnegut Jr. grew up in a prosperous family, with his father, Kurt Sr. being a prominent architect in Indianapolis (Allen, A Brief Biography of Kurt Vonnegut). However, Vonnegut's family financial situation changed drastically due to prohibition shutting down a successful family brewery on his maternal side and later the Great Depression destroying his fathers architecture business (anb.org). This sent Kurt Sr. into a life of alcoholism, prescription drug addiction, and relinquishing his wife (Allen, A Brief Biography of Kurt Vonnegut). Kurt Jr. was the youngest of three, later stating his sister, Alice, influenced his writing (Hayman et al).

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510 Words | 3 Pages

When Kurt Vonnegut wrote this story his purpose was to explain to the reader what society

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439 Words | 2 Pages

Sometimes people forget that there are often many flaws in seemingly perfect things. They imagine perfection, but there will still be many factors that were overlooked. The author of “2BR02B”, Kurt Vonnegut, realizes that perfection will never be achieved. Even in the far future when there are many new, helpful innovations and perfection will be strived for, it is not obtainable. Through Vonnegut’s use of setting and symbolism, it is evident that he feels that there will always be flaws.

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516 Words | 3 Pages

The story, “2BR02B” by Kurt Vonnegut tells the story of a world where there is controlled population, old aged and diseases were overcome, and the world was seemingly positive. In this place humans call their home, certain people volunteer to ie, and the population continued to stay controlled. The Wehling family are expecting three triplets, but they must need to find 3 people to sacrifice. Dr.Hitz, Leora Duncan, and the father of the newborn children are killed, with the painter creating an amazing mural willing to be killed after seeing all the deaths unfold. This leads to the question, is the world really worth sacrificing yourself for others?

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565 Words | 3 Pages

Kurt Vonnegut author of slaughterhouse five, in the 1985 essay “How to Write with Style,” makes observations and recommendations for infusing personality into your work. It begins by defining "elements of style" as the unique personal qualities that you show to the reader. Vonnegut then goes on to make an argument on why we should improve our writing style. To which he says it's out of sign of respect for the reader. Basically not putting effort into your writing will make the reader will think that you care little of them.

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805 Words | 4 Pages

Kurt Vonnegut is considered one of the most influential American novelist of the twentieth century. He blended literature with science fiction and humor, the absurd with pointed social commentary. Vonnegut created his own unique world in each of his novels and filled them with phenomenal characters, such as the alien race known as the Tralfamadorians in Slaughterhouse-Five (1969). In a career that spanned over 50 years, Kurt published fourteen novels, three short story collections, five plays, and five works of Nonfiction. In his lifetime he won

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535 Words | 3 Pages

CONCLUSION Kurt Vonnegut started his career as a novelist for more than twenty years and expressed his own view and experience throughout the novels. From the novels Player Piano and Breakfast of champions, Kurt Vonnegut has used his literary works to portray the problem of the individual and he struggles to deals with the confusing, and oftentimes terrifying, aspects of life in the modern worlds. Kurt Vonnegut’s basic concern in these two novels is based on the complexities of human situation.

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815 Words | 4 Pages

Conformity is something that humans have been doing for a long time. Such conformity has lead to negative outcomes. This idea is explored through “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut and “The Unknown Citizen” by W.H. Auden. In these two texts conformity eliminates individuality and causes the society to be weakened.

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1076 Words | 5 Pages

Storytelling has been the epitome of human expression for thousands of years. Along with musicians and artists, talented storytellers use their work to share ideas with others, often in an effort to evoke emotion or to persuade people to think similarly. Every element in a story is carefully crafted by the author in order to communicate a desired message to his or her audience. In Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut incorporates irony into the story to express his belief that fighting wars is illogical.

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596 Words | 3 Pages

In the stories, "The Lie," by Kurt Vonnegut and "Barn Burning," by William Faulkner, the main characters, Eli Remenzel & Colonel Sartoris (Sarty) Snopes, both mature from childhood into adulthood. This growth and maturity develops from having family support and a stable upbringing or perhaps their growth happened within their own self-consciousness. The main characters, in both these stories, use their inner maturity to be strong and courageous and make good decisions as they are growing up. In the story, "The Lie," Eli matures into adulthood.

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