Summer is the only time I get to do some pleasure reading, after a school year of textbooks to absorb into my brain so I can ace my exams. Hence in the summer of 2017, I decided I would read as many books as I can, all written by one author, that is Kurt Vonnegut. Slaughterhouse-Five was the first one I had read that was written by him, during my winter break in grade 10. My love for reading had actually diminished by that time, but that book brought it back. A book about the experience of the Second World War, Slaughterhouse-Five spoke volumes about that heartbreaking time with only short, simple sentences. That was when I knew that Vonnegut was an author like no other.
So I read more of his works over the summer of 2017, such as the Sirens of Titan and Bluebeard, both of which were also amazing to read. Throughout most of his writings, I observed that Vonnegut constantly pondered upon the often-pondered-upon question: is there such a thing as free will, or do we all have a predetermined path of life? He ultimately concludes that the latter is true, and he brings forward some very interesting perspectives on it through his writing. Where you stand on that debate shouldn’t matter. Vonnegut will nevertheless take your breath away through his stories.
Kurt Vonnegut was born to Kurt Vonnegut Sr. and Edith, on November the 11th in 1922, in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was the youngest of three children. Vonnegut was the son of German immigrants who had settled into the US. His parents never taught him to speak German in order to show American patriotism. Vonnegut had addressed this and said that this left him feeling “ignorant and rootless.”
The financial security of the Vonnegut family soon diminished. Vonnegut’s father’s brewery closed down in 1921 with the Prohibition Act, and when the Great Depression hit, he couldn’t find many people to rebuild. Due to this financial misfortune, his father became what Vonnegut described as “a dreamy artist.” His mother became bitter and abusive and as Vonnegut described, expressed hatred “as corrosive as hydrochloric acid.”
Kurt Vonnegut had witnessed the horrors of World War 2. He was a prisoner of the War, and he observed the firebombing of Dresden, a moment he details in Slaughterhouse-Five. Despite the morbidity of that situation, it never made him a hardened old man that most men become. He was a humanist.
Though an atheist, he preferred to sometimes refer to himself as a “Christ-loving agnostic.” His philosophy on kindness and forgiveness may come partially at least, from his African-American cook, Ida Young, who was credited by Vonnegut himself for his upbringing by her in his childhood.
“I am a humanist, which means, in part, that I have tried to behave decently without any expectation of rewards or punishment after I’m dead.” – Kurt Vonnegut.
Later on in 1945, Kurt Vonnegut won the Purple Heart Medal for frostbite and was soon discharged. After that he started writing pieces for magazines like Collier’s, The Saturday Evening Post, and Cosmopolitan. His career in writing spanned fifty years. He had published fourteen novels, three short story collections, five plays, and five works of nonfiction.
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. passed away on April 11, 2007 in Manhattan, New York City, New York at the age of 84. According to his wife, he suffered from brain injuries from a recent fall.
Vonnegut was not just an interesting writer, he was an interesting human being. He has touched not just the hearts of the ones he was surrounded by, but the hearts of people all around the world.
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