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Welcome to the Monkey House


            Kurt Vonnegut's short story "Miss Temptation" masterfully expresses the issue within society of our tendency to have our attentions caught by an attractive figure and then to resent this leaning without allowing any rational thought to dissuade us. What Vonnegut does is present a situation in which a lonely man expresses his disdain for the thoughts that a complete stranger puts into his head by the way she carries herself. "It's not fair" he says to her, halfway overwhelmed by his forwardness in letting her in on his theory reflective to his life. .
             Is it true that often we face contempt for something we thought we couldn't live without watching a few moments prior? It is a sudden shift that we feel that feeds upon the rest of the beauty in the world and just builds until it's almost offensive to have your eyes find comfort in the looks of another. Corporal Fuller sympathizes with us and we with him. To always be lonely what other lesson is he supposed to learn from such a hero's trial? To accept that fate determines our rank or worth? We know this man, Corporal Fuller and we know that he is a tiny piece within us all. .
             This is where Vonnegut slugs us in the gut. The Corporal put his soul on the wire and unmasked the face of resentment he'd been feeding all along. He told that woman, whom only visits in the summer that she couldn't waltz around and use her body as if it were at her disposal! We agree somewhat although we remain confused, isn't it at her disposal? So we slowly digress until we completely change sides as we find that his blatant criticism causes Susanna to begin to pack up and make her departure of the small town. He didn't like her to kiss the cat, to wear an anklet chain, to wear earrings that sparked an almost bohemian aura. So intoxicatingly intimidating he found her appeal and so inconspicuously he conveyed it that she had no choice but to leave with her head hung for Susanna had never been given a chance either, the story of Fuller's life was Susanna's too.


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