Kurt Vonnegut Literary Criticism

Superior Essays
Kurt Vonnegut is one of the most influential American novelists of the twentieth century who has brought about a phenomenal distinction in literature. Most of the writers have written only in a particular concept or genre, but Kurt Vonnegut has imprinted his undeniable mark in science fiction with humor, social commentary with absurdity and so on.
Kurt Vonnegut has written fourteen novels, three short story collections, five plays, and five works of non-fiction. His works are occupied with unusual characters and the characters show pragmatism, especially in Slaughterhouse-Five. His works mingle satire with humor in a science fiction and his pen does all the magic as per his wish. He was a politician and the member of the American Civil Liberties Union. He worked as the honorary President of the American Humanist Association. Kurt Vonnegut was also the member in Authors League, Barnstable Yacht club, Barnstable comedy Club and Delta Upsilon. Richard Schickel has written, “The trouble with Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. is that he fits too easily into superficial literary categories, thus sparing critics from thinking very hard or well about his work”
…show more content…
Attack from outer space by alien creatures with loftier brain power is the theme of the novel. In The Sirens of Titans the imaginary assault from Mars is essentially an action played by abducted Humans.
Kurt Vonnegut’s serious development happened with the publication of Cat’s Cradle. A synthetic, artificial ingredient called Ice-nine threatens to harden the Earth’s aquatic region. Kurt Vonnegut generated a religion named Bokononism to show the dissimilarity with the disapproving nature of man. Though Bokononismhe eventually imparts that the existence is insignificant, it confirms the sympathetic nature, sense of humour and wit are innate in human

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Irony and Satire In “Slaughterhouse Five” Before Kurt Vonnegut’s novel “Slaughterhouse five” even begins, Vonnegut is described as “America’s greatest satirist”. Considering this title, Vonnegut must be well suited within the realm of satirical literature. Along with this sense of commanding satire, Vonnegut demonstrates a affluent abundance of irony. Throughout this book,Vonnegut’s novel “Slaughterhouse Five”, satire and irony are masterfully used to create an emphatic and hilarious anti-war novel that which has the likes of one nobody has ever seen.…

    • 1104 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Vonnegut’s use of diction and symbolism creates a vivid picture as he uses “mustard gas” and “roses” to describe his breath.…

    • 1524 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The humor in Slaughterhouse Five is another example of how Vonnegut’s method achieves a purpose. Students can learn how to use humor in their own writing to make topics easier to understand, and easier to digest, especially in the case of heavy topics like death and war. Literary critic Robert Scholes says that this humor is what allows Vonnegut “to contemplate the horror he finds in contemporary existence.” Using humor “does not disguise the awful things he perceived; it merely strengthens and comforts [readers] to the point where such perception is bearable” (Scholes 451). Vonnegut’s use of humor and science fiction are perfect examples of how authors use certain techniques to achieve a purpose.…

    • 2286 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Kurt Vonnegut’s article, he explains why you should examine your writing style with the idea of improving it. In order to do so, Vonnegut suggest the following seven step process: 1. Finding a subject that you care about, 2. Do not ramble, 3. Keeping it simple, 4.…

    • 485 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Despite the emotional damage yielding from this event, Vonnegut was able to channel his painful memories into one of his most popular pieces, Slaughterhouse-5”. This period of war and violence began to dampen even more when Vonnegut’s personal darkened. One year before the war ended, Kurt’s mother died of a drug overdose (Allen, William). Death, destruction and drama detailed every little aspect of his life. A combination of war and the death of his mother created a tsunami of…

    • 798 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Kurt Vonnegut, in his novel, “Slaughterhouse Five” recounts his experiences of World War II through Billy Pilgrim, the main character. Vonnegut’s purpose is to describe his wartime experiences and antiwar view. He adopts a complex and elusive tone in order to successfully engage and entertain his readers. Vonnegut begins his novel in the first person. We are given a first-person point of view in the sections embedded in the first and last chapters of the book.…

    • 982 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Kurt Vonnegut, a World War II vet, based the book on his experience, giving these actions a factual representation. Although the use of violence and profanity in Slaughterhouse-Five is questionable at times, the use of these methods allows for the reader to have a true insight in the realities and effects of war on a soldier and his surroundings. Profanity should not be placed as a barrier to reading a book in this society. Students have already encountered such use of vulgar language that it should not be the reason a book is banned. For example, "in a society in which movies rated for a high school audience include extensive profanity and violence, and where three of the top 10-selling songs featured the F-word in their titles, how can coarse language in a book be…

    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Vonnegut writes the characters’ stories with purposeful syntax, tone, symbols, and motifs to highlight how war changes a person’s notions about society. Vonnegut displays the stark and unglorified aspects of death through his…

    • 1535 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Kurt Vonnegut Analysis

    • 1257 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Kurt Vonnegut’s attitude towards equality and the government controlling society is that he is angry with it and wants it to stop. Vonnegut’s use of diction helped prove his point. Vonnegut could have used flinch, grimace, or blanch but he used wince. The ear radios in the people’s ears are causing people to wince in pain.…

    • 1257 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    How to Write with Style Everyone has his or her own writing style, and some writing styles are considerably more distinct than others; however, anyone’s writing style can and should be improved over time. There really is no one specific or perfect way to write because everyone has different opinions on what is well written and what is poorly written, so it is important to alter one’s style so as to capture the attention of very different audiences. Kurt Vonnegut, an amazingly talented author from the 20th century, wrote an essay entitled “How to Write with Style” which gives excellent techniques on how to better anyone’s writing style. Each of his techniques has an explanation as to why they should be used, and he uses each of them in his essay.…

    • 1111 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Vonnegut subtly presents a biographical sketch of the eponymous character EPICAC in his short story EPICAC where he attributes human traits to a computer which is far from being a human. It is the writer’s careful choosing of diction and the pouring forth of human emotions upon the subject that transforms EPICAC from the state of a mere computer to that of a man. Vonnegut is successful in creating his character to the extent that the non-human entity at times appears to be the ‘most human of all the characters’ present in the story. The story could also be read as a social satire on the present state of humanity. The underlying question is ‘what it is to be human?’…

    • 793 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Intertextuality can likewise be a reference or parallel to another scholarly work, a broadened examination of a work or the reception of a style. In Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse - Five, as in other postmodern works, certain characters traverse from different stories, showing up, interfacing the discrete novels as a more prominent creation. For example, science fiction writer Kilgore Trout, frequently an essential character in different novels is appeared as a social commentator and a companion to Billy Pilgrim. Other crossover characters are Eliot Rosewater from God Bless you, Mr. Rosewater, Howard W. Campbell from Mother Night and Bertram Copeland Rumfoord, relative of Winston Niles Rumfoord from The Sirens of Titan (1959). Mr. Rosewater says that Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel The Siblings Karamazov contains ‘everything there was to think about existence’.…

    • 1447 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Although told in an oftentimes quirky and odd manner, Slaughterhouse-Five gives an intriguing perspective on World War II and the lasting effects that it had on the men who fought through it and went on to live out their lives in “normalcy”. The author, Kurt Vonnegut, uses irony, dark humor, and spontaneity to create an unorthodox depiction of the life of one of these said soldiers, Billy Pilgrim, the main character in the novel. In this light, he uses Pilgrim’s experiences in World War II to demonstrate the true nature of war to those who were fortunate enough to never experience it for themselves. The novel’s main theme, the destructiveness of war both internally and externally, is portrayed through Vonnegut’s illustration of the destruction…

    • 1518 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Vonnegut’s novel, Slaughterhouse Five, often mentions other works within his novel. This puts one of the Elements of Postmodernism into effect that, being the Awareness of Intertextuality. Awareness of Intertextuality is when “multiple writings that come together at any ‘moment’ in a particular text.” Vonnegut uses this element by giving…

    • 815 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Postmodernism arose in the mid to late 20th century and was a movement that mainly impacted the arts such as music, architecture and literature. Postmodernism arose hugely due to the events in America at the time and the failures of Modernism. Because of this, many postmodernists have a very skeptical look into elements of their society. To properly analyze Vonnegut’s unique writing style and literary choices, one must first take a look some of the basic elements of a postmodern novel of which Vonnegut’s style for this book is based on. The postmodern style can be very different from author to author, thus making it very hard to categorize all American postmodern literature into one specific style.…

    • 915 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays