The Mind of Kurt Vonnegut Essay -- Biography Biographies Essays

The Mind of Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut is one of the preeminent writers of the later half of the twentieth century. His works are all windows into his mind, a literary psychoanalysis. He examines himself as a cog in the corporate machine in "Deer in the Works"; as a writer through the eyes of Kilgore Trout in several works; and most importantly, as a prisoner of war in Slaughterhouse-Five. Vonnegut created short stories and novels that dealt with events in his life. One of the most obvious self examinations is in "Deer in the Works". The short story is based on his experiences as a publicist at the General Electric Company Research Laboratory in Schenectady, New York. "Deer in the Works" takes place over two days in the life of David Potter as he begins his employment at the Ilium Works of the Federal Apparatus Corporation. He is assigned to cover a deer trapped in a remote corner of the Works. Potter gets lost in the Works himself and feels just as trapped as the deer. He eventually frees the deer and escapes the works to return to his newspaper. Vonnegut felt trapped like Potter does, and left General Electric in 1951 to write full time. Before World War II, Vonnegut was enrolled at Cornell University studying biochemistry. He was surrounded by scientists and machines and as a result, his first literary works were based on that influence. Vonnegutà ¸s early writings were not accepted as serious, mainstream literature due to their scientific nature. He was considered a science fiction writer by literary critics. That label caused him to be largely ignored. He created the character Kilgore Trout, a science fiction writer, to... ...hort-term events like that. Dresden was astonishing, but experiences can be astonishing without changing you" (Reed 776). Despite these claims to the contrary, the experiences at Dresden had always played a large part in his writings. His experiences have always shaped what Kurt Vonnegut has written. He said to his brother, Bernard, that he wrote for an audience of one, his dead sister; but he truly wrote for himself. He wrote about his experiences as a prisoner in Slaughterhouse-Five, as a publicist in a major corporation in "Deer in the Works", and as a writer through the character Kilgore Trout. Vonnegut examined his thoughts through the eyes of David Potter, Kilgore Trout, and Billy Pilgrim. His works are all deeply personal windows into the psyche of Kurt Vonnegut.