Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse-five'

1 score (vii, 56 p.) Includes one sound recording in AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format)
The Amber of the Moment is a thirteen-minute composition for orchestra. Inspiration for this piece is drawn from two sources: the novel Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., and my desire to utilize techniques derived from various musical cultures, including Balinese gamelan and African drumming and marimba playing. Although not directly narrative, much of the imagery portrayed in Slaughterhouse Five informed the emotional landscape of the piece. As to the use of techniques from other cultures, my aim is not to merely imitate them, but to utilize them in a manner appropriate to the tradition of orchestral concert music.
Committee in charge: Dr. David Crumb, Chairperson; Dr. Robert Kyr, Member; Dr. Stephen Rodgers, Member

The works of Kurt Vonnegut stand as seminal in the American literary canon. Looking at three of his most influential novels, namely Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions, this study aims to better understand the mechanisms which inform his fiction. Working chronologically through the novels, the study examines historical context, narrative technique, theoretical underpinnings and the social critique of each novel. Guided by an idea of the postmodern novel the study examines how these elements interact, concluding that by way of what may be considered "simple" yet self-conscious metafiction and prose as well as variations in narrative technique, Vonnegut is able to more accurately convey his opinions on the American situation as well as demonstrate his stance on the role of fiction and the writer in contemporary society. The study also considers closely the role of the reader and the author/reader/text relationship.

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut provides a profound discussion on how the many traumas of war affect the human psyche. The novel’s protagonist, Billy Pilgrim, is a direct witness of many horrific events in World War II, which causes certain life-changing symptoms later in his life. This essay examines the psychological processes of Billy Pilgrim in relation to the traumatic events he experiences in the war. More specifically, Billy’s delusions of supernatural nature are discussed in an attempt to find a connection to the war-trauma. In doing this, the analysis utilizes a psychoanalytic approach to explore the theoretical concepts of trauma and delusion. The essay then identifies certain key moments that are of significance to the development of Billy Pilgrim’s psychological processes and investigates how the different events affect his psyche. Furthermore, Billy’s delusions are discussed to identify their cognitive functions. The analysis finds a clear connection between Billy’s delusions and his trauma, and the essay finds that several of his psychological mechanisms are supported by the corresponding ideas within the psychoanalytic framework. Moreover, a progression of his symptoms is identified and discussed in relation to his experiences in World War II.

碩士
國立中正大學
外國語文研究所
90
Abstract Fatalistic perspective assertions permeate throughout Kurt Vonnegut’s fiction Most of the commentators and readers seem to treat Vonnegut as a believer of fatalism. He seems to advocate “resigned acceptance” and encourage “passive behaviors” of his protagonist, Billy Pilgrim, in his Slaughterhouse-Five. Vonnegut even describes human condition as “bugs trapped in amber,” for he had seen too many dark sides in human nature. But this thought still leave to be controversial. And yet I prefer taking him as a fighter to seeing him a fatalist from my observation in the novel. Although, we could see many fatalistic assertions such as “So it goes,” “There is no why,” and “The moment is structured that way” to emphasize the thought that Vonnegut seems to approve such fatalistic attitude of his protagonist. However, like his protagonist, Billy, Vonnegut could have withdrawn from the reality into a personal illusionary fantasy and pretended there was nothing bad at all after witnessing the firestorm in Dresden. Instead, he took twenty-three years to collect enough information to finish his masterpiece, Slaughterhouse-Five. Vonnegut seemed to be sad and affected by war deeply for it seemed that he imprisoned himself into his fiction when the subject was concerned with the bombing at Dresden. In Slaughterhouse-Five, the author, Vonnegut, describes Billy seems to be imprisoned into his fate; but the author also offers his protagonist free will to start his preaching about the futility of free will after surviving from the plane crash. When we inspect this anecdote carefully enough, we would see that Vonnegut seems to satirize the humanity here instead of promoting the fatalistic concepts in the novel. This thesis is an attempt to explore a possibility that Vonnegut’s employing fatalistic perspective assertions in Slaughterhouse-Five aim to offer a protest and further to satirize the injustice and inhumanity to this world. Therefore, Vonnegut acts more like a fighter than a fatalist. Thus, chapter one focuses on Vonnegut’s life and war experiences. From his negative view to human nature, I attempt to reinforce the impression that Vonnegut believes there is a possibility that this universe runs by fate, chance, and necessity. And yet, from the fact that this book also took him twenty-three years to gather information and compose, implying a message that Vonnegut tends to arouse people’s attention to notice the devastation of Dresden really happened. And also through his satirical attacks to suggest Vonnegut’s very message of this novel seems to indicate human should surpass human limitation to uphold the inherited good nature. In chapter two, the focus is put on how Vonnegut employs the frame of aliens’ abducting Billy, and infuses the author’s personal philosophy from these aliens, and thus creates a fatalistic world in the novel. He introduces the aliens’ concepts of time and death and integrates them to bring in a world full of fatalistic phrases in Slaughterhouse-Five. As to chapter three, it mainly discusses how Vonnegut presents his protagonist is intervened by fate during his war time and postwar lives; and how Billy under his unmet psychological need creates a fanatical alien world, the Tralfamadore, to escape and survive. In conclusion, I conclude that besides fatalism acts as a writing technique in Slaughterhouse-Five to let his unspeakable story to be told, Vonnegut’s true message or spirit of the book is to convey that the past cannot be changed but we can change the future through making a good use of present despite fate’s intervention. Also, we should fear no death but learn the true meaning of life. Although, wars come like glaciers, we still could sustain our inherited goodness and learn to live with love and compassion, and hope no war again. Just break the amber, which symbolizes the bondage of human nature, if we dare to try we would turn the inevitability into possibility of daily events. Thus, Fatalism in Slaughterhouse-Five should act like a writing tool for Vonnegut to offer his subtle protest to the world’s inhumanity and injustice instead of advocating the concept of fatalism here.

The nature of history has always been studied and analyzed from different perspectives throughout the centuries. Following a postmodern position, many theorists have explored history and have questioned it critically in the light of the present. The postmodern theorist Brenda Marshall has stated, “History in the postmodern moment becomes histories and stories.” Scholars have been interested in the stories that are not told and need to be reconstructed to reveal other stories that have been hidden and silenced for a long time, and, in some cases, they were written with ideological implications on the part of a dominant group in society.
Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Lenguas
Velazquez, Yanina de los Angeles. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Lenguas; Argentina

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
In his novels Slaughterhouse-five and The Sirens of Titan, Kurt Vonnegut explores issues of cultural identity in technologically-advanced societies post-World War II. With the rise of globalization and rapid technological advancements that occurred postwar, humans worldwide were mitigating the effects of information overload and instability in cultural identity. The influx of cultural influences that accompany a global society draws attention to the fluidity and inevitability of cultural change. A heightened awareness of cultural influences—past and present—creates anxiety for the generation living postwar and before the dawn of the Information Age. This generation suffers from “cultural schizophrenia”: a fracturing of the psyche characterized by anxiety over unstable cultural identities and agency. With the characters of Billy Pilgrim and Winston Niles Rumfoord, Vonnegut explores the different reactions to and consequences of cultural schizophrenia. His unique writing style is an effective hybrid of science fiction conventions and the complexities of human culture and society. Ultimately, Vonnegut explores the dangers of detachment and the complicated nature of agency with novels that are both innovative and accessible.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
This thesis applies the ontological turn to the war fiction of veteran authors, Kurt Vonnegut and Tim O’Brien. It argues that some veteran authors desire to communicate truth through fiction. Choosing to communicate truth through fiction hints at a new perspective on reality and existence that may not be readily accepted or understood by those who lack combat experience. The non-veteran understanding of war can be more informed by entertaining the idea that a multiplicity of realities exists. Affirming the combat veteran reality—the post-war ontology—and acknowledging the non-veteran reality—rooted in what I label “pre-war” or “civilian” ontology—helps enhance the reader’s understanding of what veteran authors attempt to communicate through fiction. This approach reframes the dialogic interaction between the reader and the perspectives presented in veteran author’s fiction through an emphasis on “radical alterity” to the point that telling and reading such stories represent distinct ontological journeys. Both Kurt Vonnegut and Tim O’Brien provide intriguing perspectives on reality through their fiction, particularly in the way their characters perceive and express morality, guilt, time, mortality, and even existence. Vonnegut and O’Brien’s war experiences inform these perspectives. This does not imply that the authors hold an identical perspective on the world or that combat experience yields an ontological understanding of the world common to every veteran. It simply asserts that applying the ontological turn to these writings, and the writings of other combat veterans, reveals that those who experience combat first-hand often walk away from those experiences with a changed ontological perspective.

碩士
國立中正大學
外國語文研究所
89
This thesis is an attempt to show Kurt Vonnegut and Billy Pilgrim's trauma of war and their effort of seeking for self-cure in Slaughterhoue-Five. Therefore, I divide the thesis into three chapters. Chapter One focuses on Vonnegut's experience in the Second World War, his anxiety, problems and quest on writing and finding his perspective in his war story. By tracing biographical interviews certain evidences can show that Vonnegut is not only a writer who has struggled to write an antiwar story but also a veteran who has to reconstruct his memory and meaning about life after witnessing the bombing of Dresden. Writing and recreating the war story for Vonnegut is a process of seeking for self-cure from the trauma of war. In Chapter Two, I attempt to show that Vonnegut's persona, Billy Pilgrim has gone through similar traumatic experience and symptoms that are similar to Vonnegut's. To explain my viewpoints, I will firstly review some critics' point of view of Billy Pilgrim's time travel and its connections with his psychological and mental instability. I try to suggest that Billy Pilgrim's "time travel" may be one of the traumatic symptoms that the memory of war disturbs his life and human relationship. Therefore, psychological studies about trauma and its symptoms will be briefly introduced in this chapter. Chapter Three will explain the relationship between Billy Pilgrim's alien fantasy and his self-cure for war trauma. Billy Pilgrim's fantasy about the alien planet, the Tralfamadore, will be related to Genesis's Eden and Vonnegut's use of rewriting Biblical myth. In imagining the alien world, Billy Pilgrim is able to overcome his own fear about death and then to change his own attitude toward life. The fantasy about the alien has transformed Billy Pilgrim into a different person. In conclusion, I find that Slaughterhouse-Five reveals Vonnegut's intention of seeking for cure from the pain of war. It is a representation of his wish fulfillment and a quest of finding a meaning about war, life and death. Through creating Billy Pilgrim's war story similar to his own, Vonnegut has suggested us that since people are able to create war and invent history, we shall certainly have the potential to reinvent them according to our wish in saving us from totally collapsing from the unreasonable world.

碩士
國立中正大學
外國語文研究所
90
Based on the Dresden fire-raid during World War II, Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five spotlights on a veteran’s wartime and postwar life. The massacre in the firebombing makes the veteran sad from time to time and also abhorrent to war since then. As a result, he creates his utopian worlds where he can get rid of the grief and hatred. However, his real world seems to tell him that he can never have his utopia realized. The thesis consists of four parts – Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, and Conclusion. In Chapter One, the primary issue is the distinctions between utopia and anti-utopia. Chapter Two revolves around Billy’s traveling to a remote state. ‘Traveling’ is Billy’s time travel, while the ‘remote state’ is Tralfamadore. The result of my discussion is to demonstrate that Billy’s traveling to Tralfamadore is a voyage to utopia. The focus of Chapter Three is on ‘the hopelessness of Vonnegut’s utopian dream.’ Vonnegut’s utopian dream is his wish for a world of permanent peace, but the reality – technology and human nature – crushes his dream. War will never end. And Conclusion is on the ambiguous boundary between utopia and anti-utopia: both utopia and anti-utopia contain the seeds of its counterpart. The conclusion does not overthrow my discussions earlier but reinforces the persuasiveness of my arguments in Chapter Two and Chapter Three.

碩士
國立中正大學
外國語文研究所
103
Generally, Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, which this thesis regards as a piece of post-modern writing, involves numerous pioneering elements that break certain conventional writing rules in realism and modernism. Vonnegut intelligently creates his own writing styles and brings out serious issues through his simple, straightforward language. Primarily touching on Billy Pilgrim’s life before, during, and after WWII, this text accentuates much inevitable dread and inexpressible ugliness of war while Vonnegut’s author surrogate occasionally intervenes to authenticate his story from a seemingly centering but actually decentering approach. In this light, this thesis aims to analyze how and why Vonnegut both centralizes and decentralizes Slaughterhouse-Five in language. In my opinion, dealing with the indescribable horror of war, the author’s black humor and repetitions of trite expressions result in an anti-logocentrism wherein language subverts God’s logoi while at the same time Vonnegut’s anti-war message centrally underlies this novel. This thesis consists of four sections－Introduction, Chapter I, Chapter II, and Conclusion. Chapter I examines how Vonnegut’s black humor has a decentering effect. In the war context, Vonnegut employs his authorial power to shun a direct way of describing reality word for word yet adopts metafictional parody so as to make fun of history and fiction. Not tackling the war scene with heroic, bloody or ornate words shows Vonnegut’s disbelief in logoi and distrust of linguistic representation of actuality. Chapter II focuses on Vonnegut’s awareness of the inability of words to fully cope with reality. He often repeats clichés in place of any attempt to represent battle. While repeating these expressions, he meantime thematically points out the ineffability of war horror and the absurdity of man’s life insofar as signified and signifier, within a logos, fail to connect, reflecting the inability of language to accurately represent reality.

碩士
輔仁大學
英國語文學系
87
Abstract The thesis is an examination of Kurt Vonnegut's use of authorial power and its relationship with his thematic concerns in Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions. The author is presented as a powerless one as Vonnegut abandons some of the realist and modernist authorial controls over the text. He challenges the omniscient and omnipotent power of the author by presenting a belittled writer figure, exposing the writing process, and renouncing his control over language, plot and structure. However, all these apparently negative strategies help Vonnegut successfully present the absurd and paradoxical nature of his subject matters in both novels. Consequently, the author is actually a powerful one since the seemingly powerless aspects are Vonnegut's strategic arrangements in presenting his unusual themes without falling into the inadequacy of the writing modes of realist and modernist traditions. Historically, Vonnegut's writing strategies respond actively to the metafictional writers and the spirits of black humor. The first chapter defines the paradoxical ideas of the authorial power/powerless. The following two chapters discuss separately about how the powerless author strategies empower the author in Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions. In both novels, Vonnegut connects his main issues with the subject of writing, which reinforces the presentation of his concerns and the conveying of his messages. In Slaughterhouse-Five, the incomprehensibility and absurdity of war and death echo to the revelation of the failure and frustration of the author in writing, while in Breakfast of Champions, the author's inability actually help reflect the social, cultural problems in American society and the those of human existence.