Kurt
Vonnegut
Timeline
Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Born November 11th, 1922
Indianapolis, Indiana
The 1930's
The start of the Great Depression,
The loss of his family's wealth.
1944
Death of Edith Vonnegut
1945
The Dresden Fire Storm
Marries Jane Marie Cox
1952
The Player Piano
1958
The death of his sister
1961
Harrison Bergeron
1963
Cat's Cradle
1969
Slaughterhouse- Five
The Vonnegut family’s German heritage proved to be the downfall of their wealth and comfortable lifestyle. The anti- German attitudes preceding World War I were resulting in businesses being closed down and the demise of many German immigrants social status and lifestyle. Kurt Vonnegut Sr. following in his father’s footsteps was a successful architect up until the Great Depression, which sent the building industry plummeting. Edith Leiber (Kurt’s mother) hailing from a family of millionaire brewers lost her fortune due to her family’s German heritage and the prohibition. Kurt Sr. was out of work for several years and Edith’s fortune disappeared and this caused an abrupt change in the lifestyle that they had grown accustomed to. The two eldest children were raised in wealth and attended private schools but this was not the case for Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Vonnegut received a public school education in which he later stated he in fact appreciated. He states that his education in public schools taught him the idealistic and pacifistic views he had on society and these are later reflected in his writing. He also discovered his love for writing whilst editing the school newspaper and found that he had a natural talent for the written word (Indiana His. Society). The attitudes against Germans and the Great Depression lead Kurt to themes such as the loss of “The American Dream” we later find in his writings (Encyclopedia of World Bio.). The downfall of the young Kurt’s family definitely altered the way he saw the world and would prove to bring on many challenges for his family down the road.
Some years after the start of World War II Vonnegut was attending Cornell University studying Biology and Chemistry when he made the decision to join the United States Army (biography.com). During this time Edith Vonnegut (formerly Edith Leiber) had still been struggling to come to terms with her new lifestyle. Edith was raised with a privileged background and after the Great Depression the Vonnegut’s still struggled to return to their former social status. Attempting to bring in more money Edith wrote short stories for several magazines but she never could get her writing career off the ground. In 1944 on Mother’s Day, two years after joining the United States Army, Kurt Vonnegut returned home on leave to find his mother had taken her own life the night before.
Three months after his mother’s death Kurt returned to the army and joined the 106th Infantry Division and served in the Battle of the Bulge (Indiana His. Society). On December 14th, 1944 Vonnegut along with several other American soldiers were taken as prisoners and sent off to Germany (Vonnegut). Several years later the importance of these events in Kurt’s life was expressed when he published Slaughterhouse- Five. Many of the events during this time made their appearance in the very popular book and even some fellow prisoners of war such as Bernard V. O’Hare made their debut in his literature. Vonnegut stated years later that he believed he had fulfilled his mother’s wishes of becoming a writer through his own success. He wrote for several magazines and believed his mother did not have the “vulgarity” that the magazines strived for (Indiana His. Society).
Captured as prisoner of war.
In the times following Vonnegut’s imprisonment he came face to face with things most people could never imagine. The prisoners were shoved in overcrowded boxcars and were deprived of sleep, water, food, and sanitary conditions. The boxcar was bombed during their travels killing 150 men and when they reached their destination on New Year’s Eve of 1945 many died of shock when placed in the showers (Vonnegut). The prisoners worked hard labor and were poorly treated. In February 1945 the Dresden firestorm occurred killing over 135,000 people. Vonnegut and several other prisoners found refuge in a meat locker three stories underground (Indiana His. Society). When they resurfaced Vonnegut discovered one of the most beautiful cities he had ever seen been burnt to the ground. The prisoners were then set with the task to remove the charred bodies from the rubble and burn them in large funeral pyres. Vonnegut later described this as a “terribly elaborate Easter egg hunt”(Indiana His. Society). These events went unrecognized for quite some time even after his rescue sometime in May 1945. Several years later Vonnegut produced his book Slaughterhouse-Five narrating the event and its significance in his life through the character Billy Pilgrim. Several months later in September of 1945 Vonnegut married his childhood sweetheart Jane Marie Cox. The two would go on to have a happy marriage and give birth to three children Mark, Edith and Nanette. There are several letters exchanged between Jane and Kurt throughout his lifetime even during his time in Cornell University. It is said that Jane encouraged his writing throughout their time together (Strand).
The first novel published by Kurt Vonnegut went by the title Player Piano. Produced in 1952 many people state it still speaks clearly to 21st century readers. The novel outlines Vonnegut’s beliefs on technologies role on society. The book takes place in a dystopian society by the name of Illium. Illium is a post-war society who’s national trinity is “Efficiency, Economy, Quality” is focused on eliminating human error and by doing so they have allowed the complete takeover of technology and are now controlled by a computer named EPICAC. Standardized testing is put into place to decide an individual’s role in society and manual labor is eliminated. Craftsmen and artists are a thing of the past and technology has dehumanized society entirely. They no longer think for themselves or make decisions due to the standardized testing making decisions for them. This timeless story reflects many issues we face today and its message still rings true even 60 years later.
On September 17th, 1958 another tragedy struck in Vonnegut’s life. Alice Vonnegut the eldest sister of Kurt Vonnegut passed away due to cancer. Just a few days before Alice’s husband, James Adams, passed away in a train accident that plummeted off a bridge (The Guardian). This was later known as the Newark Bay Accident (Daily News). Alice and James Adams had three sons Kurt, James and Steven. The couple had a fourth child much younger than the other children and was sent to live with the family of James (The Vonnegut Family). Due to their parents untimely deaths Kurt and Jane Vonnegut adopted the three children. Just seven years after their marriage Kurt’s family grew from five to eight in a matter of days. This brought on a new need for more funds and in an effort to bring more money in the house Kurt began focusing more intensely on his writing (The Guardian). The years following would prove to produce some of his most successful works.
In 1963 came a long one of Kurt Vonnegut’s most successful novels according to several critics. The Cat’s Cradle is one of Vonnegut’s most popular books even today. Revisiting Illium from Player Piano we meet a character named John. This character begins as a normal person writing a book on Americans and finds himself getting involved in the end of the world. This book takes a very comical approach to apocalyptic attitudes. The main character John meets the creators of a very dangerous ice called ice-nine. This ice holds the power to freeze every drop of water on the planet. In a chain of events John becomes dictator of San Lorenzo and the previous dictator then kills himself with the ice-nine. Due to a freak accident the body of the previous dictator makes its way into the ocean and proceeds to send the world into an ice age apocalypse. The underlying meaning to this story directly relates to the use of atom bombs today. Vonnegut always favored technology until the events like the bombing of Dresden and Hiroshima. The use of atom bombs appalled Vonnegut and he was strongly against the use of technology against humanity (Schmoop). This book really delves into apocalyptic views and how technology can possibly lead to our demise.
In the 1960s with the rise of the civil rights protests came a long a short story that oddly took on a similar theme. Taking a stab at socialist ideals Vonnegut wrote the short story Harrison Bergeron. Published in the Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine the story was closely related to many of the issues going on at the time although it took place in a dystopian society in the year 2081. In the year 2081 everyone is equal. Anyone above average is weighed down with handicaps or their beauty is masked to make others feel equal. The story follows a long with a husband and wife whose son had been taken due to his overbearing excellence. While watching a ballet on TV their son breaks onto the stage removing his handicaps and claiming himself emperor. He claims his queen and they dance a beautiful dance before they are gunned down and killed. Then society continues on as if nothing happened (Schmoop). This genius look into the life of total equality shows that individuality might not be such a bad thing.
In 1969 almost twenty five years after one of the most life changing events in Vonnegut’s life he published Slaughterhouse-Five. This book quickly grew in popularity and is said to be one of Vonnegut’s personal favorites (TIME). The book takes place in the same battle that the young Kurt found himself in twenty four years prior. The main character Billy Pilgrim faces many of the same challenges that Vonnegut did such as becoming a prisoner of war and witnessing the Dresden bombing. However, what differs this story from the tragic events in Kurt’s life are an Alien race called the Tralfamadorians who capture Billy and put him in a zoo as a human exhibit. The character Billy also experiences the phenomenon of being “unstuck in time” which always him to see his past, present and future events (Schmoop). This story was definitely one of Vonnegut’s most famous works and although it was not published until over twenty years after the event due to it being classified it was very popular among readers.