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Kurt Vonnegut's Short Story 'The Lie'

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Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s short story, “The Lie,” takes place at an all boys school called Whitehill in North Marston, Massachusetts. Eli’s parents are completely oblivious as to why Eli isn’t as excited as them for getting in. Eli is dragged down by the weight of knowing where his excitement for getting into the school, and it’s exactly where his rejection letter is-in the trash. One message demonstrated by “The Lie” is that there will always be consequences for every bad decision made. Vonnegutt decided to put Eli under pressure by having his mother say, “If I were you,” she said to Eli, “I’d be so excited I could hardly stand it. The best four years of your whole life are about to begin.” This shows that Eli’s parents are excited for him to of
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Eli later decides to confront his mother and sister on what secrets his dad is hiding. He knows if he tells his mom, both he, his mom, and sister will never be able to think of his dad the same way again. He decides knowing the truth is more important than ruining a relationship, and goes ahead and tells. The novel states, " 'Mom, I found something out last night. Something you might not believe.

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Eli fixates on this concept and, after spending time around his dad, works towards becoming the good man he had always hoped to be. Upon getting to know his dad, Eli wasn’t impressed, despite August staying resolute in the fact that he was good. It wasn’t until later when he really took on the paternal role in their lives that Eli even considers forgiving him and participates in his attempts to bond, knowing

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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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It doesn't even have to be with his whole family, because, honestly, I'm afraid of his dad, too. However, his mother seems to be an extremely caring, patient, and calm person, considering she hasn't snapped on anyone, yet, and actually put effort into Eli's birthday dinner (page 23-24). Hopefully, Eli learns to accept his emotions and not shut everyone out by the end of the

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1198 Words | 5 Pages

This is affecting Eli because he want to go back when his life was great and he still had his twin brother. And now that he doesn't have his twin brother his life is not as good. Then Eli's dad puts the cherry on top and starts to tell Eli things that he doesn't want to hear. Eli's dad keeps telling him Eddy never coming back Eli's dad would tell him.on page 155. This is one of the many things that make Eli really upset.

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In his short story “The Lie”, Kurt Vonnegut suggests that ignorance directly impacts one’s pressure to succeed, and causes corruption when expectations are not met. In the story, The Remenzels are on their way to Whitehill, and anxiously talking about the process that Eli will go through to start his high school career. However, Vonnegut tells the reader that Eli has been refraining from telling his parents the truth, that he was denied acceptance from the prestigious school. Soon after the reader learns this information, Vonnegut says “Doctor Remenzel and his wife had no doubts whatsoever about their son’s getting into Whitehill. It was inconceivable to them that Eli could not go there, so they had no curiosity as to how Eli had done on

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290 Words | 2 Pages

In Kurt Vonnegut’s “The Lie”, Dr. Remenzel’s main flaw is that he is a hypocrite. One reason that Dr. Remenzel is being deceptive, is because he tells his family not to use their family name to get them special privileges. Yet that very same day, he tries to do just that. In the car on the way to Whitehill, Dr. Remenzel tells his family, mainly his wife, never to misuse their family name.

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496 Words | 2 Pages

This summer, what made me chose to read the book, Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut was that last year we studied World War II in AP US History and I found it very interesting, and saw it as an event where I could understand what the narrator Billy Pilgrim was talking about. The book connects with me personally because I have had an interest in joining the military. I have been out to the Air Force Academy a couple times and have spent a week there at a cadet summer camp. I am well on my way to getting my private pilot’s license and have a dream to become a fighter pilot some day, so a book on the experience of a soldier in World War II peaked my interest.

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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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Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut is a unique novel. The story explores many themes such as war, fate, pride, and free will. Unlike many novels, the events in the story are not told in chronological order. This story tells the life of Billy Pilgrim, a soldier during World War II who claims aliens abducted him. During his time in Germany, Billy becomes “unstuck in time.”

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406 Words | 2 Pages

“Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value,” is a quote from Albert Einstein. Dr. Remenzel, a character in the short story “The Lie” written by Kurt Vonnegut, tried too hard to be a successful man that he forgot about his morals and forgot be a man of value. Within this short story, Dr. Remenzel would harp on his wife and son about being good examples. Not only this but, he would ensure that they wouldn’t, under any circumstances, go searching for a hand out because of their last name.

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Consequences of Complete Government Control The American people have always fought oppression from the government, but have relinquished their freedoms in the dystopian societies of Vonnegut’s short stories. He is able to illustrate the future governments of America based on the life he was experiencing during the Great Depression and World War II. During the Great Depression, 1929-1939, America encountered an economic slump that led to a 25 percent unemployment rate, failing businesses, and great hardships for most Americans.

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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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803 Words | 4 Pages

Pressure, the one thing that can single-handedly change normal behaviors to the strange and the foreign; the one force that toys with emotions. It makes the mind commit the worst of atrocities, or the best of blessings upon oneself or unto the surrounding people. Pressure is the biggest factor in what changes people, pressure forces change. The man of grandeur and dignity from the story “The Lie” by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Doctor Remenzel, is a man who finds himself being played with emotionally by internal pressures. Thus, he is forced into committing an inconceivable act of hypocrisy and having drastic behavioral changes wrought upon himself.

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596 Words | 3 Pages

At the very beginning, Eli’s parents' have a lack of understanding of his individuality causing Eli to deny his own feelings. When Eli receives a rejection letter from his high school, Whitehill, he keeps this a secret from his parents to avoid their ultimate disappointment. From the very start of the story, Sylvia believes her son is just another Remenzel among all the past Remenzel’s who have been on the honor list that will be attending Whitehill. Whitehill has been the high school for generations in the Remenzel family history.

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