Sunday, May 17, 2020

Fate in Kurt Vonnegut’s Novel, Slaughterhouse-Five Essay

â€Å"Fate is a misconception, its only a cover-up for the fact you dont have control over your own life.† –Anonymous. In Kurt Vonnegut’s novel, Slaughterhouse-five, an optometrist named Billy Pilgrim becomes unstuck in time uncontrollably and constantly travels between his past, present, and future. Since Pilgrim is unable to control his time warps, he is forced to re-live agonizing moments such as watching his wartime friend Edgar Derby executed for stealing or going through the Dresden bombing repeatedly. However, he is also able to visit pleasant moments like speaking as president in front of the Lions club or his honeymoon with his wife, Valencia. Vonnegut’s use of repetition and vision of war, time and death are crucial to Pilgrim as he†¦show more content†¦They could always visit him or her with the use of time travel when he or she was alive. Because the phrase was very often repeated, it somewhat served as a tally to show how frequently d eath occurs and just how inevitable it is. Billy knew the exact date of his death and how it would happen, but he could not alter it and was no longer afraid of dying, so it had no effect on him because â€Å"there is no why[,]† it just â€Å"simply is† (77; ch4). He learned this from the Tralfamadorians. Through Billy Pilgrim, Vonnegut protests his own feelings about war. Towards the beginning of the novel, Vonnegut visits his old wartime buddy, Bernard V. O’Hare and meets his wife, Mary. She is strangely already mad at Vonnegut because she assumed that he would write a war novel that will glorify the way men fight in wars when they actually send terrified babies off to war, not men. Mary also believed that war movies and books encouraged the chances of war. However, she was not directly angry at Vonnegut; she was angered by the thought of war and how babies are killing other babies on the battlefield. The main event in the novel was the fire-bombing on Dresden during World War II, which both Vonnegut and Pilgrim took part of. Billy Pilgrim was constantly traveling back in time to WWII already knowing this tragedy was going to take place. But again, he went on with life because he knew he could not stop the bombing fromShow MoreRelatedStyle Analysis of Kurt Vonnegut on Slaughterhouse Five1623 Words   |  7 Pagesexample, for instance, is Kurt Vonnegut who may have been stimulated by the war, thus writing Slaughterhouse Ââ€" Five. Though one may categorize this piece as science fiction or even auto - biographical, it can also be interpreted as an anti Ââ€" war piece. Because Vonnegut is classified as a post modernist, one can take into account all the details, such as the similarities between the main character and Vonnegut, the Tralfamadorians, and the style and themes of the novel, and interpret this pieceRead MoreEssay on Anti-War Sentiments in Cats Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five1173 Words   |  5 PagesOn the surface, Kurt Vo nneguts Cats Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five are vastly dissimilar works of literature, each with its own creative style and plot. However, when the texts are examined with a discerning eye one can notice multiple thematic undercurrents such as war fate,time and suffering hidden in plain sight. Overwhelmingly common in Cats Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five are strong anti-war sentiments which show all the ways war is deleterious towards the human condition.(Marvin) VonnegutRead MoreAnalysis Of Kurt Vonnegut s Slaughterhouse Five 1634 Words   |  7 PagesKurt Vonnegut once said, â€Å"So it goes† to describe the unavoidableness of fate. This aspect of seeing terrible things and being able to continue on would become a main theme in his novels. Vonnegut, as an author, received his essential voice by writing about his own experiences, using what would become his signature pessimistic yet humanist view. Vonnegut is described by Lindsay Clark as, â€Å"Worse than a pessimist†¦ he is an eternal optimist doomed to disappointment† (Clark, â€Å"Viewing Four Vonnegut NovelsRead MoreSatire in Slaughterhouse Five Essay862 Words   |  4 PagesIn Slaughterhouse Five, Vonnegut uses satire in the topics of war, aliens, fate and the reasons for life itself. In Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, the author uses many literary devices to bring across his point including black humor, irony, wit and sarcasm. He mainly uses satire throughout the book. Satire is a literary device found in works of literature that uses irony and humor to mock social convention, another work of art, or anything its author thinks ridiculous to make a point. VonnegutRead MoreKurt Vonnegut s Slaughterhouse Five 1901 Words   |  8 PagesKurt Vonnegut developed his view of America through a history of personal loss and trauma that was largely endured at the same time by his characters. As a child, Kurt Vonnegut lived in Indianapolis, Indiana, which he would use in many of his later novels. His father was a prominent architect, while his mother came from the family of a wealthy brewer. After the depression hit, his father lost his business and gave up, his mother became addicted to alcohol and prescription drugs. In his teen yearsRead MoreSlaughterhouse Five By Kurt Vonnegut979 Words   |  4 PagesSlaughterhouse-five Kurt Vonnegut combines satire, imagery and an anecdotal style to talk about complex issues such as science, religion, sex, socialism, pacifism and tradition. He used his writing to convey messages and warnings to society about these issues. Slaughterhouse-five is one of his most well known novels. In this novel Vonnegut uses fiction to portray shadowy truths about human nature. Billy pilgrim is the main focus of Slaughterhouse-five; through him and other characters Vonnegut portraysRead MoreA Conversation With Real Life Director Harrison Starr1693 Words   |  7 Pagesalways be wars, that they were as easy to stop as glaciers†(3). In this quote, Vonnegut’s compares war with the glaciers. There has always been war just like there have always been glaciers. But there will not always be glaciers since they will all eventually melt and when they do, we will suffer. We are unable to live without glaciers, and we are unable to live without war either. No matter how great his anti-war novels are, Vonnegut doesn’t expect them to change society since he already knows thatRead More Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five Essays3848 Words   |  16 PagesKurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five Great artists have the ability to step back from society and see the absurd circus that their world has become. Such satirists use their creative work to reveal the comic elements of an absurd world and incite a change in society; examples include Stanley Kubrick’s film, Dr. Strangelove, and Joseph Heller’s novel, Catch-22. Both works rose above their more serious counterparts to capture the critical voice of a generation dissatisfied with a nation ofRead MoreDeterminism in Slaughterhouse-Five by Billy Pilgrim Essay1460 Words   |  6 Pagescontradicts the belief in free will of the majority of humans in today’s society. Slaughterhouse-Five follows the life of Billy Pilgrim, a young man who has become â€Å"unstuck† in time. The novel traces Billy’s experiences during the bombing of Dresden in World War II, an encounter with extraterrestrials, called Tralfamadorians, and throughout his domestic life as a father, husband, and optometrist. In pa rticular, Kurt Vonnegut explores the bombing of Dresden and the effects thereof on Billy PilgrimRead MoreKurt Vonneguts Slaughterhouse-Five Essay1311 Words   |  6 PagesI. Author- Kurt Vonnegut’s background had an endless influence upon his writing. In his early years, Vonnegut was a private in the 106th infantry division in World War II. He and five scouts were caught behind enemy lines, and then captured. They were held POWs and were beaten on various occasions. In 1945, they witnessed the fire-bombing of Dresden, Germany. Kept during this time in a slaughterhouse, this is part of the inspiration for Slaughterhouse-five. After being released from the Slaughterhouse

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Essay on The !Kung Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert - 715 Words

The !Kung Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert The !Kung Bushmen of Botswana inhabit the semi-arid northwest region of the Kalahari Desert. Their average annual rainfall is poor, only six to nine inches a year. Field work for this article written by Richard B. Lee, was done in the Dobe area, which is a line of eight permanent waterholes. The Dobe area has a population of 466 Bushmen. This includes 379 permanent residents living in independent camps or associated with Bantu cattle posts, as well as 87 seasonal visitors. The Bushmen living in independent camps lack firearms, livestock, and agriculture. The !Kung are entirely dependent upon hunting and gathering for subsistence. Although Dobe-area !Kung have had some contact with†¦show more content†¦Also, a diet based on mongongo nut is more beneficial health-wise as cereal crops such as maize or rice. In addition to the mongongo, the Bushmen have available eighty-four other species of fruits, berries, and melons, and another thirty species of roots and bulbs. Th ere are 54 species of animals classified as edible by the Bushmen, but only 17 species were hunted on a regular basis. All of the !Kungs food supply can be obtained in a six-mile radius of camp, and usually takes a full day to travel the twelve mile round-trip. The !Kung Bushmen of the Dobe area live a long productive, and seemingly satisfying lives. Longevity compares favorably to any industrialized society. The old people are fed and cared for by their children and grandchildren. The old people are also actively involved indecision making and ritual curing. Young people are not expected to provide food regularly until they are married. Girls usually marry between the ages of fifteen and twenty, and boys about five years later. It is not unusual to find healthy, active teenagers visiting from camp to camp while their older relatives provide food for them. The people in the age group of twenty to sixty support the nonproductive and old. These productive members work about tw o and a half days a week, about twelve to nineteen hours a week to get food. A woman gathers enough food in one day to feed her family for three days, and spends the rest of the timeShow MoreRelatedThe Hunters; Scarce Resources in the Kalahari Essay1689 Words   |  7 PagesThe !Kung bushmen of the Kalahari Desert in Southern Africa are one of the few bands of hunter-gatherers left in the world. They survive by foraging for their meals while traveling, never settling in one specific area. Hunting and gathering was the primary mode of survival until about ten thousand years ago. Anthropologists have made assumptions about the hunting and gathering lifestyle of current populations because it seems like a precarious method of living. Moreover, the Kalahari area whereRead MoreThe Field Of Anthropology As A Field2218 Words   |  9 Pagesimportance of the writings of those who have successfully done so. Marjorie Shostak’s â€Å"Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Womanâ₠¬  and Leslie Marmon Silko’s â€Å"Ceremony† are two examples of ethnographic works whose authors chose different techniques for examining other cultures. Shostak’s book is a true work of ethnography, as it is based on her experience living with the !Kung Bushmen, while Silko’s novel is a fictional exploration of the Laguna tribe. These two methods for understanding cultural differenceRead MoreThe Effects Of Music On African Music Essay2137 Words   |  9 PagesAfrica. An Intro to Traditional African Music) Finally, South Africa. Home of the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert, whose ability and language are unique among the people of Africa. They establish communication with specific clicks, sounds, and gurgles from the mouth and have influenced other groups around them and their music. Their music contains very little words and short syllables. The Kung tribe of Bushmen makes music for most of the day. The sanza is a popular instrument in the region. ItRead More Alcohol Drug Abuse: A Psychobiological Trait In Human Societies2550 Words   |  11 Pageshunted and collected animals and plants. Ancient foraging, nevertheless, involved people depending on nature for food and other necessities. Today, few people live this way. One main African foraging area is the Kalahari Desert, the home of the San (Bushmen), who include the !Kung, or Ju/hoansi as they call themselves. Before the Ju/hoansi were contacted and studied by scientists in the 1950s for the first time in history, the group did not use habitSHY;forming drugs or alcohol. However

Under Milk wood Essay Example For Students

Under Milk wood Essay Dylan Thomas succeeds in conveying a very strong visual impression in the book Under Milk Wood, by using many different techniques. The book is a book for voices, and directed particularly towards radio broadcasting, so when the book is heard, its layout and techniques are much more effective. Thomas is mainly known due to his works of poetry; however, he also enjoyed writing prose. In the book, Thomas achieves a medium, which is intermediate between a play and a poem, which allows and calls for the story to have the characteristics of both. Examples of his poetry can be found in the discussions between Captain Cat and Rosie Probert. Thomas talks directly to the audience by having a narrative voice called First Voice, and which keeps the audiences attention by using a lilting Welsh accent. He changes the mood of the play regularly, simply by change the intensity of the voices. In the book, there are three main voices First Voice, Second Voice, and Captain Cat. Captain Cat is the main character in the book, and the audience immediately associates with him because he is blind and he is a natural bridge between eye and ear for the listener. Captain Cat shares his central position with two anonymous narrators. First Voice is unbiased and only narrates the scene and what is occurring there, rather than Second Voice who narrates the dreams and thoughts of people. Second Voice is a much more personal view of village life in comparison to First Voice who glosses over the people and their lives and talks only about the factual details. Captain Cat and the narrators serve only as an eye for the audience in a certain sense. The play, whether it is heard or on a stage, is meant of for the ear because it imposes no limits on the imagination. There is only one other character who is marginally more important than all the remaining voices in the story, and that is The Guide Book. The guide does not say a vast amount in the book, however it is an important voice because it tells you the details of the town, for example Less than five hundred souls inhabit the three quaint streets. The view of town life that is given to you by the guide life is very much different to that of the people who live there. It uses typical guide book language to try and sell the town of Milk Wood. Thomas uses very auditory language, because it is directed at listeners rather than actors or readers. He uses language, which stimulates the brain and its imagination. A few good examples of the language are You can hear the dew falling and hushed town breathing. The language is very appealing to the ear and not only does it create a visual image in the brain, it also makes you feel like you are there because it tells you what you can hear and smell as well as see. The sentence structure varies throughout the book. Sometimes short choppy sentences are used such as Time Passes. Listen. Time Passes which contrasts enormously to the long descriptive sentences, which often include lists of descriptive phrases. The main techniques that Thomas uses in the book are ways in which aural and imaginary atmospheres are created perfectly. He frequently uses alliteration such as asleep in his bunk in the seashelled, ship-in-bottled, shipshapee cabin, and assonance, like when first voice is describing the town Down to the sloeblack, sloe, black, crowblack fishing boat bobbing sea. Similies, metaphors and personification are also used in order to emphasise the images, the houses are blind as moles and the shops in mourning. Throughout the book, there is a strong use of verbs and adjectives to help the listener to imagine the setting and its happenings. As the contrasting voices are heard, small details which to not have any state of importance by themselves, add an enormous amount to the final setting because they link together to form one large picture. .uf9c8053f0a1445bb903e4d264afbea36 , .uf9c8053f0a1445bb903e4d264afbea36 .postImageUrl , .uf9c8053f0a1445bb903e4d264afbea36 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .uf9c8053f0a1445bb903e4d264afbea36 , .uf9c8053f0a1445bb903e4d264afbea36:hover , .uf9c8053f0a1445bb903e4d264afbea36:visited , .uf9c8053f0a1445bb903e4d264afbea36:active { border:0!important; } .uf9c8053f0a1445bb903e4d264afbea36 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .uf9c8053f0a1445bb903e4d264afbea36 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .uf9c8053f0a1445bb903e4d264afbea36:active , .uf9c8053f0a1445bb903e4d264afbea36:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .uf9c8053f0a1445bb903e4d264afbea36 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .uf9c8053f0a1445bb903e4d264afbea36 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .uf9c8053f0a1445bb903e4d264afbea36 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .uf9c8053f0a1445bb903e4d264afbea36 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .uf9c8053f0a1445bb903e4d264afbea36:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .uf9c8053f0a1445bb903e4d264afbea36 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .uf9c8053f0a1445bb903e4d264afbea36 .uf9c8053f0a1445bb903e4d264afbea36-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .uf9c8053f0a1445bb903e4d264afbea36:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: The clat of a great achievement EssayThe text is rich in suggestions and atmosphere and challenges and provokes the audience in to thinking about what they are listening to interpret it for themselves. The last section of the book (Evening) is disproportionately shorter than the other sections of the book, and this is due to the fact that Thomas passed away. The Evening section was going to contain a number of ballads, of which only one was completed (Mr Waldos Song) and submitted. The usage of music is a large part of the play because it helps the audience to imagine village life the songs were not performed in a polished and prepared manner, but simply like it was a village person who was going about their usual routine and singing to themselves. In the book, Under Milk Wood, Dylan Thomas succeeds in conveying a very strong visual impression, by using many different techniques. The books layout and techniques are much more effective when the book is book is heard because it is a book for voices, and directed particularly towards radio broadcasting.