Kurt Vonnegut, JR's Unshackled Mind.
Throughout the given Kurt Vonnegut stories, there has been a common, underlying theme. This theme can be found in such short stories as "Report on the Barnhouse Effect," "The Euphio Question," and "Harrison Bergeron." In extremes of both spectrums, Vonnegut's theme is that of the unshackled mind. Through Vonnegut's writing, it is obvious that he cares heavily for freedom of choice. Each short story comes from a different angle of the unshackled mind but all result in the same message concerning the mind. It is through a step-by-step examination of the short stories that one can easily see the theme of the unshackled mind. .
In "The Euphio Question," Vonnegut shows what happens when the mind is shackled, coupled with the effects of greed. When a hissing sound from space was amplified, the whole town became like zombies. "The whole town went nuts For no reason at all, all the cars pulled up to the curb like there was a hook and ladder going by. Says here people shut up in the middle of sentences and stayed that way for five minutes. Hundreds wandered around in the cold in their shirt-sleeves, grinning like toothpaste ads."(pg. 175)This sound, when amplified at the masses, caused full shackling of the mind, all free will gone, and just an extreme docile view of life. At first the characters don't see the mind altering as mind control or shackling of free will, they see it as just helping others achieve happiness. "Is happiness bad?" Lew interrupted. No, I admitted." (pg 176) From this moment in the story on, the main protagonists begin to think of ways of turning this device into a cash crop. They realize that once the consumers mind is shackled, and void of free will, that they will agree with anything such as the sale of a house. When the protagonists do a test of the "Bockmans Euphoria," everyone becomes happy and extremely passive, not caring what's going on around them no matter what.
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on November 11, 1922. He was the son of successful architect Kurt Vonnegut and Edith Lieber. ... Kurt Jr.'... These first two works of Kurt Vonnegut Jr. were initially categorized as science fiction, however Vonnegut's books go far beyond the realm of most pure sci-fi. ...
Kurt Vonnegut, one of the most popular science fiction writers of his time, is known for his antiwar themes in most of his novels and for his use of dark humor and satire to prove that war is a horrible thing. ... Kurt Vonnegut blames America for most of the destruction of war. ... Kurt Vonnegut is known for being an antiwar figure so this fits his theme of his other books. ... This is another example of Kurt Vonnegut's antiwar theme. ... This theme is deeply rooted in Kurt Vonnegut's books because he witnessed the bombing of Dresden, when over 100,000 innocent civilians were killed ...
All of Kurt Vonnegut's books are strongly satirical and ironical (Vonnegut often uses very dark humor), funny, compassionate and extremely wise. ... Kurt Vonnegut also very often uses science fiction and comic book formulas (quick action, short dialogues etc.), which usually puts his books onto bookstore shelves marked "sci-fi". ... When you examine Cat's Cradle, Harrison Bergeron, and Slaughterhouse five you are given a good idea of Vonnegut a writer, because it provides a cross section of his ideas and the themes he is attempting to portray. ... This underlying theme gives the e...
Kurt Vonnegut was the youngest of three children. ... While there are many arguments for themes in this story i feel the theme in this story is freedom, it is in the story many times but vonnegut throws all of the American rights of freedom away in this short story but almost everything that happens in this story relates back to the theme of freedom. In the story Harrison bergeron, Kurt Vonnegut Talks about Freedom for people. ... Vonnegut used Harrison in a very useful way to express the theme of Freedom all while tying in the huge need of setting. ... Lastly if Kurt Vonnegut did not use the ...
Diction Kurt Vonnegut is pointing out his view on what equality is and he wants us to think how extreme equality would affect us. ... Another use of diction Kurt Vonnegut uses to enforce his views on equality is when Vonnegut described the recently freed ballerina as "blindingly" (Vonnegut) beautiful on line 162. ... Imagery In Harrison Bergeron, Kurt Vonnegut uses imagery to convey his thoughts of how handicaps affect this society. ... Kurt Vonnegut used many details to show and emphasize how different our world would be with extreme equality. Language In Kurt Vonnegut's stor...
Author Kurt Vonnegut is often perceived as one of the greatest post-apocalyptic authors of the 20th century. ... In May 1945, the Red Army liberated Vonnegut's camp. ... Kurt Vonnegut submitted what would become "Cat's Cradle" as his master's thesis to the University of Chicago, who accepted it and he was awarded his Masters in anthropology. ... Kurt Vonnegut led a generation of authors into a whole new frontier of post-apocalyptic literature and in doing so spawned a whole new group of readers. What Spielberg did for movies, Vonnegut did for books. ...
Kurt Vonnegut's Inspiration. Kurt Vonnegut, Author of the short story collaboration Welcome to the Monkey House, expressed two messages inspired by his siblings. ... He said the two main themes of his novels were just those two statements. These themes were expressed in the short stories of Welcome to the Monkey House. ... Kurt Vonnegut was inspired by his siblings, and expressed his inspiration well in these short stories. ...
Kurt Vonnegut's Satire As with many of his books, Kurt Vonnegut fills Cat's Cradle with satire of different sorts. ... Vonnegut constructs a tale of a genius, yet completely detached scientist, Felix Hoenikker, who is the father of the atomic bomb. ... Vonnegut also defines his ideas about government through the island of San Lorenzo. ... Vonnegut uses satire to show us how ridiculous people can be. Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle is teeming with satire. ...
Kurt Vonnegut, religion and social laws. When reading Slaughterhouse-Five it is extremely noticeable that Kurt Vonnegut attempts to open your mind beyond the limits that society established once as untouchables. ... The sarcasm and careless for things that Billy Pilgrim shows in Slaughterhouse-Five reflects Vonnegut's careless for everything since human is innocent. ... (Vonnegut p.53). ... Despite Vonnegut's pessimism, he defends one's independency, he defends human capacity of doing things by their own. ...
